Samyang 14mm f/2.8 for Astrophotography

As the title suggests, I would want to get some idea from the community about the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 Lens, particularly about its performance on astrophotography.

I've read great reviews about the lens, particularly about its good wide open corner to corner sharpness along with minimal aberrations and commas with the primary downside being its strong vignetting (up to -3EV if I remember correctly) and mustache distortion. A specific review site (can't quite find the link) made a comparison between the optical performance of this lens and the Canon 14L which showed that the Samyang has some edges in certain areas over the Canon and vice versa, although it seems to me that the Samyang's optical advantages in terms of sharpness, lack of aberrations and comma outweigh its shortcomings.

In any case, I would just want to get feedback from the community about your experience with the lens, if it is indeed very good for astrophotography and if it actually gives the Canon equivalent a run for its money. As an additional note, I am a Canon shooter and won't really mind the manual aperture and focus as I set my focus manually along with the other camera settings during an astro shoot. Also, I have a Canon 6D plus a 16-35 f4 IS USM for general landscape and UWA shooting so the primary use of the Samyang 14mm would be for astrophotography only.

In the past, I found the 6D+16-35 combination to be quite okay for astrophotography given the low light performance of the camera but feel that its not optimal yet as the Samyang will give me an extra stop of light plus a wider coverage for the Milky Way (or maybe I am just lusting for gear). Some samples of my previous work:

Canon EOS 6D + Canon EF 16-35 f/4.0 L IS USM (current gear)

Canon EOS 60D + Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM (old gear)

Yeah, its probably gear lust. The "problem" with the Samyang is its cheap price tag so its easy to give in...still fighting the temptation though! Thanks for the insight as well, I agree that it appears that its a question of 2mm and 1-stop of light vs about 300 USD in my home country. Its a happy problem i guess!

Great photos!

I have the Samyang 14 2.8 which I will keep in any case for MW photos, but when the budget allows I will probably also get the 16-35 F4 for landscapes.

Right now I'm satisfied with the Sam and the Sony 28 F2.

My first attempt at MW photo with the Samyang and A7r.

Cheers

Thanks for the feedback bro and nice picture!

Kabalyero wrote:

As the title suggests, I would want to get some idea from the community about the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 Lens, particularly about its performance on astrophotography.

I have it.   I'm mostly happy with it.

I recently purchased the Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 as well.

For astrophotography, I'll likely only use the 24 for any future nightscapes.  I'm just way happier with the characteristics ( more light, less mustache distortion, seems to render colors better.)

I understand the 24 is a big step up in price - the 14 is a great bargain.

I've just found the images to pop much better with the 24.

Thanks for the suggestion bud! I haven't taken a look at that just yet, will do so after a while!

Here's my full review of the Samyang/Rokinon/Bower 14mm f/2.8 lens: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3824561

And here several sample shots with it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruimc/albums/72157650612813547

I like it very much indeed, but am also curious about two other lenses for wide field astrophotography: Sigma 20mm f/1.4 and the Samyang/Rokinon/Bower 24mm f/1.4.

Here a few astro shots I made with the 14mm f/2.8:

did you consider the upcoming irix 11/F4? I have the Samyang on my 6D as the 16-35 f/2.8 got lost in an assault on me along with my 5D3 about a year ago. I won't go for a WA zoom anymore, I guess. Irix 11/F4 looks great and good enough for my nightphotography escapdes...:-)

Kabalyero wrote:

As the title suggests, I would want to get some idea from the community about the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 Lens, particularly about its performance on astrophotography.

I've read great reviews about the lens, particularly about its good wide open corner to corner sharpness along with minimal aberrations and commas with the primary downside being its strong vignetting (up to -3EV if I remember correctly) and mustache distortion. A specific review site (can't quite find the link) made a comparison between the optical performance of this lens and the Canon 14L which showed that the Samyang has some edges in certain areas over the Canon and vice versa, although it seems to me that the Samyang's optical advantages in terms of sharpness, lack of aberrations and comma outweigh its shortcomings.

In any case, I would just want to get feedback from the community about your experience with the lens, if it is indeed very good for astrophotography and if it actually gives the Canon equivalent a run for its money. As an additional note, I am a Canon shooter and won't really mind the manual aperture and focus as I set my focus manually along with the other camera settings during an astro shoot. Also, I have a Canon 6D plus a 16-35 f4 IS USM for general landscape and UWA shooting so the primary use of the Samyang 14mm would be for astrophotography only.

In the past, I found the 6D+16-35 combination to be quite okay for astrophotography given the low light performance of the camera but feel that its not optimal yet as the Samyang will give me an extra stop of light plus a wider coverage for the Milky Way (or maybe I am just lusting for gear). Some samples of my previous work:

Canon EOS 6D + Canon EF 16-35 f/4.0 L IS USM (current gear)

Canon EOS 60D + Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM (old gear)

I like these images! Good work; thanks for sharing!

I do not recall previously seeing any images of this type being shot with the EF-S 10-22mm lens. It is good, and quite interesting to me, personally, to see this modest lens' capability on a clear night. At the moment, my EF-S 10-22mm is my only ultra-wide Canon lens, and I may be about to leave on a short-notice road trip that will finally take me to some really dark-sky areas. I had thought about adding a Sam/Rok/Bower 14/2.8, before we leave, but I might decide to use my 10-22mm, and save my money until I see how the announced Irix lenses will perform. (It seems that they have missed their announced date?)

(I can, also, use my Nikkor 14-24/2.8G, on my D3s, but I want to aim my Canons at the night sky, too. The 14-24G is not without noticeable coma, though it was certainly a desirable night sky lens when it was released, and not a poor choice today.)

Thanks!

The Canon 10-22mm paired with Canon's crop cameras, can do a pretty good job with framing an astro scene as far as my "wide" style is concerned. The problem of course is the noise levels. I shot the second image using a 60D and 10-22 combo at 10mm, f/3.5, 30 sec and ISO 3200. Maybe im just too picky or not good in noise reduction processing but I found the effective resolution to just be enough for facebook in a mobile phone or perhaps a small print of maybe 4x6. The newer crop bodies, especially the 80D, may have some improvements...

From my end...i actually wish that i purchased the 6D and 16-35 f4 IS sooner. The lens is not exactly ideal for astrophotography but with the 6D and a bit of noise reduction, the resulting image can be view and printed large size with very nice quality. Of course...i am aiming my guns now on the Samyang 14 2.8...

If you use your Canon crop body for astro...i'll probably recommend using a faster wide angle lens that preferably has an aperture of 2.0 or better such as the Samyang 16mm f/2 but of course thats just my style. 😁

Thanks a lot for the insights Roger, very nice feedback! 😁

I'll check out the links in a bit. 😁