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02-08-2008, 03:15 PM   #1
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Wide Angle for Stars

I am going camping/fishing in a few months in the mountains and I think this would be a great time to try some astro-photography. I know what specs I should be looking for but I am having a hard time finding it and curious about the results I could hope to get with what I do find. Is the 31 Limited my best option for a combination of focal length and speed, or will the 35 f/2 serve me just as well? Considering the $600 diffence in the lens, does it even matter? If I can go wide at f/2.8, like Sigma's 14mm or the 17-70mm would that do the trick or is that still too slow?

Any other considerations? Older lenses?

02-08-2008, 03:18 PM   #2
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I just saw Sigma has a 20mm, 24mm and a 28mm f1.8, anyone have these lenses?
02-08-2008, 03:22 PM   #3
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I'm getting a few hundred bucks next week like 700.00 and was kind of wondering the same thing. for Sunsets, Landscapes, Fishing .
02-08-2008, 03:40 PM   #4
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I am going to the Grand Canyon later this year, this may prove to be a very good purchase indeed.

02-08-2008, 05:11 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Buddha Jones Quote
I just saw Sigma has a 20mm, 24mm and a 28mm f1.8, anyone have these lenses?
I have the 20mm and 24mm.

The 20mm is so soft wide open that it is practically useless: why bother lugging this big lens which is not usable below f/3.5, when my FA 20/2.8 is smaller and better?

The 24mm is a great wide-normal lens on a crop camera that I warmly recommend. It is perfectly usable wide open, making it very useful for social gatherings and interior shots. It's also a good landscape lens. As a bonus, it sports a handy close-focus feature, allowing to take pictures of subjects practically touching the front lens. The only drawback is that it's quite big for a 24mm lens: when I put it on my K10d, it feels like I'm holding a Canon lens.

Here are some pictures taken with the Sigma 24/1.8 (sorry, no starry skies):



100% crop from previous picture:






100% crop from previous picture:








Cheers!

Abbazz
02-08-2008, 05:53 PM   #6
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Hi Buddha,

I took some star pics in Italy a while ago with the kit 18-55. Other than the stuff in the way of the shot they came out OK I think. Here's the best of them. It's good enough that I identified a comet in the shot.

Use a wired remote for longer exposures, though.

02-08-2008, 06:13 PM   #7
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For shooting starry night skies, it is better to use a wide angle lens with the least amount of chromatic aberrations, purple fringing and coma. Distortion is obviously not important. That's why the kit lens, which has low CA and PF but quite a lot of distortion would be a good candidate, as stated by Slick.

Cheers!

Abbazz

02-08-2008, 07:40 PM   #8
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Thanks for the pics Abbazz, those are really nice. Sux that the 20mm is not so good, but the 24 does look nice. I guess I will keep searching and reading.
02-09-2008, 01:48 AM   #9
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"Wide angle for stars" - the first thing i thought of is, "I wonder who he's taking pics of that he needs a wide angle, Dolly Parton?"
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