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Old 18-07-2017, 03:08 PM
glend (Glen)
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Lense Recommendations for Nikon, Milky Way widefield

I have purchased a Nikon D5300 body and didn't bother getting the standard lense kit ( i have never used them on other cameras). So i am looking for at least one lense recommendation, that can serve as a daytime general use and also a wide field AP lense.
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Old 18-07-2017, 03:09 PM
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What's your budget?
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Old 18-07-2017, 03:19 PM
glend (Glen)
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What's your budget?
Up to $800.
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Old 18-07-2017, 03:33 PM
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Atmos (Colin)
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About a fortnight ago I bought a second hand Samyang 14mm F/2.8 off of Gumtree for $350 and it works quite well. Many of the Samyang/Rokinon lens' have at least one aspherical element which makes them very good for their price range for astro work - better coma control generally.

It had first light about two weeks ago.
http://www.astrobin.com/301682/

Samyang have also just released a 14mm F/2.4 (think that's correct) which apparently controls the coma considerably better and has less distortion.
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Old 18-07-2017, 03:38 PM
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pfitzgerald (Paul)
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+1 for the Samyang 14mm f/2.8
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Old 18-07-2017, 03:40 PM
glend (Glen)
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Nice shot Colin, thanks for the info. Digitial Camera Warehouse has the f2.8 for $547 new, so i could return it if i got a bad one i suppose. The f2.4 is outside my budget.
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Old 18-07-2017, 04:02 PM
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Atmos (Colin)
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For its price I cannot complain. I am not sure whether mine is a good sample or not; it suffers from a fair bit of coma at F/5.6 but it also isn't overly sharp according to Lenstip.com
Mine also has a reasonable amount of longitudinal aberration which can be seen by most of the stars having blue on their tops. The other alternative is that I need to get DXO to remove some of the barrel distortion on each sub BEFORE registering.

Alternatively I could just use it on my D700 and it should look near perfect at F/2.8. I've recently come to appreciate how many aberrations a 12mp FX sensor with high pass filter can cover up
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Old 19-07-2017, 10:31 AM
glend (Glen)
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I decided to buy the Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED from Camerasky in HongKong and save some money ($387 Aud from them). Supposedly Aussie operated, whatever that means, but there is a 14 day change of mind guarantee so that helps convince me to give them a try.
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Old 27-07-2017, 03:40 PM
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Make sure they take returns. The Samyang 14mm is notorious for bad copies. I think they are cheap because Samyang must not test them or check them out. I would check it out as soon as I got it to make sure it was ok or start the returns process if there is a deadline which there would be.

I got one 2nd hand a few months back off ebay and it was useless. I managed to get the seller to take it back. She claimed I was cherry picking but I suspect she was ditching a dud copy which is common with this lens.
Sides and corners were showing really bad coma plus badly out of focus.
I got a Samyang 1.4 once and it was similar. I had to return it and the replacement one was good. The dud one left side of the image would be out of focus whilst the right side was in focus.

But when you get a good copy of the 14 or 24 I believe they are very good and are commonly recommended.

The other competitor is the Irix 15mm F2.4. I ordered one off ebay new for $587 and they take returns.

I've read reviews between it and the Samyang and its better in most regards except one or two where they tie.

I can post back here to say if its any good or not.

The new Sigma Art 14mm F1.8 is getting quite good reviews. Still some coma. I was thinking of this one but its AUD$1959 and in DPReview comparisons the Irix was just as good if not better at F2.4.

The main advantage of the Sigma of course is F1.8 and this allows a lower ISO and lowers noise for the same brightness image.

I am less concerned about that as I mainly stack now anyway to get rid of noise or use a tracker and go longer exposures anyway. Weight and cost for the slight extra performance then of the Sigma is not as valuable to me.

If you want to take casual shots of the Milky Way, say a panorama of 20-30 seconds ISO3200-6400 then the Sigma is the go. You could lower the ISO to 1600 and be just as bright or do shorter exposures and get rounder stars at ISO3200-6400.

Greg.
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Old 27-07-2017, 04:31 PM
glend (Glen)
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Thanks Greg, as i noted below, the supplier offers a two week change of mind return policy, and i will be testing it as soon as i get it.

My shooting is not so casual, the camera goes into a Teleskop Services DSLR holder and onto my CGX mount. Tracking will not be a problem. Bias and darks will be used. I hope to get first images from the D5300 tonight using a Nikon 55-200mm lense. Downloaded Backyard Nikon today.
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Old 27-07-2017, 04:53 PM
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How do the f2.8 11-16mm and 11-20mm Tokina lenses compare to the Samyangs mentioned above?
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Old 27-07-2017, 05:15 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by glend View Post
I have purchased a Nikon D5300 body and didn't bother getting the standard lense kit ( i have never used them on other cameras). So i am looking for at least one lense recommendation, that can serve as a daytime general use and also a wide field AP lense.
Hi Glen,

I would try the AF-P DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens. Yes it's a kit lens, but like its predecessor 18-55 it is remarkably sharp. Tests of prior versions show reasonably well controlled lowa coma, good sharpness across the frame.

