Unpopular take: wide angle lenses beat telescopes for most backyard shots

I spent 3 years chasing deep sky objects with an 8 inch dob and ended up with maybe 5 keepers. Last month I rented a 14mm wide angle lens for a night at Cherry Springs State Park and got 20 sharp shots of the Milky Way core in one session. Telescopes are great for planets, but for the casual person who just wants a photo that looks cool, the lens wins every time. Am I missing something about the tracking setups, or does anyone else feel the same way?

1 comments

1 Comment

nancy15413d ago

Three years with my dob and I got one grainy photo of Orion that looks like a smudge, so yeah, wide angle wins unless you enjoy crying over collimation.