Wide Angle Lens - opinions please

Photearoa wrote:

Hi all

Here's my dilemma:

I'm currently working on upping my photo game. I haven't long been in manual mode (few months after years of auto) so am still getting to grips and learning as I go.

I have a trip coming up and want to have a go at some night skies and think my current lens set up might not be the best.

Usually, I mostly take landscapes or photos of my family. I'm fairly happy with my 23mm or 18-55 kit lens. I would at some point like to add the 50mm to my kit but for now think I need a wide angle.

I can see the benefit of the 10-24 in the flexibility but the F4 seems not great? Also think I'd prefer the sharpness of a prime.

16mm 1.4 - I've read great things about this and think the wide 1.4 will be great for night skies, but is 16mm wide enough to get the best results?

I owned the 16 and found it too long in some shooting situations. I loved the lens but sold it and got the 12mm rokinon. The 12mm was an excellent focal length for me but I didn’t get along with the manual focus  and just sold it. It’s ironic because I own about 15 vintage lenses and love using them. But for wide angle, I found manual focusing fussy. Even when shooting distant scenes and landscapes, I did not find I could just set it infinity. I had to find the sweet spot, and focus peaking is harder to see with a wide lens. (My experience anyway). There’s just so much going on in the viewfinder, I couldn’t find focus well

14mm 2.8 - Is the extra width better to have and trade off the on the F1.4 from the 16mm..

i just traded my 12 for this lens. I’m not worried about the f stop. For my shooting needs with this lens, 2.8 is fine. I didn’t get it yet so can’t report on it but I’ve read positive things.

I know there are samyang wide options but I don't want to add manual focus into the mix right now. While that's probably not a problem when shooting night sky I can't see me using it for anything else as I am still focusing on Fstops/iso/SS.. could do without another thing to think about lol

Anyone got any advice that would help me. Have researched the hell out of each lens but would really value some more practical advice.

thanks