That’s why the Rokinon is a good choice but then you have to probably 6 of them and send 5 back because they differ so much. The Sigma 14mm f/1.8 gives you a 1 1/3-stop advantage over the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8, which means you can get an exposure that is 2.5x brighter on the Sigma. I’m going to include full images, center crops, and corner crops for all five lenses below. At 10X magnification in live-view, you should be able to achieve sharp edges on your focusing subject. Both Sigma’s are great art lenses but astrophotography is so demanding and most lenses won’t hold up well wide open. And there is a lot of it too! Remember to adjust your camera settings back to your intended levels for the shot, as it can be easy to leave them as they were during your focus routine. Irix outperformed the Samyang in every way. Hi! Also, the extra stop of light is really helpful for astro if you don’t have a star tracker. I’ve even tested two different copies of the Laowa, both of which were exactly the same in that regard – and I triple checked that the Laowa’s photo in this article was properly focused, which it was. Specifically, the lens that impressed me the most was the Rokinon 14mm f/2.4. The excellent image quality (and low price point) of the original Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 made me willing to overlook its rather poor handling. The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens (also manufactured under the brand names Bower and Samyang) is a popular fast wide angle lens that is very good and affordable, but the quality varies from copy to copy. How would/does the Tokina 12-24 compare to this list? Rokinon 14mm F2.8 on Amazon: For Canon. The Rokinon 14mm F/2.8 lens is an affordable option for wide-angle astrophotography, as it is less expensive than comparable lenses made by Canon or Nikon. This is because an image like this focuses on the structure and color of the Milky Way as a whole, rather than the individual stars within it. Also, crank up your ISO, and set the aperture to F/2.8. Samyang 14mm f/2.8 (same company as Rokinon, under a different name) 4. The manual version of the Samyang/Rokinon 14mm … You may have noticed some of the wide-angle scenes in my YouTube videos, where you can see large portion of the night sky in a single clip. The Irix is built better, but it costs $425 (Firefly version) to the Samyang’s bargain price of $299. I purchased my Rokinon 14mm F/2.8 on Amazon. It’s worth noting, that this image was taken using a crop-sensor DSLR, which effectively produces a field of view similar to a 21mm lens would on a full-frame camera (such as the Canon EOS Ra). I’ve had excellent results with the nikon 20mm f1.8 for Milky Way shots – ISO 6400 15 sec. The stars are the edges of the field are impressively sharp when shooting at F/3.2 or above. For certain situations, such as capturing the summer Milky Way from a dark sky site, you may want to use the lens “wide open” at F/2.8. My understanding is that the lenses all come from the same factory. To that end I created a spreadsheet to calculate star trail length in pixels for a given sensor pixel pitch and lens focal length vs. star declination. Rokinon 16mm f/2 Lens Review for Astrophotography - posted in DSLR, Mirrorless & General-Purpose Digital Camera DSO Imaging: Here’s my in-depth review of the Rokinon 16mm f/2.0 ED AS UMC CS Lens for astrophotography… Whatever you photograph, there inevitably will come a time when you want a specialist lens for a specific subject. If build quality or minimal halos around the stars are especially important to you, get the Irix, but otherwise the Samyang is the better deal – and the better performer, too, though not by a wide margin. Example, photos.app.goo.gl/xhxLZCSUWeZp2rT18. I could be interesting to repeat this test with LENR on, because without the noise not only will the stars be more distinct, but also the landscape details should be sharper. In fact, when you connect this lens to your camera body, the video mode does not recognize that a lens has been connected at all (similar to when connecting a telescope). If your images demand sharp stars without a hint of chromatic aberration or coma, perhaps the Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM at 6x the price is a better fit for you. To fully utilize the extra-wide 14mm focal length, you’ll need to use a full-frame camera. The lens itself just isn’t good for astrophotography. Great lens but again tons of coma. I was unaware of the 14mm f/2.4 until reading your review. Metering, for example, would sometimes be off, due to a lack of electronic com… Have a look at this price comparison of some popular 14mm prime lenses: To focus your DSLR camera with the Rokinon 14mm F/2.8 lens attached at night, it is best to use a distant bright object. The ring displays each f-stop setting to confirm the current lens aperture. Before delving into the specific pros and cons of each lens, here is my list in order from most to least recommended based upon image quality: Be aware that there is a noticeable drop-off after the Rokinon and Nikon, and another when comparing the Laowa 12mm to all the other lenses tested. So, the