Hey all,
Since you were all kind enough to help me choose a wide angle lens for shooting the stars, I thought I'd come back and share my impressions of the 14mm f/2.8 Samyang/Rokinon lens. I bought it from Cameta Camera the day before Thanksgiving so I'd have it for my trip to Pennsylvania.
It's a well-made lens. I don't feel like I'm holding something cheap. The lens cover is ENORMOUS to protect that large front element. Focusing is easy enough with the Pentax focus-assist feature, and because it's such a wide angle lens, area of focus is large anyway. I love the hard-stop at infinity, which makes it a whole lot easier when you're fumbling around in the dark.
In traveling to PA, I kept up my picture-a-day project... I only took my Pentax K-x with me and left my Leica cameras at home. On Friday I took this shot near my uncles house
I love the way ultra wide lenses tend to capture dynamic skies, and not to far from my aunts house where we were staying, I came across this scene. We were looking for a good place to shoot the stars later that night and I would have loved to use this area, but it was semi-private property and the owners weren't home to ask.
That night, the skies were too cloudy to try to shoot...
So the next night we went down to a friend of my Aunt's house. It was in a great area... elevated and isolated... and very very dark! Little did I know (and have found out since) that some areas of PA are considered the darkest in the country and GREAT for stargazing and astrophotography!
I very happy with these for a first-attempt, but I've still got a lot to learn.
These did require quite a bit of post-processing... especially levels to get the skies dark against the stars. I've seen photos like this straight out of the camera and that's my goal, to get better shots to start off with. I'm not sure if my problem was still a little light polution, settings, noise or what... though I will say, the K-x help up well at ISO 3200.
Being that I live in NY, finding dark skies to keep practicing is a bit difficult... but I will be getting a stargazer pass (that allows me into state parks at night) and trying more in the future!
The 14mm f/2.8 Samyang was the PERFECT lens for this!