I have a mirrorless digital camera (Samsung NX1000, 20-50mm lens) with which I'm proficient in all manual settings. I'm on vacation in a month on an island in the Atlantic that is known for low levels of light pollution. I'm contemplating taking my tripod and doing some long exposures at night. Is this a worthwhile effort or do I truly need a different lens? I know I'm not going to get a detail image of the face of the moon but maybe catch the milky way. Any good resources for beginner night photography for my setup?
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Have you looked at the general questions on the site around low light and astro photography? That you're shooting smaller sensor isn't really going to change any of the basics. – Joanne C May 10 '14 at 20:32
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Where do these general questions exist? – yamori May 11 '14 at 03:26
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Use the tag system (see link at top) and the search. – Joanne C May 11 '14 at 03:27
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JoanneC: the Samsung NX cameras use APS-C sensors, they're not micro four-thirds, so the sensor's the same size as a crop dSLR would use. – inkista May 11 '14 at 03:57
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@inkista - I shoot with a D800, APS-C is a smaller sensor. :) – Joanne C May 11 '14 at 13:02
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JoanneC: [grin]. Yes, this is very true. – inkista May 11 '14 at 18:05
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There are lots of examples of photos of the Milky Way taken with 18-55 kit lenses on APS-C dSLRs, so I don't see why using your 20-50mm on an APS-C mirrorless like the Samsung NX1000 should be an issue. Astrophotography is more about long exposure technique.
Where you might be more limited than with a dSLR is that from the specs it looks like the NX1000's bulb mode maxes out at 4 minutes. But 4 minutes is much longer than you would need if you were to follow the Rule of 600 to avoid star trails, and you can always stack images.
See also How do I capture the milky way? and the [astrophotography] tag.
