First night out with Samyang 14mm 2.8

[oivindu]

I finally got the time to get out and try my new Samyang 14mm 2.8 on a moonless night. I was a bit early so there were some traces of sunlight left in the sky, but I found a decent dark area without too much light pollution.

This is my first attempt to do some proper night sky photography, I still have a lot to learn, both in composing, settings and post-processing. I have learned a lot from this forum and I find it to be one of the best in dpreview, if not the best…

All photos taken with a Nikon D800 and Samyang 14mm 2.8, mirror-up, tripod, remote release.

All comments are welcome!

Regards from Øivind in Norway




ISO 3200,f /2.8 15 sec




ISO 3200, f/3,2 15 sec




ISO 2500, f/3,2 15 sec




ISO 2500, f/3,2 15 sec

 

[starman1969]

They look very nice, well done. I like the reflection on the lake.

 

[RustierOne]

oivindu wrote:

I finally got the time to get out and try my new Samyang 14mm 2.8 on a moonless night. I was a bit early so there were some traces of sunlight left in the sky, but I found a decent dark area without too much light pollution.

This is my first attempt to do some proper night sky photography, I still have a lot to learn, both in composing, settings and post-processing. I have learned a lot from this forum and I find it to be one of the best in dpreview, if not the best…

All photos taken with a Nikon D800 and Samyang 14mm 2.8, mirror-up, tripod, remote release.

All comments are welcome!

Regards from Øivind in Norway


ISO 3200,f /2.8 15 sec


ISO 3200, f/3,2 15 sec


ISO 2500, f/3,2 15 sec


ISO 2500, f/3,2 15 sec

Very nice astrophotos. I too particularly like the lake reflection with the Pleiades between the trees and reflected in the water - nicely done!

--
Best Regards,
Russ

 

[Rutgerbus]

Nice shot's....Would love to have that lens myself.

You can even try shooting at even longer exposures like 30+ sec. You should be able to overcome every over exposed part of the image with PP because D800 has pretty big dynamic range....would make the pictures even more beautifull I think.

 

[LDunn1]

What a great set!

Really appreciate you post these, as this is a lens I have on a short list as one of the wide angle lenses that control coma on the edges very well.

The lake shot is the 'star' image of course, as other have commented, I think the Milky Way shots would benefit from more post processing.

I'm intrigued why you stopped down from f2.8 to f3.2 on some of the images - the f2.8 looked pretty good for star shapes.

It is a little tricky to tell, but how does the sharpness across the frame hold up? From all I've read on the web, this is the potential weak spot for this lens - & it's QC is questionable. I've read about others returning 2 or 3 samples before they were happy that they "got a good'un".

I've just received a Canon 24mm TS-e mk2 (f3.5) which I plan to use for night time images - it is a bit slow for this use, but there is little vignetting, so the corners are still very close to f3.5 (rather than a stop or two darker - a comment on the Zeiss 21mm f2.8 I read, that I was also considering, that evened things up for me a bit). The 24mm TSE mk2 is said to be extremely sharp across the frame, & the coma control is meant to be pretty good (all performance comments on the TSE are for unshifted, untilted).

.......but, it is still only 24mm, so I can see something wider being added, or just sticking with my 15mm FE, which also has good star shapes.

You are going to have a lot of fun with your 14mm I think, & some very special images & memories. Enjoy, & thank you.

 

[oivindu]

LDunn1 wrote:

I'm intrigued why you stopped down from f2.8 to f3.2 on some of the images - the f2.8 looked pretty good for star shapes.

Well the stopping down was not on purpose as I want so much light n my sensor as possible...

It is a little tricky to tell, but how does the sharpness across the frame hold up?

Sharpness in center is very good but in the corners it's not so good. Stopping down helps but then it's not good for the night sky.

From all I've read on the web, this is the potential weak spot for this lens - & it's QC is questionable.

As long as you can test and return this should not be a problem.

You are going to have a lot of fun with your 14mm I think, & some very special images & memories. Enjoy, & thank you.

Thank you very much for your nice and informative comments!

Regards, Øivind

 

[mermaidkiller]

Here my first images with my Samyang 14mm. Taken 13 jan 2014 with waxing gibbous Moon.
EXIF is incomplete because Samyang has no electric contacts.

NW direction 4 sec ISO 6400 f/4

http://pix.skysurfer.eu/20140113-northwest-4sec.jpg

N direction 8 sec ISO 6400 f/4

http://pix.skysurfer.eu/20140113-north-8sec.jpg

 

[Carsten Pauer 2]

EXIF is incomplete because Samyang has no electric contacts.

You should buy the Nikon AE Version. ;-)

@ TO: Nice Photos.

 

[Via Lactea]

Nice Picture's and indeed you should look for the UMC-version, better coatings and other abberations are corrected much better compared to the 'plain'not UMC-version. Samyang bettered it's product after comments made at a review from www.lenstip.com. You find a good copy! I had 3 copies examined before I had a good one. I use the lens between f2,8-f4.

Cascade Herisson (French Jura) 14mm f3,2 D700 Iso 1600 RAW, WB 4200K one single frame part of a timelapse.


Cascade Herisson (French Jura) 14mm f3,2 D700 Iso 1600 RAW, WB 4200K

one single frame part of a timelapse.

Kind Regards,
Bjorn
like to see some timelapses of the Night skies have a go at

bjornrvink

Dear all, As a geo-engineer I'm mainly photographing scientific related items: -Astronomy, Weather -Nature, macro, animals -Landscapes also in Infrared,…

vimeo.com

or

BjornR Vink

Time Lapses from landscapes, (space)weather and Astronomy, tunnel and infrastructure construction

www.youtube.com

 

[mermaidkiller]

EXIF is incomplete because Samyang has no electric contacts.

You should buy the Nikon AE Version. ;-)



@ TO: Nice Photos.

On a Canon body ? The adapters from Nikon lens to EF body don't pass the exif info. So it only works on a Nikon body.

 

[Timmy10]

Greetings,

I've recently purchased the Rokinon 14mm 2.8 and pleased with the build quality. However mastering astrophotography is another story. I own & use several Nikkor lens, and needed a wide angle lens for my kit. The price tag made me choose the Rokinon. The sharpness is freaking awesome, but focusing at night is a struggle for me. Although this lens is manual focus I enjoy the challenge. So far, out of my kit bag I prefer to shoot with my Rokinon. I've added some of the photos I've taken with this lens. Of course they have been enhanced with PS, but I still need to work on my skills.



Regards

Timmy

 

[Sir Canon]

Greetings,

I've recently purchased the Rokinon 14mm 2.8 and pleased with the build quality. However mastering astrophotography is another story. I own & use several Nikkor lens, and needed a wide angle lens for my kit. The price tag made me choose the Rokinon. The sharpness is freaking awesome, but focusing at night is a struggle for me. Although this lens is manual focus I enjoy the challenge. So far, out of my kit bag I prefer to shoot with my Rokinon. I've added some of the photos I've taken with this lens. Of course they have been enhanced with PS, but I still need to work on my skills.

Regards

Timmy

nice compositions... however your starscape photos are WAY WAY WAY too blue. bring it to a more neutral white balance and you will get much more detail. also this thread is sooo old

--
I tend to overdo things

 

[IbrahimMuhammed]

Thank you!

Your set of images give me hope as a newbie too.

Well done and keep it up.