[ediewedie]

Going to Iceland in late September. Hoping to get a chance to get a few shots of the aurora. With the K-70, I have a kit 18-135 lens and an old 1981 50mm lens. Hoping to find a good landscape lens for northern lights and some night shots home in the southern U.S. too. Planning on getting a sturdier tripod too
Any suggestions? Thanks!

[DeadJohn]

I recommend something fast and wide for aurora, milky way, and star trails.

The Samyang 14mm f2.8 is IMO your best choice:

• It is sharp at f2.8. There's no need to stop down and lose light to get sharp stars.
• It has a very low amount of coma distortion. "Coma", if you're unfamiliar with that term, causes stars to become stretched ovals or fan-shaped at the edges of the frame. Coma is usually invisible during regular daylight photos and few lens reviews test for it.
• Samyang is manual-focus only, but that's the best way to focus on the night sky, anyway.
• Note that the same lens is also sold under the names Rokinon and Bower. All three of those 14/2.8 lenses are the same design so get whatever is least expensive. (Pentax also has a 14/2.8 but that's a completely different lens not as good for astrophotography)

[ramseybuckeye]

I've not had the pleasure of shooting the aurora, but the HD DA20-40 Ltd and the HD DA 15 Ltd, are two lens that I like to use for night skies, they are both very good for color and IQ in general. The overall usefulness of the 20-40 is higher, but they are both generally with me. The 15 is very small which increases its portability.

[photoptimist]

Minor, but important tip: DO NOT USE ANY FILTERS ON YOUR LENSES!

The parallel surfaces of filters and perfect monochromatic nature of aurora light conspire to create concentric interference rings in the image.[https://jufa.medium.com/beware-newtons-rings-3cbfbd7228aa]

[cdd29]

As DeadJohn mentioned the Samyang 14mm f2.8 is a good one. Wide angle & fast is what you want. I use a Sigma 15mm 2.8.

[UncleVanya]

(Pentax also has a 14/2.8 but that's a completely different lens not as good for astrophotography)

Can you elaborate as to what the differences are and where the DA 14 falls short? I own a DA 14 but I’ve never used it for Astro. I also have very little Astro experience. I am mostly interested as it is something o may venture into and I already have the DA 14.

[Grimmus]

There is also a Samyang 16mm F2 to get another stop of light in. Consider also the excellent DA*11-18 mm - its the bees knees!

[DeadJohn]

Can you elaborate as to what the differences are and where the DA 14 falls short? I own a DA 14 but I’ve never used it for Astro. I also have very little Astro experience. I am mostly interested as it is something o may venture into and I already have the DA 14.

The Pentax DA 14 has much more coma distortion than the Samyang 14. This photo below is not mine; it was put online by a Pentax 14 owner. Look at the bright star near the top-left corner; the star has been distorted into a triangular fan shape. That's coma distortion. Lesser amounts of coma are visible on many other stars. Coma is not something that's easily correctable with technique or processing. (click for the original photo on Flickr)

For anyone who already owns a wide angle lens, I suggest testing your lens for night photography. Any lens is good enough to learn on. Maybe the lens you have is an especially good copy. But if you are interested in getting a lens specifically for wide angle night sky photos, the Samyang/Rokinon/Bower 14/f2.8 is a good choice and much less expensive than the Pentax 11-18 or 15-30.

[yucatanPentax]

Thank you to everyone who contributed. Nice to learn something new -- I haven't done star or night sky photography before -- and the information here was concise and helpful. Much appreciated!

[kypfer]

Look at the bright star near the top-left corner; the star has been distorted into a triangular fan shape. That's coma distortion. Lesser amounts of coma are visible on many other stars. Coma is not something that's easily correctable with technique or processing.

Many thanks for this descriptive example I have a couple of wide-aperture lenses that exhibit this characteristic and have wondered what caused it. At least I now know that it's something that might be expected, if not welcomed

For anyone who already owns a wide angle lens, I suggest testing your lens for night photography. Any lens is good enough to learn on. Maybe the lens you have is an especially good copy. But if you are interested in getting a lens specifically for wide angle night sky photos, the Samyang/Rokinon/Bower 14/f2.8 is a good choice and much less expensive than the Pentax 11-18 or 15-30.

I'll be looking into one of these 14/f2.8 lenses.

[MossyRocks]

I recommend something fast and wide for aurora, milky way, and star trails.

The Samyang 14mm f2.8 is IMO your best choice:

• It is sharp at f2.8. There's no need to stop down and lose light to get sharp stars.
• It has a very low amount of coma distortion. "Coma", if you're unfamiliar with that term, causes stars to become stretched ovals or fan-shaped at the edges of the frame. Coma is usually invisible during regular daylight photos and few lens reviews test for it.
• Samyang is manual-focus only, but that's the best way to focus on the night sky, anyway.
• Note that the same lens is also sold under the names Rokinon and Bower. All three of those 14/2.8 lenses are the same design so get whatever is least expensive. (Pentax also has a 14/2.8 but that's a completely different lens not as good for astrophotography)

Another lens, and the one I use, is the Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D. In addition to everything you mention it also has very low geometric distortion so if you are going to be stacking shots you will have basically no issues and no artefacts.

Here is an image I took last year with it wide open and my first ever try at shooting the Milky Way:

[UncleVanya]

The Pentax DA 14 has much more coma distortion than the Samyang 14. This photo below is not mine; it was put online by a Pentax 14 owner. Look at the bright star near the top-left corner; the star has been distorted into a triangular fan shape. That's coma distortion. Lesser amounts of coma are visible on many other stars. Coma is not something that's easily correctable with technique or processing. (click for the original photo on Flickr)

Thank you. That’s helpful information. I was curious, in that particular image it seems worse on the left and bottom - I expected coma to be more evenly distributed in all the edges of the frame. Does this image show decentering and coma?

[DeadJohn]

Thank you. That’s helpful information. I was curious, in that particular image it seems worse on the left and bottom - I expected coma to be more evenly distributed in all the edges of the frame. Does this image show decentering and coma?

Good question about decentering. I think it's just a case of fewer bright stars on the right side, so you notice less coma there, rather than a decentering issue.


Here's another example where a very good general-use lens, my FA 43 f1.9, comes up short for astrophotography. It's my fastest lens but has horrible coma. This sample was with the crop K-5 and would be even worse with full frame. It's interesting how the coma pyramids point towards center with the FA 43, and away from center with the earlier DA 14 example.

[UncleVanya]

Good question about decentering. I think it's just a case of fewer bright stars on the right side, so you notice less coma there, rather than a decentering issue.


Here's another example where a very good general-use lens, my FA 43 f1.9, comes up short for astrophotography. It's my fastest lens but has horrible coma. This sample was with the crop K-5 and would be even worse with full frame. It's interesting how the coma pyramids point towards center with the FA 43, and away from center with the earlier DA 14 example.

Very helpful. I am trying to get at least minimally proficient for a Grand Canyon trip this August. It will be a very short trip but I’ve been there before and I plan to go back tomorrow. I’m mainly taking a short trip there to show my wife the canyon and also take a nice night sky shot.

I’ll probably start a thread about my plans and solicit info there for specifics.

[Jan178]

Can´t go too wrong with Samyang 14mm. Pricing is also, well, cheap