The Milky Way, Mars, Jupiter and green airglow

[gregbradley]

I was at my dark site last weekend and I thought it was time to do a new Milky Way nightscape using a new lens the fabulous new Zeiss Loxia 21mm F2.8. Zeiss engineers have been quoted as saying they are most proud of this lens from their recent works which is quite a statement as they have done some stunners.

Its a breathtaking beautiful lens and its very small and well made. Focus consists of swinging it to infinity hard stop and you are good to go!

Sony a7r2, 8 panel panorama 4 x 2, 30 seconds ISO6400 F2.8 (wide open).

I am particularly happy here as I typically use my ultrawide angle Nikon 14-24 lens which is amazing but it tends to mean I get some star distortions when doing the projection methods. This time there is none so the Loxia must preserve the perspective better. Perhaps that is simply 21mm versus 14mm but I think also its a commentary on the excellent job Zeiss have done on the optics.

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/163044260/large regular size
http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/163044260/original large size


Greg.

[inertia8]

Beautiful work.

[Atmos]

Really nice Greg :)

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Greg.

Love the composition.

Love the colours.

Your dark site seems such a great location.

Did you do anything to "fuzzy up" the stars or was it just the atmosphere?

Ross.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Inertia 8 Colin and Ross.
Ross, it was a bit cloudy so that would be the fuzzy factor. I find a bit of cloud is good for these shots. It adds interest.

Greg

[Derek Klepp]

Greg that's a really nice shot.Interesting with the infinity focus as I have the 15mm f2.8 and that is the feature that Impresses me .They really are superb lenses.

[anyone]

beautiful !

[gregbradley]

It makes focusing very easy that's for sure.



Thank you.

Greg.

[RickS]

What a great shot, Greg! It must be a fine lens...

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rick.

I did the same shot with 3 fine lenses. The Zeiss Loxia 21 as shown, the Zeiss Batis 25mm and the Nikon 14-24 (my standard long term nightscape lens).

The Loxia is the finest lens for this type of shot I have used. The Zeiss Batis 25 is close to it as well. 21mm means perhaps 2 extra images to match a 14-24 panorama shot at 14mm but less distortion and keeps the round stars.

Zeiss lenses are often hard to beat. They are the Astrophysics of the camera lens world.

Greg.

[ozstronomer]

Lovely image Greg, looks like that Sony A7R2 and Zeiss lens are a nice combo

Cheers Geoff

[gregbradley]

Thanks Geoff. Yes they perform pretty well. The Loxia 21 lens is exceptional.
Zeiss is pumping out a number of high end lenses for the Sony A7 range now. All very appealing and all expensive unfortunately.

Greg.

[Decimus]

Great image, Greg. Again, Zeiss rules too. Have you seen their premium lenses, such as the new Otus 55mm F1.4? Off the scale, but then, so is the price. I think they have also made a 35mm and an 85mm. All of these exotic lenses are around and over $5 000 each. :(

Cheers,
Richard

[gregbradley]

Thanks Richard.

Otus I believe are amazing lenses although for a compact mirrorless where the point is more high powered imaging with a fraction of the weight and size they are very large and heavy lenses. Better suited to a DSLR. Not to mention the price. I imagine they are for die hard enthusiasts or Pros.

Greg.

[beren]

Greg beautiful image, composition and the colours amazing :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Thanks Beren.

The yellow glow on the Horizon behind the tree is the light from Canberra.

Greg.

[markbakovic]

Very nice! I must confess it makes me a bit sad that a reliable infinity stop is considered a feature these days...

[gregbradley]

Yes I suppose its a relic of former times. I read recently best focus is actually a tiny fraction back from infinity. I checked that out last I used the lens and it did seem to be slightly sharper that way. Field curvature means the lens's focus is a slight compromise between centre and sides.

Greg.

[markbakovic]

yeah it's pretty hard to find something even out/up there that's emitting/reflecting truly collimated light from a point source :) And the field curvature is what the iris is for! Some large format photographers consider f/45 "fast" :) Though of course you probably want to keep your exposure times reasonable I guess...

[Regulus]

Yup, can see why you might be happy with that image and lens. Stars and colour look excellent.
And it appears that a bit of moonlight lit the foreground, which always adds to the interest.
Nicely don Greg.
Trev

[gregbradley]

Thanks Trev.

Greg.