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No pictures today but after seeing this picture of Orion I was wondering if anyone here had ever used the SMC Pentax-DA 35mm F2.4 AL plastic fantastic for astro. It would likely give a similar framing and with astrotracer I should be able to get tracking in the 1 to 2 minute range so it has that going for it. Also being reasonably fast at f/2.4 is another plus for it.

So what I am wondering is have any of you used it for astro and at what point does it start getting good? I found a few shots of it used for astro but only one really nice one and it looks good but there wasn't any EXIF for it and what was in the frame were really bright objects near dusk so a higher f-stop could have been used which papers over a lot of issues if there are any. All the others looked like they missed the focus or had trailing.

I have this lens and some time when the clouds leave I want to go after a nice wide shot of Orion but would want to spend more time actually shooting than dorking around trying to find out where the lens is at it's best for astro.

I have it but haven't been using it a lot for astronomy. The only real effort is here:



Slight crop on this one. Shot wide open at f/2.4. Considerable amount of CA. I think it would do pretty well on Orion. The only reason I don't use it more is that I mostly do nightscape with the Samyang 16 or go deeper with my A50/1.4. The 35 cannot really compete with those lenses.

At least in that image it isn't those huge god awful purple halos that the DFA 100/2.8 WR macro produces. I usually prefer going deep with things in the 200mm to 400mm range but was struck by that picture of orion and want to take my own stab at one. I'm not sure if I can frame it up with my A50/1.2 but if I can't the plastic fantistic is the next widest I own which I know will hold it. I would prefer the 50/1.2 as it is sharper and a lot faster since I could stop it down 2 stops and still be just as fast as the plastic fantastic is wide open.Having the tighter framing of the 50/1.2 would also allow more detail to come through as well which is another reason I want to try it first but want a fall back just in case.