topic Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens in EF & RF Lenses

Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

Metalliogre — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:02:12 GMT

Good Morning!

I am in search for a nice wide angle low light lens I can use on my 70D. I would prefer something under $500. I am looking to capture photos of the night sky and landscapes at all times of the day/night. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

TTMartin — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 15:30:33 GMT

@Metalliogre wrote:
Good Morning!

I am in search for a nice wide angle low light lens I can use on my 70D. I would prefer something under $500. I am looking to capture photos of the night sky and landscapes at all times of the day/night. Any suggestios would be appreciated!

Canon EF-S 10-18 IS STM

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

Metalliogre — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 15:36:41 GMT

That doesn't seem very useful in low light situations. Is this something that you might of shot the night sky with?

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

kvbarkley — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 15:59:22 GMT

You are the one who wanted "under $500." A bit over your budget is the 10-22 which has an extra stop of Aperture. They should work fine for night photography.

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

Metalliogre — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:06:47 GMT

I said I would 'prefer', never said I had a budget. Nevertheless, thank you for your response.

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

TTMartin — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:12:16 GMT

Yes, it can do low light landscapes. First low light can be corrected for with slower shutter speeds. Between the wide angle and image stabilization with good technique you can handhold full one second exposures.

Also low light can be corrected by taking multiple photos and stacking them.

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

Metalliogre — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:14:39 GMT

You are absolutely right! I totally forgot about that. Thank you!

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

TCampbell — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 17:19:41 GMT

There are a few Rokinon lenses that are preferred for night landscapes for a few reasons.

1) They're cheap

2) They're completely manual (no electronics, no focus motor... even the aperture is the old manual ring just like the lens we shot back in the 1970's and earlier).

3) While these lenses aren't particularly good for most common photography (due to the all manual nature), the lack of elecronics (which no astrophotographer could use anyway because you cant use auto-focus at night and you're typically always shooting wide-open anyway) they actually do have surprisingly decent optics (much better than I would have expected given the low price tag.)

There's a Rokinon 10 or 14mm f/2.8 lens which are both under $500. There's a 24mm f/1.4 that's a bit over $500 (but still less than $600) but f/1.4 collects four times as much light as an f/2.8.

The Sigma "Art" lenses are also getting good reviews from astrophotographers, but those cost quite a bit more.

I have a Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L USM II... but it's not cheap.

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

ebiggs1 — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 16:33:30 GMT

Metalliogre,

Good Morning, to you!

Check out the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art Lens for Canon. It is around $800 bucks and is probably the best lens made in this class. I am fully impressed with it. The 'Art' series lenses from Sigma are truly impressive.

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

RobertTheFat — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 17:34:49 GMT

ebiggs1 wrote:
Metalliogre,
Good Morning, to you!

Check out the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art Lens for Canon. It is around $800 bucks and is probably the best lens made in this class. I am fully impressed with it. The 'Art' series lenses from Sigma are truly impressive.

How is that a wide-angle lens on a 70D?

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

Waddizzle — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 18:13:56 GMT

I think the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens is a best buy. It is fast and wide, which is good for astrophotography. Despite being a fully manual lens, it is also great for landscapes. Because most landscape shots are of subjects that are not close to the camera, you can dial in the hyperfocal distance on the lens, and shoot away.

Everything more than a few feet from the lens will be in perfect focus.

Both photos were shot with a 7D Mark II. Folks who live far from large urban areas are lucky. I live in NYC, which means it is a several hours drive to find dark sky, suitable for capturing the Milky Way.

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

ebiggs1 — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 16:20:01 GMT

Bobby my boy,

He said, "I am in search for a nice wide angle low light lens..."

He did not say, how wide? So the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art Lens for Canon fills the bill as a, "nice wide angle low light lens", does it not? Even up to 30mil, it is still a WA lens, is it not?

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

ebiggs1 — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 16:27:09 GMT

You better stop it ! You are going to cause me to buy a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens.

Actually the only thing that has stopped me was Rokinon's horrendous lack of QC. My astro buds have them and some have had to return them several times to get a good one. I understand Rokinon has tried and made some great efforts to improve the QC. I wonder what happens to all the returned lenses? Do they just get shipped out to the next unsuspecting buyer? Or are they sent back to Rokinin? Hmmm?

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

RobertTheFat — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 18:26:44 GMT

ebiggs1 wrote:
Bobby my boy,
He said, "I am in search for a nice wide angle low light lens..."

He did not say, how wide? So the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art Lens for Canon fills the bill as a, "nice wide angle low light lens", does it not? Even up to 30mil, it is still a WA lens, is it not?

Not in my book, it isn't. I'll concede that the 14mm Rokinon is a WA on a 70D, but 30mm is straight up normal - nothing remotely wide about it. True APS-C WA zooms top out at around 20mm.

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

Waddizzle — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 18:27:32 GMT

"You better stop it ! You are going to cause me to buy a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens. "

Actually, I use the cinema version of the lens 14mm T3.1. Same lens, but with a declicked aperture, marked as T values.

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

ebiggs1 — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 19:42:54 GMT

Bob
Boston, Massachusetts USA

"Not in my book, ..."

Perhaps you need to update your book, Robert. Anything from 30mil down is considered WA on a cropper.

"True APS-C WA zooms top out at around 20mm."

Oh, the OP wanted a "true" APS-C WA zoom. How could I have misunderstand?

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

ebiggs1 — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 19:44:03 GMT

"Actually, I use the cinema version ..."

Does that indicate the QC is better, too?

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

Waddizzle — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 20:28:07 GMT

@ebiggs1 wrote:
"Actually, I use the cinema version ..."

Does that indicate the QC is better, too?

It might. It might not. Who knows. I've bought three of them, and all three perform better than expected for the price.

I have purchased two of them, 14mm and 85mm, and both are very sharp when you get them dialed in. Another 14mm that i bought for my videographer son is pretty sharp, too. The 85mm is almost as sharp as my EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM. It does show a little CA at the edges of the DOF, which can be easily removed.

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

Metalliogre — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 21:21:12 GMT

I ended up getting the Rokinon 14mm. What do I need to buy to get it to fit my Canon 70D?

Re: Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

Metalliogre — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 21:33:46 GMT

I think someone sold me a Nikon lens when they advertised it being a Canon