OMD-EM5 lens recs for landscape astrophotography

[Couloirman]

I am taking a few really long hiking trips this summer and can only take one lens and my OMD-EM5 along with me. My highest priority for photography is landscape astrophotography so I need something fast and wide, that will also work decently enough for everyday shooting since it will be my only lens. I will be shooting meteor showers and the milky way mostly with interesting, potentially light painted foregrounds. Weather sealed lenses are always a plus if possible as I love shooting landscapes during lightning storms in the afternoon monsoons of Colorado. David Kingham style photos are what I am really after (no affiliation, he is just my main influence these days).

I have found a bunch of reviews of these lenses, got overwhelmed with choices and kind of came up with the following list of lenses I am considering. If anyone else like shooting landscape astrophotography on the OMD feel free to chime in with what you think might work best, or let me know if I haven't listed one I should be considering.

1) Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 (the most versatile, but slowest lens of all my choices. (Is this lens is too slow to shoot nightscapes at reasonable ISOs?)

2) "Leica" 25mm f/1.4

3) Voigtlander 17.5mm f/0.95

4) Olympus 12mm f/2.0

5) Olympus 17mm f/1.8

 

[Henry Richardson]

You didn't mention the Panasonic 20mm f1.7. If you don't use higher ISOs then you may not get the infamous banding problem.

 

[Alberti Barnes]

none of them - you will need super wide ange

+ Samyang 7.5 Fisheye - defish the results in Photoshop

+ Panasonic 7-14

+ Olympus 9-18

the Olympus 12 / 2.0 is OK, for me not wide enough (Same with 12-40)

 

[Couloirman]

You didn't mention the Panasonic 20mm f1.7. If you don't use higher ISOs then you may not get the infamous banding problem.

--
Henry Richardson
http://www.bakubo.com

I was debating that but the banding was a concern in low light/high ISO like I like to shoot in so I left it off the list.

none of them - you will need super wide ange

+ Samyang 7.5 Fisheye - defish the results in Photoshop

+ Panasonic 7-14

+ Olympus 9-18

the Olympus 12 / 2.0 is OK, for me not wide enough (Same with 12-40)

While I am not opposed to ultra wide, Im not sure those lenses are really fast enough for me. I think 2.8 is as slow as I want to go. I am also big into panoramas so ultra wide isn't too big a deal for me since I can just make 20 image panoramas that cover more width and have more detail in the stars than I would have if using less exposures of a wider angle lens. That's why I was thinking bigger aperture since longer focal length lens means I have to expose for a shorter shutter time to avoid star trails

But thanks for the ideas!

 

[Klarno]

I'd say you generally want the widest, fastest lenses possible. Faster lenses mean you either can get richer star fields at a given ISO, or that you don't have to bump up the ISO as much. This means the Olympus 12mm f/2.0 and Panasonic Leica 15mm f/1.7 are your best bets in-system. I'm sure the 7-14 f/2.8 will be a good choice too (I've gotten good results with 11mm f/2.8). Much longer than that gets a bit too long for cohesive astro/landscape views...I wouldn't really be inclined toward a 17mm or longer lens for this purpose.

A focal reducer such as the Metabones Speedbooster also opens up a lot of options here. A Samyang 10mm f/2.8 in one of the DSLR mounts physically becomes a 7.1mm f/2.0 when paired with a Metabones Speedbooster; 14mm f/2.8 becomes 10mm f/2.0; the 16mm f/2.0 becomes 11.3mm f/1.4; 8mm f/3.5 fisheye that covers APS-C becomes an f/2.5 fisheye that covers MFT.

--
http://www.photoklarno.com

 

[Ollie 2]

none of them - you will need super wide ange

+ Samyang 7.5 Fisheye - defish the results in Photoshop

This is the one. The others are too slow in my opinion.

Also, depending upon the foreground you might wish to capture, the 12mm can work quite well though the coma is a bit of a problem and the edges are pretty bad.

+ Panasonic 7-14

+ Olympus 9-18

the Olympus 12 / 2.0 is OK, for me not wide enough (Same with 12-40)

 

[Couloirman]

This means the Olympus 12mm f/2.0 and Panasonic Leica 15mm f/1.7 are your best bets in-system.

A focal reducer such as the Metabones Speedbooster also opens up a lot of options here.

 

[Klarno]

This means the Olympus 12mm f/2.0 and Panasonic Leica 15mm f/1.7 are your best bets in-system.

A focal reducer such as the Metabones Speedbooster also opens up a lot of options here.

--
http://www.photoklarno.com

Thanks for the tip. I had never heard of the speedbooster. Currently searching for a good deal on one of these 2 lenses and will pick up a speedbooster as well to make it a bit faster.

The Metabones Speedbooster and other focal reducers won't work with native Micro Four Thirds lenses; only with adapted SLR lenses in mounts such as Nikon F, Olympus OM, Leica R, Zeiss Contarex, etc. If you get any of the Samyang lenses I mentioned, you should get them in Nikon mount and use the Nikon-MFT speedbooster (there are other focal reducer options, but they won't be nearly as good as the Metabones Speedbooster for landscape applications).

--
http://www.photoklarno.com