quality of the stars at the edges of a full-frame image is the true test of this lens. The focus ring on the Rokinon lens is completely manual, and fluid. A common mistake when focusing your camera for astrophotography is to use settings that do not allow enough light to hit the sensor. Did the lens improve since this post was written? The lens construction is 14 elements in 12 groups, utilizing the 2 ED elements mentioned above. From Korean manufacturer Samyang’s XP stable of premium manual-focus prime lenses for Canon and Nikon full-frame cameras, this 14mm f/2.4 is the most ideal for astrophotography. Aperture: F/3.2 To test the Venus Optics lens I shot “same night” images, all tracked, with the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 Art lens, at left, and the Rokinon 14mm SP (labeled as being f/2.4, at right). The added light-gathering power of F/3.2 provides a much-needed boost in signal, and allows me to use lower ISO settings. That lens (like this one) was manual focus only, but it also lacked electronics of any kind…which resulted in some additional handling quirks. However, as you can see in the images shared in this post, the images are still plenty wide when used with a crop-sensor DSLR like the Canon EOS Rebel T3i. I expect that they would be less sharp and coma would begin to really kick in. … This is a fully manual lens, with no communication with the camera the way a regular Canon or Nikon lens does. I just wanna be sure because it is considerably cheap but if the quality is as low as mentioned in the post then I don’t mind paying a little more for better. The 14mm f/2.8 is a slightly better lens for astrophotography than the 50mm f/1.8. I am considering getting an Irix 15mm for my Nikon z6 for astro and after reading the post I was a little discouraged but then you pointed out that the Irix is (got?) Over the past 2 years, I have captured many spectacular images using this Rokinon lens on both a crop-sensor DSLR, and full-frame camera. PL provides various digital photography news, reviews, articles, tips, tutorials and guides to photographers of all levels, By Spencer Cox 38 CommentsLast Updated On December 11, 2019. I’ve experienced this a couple of times.In a past life as a wedding photographer, I owned a macro lens that I bought exclusively for photographing details such as rings. My favorite astrophotography lenses: Rokinon 14mm/2.8 and 24mm/1.4 While not particularly well corrected for chromatic aberration, one of the primary benefits of the Samyang/Rokinon/Bower lenses … The aperture of this lens (F/2.8) is a handy feature for those looking to capture astrophotography images of the Milky Way. The Rokinon 14mm F/2.8 is a manual, wide-angle camera lens that comes in Canon, Nikon and Sony mounting options. The Rokinon 14mm Ultra-Wide-Angle f/2.8 lens is designed to provide a dramatic 115.7° view on full frame cameras.and is perfect for astrophotography, landscapes and real estate imagery. What is the Meaning of Wide Open in Photography? To do this, I must use the max ISO setting on my full-frame DSLR. If you are making this adjustment to the lens in live-view or video mode, you will see the amount of light collected by the lens changing as you turn the dial. One was a very heavy crop to the right corner of the image. A friend purchased a Samyang-branded equivalent that did not perform as well. I purchased the Rokinon 14mm F/2.8 lens for my Canon DSLR for the purposes of wide-angle astrophotography. I'm Spencer Cox, a landscape photographer better known for my macro photography! There is no need to go beyond F/4 at this focal length, and I think you will find your photos to be extremely sharp using this aperture. Would love to have seen the addition of the Sony FE 12-24mm f/4.0 G in your test. The photo below was captured using the Rokinon lens under the dark skies of the Cherry Springs Star Party. The aperture setting (F-stop) on your DSLR will display “0”, when the Rokinon 14mm F/2.8 is connected. (I do not own any of both lenses). The 115-degree field of view can only be utilized will a full-frame camera, but I have found it to be impressively wide with a crop-sensor DSLR as well. Peter C Has anyone used this AUTOFOCUS Samyang/Rokinon 14mm f2.8 lens for astrophotography and can say whether it is good for that purpose? Fortunately, these missing features do not affect the astrophotography performance or user experience of this wide-angle lens. If you’re on a budget, and your photography goals include capturing wide panoramic-style images of the Milky Way, the ultra-wide-angle 14mm Rokinon is for you. Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED. You may be surprised at how much you need to rotate the focusing ring to achieve focus. The Rokinon 14mm Ultra-Wide-Angle f/2.8 lens is designed to provide a dramatic 115.7° view on full frame cameras.and is perfect for astrophotography, landscapes and real estate imagery. The wider focal length of the Laowa also allowed capture at 25 seconds, while the rest of the photos were taken with a 20 second shutter speed. Dear Spencer, Don’t miss Voigtlander 15/4.5 Reha Günay. The Cygnus Region of the Milky Way with the Rokinon 14mm F/2.8 Lens.