I don’t know if it’s just me, but this man gives such an optimistic vibe you just want to hang out with him and chat Plus, he makes very informative videos, sharing his views in a honest and friendly way Thank you, Richard, from the other side of the planet
I can't wait until I can understand 1/10 of this camera/astrophotography jargon. However, I was able to get the gest of the lens type. Nice job, thanks
The 50mm focal length image of the Milky Way rising behind the small cabin is superb! Well done. I like the "longer" focal lengths for my nightscapes, because it brings the sky in closer. I wish nikon had a 14mm F1.8 prime for the Z mount!
I'm using an old Nikon D810 body so the lenses that I'm using are full frame F-Mount. I started shooting nightscapes with a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. Later I picked up an IRIX 15mm f/2.4 Blackstone. I don't use them anymore. My go to workhorse is now the Nikon 20mm f/1.8. I also use Nikon 35mm f/1.8 and Nikon 50mm f/1.8. When shooting the 50mm I'm almost always shooting a panorama. Although the lenses are faster, the vast majority of my sky and single shot images are shot at f/2.8. I'm seriously considering purchasing a Nikon Z6ii and a Z mount 20mm f/1.8 for it. BTW, love the channel and look forward to new videos every week.
What a great trip. Especially the part with different focal lenght shots of the same tree. I see you love what you do and you put all effort into it. Amazing!
I bought my Nikon 20mm f1.8 due to your comments about it, and I am so glad I did, so what's next? I recon it's going to be the 14-24, yup you did it again. Thanks for comming back to regular videos, after your break. I for one look forward to them and watch them as soon as I see them. Always great content, and always a happy jovial personality. That lot just works. Cheers Richard.
Fantastic video Richard such an awesome privilege to be able to watch you videos. Your training and transfer of knowledge is on point and is based on real user experience. A real big thank you
I've been unable to make a decision on the Z 14-24 mm f2.8 S vs 20 mm f1.8 S for astrophotography. Watching your videos and seeing your images sealed the answer for me. Just bought the 20 mm f1.8 S! Subbed to your YT channel followed you on IG!
Hey Richard, I have both canon and nikon, with my nikon ( apsc) I use tokina 11-16 f2. 8, which I love, it's sharp and easy to use for my panos, I also like to use my 28mm and 35mm on that, sometimes my 50mm, but it does tend to take much longer. I have a 20mm, a 35mm and a 50mm for my canon 6d ( recommended by alyn wallace as the best budget ff camera) the 20mm has coma in the corner wide open at 2.8, 35mm has vignetting, 50mm works perfectly. I have only processed one of my canon 50mm shots, a half pano taken in April, but I can get rid of the vignette on the 35mm by doing vignetting ( flat) shots and stacking in sequator. I do like the longer focal lengths too, wide angle is easier for panos. Thanks for your hard work in putting these videos out Richard...... I know how much you love your 20mm f1. 8.......almost as much as dead trees under the mw, lol😉😉
Yes Suzie, dead trees at 20mm and I'm in heaven ..!!! The 6D is a great camera for nightscapes for sure. A lot of people really enjoy the Tokina lenses as well.
Great info that all should watch. Time and many many nights of learning. In the beginning there were few 2.8's but mostly f/4. Went Sony in '14 with A7s and tried first with the 16-35 f/4 but the wide side I wanted was the E 10-18mm f/4 in Full Frame at 12mm, there were only fisheyes then. It was like daytime with stars. Over time you learn stop using wide lenses and learn to do panos. Also the faster the lens the faster the shutter speed, f/4 you can do 30s with no elongated stars but a 1.4 is a 8s so the 1.4 or 1.8 is faster for panos. A 12mm or 14mm is great at one level panos even in July for a arc milky way but also a 24mm. Even the 35 and 50 on a good pano rig like the Neewer Gimbal Head Panoramic Head or Novoflex VR-System Slim, the key is a selectable stepper under that you can feel the steps in the dark. But to end all I ran across an old 2010 image where I did a night capture to the southeast with a lighthouse with my Canon T2i and EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM and with today's newer Lr I saw ands edited a great Milky Way, the point is it is the tool and operator but with digital Software.
Excellent video. You have a lot of beautiful areas to do Astro photography. I’ve got a Z50 and just purchased the just released Sigma 16mm F1.4 and the 56mm F1.4. Looking forward to seeing how they go. Take care
Great video, i use the Viltrox 13mm f1.4 on a Fuji XT4 it’s about 20mm full frame equivalent, its fairly cheap compared to Nikon/Canon variants but its surprisingly very sharp, doesn’t suffer from Coma are CA onwards from f1.8, I also have the Fuji 18mm f1.4 which I highly recommend but its quite expensive and probably not the best choice for Astro photography as it is a bit of a tight angle of view, but for my wedding photographer its perfect even at F1.4 wide open its so sharp.
Thank you Richard. Another excellant video. I have had the dilemas of which focal length to use. I will now go and try a few different focal lengths to see the effect they have. Cheers.
Thank you very much for this very comprehensive video, I bought a Tokina Firin 20mm, f2, for my Sony a7 mk2, and I want to get out there with my msm tracker, I'm going to a workshop soon I hope. Many Thanks again.
Thanks for this vlog, another fantastic vid, great information. With your help through these vids, I have really improved my Milkyway captures. People are in awe at them. I usually just soot one shots, no stacking and I use Lightroom for processing. My go to lens for this is the Nikon 20 mm f1.8 with the adapter to my zed6Ii. They come out so beautiful..I have a favorite lighthouse that I shoot with the night sky as well. I’ll look up your email and send a couple shots to you…..thanks again Richard great channel
I am an ex Sony APSC user. My landscape and astro lens was the all popular Sigma 16mm f1.4. It was ok lens but overall the combination of entry level Sony a5100 and that prime lens was just average for astro. 2 months ago i switch to M43 on an old Olympus EM5 Mk2 and a generic 14-150 f4-5.6 zoom lens. I said to myself "heck... what this kit could do in low light?" and oh boy what a surprise i got regarding details and noise!!! That Olympus has a High-Res Mode that takes 8 shorter exposure shots and stack them so a single shot of 20sec = 8short shots of 2.5sec stacked, no noise and same light as the single shot one. Oh...AND IS 64MP!!! And on top of that DXO Pure RAW software cleanes-up noise even more.Now i just can't wait to get a proper low light lens like Olympus 7-14 f2.8 or the Olympus 12mm f2 or the Panasonic Leica 9mm f1.7 . Call me weird but i like m43! 😆
I'm only just starting out. Bouht myself an APSC camera a few weeks ago being the Sony A6400. So far picked up a Sigma 16mm 1.4 and 56mm 1.4 keen to get out and have a go at all this. Just need the skies to clear up
12-14mm we get a huge improvement in vertical distortion if one uses it at perfect horizontal. It is visible the vertical distortion been reduced. Therefore, I use it at horizontal position when I have buildings or trees from the terrain at the frame. I have a Lawoa 12mm D-zero f/2.8. I also uses an A7SIII and it is mindblowing when I search for a nebula and I'm able to see it at the liveview real time with iso 52k. I use 12mm 2.8; 20mm f1.8; 25mm f/2; 35mm f1.4; 55mm f1.8; 70-200mm f2.8 and a William Optics Redcat f/4.9
I have the Nikon 20/1.8S and am looking forward to shooting nightscapes when I'm traveling to a mountain area with low light pollution later this month. So far I wasn't planning on also bringing my 50/1.2S, but this video has got me thinking...
Video is right on point Richard! I love the 20mm focal length too. Bizarre that Cannon don't have any exceptional wide angle primes, Cannon brand or 3rd party. Even the new Sigma 20 & 24mm f/1.4 mirrorless updates are only Sony E-mount and Lecia L-mount. Understand perhaps Z-Mount missing out here as it has a shorter flange distance, but Cannon has the same 20mm flange as the E-mount. Can only assume it is a licensing barrier? Any rate, new Sigma lenses are very good news for Panasonic FF shooters ad they finally will have exceptional glass for landscape astrophotography!
Yes you're spot on Dominic. I like both Sigma and Tamron lenses for nightscape shooting and I reckon they have to get something out for Canon mirrorless soon.
Excellent video as usual Richard. I wish I picked up that 14-24 2.8S lens in December when they had massive cash back.. I also use my Z 24-70 2.8S lens on star tracker and then use various facial lengths. Just like you, I have 20,35,50,85 combo and Z mount glass is super sharp. Love 35mm and 50mm for some scenes. Happy weekend..
Informative video Richard. I think like everyone I started with the Samyang 14mm it now sits on the shelf collecting dust, might bring it out of retirement on my next outing. Next purchase was the Sigma 20mm and its home is always on the camera, I think 90% of my images are captured with this focal length. I do bust out the 35 & 50 when I want to bring that milky way core closer. I have been avoiding upgrading to a mirrorless system just because of the cost.
Good review Richard, I find myself as mentioned before using the longer focal lengths for sharpness now even up close and utilising the pano. like yourself those main focal lengths are always close by on a shoot. thanks for sharing.
Yes it's always interesting how we actually use the lenses Alan. As you mentioned shooting panoramas opens up a whole new world for a lot of lenses .. but on the other hand it depends on how we want to work with our foregrounds.
Great overview Richard, I have been experimenting with the Nikkor Z 28mm f/2.8 which I originally purchased as a small light video lens for gimbal use, and the Z 40mm f/2, which I originally bought for street photography. These lenses are inexpensive and very small and light, and work especially well with the Z6/6ii and I now carry them along with my Z 14-24mm f/2.8 and my Z 20mm f/1.8 on most of my MW shoots.
I know this is an older one..... But I started off with an adapted Samyang 24/1.4 which in all honesty, wasn't too bad!! The worst thing was how front heavy it was on the Sony A7. I upgraded to the Sony 20G for a while but soon swapped again to the 24GM. Both great lenses but I just found even 20mm a bit too wide for general shooting. 24GM, 35GM & Voigtlander 40/1.2 which I keep meaning to try for night skies but keep going to the default & safe Sony primes!
Great review! Although I shoot Canons I've used a Canon 24-70mm with good results. Also, I carry a Sony A7III with the 24 mm G Master lens and oh baby, great lens! Next step, setting up the tracker provided we actually see clear skies at night. Here in New England in the US no and lots of of night cloud cover. Please keep showing the great videos so I can see stars.
I also find the 14mm useful to pull the Milky Way down into my shot, especially when the Milky Way is too high in the sky around July and August. I was using a Samyang 14mm f2.8, but I was fortunate enough to purchase the Sony 14mm 1.8 a week ago. I am looking forward to trying it out in some timelapse projects. Fantastic video mate.
