Prime vs Zoom Lenses: What's Best for Milky Way Photography?

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In today's video I discuss the pros and cons for prime lenses and zoom lenses specifically for landscape astrophotography and capturing the Milky Way. Can the Tampon 17-28mm f/2.8 lens convince me to leave my prime lenses at home?

Similar videos include NASA's What's Up series, Must Watch Top Astronomy Events by Secrets of the Universe, BBC Sky At Night Magazine's What To See In The Night Sky and Tonight's Sky by Space Telescope Science Institute.

#astrophotography #photography #ad

[rickt]

For astrophotography I am an old school prime user. My go to lens is a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 followed by a super sharp Sigma 40mm f/1.8 Art lens. Definitely at both end of the affordability spectrum.

[AlynWallace]

Wow the price has come down a lot since I bought mine. They're now available on MPB for just £494 at like new condition and down to £444 for excellent condition!

[markbabbitt]

Just received your book. Thank you for writing it. Very helpful to beginners.

[andreaboyle]

I found that the biggest problem carrying so much was due to the size of my camera bags. All are rather large so of course I pack as much as I can in them. Then, it is hard to put them on my back! I am downsizing to Tenba Axis bags and will probably sell off my F-Stop bags or trade them in.

[akidobos]

I use the Sony 20mm f1.8. Before that, I was using the Samyang 14mm f2.8. The viewing angle is a small sacrifice in favor of image quality.

[joaoysphotography]

100% Primes for me, not only for Astro but also found that prime "forces" to think more and better and more often than not translates into finding much better compositions as well, I use both the Sony 14mm F1.8 GM and Sony 20mm F1.8 G for Astro :)

[SpaklesDr]

I use the Nikon 14-24S 2.8. It ain't 1.4 but it creates very pinpoint stars to the corners (almost pinpoint in the corners. Amazing. It is a bit big and heavy ( but very light for what it is) and I wish I had the 20 1.8 but at the time of purchase I opted for a more versatile lens for all my landscape needs, day or night.

[jpmissdeNice]

The other thing is, as myself, many photographers are not 100% involved in astroscape. Many of us are mainly shooting daylight landscapes and occasionally nightscapes that's why I think zoom lenses are more versatiles and convenient for most of photographers knowing their limitations and the ways to deal with them.

[cmichaelhaugh]

I’ve not had a lot of experience here but I certainly prefer my Nikon 20mm 1.8 over my Rokinon 14mm 2.8. Largely for the reason you noted - I can shoot at 2.0 or 2.2 and improve the image while maintaining the light gathering ability. In addition, for me, 14mm is just too wide.

[leahhennessey]

I love my Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 for Astro, I’m a recent Astro shooter and I love the results I get from it. Getting more confident with Astro however I would love to treat myself to a prime 24mm for that additional sharpness & light. Still love the results I get from the Tamron and find it is amazing value for money!

[dorukbyrm]

You just popped up on my home feed again, i really miss you alyn, i hope you are at peace, i really miss your videos...

[puckco]

Thanks for this Video. I shot astro with samyang 14 mm and with this tamron. I changed the samyang to the Sony 14 GM. This is my astro Lens now. I wont use the tamron for night shots any longer.

[leezheng]

I am definitely a prime shooter for astro landscape! I shoot astro modified Nikon Z6 II. Love this camera because it has built-in timer that allows me to shoot longer than 30 sec without using intervalometer and can program it to shoot 1-2 min exposure repeatedly. It also has built-in focus bracketing that I now no longer need to use flashlight to shine on the subject I want to focus on in the dark! Just let the camera do its job in the dark and everything will be focused. No more cables, intervalometer and flashlights. This is HUGE for night shooters. As for the lenses, I definitely vote for primes. Bigger apertures, light weight are 2 main benefits over the zooms. I love my Nikon 20mm f1.8, Sony 35mm f1.4 GM and Voigtlander 50mm f2.0 APO lenses(thank you for your recommendation!). They are all excellent astro lenses that covers all the focal length I need for my milkyway landscape.

[RikFreemanPhotographer]

I use a Sigma 14mm f1.8 DG (via an adapter for the EOS-R5) and it is by far the best lens I have ever used for any wide field astro. Used the Tokina and Samyang f2.8's but the difference is chalk and cheese with the Sigma winning hands down across the board. So much so with it being f1.8. While in Virginia I had to step it down to f2.4 with the Milky Way way being so bright. If only I could get those same conditions closer to me in the UK. Off course there is the massive cost difference but, for someone like me that makes as much use of it as possible it is worth every penny with the clarity of shot and a lot less post editing due to noise or CA that does not exist now. 🙂

[MarkusDreler]

Thanks for this comparison. This was very helpful for me. I recently got my Sigma 20mm f1.4 and I love it for night shots. At daytime I would probaly prefer my Sigma16-28 mm f2.8 because of its felxibility in zoom range. I got some nice results from the 16-28mm f2.8 with northern lights, too but now that I saw what difference f1.4 vs f2.8 makes, I wouldn't go back.

[ambrosechiu]

for astro & landscape, i use Z20mm f/1.8 with Z8 camera. will see what new lens are coming this year from Nikon. and I also use Nikon D7100 paired with Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8. this Sigma lens is amazing and i like that zoom range and still can use f/1.8.

[claudiogoncalves]

I am, kinda new in photography and where i live lenses are really expensives so zoom lens are the best options to me since i still don't have a identity or style neither a field of focus to pinpoint the better length (i do DSO astrophotography and landscape) to buy a prime lens

[koenpijpersphotography]

I have traded two wide angle lenses, a 20mm 1.8 and a 14-30 F/4 for my 14-24m 2.8. It is great and i like it a lot for landscapes and astro. 2.8 is more than enough if you do astro on occasion ONLY aurora and meteor strike you want an f/1.8 or bigger. I am perfectly ok with the 14-24 2.8 wide open. It is crazy sharp (not as sharp as the prime but it is a zoom).

[Seegurkenwombat]

Hi Alyn, thank you so much for that run down and pointing out the differences. I use the Sigma 20 1.4 dgdn the most and I love the lens for its aberration free rendering straight from the get go. that enables me to do stacked shots like never before. Usually, i don't even mind it's Vignette at 1.4 because I add a vignette anyways. There are certain times when I wish I had a wider lens specially, when I need to do a Panorama and deal with reflections and time passing messes up the stars in the water.

[gregkennedy]

Although it's for crop sensor cameras, the Signa 18-35mm f/1.8 was a fantastic intro to astrophotography. And 35mm was much more handy when travelling around cities and wanting a 50mm equivalent