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Lens for Astrophotography

Aeseir

By Aeseir
in Getting Started With Imaging

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Aeseir

Aeseir

Posted
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Hi guys,

I am looking to get my hands on a wide angle lens for canon 40d, and am looking for some advice in regards to what to look at getting.

Aim is to use this lens to do night time shots, particulary Milky Way and such. Not looking to break the bank at this stage as i am just getting into this.

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lensman57

lensman57

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Hi guys,

I am looking to get my hands on a wide angle lens for canon 40d, and am looking for some advice in regards to what to look at getting.

Aim is to use this lens to do night time shots, particulary Milky Way and such. Not looking to break the bank at this stage as i am just getting into this.

Go for the best 35mm lens that you can afford. Wideangle zoom lenses are flexible but the distortion and the aberrations are disturbing to say the least.

A.G

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lensman57

lensman57

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Here is something taken in my backyard with the D5100 and Tokina 12-28 at f/5 zoomed to 12mm. Distortion and aberrations vary widely from lens to lens.

attachicon.gifwith flats and bias-a.jpg

...and a fair crop from the above.

attachicon.gif5-31-14 50 stack with flats and bias, post crop.jpg

Those are nice enough images but I for one would not buy the lens used in the captures. It is suffering from severe Lateral Chromatic aberration and tilt of plane of focus with respect to the film/sensor . 

A.G

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kalasinman

kalasinman

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I have to ask, how did you determine this?

Have you taken into account that entry into this hobby is facilitated by utilizing existing equipment? My entire imaging kit :mount, camera, and lens cost under $2000. I make no claims of superiority or perfection of optics, mechanics, or technique. I do think there are many who for find economics a barrier to entry into the hobby.

I'm having a good time, and try to inspire others to find a way to start imaging at a cost they can afford.

BTW I have no doubt you would not by the lens, or any other, as you seem to reject their use for astrophotography out of hand. As you said..nice enough, thanks for that.

--Jack

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lensman57

lensman57

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I have to ask, how did you determine this?

Have you taken into account that entry into this hobby is facilitated by utilizing existing equipment? My entire imaging kit :mount, camera, and lens cost under $2000. I make no claims of superiority or perfection of optics, mechanics, or technique. I do think there are many who for find economics a barrier to entry into the hobby.

I'm having a good time, and try to inspire others to find a way to start imaging at a cost they can afford.

BTW I have no doubt you would not by the lens, or any other, as you seem to reject their use for astrophotography out of hand. As you said..nice enough, thanks for that.

--Jack

Ofcourse you use what you have but the OP is asking for advice about suitable new lens which  this one is not.  Look at the crop of the centre of the image. The stars in the middle are of reasonable shape though far from perfect, now look at the stars at the left side at about 8 o'clock then on the right at about 2 o'clock these are showing varying elongations and Blue fringing/ coma . The stars on the opposite sides are again of different sizes and shapes indicating a none uniform plane of focus or tilt. This is not intended as a crtisim of your choice but merely to point out that the lens might be pretty decent for daytime photography but not so for AP. If OP wishes to spend money on a new lens then he or she might as well spend it wisely and spend the money once even if it means paying 30~50% extra. I used to be a professional photographer for nearly 25 years and have owned and still own some of best commercially produced lenses for photography including some very exotic stuff from Zeiss and Leica ( German versions ) and we soon learnt that there is a right tool for every every job and these were rarely if ever zoom lenses. For hobby these zooms will do so long as the owner is aware of their flaws.

Regards,

A.G

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jgs001

jgs001

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Have you tried your kit lens? It's certainly worth a try. The samyamgs seem to be good. I've no experience of other lenses mentioned. The 50 isn't wide, and 150 mm is far tighter. I've seen good results with the 40mm pancake lens.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Is there a rumour of a wider pancake lens coming from canon?

There's always rumors about kit coming ... 

http://www.canonrumors.com/2014/08/a-new-pancake-lens-cr1/

Is it the 24/2.8 EF-S you were thinking of ? That's available on pre-order

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-canon-ef-s-24mm-f2-8-pancake-lens/p1560200?cm_mmc=googlebase-extension-_-camera-lenses-_-canon-fit-_-canon-ef-s-24mm-f2-8-pancake-lens_1560200&utm_source=googlebase-extension&cm_mmc=google+-+warehouse+cameras+%26+lenses-_-shopping+-+cameras+and+lenses-_-&mkwid=p4fmnw2e&pcrid=54652585569&gclid=cnh44-xs9cacfslnwgodgkcazq

They do a 20/2 in EF-M format but thats for the mirrorless EOS-M   I know a few people who have it... I wonder if it works with the EF-M to EF/EF-S  adaptor  I will have to try it...

Peter...

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DaveS

DaveS

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Get yourself a M42 to EOS adapter. There's tons of M42 lenses out there, primes and very good. Now they can be picked up for peanuts.

Of my lenses only two are Canon, and only one a zoom (24-105 f/4 and 135 f/2) all the rest are old manual primes, mostly Leica R.

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Alien 13

Alien 13

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The IS version of the kit 18-55mm lens is pretty good i have uses it wide open at both ends of its focal length and cant see any distorsion in my images i did have the canon lens correction data switched on though but have no idea if that helps.

Alan

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jgs001

jgs001

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Actually thinking about it, I think the kit lens for the 40d was probably the 17-85, and I wouldn't recommend that... whilst it's an ok lens, it struggles with CA and has other issues, that mean it really needs stopping down to f/8 for best performance, and that's no use for astro without very accurate tracking. If you can get your hands on the 18-55 IS, that's pretty good. It's worth checking MPBPhotographic to see what stock they have (the IS version of the kit lens is £64). 

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Alien 13

Alien 13

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Is IS "Image Stabilisation"? I thought you had to have that turned off??

 

Yes that is correct and the IS is turned off its just that this version of the lens has slightly better optics im my view than the standard one it may in fact have more elements but not sure.

Alan

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