new lens for wide angle night shots

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RobHD

Senior Member
I'm looking at getting a new lens for night shooting but most likely use it for other shots as well.

I've got my 3 finalists

Tokina 11-16 f2.8 new version with the motor

Sigma 10-20 F3.5

Rokinon / Samyang 14mm f2.8 prime

a member on an astronomy site suggested the Rokinon or a faster lens than the sigma.

i almost pulled the trigger on the Tokina earlier but decided a little more reading required , Ken Rockwell is were i usually look , this guy knows his stuff or at least i think he does.
they all have there issues but from reading so far the Tokina seems to handle them better.
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
"Night shooting" is a very large subject range. What specific night shooting are you planning to do?

In addition, are you planning to upgrade to an FX camera in the future, or do you plan to stay with the DX format?

WM
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
I have the Rominon for my D750 and have always enjoyed it. It should be great for the DX camera. I have never put it on that camera before. I could try it for you on my D7100 and let you know. It is for sale so I will try to get out somewhere to try it for you before it is gone. I would sell it to you but you are in the wrong country
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
It looks like the Tokina has the AF motor whereas the Rokinon is a manual focus lens with a focus confirm chip (not sure if the Samyang has the chip). If you are planning to use the lens for architecture or other subjects, it might be helpful to have AF capabilities. Just a thought. That said, I've seen some of Don's photos with his Rokinon, and it is a stellar lens.

I'd take the Tokina over the Sigma simply for it being an f/2.8 lens.
 
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RobHD

Senior Member
Thanks all for your replies , I'm looking at wide field night shots with the Milky Way , specific shots I use a tracked scope. I'm likely to stay with DX for a good while , as I don't think I warrant a full frame for what I shoot , at least not yet as it's also a fair wedge of money I don't have
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
hark said:
It looks like the Tokina has the AF motor whereas the Rokinon is a manual focus lens with a focus confirm chip (not sure if the Samyang has the chip). If you are planning to use the lens for architecture or other subjects, it might be helpful to have AF capabilities. Just a thought. That said, I've seen some of Don's photos with his Rokinon, and it is a stellar lens.

I'd take the Tokina over the Sigma simply for it being an f/2.8 lens.
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I used mine for architecture all the time. The manual focus was never a problem since the DOF is so great. I generally shoot that kind of shots with a tripod anyway so always shot at least f8 or f11 and everything from a few feet to infinity would be in focus. Look up hyper-focal distance. Would not be quite so much in DX but still pretty great DOF
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
I've shot the Milky Way with an FX format camera and a 28 mm lens, and I wanted more field of view, such as with a 20mm. With a DX camera, I'd likely want a 10 to 14 mm lens. At that focal length, having a fast lens isn't that important for night sky photography because of the 500 rule, which is that you divide the focal length of your lens into 500 and that gives you your approximate longest possible exposure time in seconds. A 20mm lens gives a 25-second exposure, and a 10 mm lens gives a 50 sec exposure before the individual points of light start to appear as other than points of light. All other things being equal, you'll likely need to to divide your exposure time by the sensor size ratio for clean shots.

Since your exposure time can be so long, a super fast lens isn't critical, especially when you are shooting at f5.6 or smaller, as you might be likely to do, to improve image quality.

Good luck with your search for the right lens, and with your shooting. Let us know how your shooting the night sky is going by posting some of your shots here.

WM
 
Danno

Danno

Senior Member
I tried out a buddies Rokinon 10 mm before I bought my Sigma 10-20 3.5 and I really enjoyed it. Manual focus was not an issue. He tried to sell it to me but I wanted Sigma.
 
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MaxBlake

Senior Member
I just bought the Sigma 10-20mm lens and am both impressed and delighted with the early results. Hoping to get it out today for yet another test-run, but from what I've seen thus far, I would highly recommend it.
 
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RobHD

Senior Member
Whiskeyman said:
I've shot the Milky Way with an FX format camera and a 28 mm lens, and I wanted more field of view, such as with a 20mm. With a DX camera, I'd likely want a 10 to 14 mm lens. At that focal length, having a fast lens isn't that important for night sky photography because of the 500 rule, which is that you divide the focal length of your lens into 500 and that gives you your approximate longest possible exposure time in seconds. A 20mm lens gives a 25-second exposure, and a 10 mm lens gives a 50 sec exposure before the individual points of light start to appear as other than points of light. All other things being equal, you'll likely need to to divide your exposure time by the sensor size ratio for clean shots.

Since your exposure time can be so long, a super fast lens isn't critical, especially when you are shooting at f5.6 or smaller, as you might be likely to do, to improve image quality.

Good luck with your search for the right lens, and with your shooting. Let us know how your shooting the night sky is going by posting some of your shots here.

WM
Click to expand...
this was from last night , at a darkish spot local to home on top of an old roman fort

using my 35mm lens , there is light pollution all round as its only 6mile from Coventry :(

galactic_core.jpg
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
RobHD said:
this was from last night , at a darkish spot local to home on top of an old roman fort

using my 35mm lens , there is light pollution all round as its only 6mile from Coventry :(

galactic_core.jpg
Click to expand...

That's the Milky Way, alright!! What filters, if any, and white balance settings did you use, as well as post processing steps?

WM
 
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RobHD

Senior Member
Whiskeyman said:
That's the Milky Way, alright!! What filters, if any, and white balance settings did you use, as well as post processing steps?

WM
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whiskey man - no filters at all - i only own 3 filters don't think I've ever took them out the packet :(. white balance on the camera is set at auto, i don't think I've ever touched it , all i ever alter is ISO, F and time , I'm pretty sure there is loads more i could do to get a better shot with the actual camera (I'm still figuring it out) , as for post processing, Photoshop raw editor using , dehaze, noise reduction, and the settings there, followed by a little more if required in Lightroom, i have no specific astrophotography programs although looking at deep sky stacker and pixinsight , i know i have to get some darks and lights if i am to do this much much better and stack photos as well this is just a single frame
 
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salukfan111

Senior Member
RobHD said:
Thanks all for your replies , I'm looking at wide field night shots with the Milky Way , specific shots I use a tracked scope. I'm likely to stay with DX for a good while , as I don't think I warrant a full frame for what I shoot , at least not yet as it's also a fair wedge of money I don't have
Click to expand...
The 10mm f/2.8 Rokinon seems good to me.
 
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salukfan111

Senior Member
Danno said:
I tried out a buddies Rokinon 10 mm before I bought my Sigma 10-20 3.5 and I really enjoyed it. Manual focus was not an issue. He tried to sell it to me but I wanted Sigma.
Click to expand...
I like that Roko lens for astro too. The tamron 15-30 takes nice pictures at 15mm as well.
 
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