Of course you can also try the pricey Sigma 14mm mentioned, I'm not sure it would have lower coma, probably similar. The Rokinon/Samyang/Bower 14mm f2.8 seems like an excellent lens: low coma and reasonably sharp, except for very difficult to correct moustache distortion (not barrel or pincushion, but BOTH) evident on straight edges (not a problem for astro) on images I've seen.

Or go all out for a Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 (EDIT: sorry forgot you are NOT full-frame). Low coma, sharp, versatile, low distortion, etc. Remember that any of the modern Nikkor lens will also be corrected in body, where possible, for some lens distortions like chromatic abberation, distortion.

In summary, I would go to a camera store with your D5300 body and try the Nikon Nikkor 18-55 f3.5 AF-P not the older AF-S version. Take some shots and go home and review. You could also carefully try to test for coma in store with some tiny bright light at the frame centre and then another shot reframed with the same tiny light at the frame edge/corner and compare the 2 shots for typical coma. Also make sure you try it with your D5300 running the most up to date firmware. Sure f3.5 isn't the fastest on the block, but you're not paying 100s or 1000s more for a f/1.4, but it is a sharp lens and for something to try and have as a general lens, probably OK.

Best
JA

Last edited by JA; 27-07-2017 at 05:25 PM. Reason: added FF correction
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  #13  
Old 28-07-2017, 10:27 AM
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For a Nikon:

24-70 F2.8ED is good.

AIS 105mm F2.5 is very good and very cheap.

14-24 is very good but expensive and heavy

Nikkor 180mm F2.8 ED is quite good, a bit of chromatic aberration wide open but if you stopped it down it would clean up.

Nikkor 85mm F1.8g a ton of CA.Would need to be stopped down a lot.

Greg.
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Old 28-07-2017, 12:02 PM
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Having used a Nikkor 85mm F/1.8G, I wouldn't recommend it. Even at F/4 the CA is pretty bad although the star shapes are reasonable. It is purple CA so both red and blue being out.

The Nikkor 50mm F/1.8D is dirt cheap and significantly better. Has better star shapes and any blue bloat is all but gone by F/4.
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Old 31-07-2017, 11:35 AM
glend (Glen)
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Sadly i have had to cancel my order for the Samyang 14mm. The supplier, CameraSky kept jerking me around on availability, they promise a 5-7 day processing window, but after two working weeks still had no ETA on it. So i cancelled and asked for a refund. I am reassessing now, but will probably wait.
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Old 01-08-2017, 04:17 PM
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Camelopardalis (Dunk)
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That's a lucky escape Glen...a mate of mine up here bought a camera from them a few months back and it was a dud, took months for them to concede there was a problem and RMA...
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Old 03-08-2017, 02:06 PM
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Just buy a proper Nikon lens. The holy trinity (12-24, 24-70, 70-200 all f2.8) are all good lenses and essentially mostly what pro photogs end up using anyway. the 105 macro is awesome too and what I used mostly on body for my photography and later astrophotography. The 50mm can be good too. can you define what you are calling widefield ? what are the shots you want? The nikon 12-24 is probably the lense you are looking for and worth saving to get rather than wasting money on the inferior brands and upgrading anyway later on.
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Old 03-08-2017, 02:29 PM
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The 10.5mm f/2.8 DX Fisheye Nikkor is a very nice wide field (all-sky) lens, if you want to give that sort of thing a shot. I find it very useful for daytime photography, too, you just have to watch what you're doing
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Old 03-08-2017, 03:23 PM
glend (Glen)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sil View Post
Just buy a proper Nikon lens. The holy trinity (12-24, 24-70, 70-200 all f2.8) are all good lenses and essentially mostly what pro photogs end up using anyway. the 105 macro is awesome too and what I used mostly on body for my photography and later astrophotography. The 50mm can be good too. can you define what you are calling widefield ? what are the shots you want? The nikon 12-24 is probably the lense you are looking for and worth saving to get rather than wasting money on the inferior brands and upgrading anyway later on.
For now i just have the 55-200 f4.5 ED DX VR (the new version) and it seems a pretty good lense. I might check out the 24-70mm f2.8. I am not interested in ultra wides.
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Old 07-08-2017, 11:01 PM
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My array is Nikon 8 -15 fisheye, Sigma 8/3.5 fisheye, Nikon 14-24/2.8 and the 24-70/2.8. Lenses under a grand, are useless for AP. Coma, and CA haunt them. Like with any telescope, its the eyepiece that makes the difference. Quality has its price.
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