New lens test: Milky Way @ 11mm

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Hi all,

My new Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens arrived a couple of days ago, so I gave it a bit of a test last night. I drove about 45 minutes out of Brisbane (to Warrill View) to reduce the light pollution, and had a go at capturing the Emu. This is a single 30 sec exposure at 11mm, f/2.8 and 3200 iso. No foreground in this shot as the clouds started coming in before the Milky Way got low enough in the sky.

Considering that the sky wasn't particularly dark due to the proximity of Brisbane and the amount of smoke in the air, I'm pretty impressed with the performance of the lens. Can't wait to get out camping again and test it out in dark skies!

Cheers,
Stephen

[theodog (Jeff)]

Nice one Stephen.

Got one of these lenses 2 weeks ago with a 7D. My widefield images are all with it so far.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

A good introduction to the T11 club Stephen. 30 sec at ISO3200. Did the camera do long exposure and/or high ISO noise reduction?

With my a77 I got a 16-50 f/2.8 Sony, so now can do 11 to 50mm at f/2.8. I must try a comparison of the two at 16mm.

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Thanks Jeff and Andrew!

Originally Posted by mithrandir

Did the camera do long exposure and/or high ISO noise reduction?

Andrew, I had ICNR on for this image, and applied a bit of extra noise reduction in Lightroom during processing.

Cheers,
Stephen

[bobbyf (Bob)]

Great shot Stephen
The T11 is high on my wish list too. Maybe after i've done my tax !
What camera body are you using?
Cheers

Bob
edit: just seen your sig - duh!

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Very nice shot Stephen that came out well

[gregbradley]

That's very good. Something to look forward to putting it through its paces on a good night.

Greg.

[MrB (Simon)]

Looking good Stephen.
Do you know what is causing the banding?

[shelltree (Shelley)]

Beautiful shot Stephen, looks like the Tokina is doing you well!

[bartman (Bart)]

Nice Shot Stephen!

Originally Posted by MrB

Looking good Stephen.
Do you know what is causing the banding?

Probably off topic here, but MrB, as I get more and more into this AP, I get more and more into scrutinizing pics........I would not have noticed the "banding" until you mentioned it.

I have to say that I get this sometimes in some of my pics, and from what I have read it might have something to do with camera noise ( heat /electrical noise)......


Bartman

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Thanks very much Bob, Adam, Greg, Simon, Shelley and Bart! As I said, I'm pretty happy with the performance of this lens after this first test, and I'm looking forward to getting out camping in a few weeks to do some more serious work with it.

That's a good question about the banding Simon and Bart, and the short answer is I don't know where it's coming from. I think it becomes visible when I stretch the histogram during processing, and I encountered something similar when processing a Comet Lovejoy image back in December. So I guess it's some sort of noise on the chip. Perhaps also related to high iso?

I'm showing my ignorance here, but do you think flats would fix it?

Cheers,
Stephen

[bartman (Bart)]

Not an expert here Stephen, but from memory.... its been a while .... flats would help with dust bunnies etc. I think it is BIAS shots you need to take maybe. I think there are flat/bias and dark/bias aswell......I have been looking for my notes and bookmarks on this in the last 10 mins but cant find..........
Bias, I believe, is when you you take a shot at the fastest shutter speed with a white background.....
pleas correct me if I'm wrong guys
bartman

[CapturingTheNight (Greg)]

Looks like a promising lens Stephen. Not too many "seagulls" of coma around the fringes when wide open. Looking forward to seeing what you can do with it.