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(U)WA suggestion for starscapes
#1
Dear all,

 

my current mirrorless arsenal includes the following lenses for E-mount (APS-C): SEL1018, SEL1670Z, SEL70200G, plus the Sigma 30 F2.8. I'm quite happy for landscapes.

 

I'm definitely not an astrophotographer. I've done probably no more than half-a-dozen starscape photos in fifteen years, even though I like them. I don't have the patience for complex setups and I hate cold  Wink .

 

Now, I just received as a gift the Astrophotographer of the Year book and I was intrigued by the fact that one of the photos was made with a NEX-5, high ISO and a short exposure time (10 secs). Let's say that I could occasionally try some starscape shot if the required exposure time is shorter than a minute. I didn't think the noise figure of the NEX-6/A6000 sensors were ok for a shot with ISO in the thousands, but perhaps I was wrong...

 

So I'm wondering about whether a fast prime could help me. Actually the Samyang 12mm f/2 is two stops faster than my SEL1018, and sounds interesting. Alternatives could be the Touit 12mm f/2.8 (even though is much more expensive for one less stop), or possibly some other legacy lens by means of adapter.

 

Your thoughts? Did somebody of you try the Samyang 12mm? And possibly compare to the SEL1018, quality-wise?
stoppingdown.net

 

Sony a6300, Sony a6000, Sony NEX-6, Sony E 10-18mm F4 OSS, Sony Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS, Sony FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS, Sigma 150-600mm Æ’/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary, Samyang 12mm Æ’/2, Sigma 30mm F2.8 DN | A, Meyer Gorlitz Trioplan 100mm Æ’/2.8, Samyang 8mm Æ’/3.5 fish-eye II | Zenit Helios 44-2 58mm Æ’/2 
Plus some legacy Nikkor lenses.
#2
Without seeing the image in question it is hard to say much about it.

 

[Image: p3-s.jpg]

 

Just as an example of what is possible, here's an old image I took from my garden. The skies are badly light polluted so I had to use a filter to remove much of it. You can see, faintly, the milky way here. I was hoping to catch the perseids so it is no artistic shot.

 

From my notes it appears I used the Samyang 8mm fisheye for this. Exif doesn't note the aperture but the lens at fastest was f/3.5 and it looks pretty bad at that. Given the poor star shapes it is very possible I was wide open. 30 second exposure at ISO1600 on Canon 7D. So yes, it is very possible to get a lot of stars at this kind of exposure, and with some effort it could be a lot better than my example. It would help a lot if you can get away from light pollution. If you can't, there are some light pollution blocking filters that may help, but you will need more work to balance the colour afterwards.

<a class="bbc_url" href="http://snowporing.deviantart.com/">dA</a> Canon 7D2, 7D, 5D2, 600D, 450D, 300D IR modified, 1D, EF-S 10-18, 15-85, EF 35/2, 85/1.8, 135/2, 70-300L, 100-400L, MP-E65, Zeiss 2/50, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300/2.8, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Olympus E-P1, Panasonic 20/1.7, Sony HX9V, Fuji X100.
#3
Hi,

     I think the larger aperture the better, I've not found that IQ/sharpness is as noticeable as noise, if you have a fifty 1.4 it's worth ago just to see (albeit too narrow a FL), but yeah I like the look of the Samyang 12mm

F2 for astro, a good wide angle and probably decent enough sharpness wide open, every stop helps,  also you won't break the bank buying it. The lack of AF at that FL is of little consequence!

 

  I have the Pentax astrostar tracer 0GPS1  which enables the shake reduction system of the sensor to move compensating for the Earth's rotation, which gives decent results for up to 2 mins. exposure, it can take up to 5mins but I've found trails at that point, this shot was about 60 secs. when the Perseids were shooting!

  


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