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Old 13-06-2013, 06:10 PM
Forgey (Paula)
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Advice on which lens

So I'm looking at getting a nice wide field lens for landscape/night photography.

My camera is a Canon 600D

A few options I'm looking at are:
Samyang 14mm f/2.8
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Tamron 10-24mm f3.5-4.5
Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6
Tokina AF 11-16mm f2.8 lens

I'm thinking the Samyang is the best way to go but thought I'd see what others are using and even if there are any others that anyone might suggest.

Input is greatly appreciated.
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  #2  
Old 13-06-2013, 08:34 PM
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pluto (Hugh)
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The Samyang and the Tokina are great.
The Samyang is full frame though so it will be about 22mm on your 600D.
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Old 14-06-2013, 03:31 PM
boardriderz (Jimmy)
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You can get the 8mm Samyang f/3.5 (full manual lense) if you want the super wide angle with your canon.
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Old 14-06-2013, 03:33 PM
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koputai (Jason)
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Or you could buy a Canon 10-22mm and know you've got a good lens with no compatibility issues.
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Old 14-06-2013, 04:21 PM
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Octane (Humayun)
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Don't forget that the Samyang has no autofocus. So, if you decide to use it for anything other than nightscapes, you'll need to focus manually through the viewfinder or through LiveView.

Having said that, with widefield lenses, you're pretty much bang on if you focus at infinity.

Being a purist, I'd suggest sticking with Canon; DPP honours all Canon lens profiles natively -- it will correct all aberrations with the tick of a checkbox. While, the Tokina and others might be sharper than the Canon 10-22mm out of the box, DPPs lens optimizing modules will restore their sharpness at the edges and will resolve any distortion.

H
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Old 14-06-2013, 04:23 PM
gts055 (Mark)
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Hii Paula, I have a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 on my Canon 1000d, and it works fine for me. Have fun with your purchase. Mark
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Old 14-06-2013, 04:59 PM
daine042 (Daine)
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I have that same lens (Tamron 17-50mm) for my Nikon D90 and its really a disappointment, first time I tried it at night half the image was out of focus possibly due to a decentered lens element and by the time I had tried it at night it was out of warranty. It takes great images in daylight was very disappointed as i had blown quite a bit of savings on it.
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Old 14-06-2013, 05:02 PM
daine042 (Daine)
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I am now seriously considering the Samyang 14mm lens seems to take great images just looking at Mikes ones and i think Photoshop has a lens correction option for the edges not sure on that one never had the need to use it?
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Old 14-06-2013, 05:10 PM
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Without a doubt the Samyang 14 F2.8. The rest probably all have coma to a greater or lesser degree wide open which does not clean up with camera lens profiles in software. They probably also have excessive false colour which usually is purply/blue halos on bright stars.

Look at all the top images- they are all 14mm F2.8, either Nikon 14-24 or Samyang 14mmm F2.8. The others no doubt are good terrestial lenses but for nightscapes you really don't want to have to stop down to F4 or beyond to get round stars as now you have to use a mount (a Polarie or other). A zoom lens is generally a compromise and usually suffers worse performance than a prime. The Nikon 14-24 is a rare exception. It matches high priced narrower Zeiss primes. It really is the unbeatable lens at the moment for DSLRs.

The first step of any astrophotography is round stars free of coma (comet shaped stars usually in the corners or the left and right sides). That is step one.
Without that accomplished your images will never look that great.

With telescopes that means an accurate mount with nightscapes its means a fast lens that is free from coma wide open. That narrows the field drastically.

The Samyang is probably the cheapest too. I don't know how they do it. The Samyang 24mm F1.4 is also a nice lens. You may need to return a Samyang lens to get a good copy though. There is some variability in quality between copies.

Nikon 14-24 is still the king but its heavy and expensive. You can get adapters for it to fit a Canon camera but no autofocus during day use. Zeiss 15mm F2.8 would probably be awesome too but its $3500!

Voigtlander makes a 12mm and a 15mm but they are F4.5 or F5.6 - too slow.

Fuji makes a superb 14mm F2.8 which is almost the equal of the Nikon but it won't go on a Canon body as they are designed to be closer to the sensor.

Samyang fisheye 8mm is "fun" but gives horrible curvature that does not correct even with supposed fisheye correction software. It does not distort if the lens is looking just slightly above the horizon (this limits the amount of sky you can catch). I just thought - possibly it may work if held in portrait orientation - I'll have to test that. It may also work better using a panorama setup like a Nodal Ninja 4.

Photozone.de is a good resource for checking out lens performances so is DPReview.

Greg.

Last edited by gregbradley; 14-06-2013 at 05:21 PM.
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Old 14-06-2013, 05:11 PM
gts055 (Mark)
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Hii Daine, Perhaps your version had sustained a severe jarring prior to your purchase. That is disappointing, especially discovering the issue outside the warranty period. Mark
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Old 14-06-2013, 05:19 PM
daine042 (Daine)
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Still not sure whether to get it fixed or not, I do like the lens and it seems to work fine during the day
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Old 14-06-2013, 05:34 PM
gts055 (Mark)
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I really like the one I have. Its on the camera most of the time. Great in low light, with no flash, and the 17-50mm is a useful range. Repair to yours would depend on the cost I guess. Not sure if you read this recent posting on diy canon lens collmation: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ght=canon+lens

Mark
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Old 15-06-2013, 08:54 AM
daine042 (Daine)
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Thanks for that link I might have a bit of a play around later
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Old 15-06-2013, 09:12 AM
Poita (Peter)
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There is a Tokina and Canon 10-22 both at good prices on gumtree at the moment (yeah I know, buyer beware)
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Old 15-06-2013, 10:11 PM
Forgey (Paula)
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Thanks for all your feedback.
Think I've decided to go with the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 as I'm trying to keep it on a budget. Not having auto focus is no biggie as it will mainly be used at night anyway.

After looking at some images taken with the 600D and Samyang 14mm f/2.8 on http://www.pixel-peeper.com/ it looks like it will do the job nicely.
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Old 18-06-2013, 06:53 AM
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hotspur (Chris)
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I have the Canon 10-22 mm lens,its 'corrupted' a few astronomers that have visited and used it.Apart from astronomy use-its great to use in daytime for landscapes etc.
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