Lens recommendation for Milkyway landscape photography

[bendiddley]

Looking for a lens to do some Milkyway landscape photography, budget £150-£300 second hand. Any recommendations? I have a canon 600d.

Edited August 7, 2021 by bendiddley

[Shimrod]

11 hours ago, bendiddley said:

Looking for a lens to do some Milkyway landscape photography, budget £150-£300 second hand. Any recommendations? I have a canon 600d.

I've used a Sigma 18-35mm F1.8, and when I want to go really wide then the Canon 10-22mm. I don't think you will find the Sigma in your price range but the Canon should be achievable. A slightly cheaper alternative might be the Canon 10-18mm, although it does have a cheaper build than both the previous lenses the optics are quite good and it is lighter (I have that lens as well!).

[bendiddley]

Thanks for that. I would love to go for a 1.8 lens, but I think it might be out of my reach budget wise. I've also wondered about f2.8 lenses as many 2nd hand ones of these seem to be in my price range, although you can still get some very expensive 2.8 lenses too.

[Seelive]

+1 for the Canon 10 - 18 mm.  At f4.5 it's fairly slow but even at wide open the optics are excellent and it can be purchased new for £206. It's only for Canon APS-C cameras but that's what you have?

[bendiddley]

Thanks, yes APS-C

[newbie alert]

Samyang 14mm is pretty awesome on the milky way 

[bendiddley]

Thanks. What's the focal ratio on the samyang 14?

[newbie alert]

3 hours ago, bendiddley said:

Thanks. What's the focal ratio on the samyang 14?

2.8 I think

[powerlord]

I got a Samyang 14mm off ebay last week for the same reason. It was £180 as a petal of the rose had snapped off, but I fixed that easy enough with some black epoxy putty.

Only used once, and sort of screwed that session up as in the dark I wasn't sure why I couldnt get focus - till in daylight I worked out the focus ring works backwards (infinity is at 3 feet, close up is at infinity!!) - apparently it's a common issue with Samyangs! So my first attempt at Milky way had actual focus at 3 feet, and I'd shut it down to F22 to try to get something as I thought it was broken at that point. amazingly it did come out okish - could see stars, red bits for north america nebula etc!! - Now I know where infinity actually is, I stick a big white mark there for next time.

But yes, lovely and sharp, ED glass. Keep your eye out and you should be able to get one for within your budget.

Though if you want a wider view, especially as you have an APS-C - maybe the 8mm ?

[Shimrod]

11 hours ago, powerlord said:

I got a Samyang 14mm off ebay last week for the same reason. It was £180 as a petal of the rose had snapped off, but I fixed that easy enough with some black epoxy putty.

Only used once, and sort of screwed that session up as in the dark I wasn't sure why I couldnt get focus - till in daylight I worked out the focus ring works backwards (infinity is at 3 feet, close up is at infinity!!) - apparently it's a common issue with Samyangs! So my first attempt at Milky way had actual focus at 3 feet, and I'd shut it down to F22 to try to get something as I thought it was broken at that point. amazingly it did come out okish - could see stars, red bits for north america nebula etc!! - Now I know where infinity actually is, I stick a big white mark there for next time.

But yes, lovely and sharp, ED glass. Keep your eye out and you should be able to get one for within your budget.

Though if you want a wider view, especially as you have an APS-C - maybe the 8mm ?

There's an 'as new' 14mm Samyang for £264 at MPB - not sure I would recommend the 8mm unless you like the fisheye effect - don't think you need to go wider than the 10mm lenses already suggested.

Edited August 10, 2021 by Shimrod

[BCN_Sean]

The 14mm is pretty neat, I borrowed one off a pal of mine and nearly didn't give it him back; I've not bought one myself as I've already got a 16mm F:/2.8, but if I'd not got something at that sort of width I'd have one.  If you do go for one of these, have a look at buying new (the manual focus one, last time I checked in the UK was about £330) as they can be a bit hit and miss on the quality control and sometimes have centring issues.

[powerlord]

10 hours ago, Shimrod said:

There's an 'as new' 14mm Samyang for £249 at MPB - not sure I would recommend the 8mm unless you like the fisheye effect - don't think you need to go wider than the 10mm lenses already suggested.