Thanks again Richard. I just watched Nebula Photos piece on astrophotography with a series of lenses, and the Sigma 20mm DG DN looks good too. It's supposed to be part of their new mirrorless line of lenses.
Thanks so much for the fantastic channel! It's always been hard to find the right lens choice I've found, coming from the heavier G series 2.8 zooms, I switched to f4 before I got into astro. That left me going for the 20mm 1.8 for greater light gathering, but I have used the f4 Z zooms on the tracker, however, although excellent quality, almost zero coma etc, the brigher lenses such as 2.8 or 1.8 make a really big difference simply in focussing. However, the z lenses brillilantly focus to infnity when booted up, but still, missing out on that extra light, even on a tracker, is not ideal for lowest noise etc. I've ended up with a 50 .18G and 35 f2 (coma not great on the 35 f2d) but taking those to out at night on a walkabout, and the 20 1.8, is not too heavy. In an ideal world, probably the 24-70 2.8 would cover a lot of ground, and give closeup of the MW core, and switch to the 20mm 1.8 or 14-24 2.8, but weight cost is a consideration. Always great videos!!
Thanks so much for your comments. Yes everything you've said I agree with. You could also look at the Viltrox lenses for Nikon Z mount. I have a video coming out this weekend featuring the Viltrox 35mm f1.8.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Great! I'll check that out. I was thinking of looking at the 40mm and 28mm pancake z lenses as possible alternatives but they are not 'true' 35mm and a bit darker, so yes, I'll definately check out the Viltrox! Looking foeard to your video!
Hi Richard, Your experience is pretty similar to mine with lens choices. I started with a Samyang 14mm f/2.8 but could never get sharp images. Eventually I converted to all Sony or Zeiss lenses. The difference was exceptional. The Sony GM range of lenses offer excellent quality and performance. As usual, a good video with plenty to offer the nightscaper. 😀👍
Thanks a lot Geoff. It's interesting how our journey dictates our opinions over time. Most of us have bought cheaper lenses hoping they will do the job only to eventually spend the extra money on quality glass. I love the Sony wide angle primes. 14mm, 20mm, 24mm .. .all exceptional.
@@nightscapeimages.richard I think that’s just a natural journey though isn’t it?, we could go out and buy up big only to find it’s not really our thing and then lose big when we have to sell off our gear, my thoughts are learn the basics with less expensive gear and if it’s for you start to improve your kit over time
Hey Richard great presentation mate! I've even added a few vintage long lenses to my van for some deep space dabbling with the tracker..... 300 and 400mm lenses picked up for 20 quid on Facebook 😂
Thank you for making this video with all the examples, it really put things into perspective. I learned quite a lot. Obviously I trust your judgement so I would like your recommendation. I have a Canon R and am trying to decide what would be best for astro? The 24mm f1.8 prime stm or the 24-105 f4 USM. I realize there is a big difference in price but I really just want the best one for the job. Would highly appreciate your perspective. Thank you
Thanks for your kind support of my work Mory. As a general rule a wide aperture prime lens will always be more suitable for nightscape photography .. .so the f1.8 would be my choice. However the 24-105 is an all rounder lens and much more suitable for general photography. The biggest issue is that f4 is really quite "Slow" when it comes to low light photography. Other alternatives. Sigma 20mm f1.4 EF to RF adaptor required. Laowa 15mm f2, Samyang 14mm f2.4, there may be others I can't recall.
excellent video, for the Canon DSLR shooters I picked up a 20mm f2.8 USM lens on ebay for around $300 in good condition which was the same price at my Samyang, and its very good, corner sharpness is average but I work within my budget, and I was lucky enough to get a good copy of my Samyang 14mm
Thanks for watching. Both the 35 and 50mm lenses are great but on your D7000 they become closer to 52mm & 75mm respectively. . which makes them a lot more difficult to use for nightscape imaging. If you only want to shoot the sky on a star tracker for example, then these would be great. If you want to include a landscape I'd go wider. Maybe look at the Tokina 14-20 f2
Nice lens review. Since I shoot Sony, I often use the FE 24mm f1.4 lens. The focal length is a nice compromise for distortion, the lens quality is quite stunning and it's my favorite lens for foreground images. I mix and match sky imaging with a 50mm Sigma f1.4. The quality is not quite as good as the Sony (some coma on the edges) but overall a very good low light lens. Cheers and clear skies...
Good explanation richard. I still go with my nifty 14mm samyang. I know about of the distortion of this focus range and i always try to compose in straight direction to avoid vertical distortion. I will try the samyang 20mm (i'm canon) so see what happen. Thanks for you inspiration
I brought samynag 14mm lense for my sony a7iii it's a good lens but ur right it's not that sharp. I can't afford new expensive lense as of now but will save money for a better one. Thanks a lot for the video
At about the 8:00 mark- shooting video with the Sony A7 S3- those are some sparkling stars! I wonder if there's a method to capture that or if it was the result of something in the atmosphere. Nice touch on a cool shot.
Another great video Richard. I'm a Canon R5 - R6 shooter and only have a 35mm native RF mount lens as my widest choice for these two cameras, but am loving the 35mm perspective on the MW. I am definitely looking into getting an EF Sigma lens of the 24 or 28mm focal length and adapting it to the RF mount cameras as Canon are behind the 8 ball when it comes to lens choice in the primes for the R series cameras. I'll be waiting for your next video bud 😉👍
I am using a canon Ra (astro modified canon r) for astrophotography and higly recommend the Tamron 35 mm 1.4. Due to the EF amount you need an additional adapter (EF / RF). Even at 1.4 there is no koma.
Yep I started with a samyung 12mm lens and found it too wide ! Next I moved on to the sigma 20mm lens not bad but has coma issues 😴 , my latest lens is the sigma art 40mm lens after seeing John Rutter video and love it (hope John Rutter is OK haven't seen any new videos from him) and I also have a samyung 85mm lens for tracking panoramas
More to the point ... Whose Signature Gibson 59 / 60 is that you have in that Case on your wall .. ?? I used to use Sigma 105mm F2.8 for night captures . haven't used it in a good while . Now i use Samyang 10mm F2.8 . But am happy with what i get . And tonight i bought the Samyang F2 135mm which will arrive Saturday
Another good vid Richard, I was only thinking yesterday about my next lens and I think it’ll be the Nikon 20mm f1.8….or find a lazy 10 grand or so and buy a few of them😂😂
Very informative. I have learned so much from you and I appreciate your work very much. I have a question about the Zeapon slider and pan/ tilt device. I recently purchaced the device and I have a problem with the timelapses. I get a lot of motion blur in my day to night timelapses. I set the Zeapon device on a fixed shutter speed and changre the camera exposure manually as the time goes by. I suspect the slider ends up moving in the middle of the exposure. How do you avoid this issue? Thanks so much.
Thanks so much for watching Dana. I do often set the slider to be moving constantly .. but very slowly over a long period of time. I wouldn't do that under about 3 hours total duration. Most of my day to night videos are at least 3 hours in length, some up to 5 hours. Over the course of this time the movement is so minute that you won't notice it at 10 or 15 second shutter speed. Of course, I'm assuming you are using an ultra wide angle lens such as 14mm or thereabouts ..??? If you use a longer focal length over about 24mm this method will not work at all. So in a nutshell. If you have the slider set to move-shoot-move .. and the exposure is still happening when that move happens .. then you're likely to get blurred images. However if you set the slider to be constantly moving. . but extremely slowly . .then you should be fine.
Very nice video. A couple thoughts. For full disclosure, I shoot Nikon Z 7ii with all the 1.8S primes and the 2.8S macro 105. I am not affiliated with Nikon and do not benefit from them in any way. More than 45 years of loyal use, not a fanboy. And no affiliation with Topaz. And, I am not a stargazer - I find the genre fascinating, though. As you mention a Z 6, have you considered a Z 7(ii)? How come I ask? Well the 24MP Z 6(ii) has an anti-aliasing filter and the 7 has not. This means the 7 has better low light sensitivity, better dynamic range and larger color space than the 6. I love the 24MP Nikons, by the way, and they're great for for example studio portraits, and a lot more. This is corroborated by DxO Mark test data, also by the way. The 6 has better ISO in the high ranges. Removing the AA filter - Nikon started with that in the D800E - means that the forced dispersion of light over the sensor is removed and this improves contour sharpness, so you'll have better ROI from your present lenses. As the AA filter was devised of to make raw processing easier and until the D800E was the norm, post processing software was built on the assumption of its presence. My take is that e.g. LrC still can do a lot better in raw processing than it does today. When I want top results on the noise and sharpening scoreboards and maybe upsample (beyond 100%) then I turn to the Topaz apps. I have had cases where LrC left inexplicable color and luminance noise in my images when Nikon NX Studio or Topaz did not, and neither did DxO Photo Lab nor DxO Pure Raw. It's a pity that Topaz doesn't have basic exposure controls and this forces me to go into it via LrC, but the result is "what the doctor ordered". Taking my Z 7ii images in Gigapixel AI to 32,000 pixels on the long side (the maximum upsampling it can do) gives a level of detail retrieval that I never thought would be possible. Now Topaz released the Photo AI module that does an assessment of your image and suggests what should be done with it in what order, using one, or some, or all of DeNoise, Sharpen, Gigapixel AI in the appropriate order. Wow. As you probably have a star-tracker, have you considered putting a panorama-head on it? I guess with exposure times needed a regular panorama will not work because of time parallax in the subject (stars, sky). But a panorama from a star-tracker would that work? As you talk about "distortion", this has two aspects. The first is "real" distortion where a lens distorts. It may improve with stopped down aperture, but ultimately you get rid of it by buying another lens. The second is "perspective distortion" and here the distortion is in the heads of the humans looking at the shot later on. Geometrically such photos are not distorted. The biggest contribution to p-distortion is from shots that were taken with the camera not "level" - not with its sensor plane in the vertical. This is the distortion that gives "converging lines" and that make "buildings fall over". The p-distortion was why large format had the "shift" option (that we however only could use with lenses of which the usable image circle was wide enough at the aperture we needed). If you don't have a shift camera-lens combination, then the solution could be to use a lens with a much wider angle, shoot plumb and crop later. If you were to shoot with a 35mm but had to slant the cameras for that and potentially correct that in post, then alternatively, you could take the shot with a 20mm and crop it to what you saw, wanted to record. Which drives me to a corollary - for shooting plumb and getting in the frame what you envision. If shooting a panorama with a star-tracker were to work properly, then you could, say, shoot three overlapping shots with the 20/1.8 in portrait mode so as to get a 3 shot panorama. Or make it four. You'll have to figure out the nodal point of the lens for perfect foreground alignment but that is really an easy procedure. And Photoshop is incredibly good at stitching, even when it is very difficult - I once shot a test panorama, handheld accidentally in some auto-autofocus and two shots had identical infinity focus but the last had its plane of focus at about 2m (~7ft). LrC could not stitch that in any way, shape or form. In Ps it was a breeze. Very cleverly done - the algorithm may actually be very simple but it is very effective. In the pano-stitch approach it should not be too difficult to get 14mm-like shots from some three 20mm shots with the camera plumb, and now at more than 2 times the MP (if you use 1/3rd overlap, then three shots give 2 1/3 result). Add to that, if you can run your individual pano-shots through Topaz Photo AI with Gigapixel AI upsampling to 32,000 on the long side then for a 35.9*23.9 sensor you get 32,000*21,333=683MP. With two shots you are in GP domain already and a 5 shot pano will be 2.5GP - assuming 1/3rd overlap. No you don't need that for a website and 4K displays. But print at very large format and 1,440 DPI and you need a lot of pixels. Ps did not have problems stitching such images (on my computer - 64GB RAM, 16 cores, 11GB video RAM - I guess 50% of this will still work fine, just take more time).
