[vikranta]

Any recommendations on a good quality lens for Astrophotography and landscapes? I recently bought a Samyang 35mm F1.4 but I find it is not as wide.

Your inputs will help me immensely. Thanks!

[Na Horuk]

As per all the many other astrophoto threads: Samyang 16mm f2, Samyang 24mm f1.4

[Dlanor Sekao]

Samyang 14mm (FF)......or.......Samyang 16mm (APS-C).......both are really good !

[donpjt]

I have the Samyang 16mm F2 and its pretty good for astrophotography.. Here is a pic I shot last week at Grand canyon North rim..



Its good for landscapes too, if you don't mind the manual focus.. But keep in mind it is only covers the APS-C frame.

[fwcetus]

Of course, just based upon the "Best lens for astrophotography" subject line, the first question I would ask is "What sort of astrophotography?".

Wide angles can, of course, be useful for wide-field astrophotography, but a telephoto, even a long telephoto, might be suited for shooting a "moon portrait" or planetary pix (e.g., Jupiter and its moons), while normal and short tele lenses can work well for constellations and asterisms.

Of course, for most purposes, the lens should well corrected for aberrations.

So the answer to a question such as "What's the best lens for astrophotography", is something such as "Well, it depends...".

[bdery]

For wide angle, the Samyang 16mm, the Pentax 15mm, or if a zoom fits your bill the 16-45 (used) or 16-85 new. Or the 16-50 also. They are all rectilinear and all perform well.

[pepperberry farm]

how about the DA 10-17mm FE?

[VisualDarkness]

There are no lenses even close to the Samyangs in their price range. The 14mm is the bast if you want the widest possible and dont care about filters. The 16mm is a bit brighter instead and takes filters.

[Conqueror]

I have the Samyang 16mm F2 and its pretty good for astrophotography.. Here is a pic I shot last week at Grand canyon North rim..



Its good for landscapes too, if you don't mind the manual focus.. But keep in mind it is only covers the APS-C frame.

Have you had any calibration issues - infinity focus ?

I don't think mine is quite right

[Na Horuk]

I don't think mine is quite right

I think most Samyang lenses have a miscalibated focusing ring. Maybe for Pentax K mount, and UWA lenses even more than others. There are thread about this, and a good youtube video on how to calibrate Samyang 14mm focus ring. I hope the system is the same for other Samyang lenses, because it doesn't seem too difficult.
Also, you can just learn where true infinity focus is on your specific lens. My Samyang 14mm has infinity around 3.2m, and if I use f8, I can zone focus even closer to get hyperfocal. So learn your lens on your camera, maybe even mark down true infinity.
I think service centres might do this, too, but for a fee. And you will be missing your camera and lenses for the time it takes them to calibrate everything.

[donpjt]

Have you had any calibration issues - infinity focus ?

I don't think mine is quite right

The infinity focus mark on the Samyang is not calibrated right, i just test focused and tried a few shots and found the infinity mark, but you should still use the viewfinder to focus for different shots. In fact after my last photo trip, I've been wondering whether my lens has any issues, All my images are sharp, but I've been doing some pixel peeping and I'm not happy with some things I found, but still there's an error in technique. And I've just been using the lens for a couple of weeks, so there is still a learning curve ahead, but overall I think its a great lens.

[gifthorse]

Landscapes and astro....hmmmm.. At the same time or one lens that will do both? How about close-up work, too? I recently acquired (and absolutely love) the Vivitar 28mm f2 close focusing lens and it's great for all three.
Astro...


100% crop


15 seconds at 800 iso


15 seconds at 1600 iso


Orion at 13 seconds 400 iso


60 seconds 1600 iso with the Astrotracer


Landscape






and close-up












All without changing lenses. Stars show some fringing wide open but closing it one single stop solves that. My one complaint would be that the lens is so fast that I have to use a polarizer outdoors in the daytime

[Bringass]

I use the Sigma 17-50 F 2.8, I think is very versatile and sharp!, I do a lot of landscapes and lately, a lot of astrophotography:

[Digitalis]

If you can get past the AF inconsistencies with typical daylight use, the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 is perhaps one of the best astro lens for wide field work.

With this set up and the Pentax O-GPS1



...I got this:

Pentax K5IIs- Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 ART @ f/1.8 ISO 800 30's. Manually focused.

[SKYGZR]

Rokinon-Samyang 16MM f/2 also well respected glass (manual focus only).