Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

[Metalliogre]

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!

[TTMartin]

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@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!

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Canon EF-S 10-18 IS STM

[Metalliogre]

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

[kvbarkley]

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.

[Metalliogre]

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

[TTMartin · Accepted solution]

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.

[Waddizzle]

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@TTMartin wrote:
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.

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"Use the Force, Luke."

Taking a handheld one second exposure is a pretty neat trick.  Don't try that at home folks.  Most folks will need a tripod for one second exposures, seriously.

As for taking multiple shots of long exposures and stacking them, that would test the skills of a Jedi Master.

[TTMartin]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

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@TTMartin wrote:
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.

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"Use the Force, Luke."

Taking a handheld one second exposure is a pretty neat trick.  Don't try that at home folks.  Most folks will need a tripod for one second exposures, seriously.

As for taking multiple shots of long exposures and stacking them, that would test the skills of a Jedi Master.

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At 10mm using the 1/focal length x 1.6 rule of thumb for handheld photography gives you 1/16 shutter speed without image stabilization. The EF-S 10-18 IS STM has image stabilization rated at 4 stops, the puts you at a 1 second exposure.

Stacking software automatically aligns multiple photos so if normal post processing skills are now consider Jedi Master skills, then I guess that second part would be true. 

[Waddizzle]

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@TTMartin wrote:

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@Waddizzle wrote:

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@TTMartin wrote:

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"Use the Force, Luke."

Taking a handheld one second exposure is a pretty neat trick.  Don't try that at home folks.  Most folks will need a tripod for one second exposures, seriously.

As for taking multiple shots of long exposures and stacking them, that would test the skills of a Jedi Master.

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At 10mm using the 1/focal length x 1.6 rule of thumb for handheld photography gives you 1/16 shutter speed without image stabilization. The EF-S 10-18 IS STM has image stabilization rated at 4 stops, the puts you at a 1 second exposure.

Stacking software automatically aligns multiple photos so if normal post processing skills are now consider Jedi Master skills, then I guess that second part would be true. 

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I think your example at 10mm is closer to the exception than the rule.  Most folks would still need a tripod to take a 1/16 second exposure. 

As far as stacking software goes, if you don't have sharp, well focused pictures to start with, then the automatic software will struggle, or even fail, to stack your images because it will be somewhere between uncertain and difficult to find common reference points.  The user would likely have to have manuall select the points of reference between successive images.

[TTMartin]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

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@TTMartin wrote:

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@Waddizzle wrote:

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@TTMartin wrote:

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"Use the Force, Luke."

Taking a handheld one second exposure is a pretty neat trick.  Don't try that at home folks.  Most folks will need a tripod for one second exposures, seriously.

As for taking multiple shots of long exposures and stacking them, that would test the skills of a Jedi Master.

---

At 10mm using the 1/focal length x 1.6 rule of thumb for handheld photography gives you 1/16 shutter speed without image stabilization. The EF-S 10-18 IS STM has image stabilization rated at 4 stops, the puts you at a 1 second exposure.

Stacking software automatically aligns multiple photos so if normal post processing skills are now consider Jedi Master skills, then I guess that second part would be true. 

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I think your example at 10mm is closer to the exception than the rule.  Most folks would still need a tripod to take a 1/16 second exposure. 

As far as stacking software goes, if you don't have sharp, well focused pictures to start with, then the automatic software will struggle, or even fail, to stack your images because it will be somewhere between uncertain and difficult to find common reference points.  The user would likely have to have manuall select the points of reference between successive images.

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Umm, I can't do it now, but, when I was younger shooting 35mm film I could pretty consistently handhold a 50mm non-IS lens at 1/15 of a second. A 10mm lens with 4 stop IS should be no problem for a one second exposure for someone with steady hands and good technique. 

Why wouldn't the multiple photos be sharp? That's the point of shooting and stacking multiple photos. Stacking photos lets you shoot at a faster shutter speed and emulate one photo taken at a slower shutter speed.