That's a very comprehensive analysis and I appreciate you taking the time to respond to the video. Some excellent observations in there which I'm sure will help a lot of people. Thanks so much for your input.
Perfect video. I would like to aks you about a suitable lens for Micro4/3. I have Olympus 7-14 f2.8 and bought 17mm f1.2. What is your opinion or should I buy a completely different lens?
They are both very good lenses Roman. I used to have the Panasonic 15mm f1.7 and it performed really well for nightscapes as well. I think the Panasonic 10-25 f1.7 would be my choice .. however, it's expensive.
Hi Roman, I use the laowa 7,5 mm f 2,0 (super tiny and light weight only 114g) and an old 12-60 mm f2,8-f4 with adapter. And as Richard mentioned I also think about the panasonic 10-25 mm f1,7 , but the price is just mind blowing. Maybe a zuiko 12 mm F2,0 would also be an option.
Great video, I have the Sony 14mm f1.8 & 16-35mm f2.8, can I use the 16-35 @ 35mm instead of purchasing a prime 35mm, what I mean is what is the difference besides the aperture, again great info. Thanks
Thanks for watching Wayne. Yes you can certainly use the zoom lens right through the zoom range. As a general rule the prime lenses will be faster and sharper. A prime is less complicated and easier to make than a zoom lens.
Thanks so much for watching. I like a very simple device to use as a remote trigger. That's why I choose these. www.hypop.com.au/products/yongnuo-rf-603-ii-n1-wireless-flash-speedlite-trigger-transceiver-pair?variant=43441971790¤cy=AUD&gclid=Cj0KCQjwl92XBhC7ARIsAHLl9aleLru0yeEnITYmVK8z0ByG_Md4ilYLA7W7kXsCMu38G-Fcya4tpEMaAnveEALw_wcB
Hi Richard - Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with us. Which one of the two (20mm vs. 24mm) would you consider a better option for Astrophotography? I own 35mm f/1.4 lens, but I need to take good 30 frames in three rows to take the full Milky Way arc. I am looking to reduce the number of frames for the full arc, but it shouldn't have any distortion as a 14mm lens.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thanks Rich! And how useful is a 1.4 aperture when it comes to tracked Milky Way shots? The challenge is Sony 20mm is an f1.8, while 24mm is an f1.4 lens. Does it change your recommendation in anyway?
Excellent lens review, I'm considering buying the Z 35mm or the Z 50mm, Richard which would you buy first? Thanks Richard, have a nice weekend. Until your next video.
That's an interesting question Mario. I think out of those 2 lenses the 50mm is a sharper unit . .but I think the 35mm focal length is more useable . .hope that makes sense. I have them both and use the 35mm more .. but when I can shoot the 50mm .. just wow ..!!!
Excellent video. As a Canon R5 shooter, my options are a bit more limited as there isn't any 3rd party glass so I have to rely on what Canon has to offer. I've been shooting with the 15-35 f/2.8 and it's done a decent job, but I would love the option to get something in the 20mm range at f/2 or f/1.8. Hopefully someday soon. Your videos have taught me a lot about Milky Way photography and my pictures have definitely improved over the last year (even selling a few prints!).
Get your self a RF-EF adaptor and it'll open up your range but I'm thinking the RF15-35 f/2.8 is probably better image quality anyhow. I've got the same issue... COME ON CANON GIVE US SOME BLOODY ASTRO LENSES! lol
Hi Ryan, also shoot with an R5 and an R, for all my astro, I use the Sigma Art lenses, 14, 20 & 40mm with the adaptor as Dave below says. They are amazing lenses, very sharp, though the only down side is they are very solid and heavy. You won't be dissapointed.
Same here Ryan. I've got an R5 and an R6, and Canon hasn't really done much in area of astro friendly lenses. I do have the 35mm f1.8 RF lens and as a "cheap" option, it does pretty well stopped down to f2.2. It's the widest native RF mount I own and gives a great perspective of the Milky Way core. As others have said, there are some great Sigma lenses that you can use with the EF - RF Adapter and the prices are heaps cheaper than the Canon lenses for arguably the same quality.
I have the Canon R5C, and use it with the Canon EF 14mm F2.8, and Canon RF 50mm F1.2, for Milkyway photography. I'm wondering If the Sigma 28mm F1.4 DG HSM would be worthwhile ? I also understand the Sigma 28mm is also sharper the their 20 or 24mm??
Thanks for watching Robert. I don't have the Sigma art 28mm but from what I understand, it's sharper than both the 20 and 24mm versions ... as you have suggested. I think it would be a great choice.
20 mm is sweet spot considering the price and everything. You can get 1.8 well under 1000$. Also, you can use 20 mm for general purpose use. I had both 14 mm and 20 mm 1.8 lens for Sony and I returned 14 mm because I was still using 20 mm for all my Astro as it gives a balanced perspective.
Yes that's a really good comment Abhishek. I think they are both excellent lenses .. but we'll always reach for then one that gives us the most pleasing results.
Hola compañero, más adelante conseguiré un 20 S. Mientras tengo un 14-30 F4. y he pensado en un Tracker. Has probado está lente con un Tracker? Tenía la duda de hacerme o con el 20 o con un Tracker + 14-30 que ya tengo. Cual de las dos opciones crees que dará mejor resultado para VL? 20 S sin tracker o 14-30 S + Tracker?
Thanks for watching. The 20mm f1.8 is a much better lens for nightscape photography, but you can certainly use the 14-30 f4 with a tracker. I haven't used that one, but I have used the 24-70 f4 and it works fine.
I use the 20 and 35mm f/1.8 S (Z6) lenses, and mostly the 20mm for milky way. But I prefer the 35mm on every aspect (landscape distortion, image quality, focus, T number obviously faster than the 20mm, etc.), not sure why I'm not using it more... maybe the framing and losing too much of the MW in the picture? That's a silly reason I need to change. I'm wondering about the 50mm f/1.8 S too. My Z6 is dedicated to MW/nightscape photography, but still not astro-modified (can't find where to do it in my region). I also need to stress out the good construction quality of these lenses, and the Z6: they are resistant. I've recently be very clumsy (and stupid) and let my Z6 with the 35mm on fall from ~2m (6.5 feet) on a very hard surface, with rocks. After 3 years of going out at night, it finally happened, that silly mistake to not securely attach the camera to the tripod - 3am was surely helping to make that mistake. Always, always, double-check your camera is securely attached. The lens had the cap on, and while dew shield and the cap flew away, the lens was fine, just a small scratch on the side, picture quality is still amazing. The Z6 itself was protected with a L-Bracket, which surely saved it - the card slot opened with the shock, and the rear screen was cracked everywhere... I was desperate then I remembered that, for some reason, I did install a screen protection on that camera: the first time ever I did that. I removed it and... not a scratch on the screen. I can't recommend strong enough to have a screen protection installed (a thick 9H one). It's inexpensive and can save you. Of course, now I have one on all my cameras :) I cannot explain how big of a relief it was to not break anything when it should have been a doom day.
Wow, what a great story. I'm really pleased that your camera and lens survived that fall. It just goes to show how good this Nikon mirrorless gear is. Appreciate you watching.
On the subject of crop sensor cameras, I watched a video a few nights ago about using speed boosters on crop sensor mirrorless cameras to get (near) full frame image performance. I don't have a mirrorless camera, but that capability definitely has me intrigued. When I make the jump to mirrorless, I may opt for a less expensive crop sensor body if I can't find any good deals on a full frame. The guy doing the video didn't address issues that nighttime photographers have to be aware of, like pixel density, but it's still an intriguing thought to be able to cheat ourselves into full frame. He reported minor issues with flaring and fringing, but that seemed to occur only if a direct light source was in the frame. So, when and if you do discuss lens options for crop sensor cameras, it would be great to know your thoughts about using a speed booster.
Yes speed boosters have been around for a while and are primarily useful for video work from what I've seen. I reckon they'd introduce a lot of unwanted coma and aberrations for shooting the stars. Lots of Panasonic shooters use them with Canon or Sigma lenses.
Make sure to check Olympus also. They have lots of nice features.On a newer camera bodys like EM1 Mark3 you have Handheld High-Res Mode 50MP and Tripod High-Res Mode 80MP and doing 8 shots stacking in the same time for less image noise and more dinamic range.You also have Starry Sky AF (auto focus on stars).Time lapse, live composition for star trails and fireworks shots, exposure of up to 60 sec and so much more.On my old EM5 Mark2 i have only tripod high-res mode 64MP.Lens are also nice and cheap :)
No mention of the biggest heavyweights for astrophotography? Tamron 35mm f/1.4, Sigma 40mm f/1.4 Art, Sigma 135mm f/1.8. They might not be the cheapest options, but they blow the pants off most of the lenses you've mentioned in terms of performance.
I did make mention of the first 2 lenses in my updated video on this topic. The Sigma 135mm is perhaps a bit long to be considered an astro landscape lens.
Yes it is possible but they have incredibly small sensors, so there's a lot of pixel manipulation going on to get a good night image. I've never shot using a phone.