That's an old RF fit - they tend to be cheaper.

Wide angle - depends what you wany I suppose. IF you want to get the whole arch in one shot, you will need an 8mm on a FF. Don't know if even an 8mm on an APS-C will do it - here's fov on my 6d with the 14mm for example.

[Shimrod]

16 minutes ago, powerlord said:

That's an old RF fit - they tend to be cheaper.

 

Whoops! I've corrected the link (and revised price). Searching for Canon EF on MPB also throws up the RF system as well and I'd just linked to the cheapest 'good' version without noticing the system change.

I've taken 'milky way landscape' as wanting to include some foreground as well as the milky way rather than trying to capture the whole arch in one shot hence my comment about the 8mm - but it is a personal preference. I would rather take the extra time to shoot a mosaic.

Edited August 10, 2021 by Shimrod

[bendiddley]

Wow thanks for all the info guys! So what's the RF version and why isn't it as good? Also why is the lens rounded? Feeling quite tempted by this!

[Shimrod]

2 hours ago, bendiddley said:

Wow thanks for all the info guys! So what's the RF version and why isn't it as good? Also why is the lens rounded? Feeling quite tempted by this!

The RF mount is the new mount for Canon's 'R' camera system which is replacing the EF/EF-S camera system. You camera is not compatible with the RF mount (although there is an adapter available to allow EF lenses to be used on the RF system).

[bendiddley]

I've been reading some more reviews about this lens and some people report fish-eye type distortion and vignetting, is there a lens that doesn't have these problems or are all 14mm in this price range like this?

[Alien 13]

18 minutes ago, bendiddley said:

I've been reading some more reviews about this lens and some people report fish-eye type distortion and vignetting, is there a lens that doesn't have these problems or are all 14mm in this price range like this?

Most wide angle lenses suffer from this type of distortion but is easily corrected for either "in camera" if its a Canon lens or by most of the image processing packages available if the lens is listed (most are).

Alan

[bendiddley]

1 hour ago, Alien 13 said:

Most wide angle lenses suffer from this type of distortion but is easily corrected for either "in camera" if its a Canon lens or by most of the image processing packages available if the lens is listed (most are).

Alan

Thanks Alan 

[bendiddley]

Ok guys. If I go for this Samyang 14 what tripod would you recommend for it? I currently have a very light and flimsy tripod which has a dodgy leg so needs replacing. I’d say £50 to £100,  happy with second hand if needs be. 

[powerlord]

2nd hand manfrotto every time.

[Simon Pepper]

I have the Samyang 14mm can recommend there is a little CA when wide open but can stop it down or crop the edges for the price you can’t beat it. Here is one I took the other day think this was 25s stack of 10.

[callisto]

1 hour ago, Simon Pepper said:

I have the Samyang 14mm can recommend there is a little CA when wide open but can stop it down or crop the edges for the price you can’t beat it. Here is one I took the other day think this was 25s stack of 10.

Nice image Simon 

 

Mark

[newbie alert]

1 hour ago, Simon Pepper said:

I have the Samyang 14mm can recommend there is a little CA when wide open but can stop it down or crop the edges for the price you can’t beat it. Here is one I took the other day think this was 25s stack of 10.

Awesome Simon

[Tiny Clanger]

2 hours ago, powerlord said:

2nd hand manfrotto every time.

Yep, +1 for a Manfrotto, specifically a Manfrotto 55 series if you can get a second hand one in your price range. That might be a problem if you need a head too, but if you can take the head from your current wobbly tripod and shift it to the Manfrotto legs, you should be able to find something. you sometimes see quite cheap ones which are battle scarred and no longer pretty, but who cares if the thing looks scruffy when you are going to use it in the dark !

Less sturdy than a 55, but still pretty good , a manfrotto 190 would work , I'd always avoid extending the thinnest leg section of a 190 if possible though (actually, I d try to avoid using the thinnest leg section on any portable tripod , and not extend the centre column either , keep the setup as strong as possible )

Heather

[bendiddley]

10 hours ago, Simon Pepper said:

I have the Samyang 14mm can recommend there is a little CA when wide open but can stop it down or crop the edges for the price you can’t beat it. Here is one I took the other day think this was 25s stack of 10.

Thanks. Great image!