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Milky Way lens

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 10:34 pm
by flip2350
I currently have the Nikon 14-24 Nikon lens. Would a faster lens be a better choice. I don't quite understand coma on faster lense like 1.4's.
What results and lens does this group suggest. Also recent articles or other info. Planning on a trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons in May this year.
Thanks

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 9:27 am
by E.J. Peiker
Lonely Speck is a great site for this sort of information, tutorials and much more:
https://www.lonelyspeck.com/lonely-spec ... hy-lenses/

Re: Milky Way lens

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 4:08 pm
by MND
Although it's not included in the Lonely Speck list as its reasonably new, the Irix 15mm get good reviews for Astro on some sites.

Re: Milky Way lens

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 6:07 pm
by Gary Irwin
flip2350 wrote:I currently have the Nikon 14-24 Nikon lens. Would a faster lens be a better choice. I don't quite understand coma on faster lense like 1.4's.
That's a great question...wish I had a good answer. I started a little astro landscape work with the 20mm f1.8. Not a bad little lens but difficult (extremely touchy) to focus even using live view, and coma is an issue. Decided to buy the 14-24G for a wider "all-in-one" lens. Focusing is a bit tighter/more precise as you know but coma is still an issue and of course f2.8 is "barely" fast enough for non-demanding astro. I've seen the site that E.J. suggested and it's got some great info, but the examples are not all that impressive IMO. Shooting great quality wide angle is tough....shooting great quality wide-angle astro is even tougher it seems.

Re: Milky Way lens

Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 8:23 pm
by Scott Fairbairn
flip2350 wrote:I currently have the Nikon 14-24 Nikon lens. Would a faster lens be a better choice. I don't quite understand coma on faster lense like 1.4's.
What results and lens does this group suggest. Also recent articles or other info. Planning on a trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons in May this year.
Thanks

Check out this site for lens reviews that test coma. Here is a link to the Samyang/Rokinon 14mmf2.8.
https://www.lenstip.com/239.7-Lens_revi ... atism.html

And the samyang/rokinon 24mmf1.4
https://www.lenstip.com/330.7-Lens_revi ... bokeh.html

Coma is an optical problem that shows up in Astrophotography. The two links above show a lens with low coma and one with higher coma levels. A fast lens is preferable to keep star trailing to a minimum, but coma is usually a problem with faster lenses.

Re: Milky Way lens

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 11:04 am
by andre paul
flip2350 wrote:I currently have the Nikon 14-24 Nikon lens. Would a faster lens be a better choice. I don't quite understand coma on faster lense like 1.4's.
What results and lens does this group suggest. Also recent articles or other info. Planning on a trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons in May this year.
Thanks
the 14-24mm is a top notch lens for astrolandscapes. you should be fine with this lens.
many top notch astrolandscapers still prefer this lens to others.
the new sigma art 14mm promises to big a nice lens but i am not going for it as the nikon is already very nice for astro. if a made my living upon astro i might consider it ... ;-) 
remember, the most important feature of an optical instrument including here a photographic lens is the light capturing power. aperture is just one of the parts in this equation.
dividing focal lens by aperture will give you the exit pupil of the lens ( there are other synonyms for this ) which roughly shows you the light capturing power .
at 14mm, going from 2,8 to 1.8 will increase light capture, but the step in not tha thuge ( from 5,0 to 7,7). and coma will increase.
at 14mm i would stick with the nikon as you already have one.

at 24mm the story is different. i use the 24mm rokinon at this time. here 1.4 gives a boost in light capturing power. ( 17,1 )


good luck!

andre