I am in the market for a 35mm lens for Astro and would like to know if the Nikon mirrorless 35mm S lens is worth buying. Any issues that you have come across? This past weekend I shot with my Nikon 50mm f1.8 dslr lens and it was surprisingly good! But, I can see how a 35mm would fit into the sweet spot in many situations. Cheers!
@@nightscapeimages.richard cheers i think u may hav swayed me away from a 14 mm to a 20 or a 24 mm samyang or a second hand sigma art , which are the best do u think .thanks i hav a canon 6d
I love how 35mm and above brings in the background and makes the Milky Way so much bigger. But its hard to work with these types of lenses. If you want to include a bit more view you are stuck with shooting panorama manually and later on stitching it. There are always pros and cons to anything and everything. We as individuals have to decide what we want, like, etc.
Hi Richard, want to upgrade from Moveshootmove to a decent tracker. I would appreciate if you can advise or make a video of which tracker to buy and how to polor align in southern hemisphere. Thanks
I'll have to do more videos regarding trackers. I have bothg the sky watcher star adventurer and the ioptron sky guider pro. Both excellent trackers. There are features that one has better than the other and visa versa. I lean towards the ioptron with the ipolar camera for easy polar alignment.
Ótimo vídeo! Aqui no Brazil nossa moeda é super desvalorizada, sempre pagamos por volta de 5 ou 7 vezes a mais nos equipamentos, então qualquer uma dessas lentes é quase missão impossível. Eu atualmente estou usando uma Canon 6D + Rokinon 14mm e sempre uso em f/4 pra ganhar mais nitidez, mas em locais muito escuro acaba ficando ruim. Em breve vou comprar uma Sigma art 14mm 1.8 e Rokinon 24mm 1.4 de um amigo que mora em outro pais, acho uma boa opção para as DSLR
The video clips that show you shooting photos at night with a bokeh of stars in the background, did you process that before adding it to your main video or am I not doing something right when I'm shooting at night? Because all I see on my camera screen is super faint stars and darkness, plus any foreground light that I may have.
Hey Holly, thanks so much for watching. There are very few cameras that are capable of capturing that live video footage at night showing the stars and milky way. I'm using the Sony A7S3 with the Sony 24mm f1.4GM lens. It's not added to or edited from original.
I am still wanting to get the Nikon Z 14-30 f/4 lens. And I am unsure if I want the 20 or 24mm z mount lens to use for aurora and milky way photography. I have the 24-70 f/4 lens on my Z6II and I own the 70-200 f2.8 lens.
Great, unbiased & informative. My thoughts are very similar. I found that anything under 20mm has its limitations, but I am not a fan of stitching, especially blue hour foregrounds and skies with double star patterns in post (Photoshop does that sometimes, I wonder if cropping the edges would improve that, otherwise Affinity astro stack works a bit better). Being unable to shell A$ 2,500 on a high end 14mm for my system however, I use the 35mm 1.4 from Sigma, which I got new for under 1000 Dollaroos and I find very sharp with little distortion. If I win the lottery, I might get the new 20mmf1.4 from Sigma. Anyone ever used a shift adapter or for astro? I can never be bothered using a pan-head. Cheers from the South West, hope you're not too cold!
Hey Rod, thanks heaps for your insights. I think you're absolutely correct in saying that we need lenses that suit our particular method of shooting and editing. Some lenses are easier to work with for sure. I'm not sure what you mean by double star patterns .. Maybe Moire ..???
@@nightscapeimages.richard Ah, I mean artefacts after stitching, I get repeating star patterns (as in not stiched accurately, despite clean and consistent focus, exposure, symmetry, etc.) sometimes even with 50% overlap. As a matter of fact it seems that too many pictures confuse the software. Only in Photoshop CC, and I reckon I am an experienced user. Not a drama, but weird. I would love to use a shift adapter for a 3x pano with the 35mm and get away with fewer pictures to combine. Also easier in the dark with cold fingers or surrounded by mozzies, I guess. Have a great day :-)
Very good video Richard, I follow you about 2 years and thanks for your informations about this incredible nightly world. Actually I'm looking for a new lens, my actually set lens is 20mm f1.8g, 16 35 f/4, 24 70 f/2.8 all this lens are g mount for reflex and I also have a Nikon Z6II astro modified, but the only good lens that I have for stars is 20mm f/1.8G that I use with FTZ, the 24 70 f/2.8 is a great aperture, good sharpness, but in every frame there is a "circle" a little bit more bright and the white balance is a little bit different between inside and outside the circle, this make me crazy about PP, the 16 35 f/4 is not good at all, great difference between center and corners, also focus, however I wonted to ask you if you noticed differences between the 20mm f/1.8S and 20m f/1.8G mount because with my G version I noticed a little bit comas on the corners frame. Thank for your time
Thanks so much for watching Sergio. The 20mm f1.8Z mount is considerably sharper and has better coma performance compared to the G version. I think your problem with the "circle" is to do with the astro modification rather than the lens.
@@nightscapeimages.richard ...so I think to change two lens at least and buy the 20 f/1.8s and then I follow your adwise about 14 24 f/2.8s (at the appropriate time) rather than a 14/16mm lens of any brand...the 14 24 f/2.8s at 24mm for nightscapes is good? The circle, it seems to me, appears only on 24 70mm, not in other lens, if the cause is by astro modification I think appears in each lens, right?
@@sergiovicenzino2754 I'm not 100% sure about the circle as I've not seen or heard of it before. Have you seen this circle on another camera body using that lens ..???
@@nightscapeimages.richard I think this problem is how the lens was designed as inner zoom movement, because the circle is different between 24 and 35 mm for example, however I'll try with my D810 to compare. Thank you Richard for your time and I waiting for your next video. 😄👋👋
Please help. Just specifically for the milky way what about the Sony 20mm 1.8 it's around $800.00 You said sometimes the 1.4 mm have some issues. So what about this lens? This looks like a great lens for that purpose. What do you think please help?
Nikon z: 14-24 f2.8 s 20 f1.8 s 24 f1.8 s 35 f1.8 s 50 f1.2 s Sony e: Sony 14 f1.8 gm Sony 12-24 f2.8 gm Sony 16-35 f2.8 gm Sigma 14-24 f2.8 art Sigma 20 f1.4 art (new dg dn) Sigma 24 f1.4 art (new dg dn) Sigma 28 f1.4 art Longer focal lenght have wider fisical aperture; 20 to 35 are best for collecting light. Ultra wide angol are fine too, but not as good as a nice 24.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but this man gives such an optimistic vibe you just want to hang out with him and chat
Plus, he makes very informative videos, sharing his views in a honest and friendly way
Thank you, Richard, from the other side of the planet
That's such a very encouraging comment Antonio .. thank you so much.
I can't wait until I can understand 1/10 of this camera/astrophotography jargon. However, I was able to get the gest of the lens type. Nice job, thanks
Thanks so much for watching, really appreciated.
The 50mm focal length image of the Milky Way rising behind the small cabin is superb! Well done. I like the "longer" focal lengths for my nightscapes, because it brings the sky in closer.
I wish nikon had a 14mm F1.8 prime for the Z mount!
Thanks so much for watching Andrew. Yes I totally agree about the 14mm f1.8 for Nikon Z mount .. Maybe one day.
thirsty for it.. it's a very useful focal length ( as a real estate videographer and photography )
I'm using an old Nikon D810 body so the lenses that I'm using are full frame F-Mount. I started shooting nightscapes with a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. Later I picked up an IRIX 15mm f/2.4 Blackstone. I don't use them anymore. My go to workhorse is now the Nikon 20mm f/1.8. I also use Nikon 35mm f/1.8 and Nikon 50mm f/1.8. When shooting the 50mm I'm almost always shooting a panorama. Although the lenses are faster, the vast majority of my sky and single shot images are shot at f/2.8. I'm seriously considering purchasing a Nikon Z6ii and a Z mount 20mm f/1.8 for it. BTW, love the channel and look forward to new videos every week.
Thanks so much for your input Jerry. You would certainly love the Z6 and 20mm option.
Thank you Richard always nice to see different lenses
Thanks a lot as always for watching Jeff.
Great video and explanation. Nikon 20 1.8 g is great lens for many photography genres
Yes I agree Milorad. Very small size and light weight. Good optics as well.
What a great trip. Especially the part with different focal lenght shots of the same tree. I see you love what you do and you put all effort into it. Amazing!
Thanks again my friend. Yes I do love what I do.
I bought my Nikon 20mm f1.8 due to your comments about it, and I am so glad I did, so what's next? I recon it's going to be the 14-24, yup you did it again. Thanks for comming back to regular videos, after your break. I for one look forward to them and watch them as soon as I see them. Always great content, and always a happy jovial personality. That lot just works. Cheers Richard.
I appreciate your great support Roy. Thanks so much.
Fantastic video Richard such an awesome privilege to be able to watch you videos. Your training and transfer of knowledge is on point and is based on real user experience. A real big thank you
You're very welcome Paul, thank you so much for your kind words.
I've been unable to make a decision on the Z 14-24 mm f2.8 S vs 20 mm f1.8 S for astrophotography. Watching your videos and seeing your images sealed the answer for me. Just bought the 20 mm f1.8 S! Subbed to your YT channel followed you on IG!
Thanks for watching. You will not be disappointed with that lens.
Hey Richard, I have both canon and nikon, with my nikon ( apsc) I use tokina 11-16 f2. 8, which I love, it's sharp and easy to use for my panos, I also like to use my 28mm and 35mm on that, sometimes my 50mm, but it does tend to take much longer. I have a 20mm, a 35mm and a 50mm for my canon 6d ( recommended by alyn wallace as the best budget ff camera) the 20mm has coma in the corner wide open at 2.8, 35mm has vignetting, 50mm works perfectly. I have only processed one of my canon 50mm shots, a half pano taken in April, but I can get rid of the vignette on the 35mm by doing vignetting ( flat) shots and stacking in sequator. I do like the longer focal lengths too, wide angle is easier for panos.
Thanks for your hard work in putting these videos out Richard...... I know how much you love your 20mm f1. 8.......almost as much as dead trees under the mw, lol😉😉
Yes Suzie, dead trees at 20mm and I'm in heaven ..!!! The 6D is a great camera for nightscapes for sure. A lot of people really enjoy the Tokina lenses as well.
