Lens for Astrophotography

[Knight of Clear Skies]

I have the IS version and light gathering at short exposure lengths is much lower than my old eBay lens.

Yes, the kit zoom lenses have low light transmittance due to all the elements, a kit lens at f3.5 can be slower than some primes at f4.5. Still capable of some decent results though.

[happy-kat]

My kit lens during the day is great just night use let's it down

[nicks90]

There's a lot to be said of the old Pentax primes, very fast and the SMC lenses are very good. Nice daytime portrait lenses too

[hjw]

I would agree with some people further up and suggest you try the kit lens first. I have a Pentax K-30 with a 18-55mm kit lens. The following two shots are made with it - the first with 18 the second with 55 mm. On the left you can see the lagoon and the Trifid nebulas. I have to admit that Sagittarius is especially rewarding for these kind of pictures. If you are prepared to take a few pictures and play with stacking, the results from a kit lens can be satisfying.

Cheers

HJW

[mikehab]

I took a few widefield milkyway shots recently to compare the standard Canon EOS 18-55 kit lens vs an olde Olympus 50mm prime lens attached with OM-->EOS adapter.... results can be found here ...

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/224350-milkyway-from-the-dordogne-2014/

For starting out in widefield I would agree with other posters that you don't need to fork out on specific wide-angle lenses - first try the lenses you already have and you may be pleasatly surprised.

Mike

[Alveprinsen]

I tried imaging with a Sigma 18-200mm lens a week or so ago (at 200mm), and the vignette was absolutely insane. Stars were seriously elongated around the edges as well.

As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, zoom lenses probably arent the way to go for AP.

I just searched up some M42 lenses on e-bay, and they are indeed in abundant supply at pretty damn low prices. I might just pick one up myself. I am in need of a 200mm...

I just dont know how to determine which one will give me less chromatic abberation. I try searching for "coating" and "multi coated" in hopes that what I receive will be chromatic aberration free.

Alveprinsen

[Alveprinsen]

Aaaand I just bought this Asahi Super Multi Coated Takumar 200mm F4 lens  after reading a couple of reviews. (search for "astro" on page, and you will find AP related reviews.)

I think theres one more for sale on ebay at half the price, but a bit more worn...

Reviews state that the lens gives pin point stars across the field, and almost no vignette.

Alveprinsen.

[Skipper Billy]

I use the 8mm fisheye and the 14mm wide angle offerings from Samyang - for the money they are great lenses.  The 8mm is a bit extreme but the 14mm is more useable.

The only issue I have had is that the distance markings are miles out. But hook it up to a PC and at high mag find the real infinity and mark the barrel with a piece of tape and you are good to go.

This was taken with the 8mm. Bear in mind this is a 245kb Jpeg - the RAW image and high qual Jpegs are MUCH better !!!

[uhb1966]

I use the 8mm fisheye and the 14mm wide angle offerings from Samyang - for the money they are great lenses. The 8mm is a bit extreme but the 14mm is more useable.

The only issue I have had is that the distance markings are miles out. But hook it up to a PC and at high mag find the real infinity and mark the barrel with a piece of tape and you are good to go.

This was taken with the 8mm. Bear in mind this is a 245kb Jpeg - the RAW image and high qual Jpegs are MUCH better !!!

IMG_1538.jpg

Btw why is SGL compressing the pictures to death?! :-(

[uhb1966]

I use the 8mm fisheye and the 14mm wide angle offerings from Samyang - for the money they are great lenses. The 8mm is a bit extreme but the 14mm is more useable.

The only issue I have had is that the distance markings are miles out. But hook it up to a PC and at high mag find the real infinity and mark the barrel with a piece of tape and you are good to go.

This was taken with the 8mm. Bear in mind this is a 245kb Jpeg - the RAW image and high qual Jpegs are MUCH better !!!

IMG_1538.jpg

This picture is soo uber cool!!

[rob0971]

I use the 8mm fisheye and the 14mm wide angle offerings from Samyang - for the money they are great lenses.  The 8mm is a bit extreme but the 14mm is more useable.

The only issue I have had is that the distance markings are miles out. But hook it up to a PC and at high mag find the real infinity and mark the barrel with a piece of tape and you are good to go.

This was taken with the 8mm. Bear in mind this is a 245kb Jpeg - the RAW image and high qual Jpegs are MUCH better !!!

IMG_1538.jpg

Just got my Samyang 14mm f2.8 delivered today. Can't wait to give it a go on the D4. I wonder what the 8mm will be like on a full frame camera? Fantastic shot by the way!

[Michael11]

Another one with the Tokina 11-16 DX2 here. Overall I like it a lot, though I mainly use it for timelapse, which is less demanding.

It has superb built quality - I can accurately focus it to infinity without using the Live View (just the scale on the lens barrel).

Attached a small test with it on an artificial star at f/2.8 and f/4.5

and this is an actual sky shot example (at f/2.8, which was pushing it a little)