[W412ren]

In fact its because each line of the sunstars may looks "doubled", its very visible around f/8 and f/11, less after but the lines are never thin.
But even if they are not the best looking sunstars, I ended up appreciating the ones of 11-18mm.

This one is f/11


The others I don't remember but probably but probably f/11 for first one, and f/16 for the last one

That third image is very nice - sunstar fits in beautifully with the sunflowers :-)

[UncleVanya]

That third image is very nice - sunstar fits in beautifully with the sunflowers :-)

I have to agree! That image is superb and I’m glad to know I’m not the only one pushing this lens to do this.

---------- Post added 11-17-21 at 02:14 PM ----------

Something else I’ve noticed is that since these are shots of the sun I did most of my composing on the lcd. I found it showed me sunstars at lower f stops that weren’t showing up in playback. This seems to be the result of contrast enhancements made to make focus peaking easier to see. I suspect I can post process those images and get better sunstars if I try hard enough. Thoughts?

[W412ren]

I'm on holiday in Devon this week but have have been following the thread for a while. Finally today our trip out to Hookney Tor met with the right weather to add a couple of test shots. These are at 12mm, f11, ISO 100 with the DA* 11-18mm on the K-3 iii - no filter.

The first is with the sun in the fame so just testing flare. The second is a crop of the third positioned to generate the sunburst.
Not too shabby overall but I think I'll be hanging on to the DA 15 as well

[UncleVanya]

I'm on holiday in Devon this week but have have been following the thread for a while. Finally today our trip out to Hookney Tor met with the right weather to add a couple of test shots. These are at 12mm, f11, ISO 100 with the DA* 11-18mm on the K-3 iii - no filter.

The first is with the sun in the fame so just testing flare. The second is a crop of the third positioned to generate the sunburst.
Not too shabby overall but I think I'll be hanging on to the DA 15 as well

Nice shots!

[cport]

not as dominant as those from SMC DA 15 or 12-24/4




but this lens good for other reasons and I really love it

[Slavek]

Honestly, I became a bit confused with the lens after some time of using it and shortly I switched for K-1 and 15-30. The 11-18 is superbly sharp with no CA even in harsh conditions. Sunstar is not as from DA15Ltd but not bad at all.
Just a test image when I got my copy few years back... But I was pleased with the sunstar. I expected to be worse due to the modern diaphragm.


And few while shooting night city.







BUT. The flares and coma is really bad. When the sun is in the FOV or near it its impossible to do one-shot pictures. Loss of contrast, rainbows, bright spots… You need to stack images in PP with corresponding shots with finger covering the sun. When shooting astrophotography wide open, the corners are unusable. Coma is very prominent at f2.8 :-(

[AlanM]

I agree that there is coma in the corners but I don't find it to objectionable. If you look closely, there are some small star bursts radiating from Jupiter. Planet bursts?
12x15s stacked in Sequator, F2.8, 12mm

Attached Images

 

[Slavek]

Maybe there is certain variability between different copies (alignment of optical elements). But the coma is very prominent for my taste - definitely for * lens that was advertised for astrophotography :-( The issue is even worse if you stack images taken from tripod or built-in astrotracer. At least I have K-1 + 15-30 for the main job. K3II + 11-18 is shooting mainly to capture different part of a sky for possible bright meteors :-) Its not a bad lens at all! But the coma should be corrected better in my opinion. Flares are easily manageable in PP if you don't forget to take shots with light source covered. The coma is much better than that of DFA*50, though (that coma is terrible even on APSC body - but yes, its focused to portraiture :-) - but that is another story).
Yes - bright planets and stars like Jupiter, Venus, Betelgeuse or Sirius can make wonderful planetbursts and starbursts :-) I really liked those from old manual lenses like M50/1.4 if you close them down a little bit :-)