Excellent video about your lens. Always we learn about it in this channel
Thanks so much for your ongoing support Luis
Great info that all should watch. Time and many many nights of learning. In the beginning there were few 2.8's but mostly f/4. Went Sony in '14 with A7s and tried first with the 16-35 f/4 but the wide side I wanted was the E 10-18mm f/4 in Full Frame at 12mm, there were only fisheyes then. It was like daytime with stars. Over time you learn stop using wide lenses and learn to do panos. Also the faster the lens the faster the shutter speed, f/4 you can do 30s with no elongated stars but a 1.4 is a 8s so the 1.4 or 1.8 is faster for panos. A 12mm or 14mm is great at one level panos even in July for a arc milky way but also a 24mm. Even the 35 and 50 on a good pano rig like the Neewer Gimbal Head Panoramic Head or Novoflex VR-System Slim, the key is a selectable stepper under that you can feel the steps in the dark. But to end all I ran across an old 2010 image where I did a night capture to the southeast with a lighthouse with my Canon T2i and EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM and with today's newer Lr I saw ands edited a great Milky Way, the point is it is the tool and operator but with digital Software.
Yes all very good thoughts my friend. Thanks again for watching.
Excellent video. You have a lot of beautiful areas to do Astro photography. I’ve got a Z50 and just purchased the just released Sigma 16mm F1.4 and the 56mm F1.4. Looking forward to seeing how they go. Take care
Thanks for watching Ken. I'll be keen to see how you go with those lenses.
Great video, i use the Viltrox 13mm f1.4 on a Fuji XT4 it’s about 20mm full frame equivalent, its fairly cheap compared to Nikon/Canon variants but its surprisingly very sharp, doesn’t suffer from Coma are CA onwards from f1.8, I also have the Fuji 18mm f1.4 which I highly recommend but its quite expensive and probably not the best choice for Astro photography as it is a bit of a tight angle of view, but for my wedding photographer its perfect even at F1.4 wide open its so sharp.
Yes those Viltrox lenses are really good aren't they. Thanks for watching.
great video on lens I have to realise later , thanks for your time.
Always happy to hear your comments Phillip. Thanks for watching.
Thank you Richard. Another excellant video. I have had the dilemas of which focal length to use. I will now go and try a few different focal lengths to see the effect they have. Cheers.
Thanks a lot for watching Adi. It's also good to think about these things I reckon.
Thank you very much for this very comprehensive video, I bought a Tokina Firin 20mm, f2, for my Sony a7 mk2, and I want to get out there with my msm tracker, I'm going to a workshop soon I hope. Many Thanks again.
Good on you Phil. I've heard that lens is quite ok. I have the Sony 20mm f1.8G and it's awesome as well.
Thanks for this vlog, another fantastic vid, great information. With your help through these vids, I have really improved my Milkyway captures. People are in awe at them. I usually just soot one shots, no stacking and I use Lightroom for processing. My go to lens for this is the Nikon 20 mm f1.8 with the adapter to my zed6Ii. They come out so beautiful..I have a favorite lighthouse that I shoot with the night sky as well. I’ll look up your email and send a couple shots to you…..thanks again Richard great channel
Thanks a lot for watching Robert. You can't beat a good lighthouse shot I reckon.
I am an ex Sony APSC user. My landscape and astro lens was the all popular Sigma 16mm f1.4. It was ok lens but overall the combination of entry level Sony a5100 and that prime lens was just average for astro. 2 months ago i switch to M43 on an old Olympus EM5 Mk2 and a generic 14-150 f4-5.6 zoom lens. I said to myself "heck... what this kit could do in low light?" and oh boy what a surprise i got regarding details and noise!!! That Olympus has a High-Res Mode that takes 8 shorter exposure shots and stack them so a single shot of 20sec = 8short shots of 2.5sec stacked, no noise and same light as the single shot one. Oh...AND IS 64MP!!! And on top of that DXO Pure RAW software cleanes-up noise even more.Now i just can't wait to get a proper low light lens like Olympus 7-14 f2.8 or the Olympus 12mm f2 or the Panasonic Leica 9mm f1.7 . Call me weird but i like m43! 😆
Panasonic and Olympus have always made excellent quality lenses Mihai.
Excellent feedback and info, really appreciated.
Thanks so much for tuning in Ambrose
@@nightscapeimages.richard you are welcome. I am still using Nikon D7100 which I bought in year 2014.
I'm only just starting out. Bouht myself an APSC camera a few weeks ago being the Sony A6400. So far picked up a Sigma 16mm 1.4 and 56mm 1.4 keen to get out and have a go at all this. Just need the skies to clear up
I'll be keen to see how you go Matty. All the best my friend.
12-14mm we get a huge improvement in vertical distortion if one uses it at perfect horizontal. It is visible the vertical distortion been reduced. Therefore, I use it at horizontal position when I have buildings or trees from the terrain at the frame. I have a Lawoa 12mm D-zero f/2.8. I also uses an A7SIII and it is mindblowing when I search for a nebula and I'm able to see it at the liveview real time with iso 52k. I use 12mm 2.8; 20mm f1.8; 25mm f/2; 35mm f1.4; 55mm f1.8; 70-200mm f2.8 and a William Optics Redcat f/4.9
That's fantastic Raphael. There's nothing like seeing those stars showing live on the back screen is there ..!!!
I have the Nikon 20/1.8S and am looking forward to shooting nightscapes when I'm traveling to a mountain area with low light pollution later this month. So far I wasn't planning on also bringing my 50/1.2S, but this video has got me thinking...
Well it's a great lens .. but heavy compared to the f1.8S version. I'm sure you'll capture a lot of great images.
Video is right on point Richard! I love the 20mm focal length too. Bizarre that Cannon don't have any exceptional wide angle primes, Cannon brand or 3rd party. Even the new Sigma 20 & 24mm f/1.4 mirrorless updates are only Sony E-mount and Lecia L-mount. Understand perhaps Z-Mount missing out here as it has a shorter flange distance, but Cannon has the same 20mm flange as the E-mount. Can only assume it is a licensing barrier? Any rate, new Sigma lenses are very good news for Panasonic FF shooters ad they finally will have exceptional glass for landscape astrophotography!
Yes you're spot on Dominic. I like both Sigma and Tamron lenses for nightscape shooting and I reckon they have to get something out for Canon mirrorless soon.
Another fab video, thanks Richard
Really appreciate you watching Pete
Excellent video as usual Richard. I wish I picked up that 14-24 2.8S lens in December when they had massive cash back.. I also use my Z 24-70 2.8S lens on star tracker and then use various facial lengths. Just like you, I have 20,35,50,85 combo and Z mount glass is super sharp. Love 35mm and 50mm for some scenes. Happy weekend..
Thanks for your great comments Virat.
Informative video Richard. I think like everyone I started with the Samyang 14mm it now sits on the shelf collecting dust, might bring it out of retirement on my next outing. Next purchase was the Sigma 20mm and its home is always on the camera, I think 90% of my images are captured with this focal length. I do bust out the 35 & 50 when I want to bring that milky way core closer. I have been avoiding upgrading to a mirrorless system just because of the cost.
Yes I can certainly understand that Brett. You're getting some awesome images with your current setup anyway. Thanks for watching.
Good review Richard, I find myself as mentioned before using the longer focal lengths for sharpness now even up close and utilising the pano. like yourself those main focal lengths are always close by on a shoot. thanks for sharing.
Yes it's always interesting how we actually use the lenses Alan. As you mentioned shooting panoramas opens up a whole new world for a lot of lenses .. but on the other hand it depends on how we want to work with our foregrounds.
Great video Richard, clear skies 🖖
Thank you as always for watching Gavin.
Great overview Richard, I have been experimenting with the Nikkor Z 28mm f/2.8 which I originally purchased as a small light video lens for gimbal use, and the Z 40mm f/2, which I originally bought for street photography. These lenses are inexpensive and very small and light, and work especially well with the Z6/6ii and I now carry them along with my Z 14-24mm f/2.8 and my Z 20mm f/1.8 on most of my MW shoots.
Thanks for watching Todd. I'll be keen to see how you go with those small lenses for milky way shoots.
I know this is an older one..... But I started off with an adapted Samyang 24/1.4 which in all honesty, wasn't too bad!! The worst thing was how front heavy it was on the Sony A7. I upgraded to the Sony 20G for a while but soon swapped again to the 24GM. Both great lenses but I just found even 20mm a bit too wide for general shooting. 24GM, 35GM & Voigtlander 40/1.2 which I keep meaning to try for night skies but keep going to the default & safe Sony primes!
I agree that we grow into what best suits our needs. What works for one isn't quite right for the next person. Thanks for watching.
Tokina 14-20 f2,i love it
Yes that is a great lens for crop sensor cameras for sure.
Great review! Although I shoot Canons I've used a Canon 24-70mm with good results. Also, I carry a Sony A7III with the 24 mm G Master lens and oh baby, great lens! Next step, setting up the tracker provided we actually see clear skies at night. Here in New England in the US no and lots of of night cloud cover. Please keep showing the great videos so I can see stars.
Thanks heaps for watching Richard, very much appreciated.
I also find the 14mm useful to pull the Milky Way down into my shot, especially when the Milky Way is too high in the sky around July and August. I was using a Samyang 14mm f2.8, but I was fortunate enough to purchase the Sony 14mm 1.8 a week ago. I am looking forward to trying it out in some timelapse projects. Fantastic video mate.
Yes you are right about the milky way being too high in July/August. The Sony 14mm f1.8 is stellar ..!!!
Thanks again Richard. I just watched Nebula Photos piece on astrophotography with a series of lenses, and the Sigma 20mm DG DN looks good too. It's supposed to be part of their new mirrorless line of lenses.
Yes that new 20mm Sigma art is very good . .although pretty much only for Sony E mount at this stage.
Thanks so much for the fantastic channel! It's always been hard to find the right lens choice I've found, coming from the heavier G series 2.8 zooms, I switched to f4 before I got into astro. That left me going for the 20mm 1.8 for greater light gathering, but I have used the f4 Z zooms on the tracker, however, although excellent quality, almost zero coma etc, the brigher lenses such as 2.8 or 1.8 make a really big difference simply in focussing. However, the z lenses brillilantly focus to infnity when booted up, but still, missing out on that extra light, even on a tracker, is not ideal for lowest noise etc. I've ended up with a 50 .18G and 35 f2 (coma not great on the 35 f2d) but taking those to out at night on a walkabout, and the 20 1.8, is not too heavy. In an ideal world, probably the 24-70 2.8 would cover a lot of ground, and give closeup of the MW core, and switch to the 20mm 1.8 or 14-24 2.8, but weight cost is a consideration. Always great videos!!
Thanks so much for your comments. Yes everything you've said I agree with. You could also look at the Viltrox lenses for Nikon Z mount. I have a video coming out this weekend featuring the Viltrox 35mm f1.8.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Great! I'll check that out. I was thinking of looking at the 40mm and 28mm pancake z lenses as possible alternatives but they are not 'true' 35mm and a bit darker, so yes, I'll definately check out the Viltrox! Looking foeard to your video!
Hi Richard, Your experience is pretty similar to mine with lens choices. I started with a Samyang 14mm f/2.8 but could never get sharp images. Eventually I converted to all Sony or Zeiss lenses. The difference was exceptional. The Sony GM range of lenses offer excellent quality and performance. As usual, a good video with plenty to offer the nightscaper. 😀👍
Thanks a lot Geoff. It's interesting how our journey dictates our opinions over time. Most of us have bought cheaper lenses hoping they will do the job only to eventually spend the extra money on quality glass. I love the Sony wide angle primes. 14mm, 20mm, 24mm .. .all exceptional.
@@nightscapeimages.richard I think that’s just a natural journey though isn’t it?, we could go out and buy up big only to find it’s not really our thing and then lose big when we have to sell off our gear, my thoughts are learn the basics with less expensive gear and if it’s for you start to improve your kit over time
@@nickholt8104 Very true Nick. I think a lot of people have been burnt doing that.
Thanks for this video. I missed it earlier.
I'm glad you caught up with it eventually.
Always great work Richard
You're very welcome Rob, appreciate you watching.
Excellent advice, as always.
Thanks so much for watching Allen
Hey Richard great presentation mate! I've even added a few vintage long lenses to my van for some deep space dabbling with the tracker..... 300 and 400mm lenses picked up for 20 quid on Facebook 😂
It's amazing what cheap lenses you can find out there mate. The tracker sure does enable a lot more flexibility doesn't it.
It was so worth the spend getting a tracker. Using the 16-35 F4 sony lens is no problem with the star adventurer under the camera.
Thank you for making this video with all the examples, it really put things into perspective. I learned quite a lot. Obviously I trust your judgement so I would like your recommendation. I have a Canon R and am trying to decide what would be best for astro? The 24mm f1.8 prime stm or the 24-105 f4 USM. I realize there is a big difference in price but I really just want the best one for the job. Would highly appreciate your perspective. Thank you
Thanks for your kind support of my work Mory. As a general rule a wide aperture prime lens will always be more suitable for nightscape photography .. .so the f1.8 would be my choice. However the 24-105 is an all rounder lens and much more suitable for general photography.
The biggest issue is that f4 is really quite "Slow" when it comes to low light photography.
Other alternatives. Sigma 20mm f1.4 EF to RF adaptor required. Laowa 15mm f2, Samyang 14mm f2.4, there may be others I can't recall.
thanks for the timely reply and advise. Love your channel.@@nightscapeimages.richard
Thank you for a great video again 🙏🙏
I thank you for watching Andreas
excellent video, for the Canon DSLR shooters I picked up a 20mm f2.8 USM lens on ebay for around $300 in good condition which was the same price at my Samyang, and its very good, corner sharpness is average but I work within my budget, and I was lucky enough to get a good copy of my Samyang 14mm
Yes I think we have to work with the lenses we have and gradually add new ones when the budget allows.
Excellent video. Was thinking of 35mm 1.8 or 50mm 1.8 for my Nikon D 7000. Can you suggest a good lens ? Thank you
Thanks for watching. Both the 35 and 50mm lenses are great but on your D7000 they become closer to 52mm & 75mm respectively. . which makes them a lot more difficult to use for nightscape imaging.
If you only want to shoot the sky on a star tracker for example, then these would be great. If you want to include a landscape I'd go wider. Maybe look at the Tokina 14-20 f2
Nice lens review. Since I shoot Sony, I often use the FE 24mm f1.4 lens. The focal length is a nice compromise for distortion, the lens quality is quite stunning and it's my favorite lens for foreground images. I mix and match sky imaging with a 50mm Sigma f1.4. The quality is not quite as good as the Sony (some coma on the edges) but overall a very good low light lens. Cheers and clear skies...
Thanks so much for watching Vince, appreciate it.
Good explanation richard. I still go with my nifty 14mm samyang. I know about of the distortion of this focus range and i always try to compose in straight direction to avoid vertical distortion. I will try the samyang 20mm (i'm canon) so see what happen. Thanks for you inspiration
I very much appreciate you watching Pablo. Thank you.
I brought samynag 14mm lense for my sony a7iii it's a good lens but ur right it's not that sharp. I can't afford new expensive lense as of now but will save money for a better one. Thanks a lot for the video
Thanks so much for watching.
At about the 8:00 mark- shooting video with the Sony A7 S3- those are some sparkling stars! I wonder if there's a method to capture that or if it was the result of something in the atmosphere. Nice touch on a cool shot.
Yes that was filmed during an aurora ..therefore the bright colors.
Another great video Richard. I'm a Canon R5 - R6 shooter and only have a 35mm native RF mount lens as my widest choice for these two cameras, but am loving the 35mm perspective on the MW. I am definitely looking into getting an EF Sigma lens of the 24 or 28mm focal length and adapting it to the RF mount cameras as Canon are behind the 8 ball when it comes to lens choice in the primes for the R series cameras. I'll be waiting for your next video bud 😉👍
Thanks as always for watching my friend. I'm sure there will be more fast primes for the Canon R system soon.
I am using a canon Ra (astro modified canon r) for astrophotography and higly recommend the Tamron 35 mm 1.4. Due to the EF amount you need an additional adapter (EF / RF). Even at 1.4 there is no koma.
@@maxzimmerer4603 Great suggestion Max. I've heard very good reports about that Tamron lens. Thanks for watching.
Yep I started with a samyung 12mm lens and found it too wide ! Next I moved on to the sigma 20mm lens not bad but has coma issues 😴 , my latest lens is the sigma art 40mm lens after seeing John Rutter video and love it (hope John Rutter is OK haven't seen any new videos from him) and I also have a samyung 85mm lens for tracking panoramas
Yes all the new Sigma art lenses are great John .. but they seem to be concentrating on Sony mounts for their wider angle stuff.
@@nightscapeimages.richard yep mirrorless Sony stuff
Brilliant as always
Thanks Chetan
More to the point ... Whose Signature Gibson 59 / 60 is that you have in that Case on your wall .. ??
I used to use Sigma 105mm F2.8 for night captures . haven't used it in a good while . Now i use Samyang 10mm F2.8 . But am happy with what i get . And tonight i bought the Samyang F2 135mm which will arrive Saturday
Haha, well the guitar is no longer in my possession. I sold it to buy a new acoustic. Those lenses would be great. Thanks for watching.
@@nightscapeimages.richard You buy a Martin D28 or Gibson J45 ??
Great video, thank you!
Thank you for watching Robin
Great video, Richard.
Thanks for watching Mike
Another good vid Richard, I was only thinking yesterday about my next lens and I think it’ll be the Nikon 20mm f1.8….or find a lazy 10 grand or so and buy a few of them😂😂
Yes it's easy to over spend on this stuff Nick. But usually we find that one lens that does most of the heavy lifting and from there we add gradually.
Very informative. I have learned so much from you and I appreciate your work very much. I have a question about the Zeapon slider and pan/ tilt device. I recently purchaced the device and I have a problem with the timelapses. I get a lot of motion blur in my day to night timelapses. I set the Zeapon device on a fixed shutter speed and changre the camera exposure manually as the time goes by. I suspect the slider ends up moving in the middle of the exposure. How do you avoid this issue? Thanks so much.
Thanks so much for watching Dana. I do often set the slider to be moving constantly .. but very slowly over a long period of time. I wouldn't do that under about 3 hours total duration. Most of my day to night videos are at least 3 hours in length, some up to 5 hours. Over the course of this time the movement is so minute that you won't notice it at 10 or 15 second shutter speed. Of course, I'm assuming you are using an ultra wide angle lens such as 14mm or thereabouts ..??? If you use a longer focal length over about 24mm this method will not work at all.
So in a nutshell. If you have the slider set to move-shoot-move .. and the exposure is still happening when that move happens .. then you're likely to get blurred images. However if you set the slider to be constantly moving. . but extremely slowly . .then you should be fine.
Very nice video. A couple thoughts. For full disclosure, I shoot Nikon Z 7ii with all the 1.8S primes and the 2.8S macro 105. I am not affiliated with Nikon and do not benefit from them in any way. More than 45 years of loyal use, not a fanboy. And no affiliation with Topaz. And, I am not a stargazer - I find the genre fascinating, though. As you mention a Z 6, have you considered a Z 7(ii)? How come I ask? Well the 24MP Z 6(ii) has an anti-aliasing filter and the 7 has not. This means the 7 has better low light sensitivity, better dynamic range and larger color space than the 6. I love the 24MP Nikons, by the way, and they're great for for example studio portraits, and a lot more. This is corroborated by DxO Mark test data, also by the way. The 6 has better ISO in the high ranges. Removing the AA filter - Nikon started with that in the D800E - means that the forced dispersion of light over the sensor is removed and this improves contour sharpness, so you'll have better ROI from your present lenses.
As the AA filter was devised of to make raw processing easier and until the D800E was the norm, post processing software was built on the assumption of its presence. My take is that e.g. LrC still can do a lot better in raw processing than it does today. When I want top results on the noise and sharpening scoreboards and maybe upsample (beyond 100%) then I turn to the Topaz apps. I have had cases where LrC left inexplicable color and luminance noise in my images when Nikon NX Studio or Topaz did not, and neither did DxO Photo Lab nor DxO Pure Raw. It's a pity that Topaz doesn't have basic exposure controls and this forces me to go into it via LrC, but the result is "what the doctor ordered".
Taking my Z 7ii images in Gigapixel AI to 32,000 pixels on the long side (the maximum upsampling it can do) gives a level of detail retrieval that I never thought would be possible.
Now Topaz released the Photo AI module that does an assessment of your image and suggests what should be done with it in what order, using one, or some, or all of DeNoise, Sharpen, Gigapixel AI in the appropriate order. Wow.
As you probably have a star-tracker, have you considered putting a panorama-head on it? I guess with exposure times needed a regular panorama will not work because of time parallax in the subject (stars, sky). But a panorama from a star-tracker would that work?
As you talk about "distortion", this has two aspects. The first is "real" distortion where a lens distorts. It may improve with stopped down aperture, but ultimately you get rid of it by buying another lens. The second is "perspective distortion" and here the distortion is in the heads of the humans looking at the shot later on. Geometrically such photos are not distorted. The biggest contribution to p-distortion is from shots that were taken with the camera not "level" - not with its sensor plane in the vertical. This is the distortion that gives "converging lines" and that make "buildings fall over". The p-distortion was why large format had the "shift" option (that we however only could use with lenses of which the usable image circle was wide enough at the aperture we needed). If you don't have a shift camera-lens combination, then the solution could be to use a lens with a much wider angle, shoot plumb and crop later. If you were to shoot with a 35mm but had to slant the cameras for that and potentially correct that in post, then alternatively, you could take the shot with a 20mm and crop it to what you saw, wanted to record.
Which drives me to a corollary - for shooting plumb and getting in the frame what you envision. If shooting a panorama with a star-tracker were to work properly, then you could, say, shoot three overlapping shots with the 20/1.8 in portrait mode so as to get a 3 shot panorama. Or make it four. You'll have to figure out the nodal point of the lens for perfect foreground alignment but that is really an easy procedure. And Photoshop is incredibly good at stitching, even when it is very difficult - I once shot a test panorama, handheld accidentally in some auto-autofocus and two shots had identical infinity focus but the last had its plane of focus at about 2m (~7ft). LrC could not stitch that in any way, shape or form. In Ps it was a breeze. Very cleverly done - the algorithm may actually be very simple but it is very effective. In the pano-stitch approach it should not be too difficult to get 14mm-like shots from some three 20mm shots with the camera plumb, and now at more than 2 times the MP (if you use 1/3rd overlap, then three shots give 2 1/3 result).
Add to that, if you can run your individual pano-shots through Topaz Photo AI with Gigapixel AI upsampling to 32,000 on the long side then for a 35.9*23.9 sensor you get 32,000*21,333=683MP. With two shots you are in GP domain already and a 5 shot pano will be 2.5GP - assuming 1/3rd overlap. No you don't need that for a website and 4K displays. But print at very large format and 1,440 DPI and you need a lot of pixels. Ps did not have problems stitching such images (on my computer - 64GB RAM, 16 cores, 11GB video RAM - I guess 50% of this will still work fine, just take more time).
That's a very comprehensive analysis and I appreciate you taking the time to respond to the video. Some excellent observations in there which I'm sure will help a lot of people. Thanks so much for your input.
Excellent thanks!
Thanks so much for watching Dominic, really appreciated.
PS also just subscribed to you.
You are so knowledgeable.
Please see previous questions.
Thank you
Thank you
Perfect video. I would like to aks you about a suitable lens for Micro4/3. I have Olympus 7-14 f2.8 and bought 17mm f1.2. What is your opinion or should I buy a completely different lens?
They are both very good lenses Roman. I used to have the Panasonic 15mm f1.7 and it performed really well for nightscapes as well. I think the Panasonic 10-25 f1.7 would be my choice .. however, it's expensive.
Hi Roman,
I use the laowa 7,5 mm f 2,0 (super tiny and light weight only 114g)
and an old 12-60 mm f2,8-f4 with adapter.
And as Richard mentioned I also think about the panasonic 10-25 mm f1,7 , but the price is just mind blowing.
Maybe a zuiko 12 mm F2,0 would also be an option.
Great video, I have the Sony 14mm f1.8 & 16-35mm f2.8, can I use the 16-35 @ 35mm instead of purchasing a prime 35mm, what I mean is what is the difference besides the aperture, again great info. Thanks
Thanks for watching Wayne. Yes you can certainly use the zoom lens right through the zoom range. As a general rule the prime lenses will be faster and sharper. A prime is less complicated and easier to make than a zoom lens.
thank you for the advice you give with your great videos, one question, what do you recommend to use as a remote control for remote selfies? thank you
Thanks so much for watching. I like a very simple device to use as a remote trigger. That's why I choose these. www.hypop.com.au/products/yongnuo-rf-603-ii-n1-wireless-flash-speedlite-trigger-transceiver-pair?variant=43441971790¤cy=AUD&gclid=Cj0KCQjwl92XBhC7ARIsAHLl9aleLru0yeEnITYmVK8z0ByG_Md4ilYLA7W7kXsCMu38G-Fcya4tpEMaAnveEALw_wcB
Hi Richard - Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with us. Which one of the two (20mm vs. 24mm) would you consider a better option for Astrophotography? I own 35mm f/1.4 lens, but I need to take good 30 frames in three rows to take the full Milky Way arc. I am looking to reduce the number of frames for the full arc, but it shouldn't have any distortion as a 14mm lens.
I favour the 20mm focal length for this reason.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thanks Rich! And how useful is a 1.4 aperture when it comes to tracked Milky Way shots? The challenge is Sony 20mm is an f1.8, while 24mm is an f1.4 lens. Does it change your recommendation in anyway?
@@SAKinDXB If you're shooting on a tracker f1.4 isn't necessary at all. I usually stop down my lenses to f2.2 - f2.8 when tracking.
@@nightscapeimages.richard thanks!
Excellent lens review, I'm considering buying the Z 35mm or the Z 50mm, Richard which would you buy first? Thanks Richard, have a nice weekend. Until your next video.
That's an interesting question Mario. I think out of those 2 lenses the 50mm is a sharper unit . .but I think the 35mm focal length is more useable . .hope that makes sense. I have them both and use the 35mm more .. but when I can shoot the 50mm .. just wow ..!!!
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thanks Richard for your opinion
Excellent video. As a Canon R5 shooter, my options are a bit more limited as there isn't any 3rd party glass so I have to rely on what Canon has to offer. I've been shooting with the 15-35 f/2.8 and it's done a decent job, but I would love the option to get something in the 20mm range at f/2 or f/1.8. Hopefully someday soon. Your videos have taught me a lot about Milky Way photography and my pictures have definitely improved over the last year (even selling a few prints!).
Get your self a RF-EF adaptor and it'll open up your range but I'm thinking the RF15-35 f/2.8 is probably better image quality anyhow. I've got the same issue... COME ON CANON GIVE US SOME BLOODY ASTRO LENSES! lol
Thanks heaps for watching Ryan. The R5 is a wonderful camera. Good to see you're selling some prints.
Hi Ryan, also shoot with an R5 and an R, for all my astro, I use the Sigma Art lenses, 14, 20 & 40mm with the adaptor as Dave below says. They are amazing lenses, very sharp, though the only down side is they are very solid and heavy. You won't be dissapointed.
@@abroomby Alan, thanks for that. I will look into those lenses!
Same here Ryan. I've got an R5 and an R6, and Canon hasn't really done much in area of astro friendly lenses. I do have the 35mm f1.8 RF lens and as a "cheap" option, it does pretty well stopped down to f2.2. It's the widest native RF mount I own and gives a great perspective of the Milky Way core. As others have said, there are some great Sigma lenses that you can use with the EF - RF Adapter and the prices are heaps cheaper than the Canon lenses for arguably the same quality.
I have the Canon R5C, and use it with the Canon EF 14mm F2.8, and Canon RF 50mm F1.2, for Milkyway photography. I'm wondering If the Sigma 28mm F1.4 DG HSM would be worthwhile ?
I also understand the Sigma 28mm is also sharper the their 20 or 24mm??
Thanks for watching Robert. I don't have the Sigma art 28mm but from what I understand, it's sharper than both the 20 and 24mm versions ... as you have suggested. I think it would be a great choice.
20 mm is sweet spot considering the price and everything. You can get 1.8 well under 1000$. Also, you can use 20 mm for general purpose use. I had both 14 mm and 20 mm 1.8 lens for Sony and I returned 14 mm because I was still using 20 mm for all my Astro as it gives a balanced perspective.
Yes that's a really good comment Abhishek. I think they are both excellent lenses .. but we'll always reach for then one that gives us the most pleasing results.
Looks like you can get a Sony 20mm 1.8 G Lens for $800.00
Just barely in my budget but may get this?
@@Heli4213 it’s worth the money and you would love it.
Hola compañero, más adelante conseguiré un 20 S. Mientras tengo un 14-30 F4. y he pensado en un Tracker. Has probado está lente con un Tracker? Tenía la duda de hacerme o con el 20 o con un Tracker + 14-30 que ya tengo. Cual de las dos opciones crees que dará mejor resultado para VL? 20 S sin tracker o 14-30 S + Tracker?
Thanks for watching. The 20mm f1.8 is a much better lens for nightscape photography, but you can certainly use the 14-30 f4 with a tracker. I haven't used that one, but I have used the 24-70 f4 and it works fine.
I use the 20 and 35mm f/1.8 S (Z6) lenses, and mostly the 20mm for milky way. But I prefer the 35mm on every aspect (landscape distortion, image quality, focus, T number obviously faster than the 20mm, etc.), not sure why I'm not using it more... maybe the framing and losing too much of the MW in the picture? That's a silly reason I need to change. I'm wondering about the 50mm f/1.8 S too. My Z6 is dedicated to MW/nightscape photography, but still not astro-modified (can't find where to do it in my region).
I also need to stress out the good construction quality of these lenses, and the Z6: they are resistant. I've recently be very clumsy (and stupid) and let my Z6 with the 35mm on fall from ~2m (6.5 feet) on a very hard surface, with rocks. After 3 years of going out at night, it finally happened, that silly mistake to not securely attach the camera to the tripod - 3am was surely helping to make that mistake. Always, always, double-check your camera is securely attached. The lens had the cap on, and while dew shield and the cap flew away, the lens was fine, just a small scratch on the side, picture quality is still amazing. The Z6 itself was protected with a L-Bracket, which surely saved it - the card slot opened with the shock, and the rear screen was cracked everywhere... I was desperate then I remembered that, for some reason, I did install a screen protection on that camera: the first time ever I did that. I removed it and... not a scratch on the screen. I can't recommend strong enough to have a screen protection installed (a thick 9H one). It's inexpensive and can save you. Of course, now I have one on all my cameras :) I cannot explain how big of a relief it was to not break anything when it should have been a doom day.
Wow, what a great story. I'm really pleased that your camera and lens survived that fall. It just goes to show how good this Nikon mirrorless gear is. Appreciate you watching.
On the subject of crop sensor cameras, I watched a video a few nights ago about using speed boosters on crop sensor mirrorless cameras to get (near) full frame image performance. I don't have a mirrorless camera, but that capability definitely has me intrigued. When I make the jump to mirrorless, I may opt for a less expensive crop sensor body if I can't find any good deals on a full frame.
The guy doing the video didn't address issues that nighttime photographers have to be aware of, like pixel density, but it's still an intriguing thought to be able to cheat ourselves into full frame. He reported minor issues with flaring and fringing, but that seemed to occur only if a direct light source was in the frame.
So, when and if you do discuss lens options for crop sensor cameras, it would be great to know your thoughts about using a speed booster.
Yes speed boosters have been around for a while and are primarily useful for video work from what I've seen. I reckon they'd introduce a lot of unwanted coma and aberrations for shooting the stars. Lots of Panasonic shooters use them with Canon or Sigma lenses.
Make sure to check Olympus also. They have lots of nice features.On a newer camera bodys like EM1 Mark3 you have Handheld High-Res Mode 50MP and Tripod High-Res Mode 80MP and doing 8 shots stacking in the same time for less image noise and more dinamic range.You also have Starry Sky AF (auto focus on stars).Time lapse, live composition for star trails and fireworks shots, exposure of up to 60 sec and so much more.On my old EM5 Mark2 i have only tripod high-res mode 64MP.Lens are also nice and cheap :)
Thx, an excellent video👌
Thanks so much for watching Ton.
No mention of the biggest heavyweights for astrophotography? Tamron 35mm f/1.4, Sigma 40mm f/1.4 Art, Sigma 135mm f/1.8. They might not be the cheapest options, but they blow the pants off most of the lenses you've mentioned in terms of performance.
I did make mention of the first 2 lenses in my updated video on this topic. The Sigma 135mm is perhaps a bit long to be considered an astro landscape lens.
Smartphones camera have 1.7 lens. Is it possible to use them on astrophotography?
Yes it is possible but they have incredibly small sensors, so there's a lot of pixel manipulation going on to get a good night image. I've never shot using a phone.
Yes 👍🏻😂 I have seen guys take astro pics with some variants of smartphones
I am in the market for a 35mm lens for Astro and would like to know if the Nikon mirrorless 35mm S lens is worth buying. Any issues that you have come across? This past weekend I shot with my Nikon 50mm f1.8 dslr lens and it was surprisingly good! But, I can see how a 35mm would fit into the sweet spot in many situations. Cheers!
I love the Nikon 35mm f1.8S lens. All of the Z mount lenses are excellent.
Wonderful, thanks! I recently bought the 20mm Z lens and it is great!@@nightscapeimages.richard
hello from the motherland . great video😄
I'm very pleased you enjoyed it Arc.
@@nightscapeimages.richard cheers i think u may hav swayed me away from a 14 mm to a 20 or a 24 mm samyang or a second hand sigma art , which are the best do u think .thanks i hav a canon 6d
Great !
Thanks so much for watching.
Thank you!
I love how 35mm and above brings in the background and makes the Milky Way so much bigger. But its hard to work with these types of lenses. If you want to include a bit more view you are stuck with shooting panorama manually and later on stitching it. There are always pros and cons to anything and everything. We as individuals have to decide what we want, like, etc.
Yes all very good points indeed. The good thing is that the creative control is with us with so many options.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Yes it is indeed. You are a one of a kind. Always looking forward to your uploads and point of view.
Hi Richard, want to upgrade from Moveshootmove to a decent tracker. I would appreciate if you can advise or make a video of which tracker to buy and how to polor align in southern hemisphere. Thanks
I'll have to do more videos regarding trackers. I have bothg the sky watcher star adventurer and the ioptron sky guider pro. Both excellent trackers. There are features that one has better than the other and visa versa. I lean towards the ioptron with the ipolar camera for easy polar alignment.
I like the 20mm
Yes it's a beautiful lens
Ótimo vídeo! Aqui no Brazil nossa moeda é super desvalorizada, sempre pagamos por volta de 5 ou 7 vezes a mais nos equipamentos, então qualquer uma dessas lentes é quase missão impossível. Eu atualmente estou usando uma Canon 6D + Rokinon 14mm e sempre uso em f/4 pra ganhar mais nitidez, mas em locais muito escuro acaba ficando ruim. Em breve vou comprar uma Sigma art 14mm 1.8 e Rokinon 24mm 1.4 de um amigo que mora em outro pais, acho uma boa opção para as DSLR
Thanks for watching Fabricio. I think those lenses are good options for you.
The video clips that show you shooting photos at night with a bokeh of stars in the background, did you process that before adding it to your main video or am I not doing something right when I'm shooting at night? Because all I see on my camera screen is super faint stars and darkness, plus any foreground light that I may have.
Hey Holly, thanks so much for watching. There are very few cameras that are capable of capturing that live video footage at night showing the stars and milky way. I'm using the Sony A7S3 with the Sony 24mm f1.4GM lens. It's not added to or edited from original.
I am still wanting to get the Nikon Z 14-30 f/4 lens. And I am unsure if I want the 20 or 24mm z mount lens to use for aurora and milky way photography. I have the 24-70 f/4 lens on my Z6II and I own the 70-200 f2.8 lens.
They are all good lenses John, but there is a big light gathering advantage for the f1.8 lenses for faint night shooting.
Thanks once again ;)
You're very welcome Jimmy. Thanks for watching.
Great, unbiased & informative. My thoughts are very similar. I found that anything under 20mm has its limitations, but I am not a fan of stitching, especially blue hour foregrounds and skies with double star patterns in post (Photoshop does that sometimes, I wonder if cropping the edges would improve that, otherwise Affinity astro stack works a bit better).
Being unable to shell A$ 2,500 on a high end 14mm for my system however, I use the 35mm 1.4 from Sigma, which I got new for under 1000 Dollaroos and I find very sharp with little distortion. If I win the lottery, I might get the new 20mmf1.4 from Sigma.
Anyone ever used a shift adapter or for astro? I can never be bothered using a pan-head.
Cheers from the South West, hope you're not too cold!
Hey Rod, thanks heaps for your insights. I think you're absolutely correct in saying that we need lenses that suit our particular method of shooting and editing. Some lenses are easier to work with for sure. I'm not sure what you mean by double star patterns .. Maybe Moire ..???
@@nightscapeimages.richard Ah, I mean artefacts after stitching, I get repeating star patterns (as in not stiched accurately, despite clean and consistent focus, exposure, symmetry, etc.) sometimes even with 50% overlap. As a matter of fact it seems that too many pictures confuse the software. Only in Photoshop CC, and I reckon I am an experienced user. Not a drama, but weird. I would love to use a shift adapter for a 3x pano with the 35mm and get away with fewer pictures to combine. Also easier in the dark with cold fingers or surrounded by mozzies, I guess.
Have a great day :-)
Very good video Richard, I follow you about 2 years and thanks for your informations about this incredible nightly world. Actually I'm looking for a new lens, my actually set lens is 20mm f1.8g, 16 35 f/4, 24 70 f/2.8 all this lens are g mount for reflex and I also have a Nikon Z6II astro modified, but the only good lens that I have for stars is 20mm f/1.8G that I use with FTZ, the 24 70 f/2.8 is a great aperture, good sharpness, but in every frame there is a "circle" a little bit more bright and the white balance is a little bit different between inside and outside the circle, this make me crazy about PP, the 16 35 f/4 is not good at all, great difference between center and corners, also focus, however I wonted to ask you if you noticed differences between the 20mm f/1.8S and 20m f/1.8G mount because with my G version I noticed a little bit comas on the corners frame. Thank for your time
Thanks so much for watching Sergio. The 20mm f1.8Z mount is considerably sharper and has better coma performance compared to the G version. I think your problem with the "circle" is to do with the astro modification rather than the lens.
@@nightscapeimages.richard ...so I think to change two lens at least and buy the 20 f/1.8s and then I follow your adwise about 14 24 f/2.8s (at the appropriate time) rather than a 14/16mm lens of any brand...the 14 24 f/2.8s at 24mm for nightscapes is good? The circle, it seems to me, appears only on 24 70mm, not in other lens, if the cause is by astro modification I think appears in each lens, right?
@@sergiovicenzino2754 I'm not 100% sure about the circle as I've not seen or heard of it before. Have you seen this circle on another camera body using that lens ..???
@@nightscapeimages.richard I think this problem is how the lens was designed as inner zoom movement, because the circle is different between 24 and 35 mm for example, however I'll try with my D810 to compare. Thank you Richard for your time and I waiting for your next video. 😄👋👋
THANKYOU...
Thanks so much for watching.
You haven't mentioned the Nikon Z 14-30mm S lens.
Can it be used for astro on a small budget.
Yes it can be used but I would never recommend an f4 lens for nightscape photography.
@@nightscapeimages.richard I have the 14-30mm F4 but I bought the older Nikon 20mm F1.8
What are ur views on samyang 24mm f1.8 lense. They are marketing it as lense for astrophotography
It looks like a really good lens but only available in Sony E mount.
I just traded my gh5 with a bunch of lenses for the E mount 24mm 1.4
You'll love that 24mm f1.4 Kevin
Fuji Xt3 user, any recommendations for aps-c users?
Thx 🙏🏽
A lot of people use the Samyang 12mm f2 for the XT3 with great success. Small, light and budget price. Other than that the Sigma 16mm f1.4 is popular.
@@nightscapeimages.richard thx 🙏🏽
Please help.
Just specifically for the milky way what about the Sony 20mm 1.8 it's around $800.00
You said sometimes the 1.4 mm have some issues. So what about this lens? This looks like a great lens for that purpose. What do you think please help?
Sorry for the late response. I like the Sony 20mm f1.8 . .I have this lens.
So do you feel this will be a good purchase? Just for my Milky Way? I know Sony makes the best lenses.
I have the 50 mm prime1.8 also incredible lens.
@@Heli4213 Yes it's a great milky way lens. Lots of people use it.
Awesome. Ordered
Lens came🙂🙂🙂🙂
👋 from 🇨🇦
Thanks for watching Rick
❤👍❤👍❤👌💯🙏👌
👌👌👌👌💕💕💕💕💕
Nikon z:
14-24 f2.8 s
20 f1.8 s
24 f1.8 s
35 f1.8 s
50 f1.2 s
Sony e:
Sony 14 f1.8 gm
Sony 12-24 f2.8 gm
Sony 16-35 f2.8 gm
Sigma 14-24 f2.8 art
Sigma 20 f1.4 art (new dg dn)
Sigma 24 f1.4 art (new dg dn)
Sigma 28 f1.4 art
Longer focal lenght have wider fisical aperture; 20 to 35 are best for collecting light.
Ultra wide angol are fine too, but not as good as a nice 24.
That's a fantastic list of lenses my friend. Thanks for watching.
Still find it weird how photography people keep rating aperture in focal ratio.
Thanks so much for watching.
so, you need all the primes..... got it.
Well typically you'll get faster apertures on prime lenses. And they are also usually cheaper than zooms.
@@nightscapeimages.richard joshing you. Keep up the great vids and pics.
@@Qwiv All good mate