Best lenses for astrophotography: 50, 85 and 135mm - DSLR, Mirrorless This thing is a beast in comparison. Family moments are precious and sometimes you want to capture that time spent with loved ones or friends in better quality than your phone can manage. There are, of course, outlierssuch as the legendary unicorn lens Canon EF 200mm F2but that one isn't a great alternative unless you are cool with spending $5,700 and carrying around something about as wieldy as a fire hydrant. Yes the Samyang is good and yes there are lenses with bad bokeh. It's March, and in America that means it's time to start arguing over which college athletics team is the best at basketball. No, Mr. This is a stunning lens, clearly one of the very best lenses that Canon produces, this is in the same world class as the 35 1.4, 85 1.2 L lenses. The CA is pretty low wide open and it rivals my 200mm L lens. As it is it is earns a 9. (on a full frame camera)Wonderful lens for some portraiture applications, sporting events and candids at a party or event. Along with improvements in telescope mounts, camera technology, filters, and digital image processing, these have allowed amateurs to produce astrophotographs of nearly professional quality. I am not really looking at buying anything else, though. Heh, it's amazing how far Samyang has come since this article (I'm loving their 45 & 75 f1.8), and kinda amusing that they ended up delivering exactly what you asked for Kinda reminds me of that article by Roger Cicala about how long lens development takes. But you raise the exact point, that primes should be chosen with a 2x factor. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tbrigham/284303834/. I have taken some of the coolest photos with this lens on a canon mark III which shoots ten frames per second. Anyone use the Samyang 135mm for astrophotography? I have used and still use the 135MM F/2 l lens. So now your 42Mpix A7rII is only a 10.5Mpix. Canon EF 135mm f/2 L USM lens. How good it is? - Cloudy Nights Samyang should definitely make 135 f2 with the same optical formula and AF for Sony EFF and also Nikon F plus Canon EF mount if possible. To see even more example photos using the Rokinon 135mm lens (or Samyang branded version), go ahead a perform a search on Astrobin or Flickr, with the appropriate filter. To shoot indoors under typical gymnasium lighting, you often need f/2.0 or wider to get a shutter speed high enough to stop the action. (purchased for $1,100), reviewed August 12th, 2009 - Actually though, it's performance is so good that you really have to consider it a bargain, even at the $800-900 street price. This photo was captured with the Samyang 135mm F/2 lens using a UV/IR cut filter and a QHY168C dedicated astronomy camera. Sharpness, contrast and the natural vignetting on full-frame cameras is awesome! Although if Bokeh and sharpness is your thing and you can live with MF the Laowa 105mm f/2 Smooth Trans Focus (STF) is amazing. I see that many commenters did not get what this lens can do. (purchased for $1,000), reviewed February 4th, 2010 however i started to realise how every subject might actually be a cardboard cutout being photographed. The one and only 300mm lens I tested is the Zeiss Tele-Tessar 300mm F4. Some APOs can be fitted with pricey telecompressors, but those invariably result in vignetting and coma. Rokinon 135mm F/2 Lens for ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY. During the frigid months of winter, my motivation to spend over an hour setting up my complete deep-sky imaging rig dwindles. But for me, the reason to get this lens is the Bokeh and DOF control. Another article that I read only the headline and saw a couple of samples then jumped directly to comments. (cont. Interesting. But the Rokinon f/2 version fits into a different market. http://www.adstateagent.com | http://www.printradiant.com | http://www.hitsticker.com, I love this lens. They're heavy, and expensive, but you can carry one lens instead of three, and can vary the compression and field of view to a significant degree - from nearly normal, to long portrait focal lengths. With this lens you don't need to do much if any post processing. I will say that at F/4 this lens is extremely sharp corner to corner when used on my 60Da. In 3 months I got loosy focus ring. Star parties or dark sky excursions are another great time to use a camera lens in place of the telescope. However, all the reviews were made by nature and sports photographers, and I would like to find out more about their performance in astrophotography. Have you ever come across this phenomena? My canon is clear modded and I use a an Astronomik EOS-clip L filter to block the uv and ir. Not only does it let you travel light, but impressive wide field projects are often more successful when captured under a dark sky. I shoot dozens of weddings every year but the 135mm stayed in my bag a majority of the time; I just didn't find myself needing to use it. its useful to keep in mind these bokeh circles are the result of light sources bright lamps from autos Christmas lights streetlamps etc and are seriously overused in articles on lenses with strong subject\ backround seperations, they approach parody in the way they characterise subject separation, for most purposes and in most portrait situations its less highlight dominant backrounds that grace a photo. How to Find the Perfect Astrophotography Target with Stellarium When stopped down to 37mm, at F5.4, it also produces perfect, small and round star images across the entire field. The first telephoto lens of choice, especially recommended for beginners, is the 135mm F2.5 SMC Pentax. Olympus 75mm f1.82. Juksu, your point is well taken. I already did some trials with the Samyang 12mm lens. You can use Stellarium to preview the image scale with the 135mm lens and your DSLR. Fast focus, Super sharp, Well built, Awesome for low light. This makes me feel I shall take the Zeiss 85F1.8 off my A6000 or maybe NOT, it's just another hype article about "A" lens. It's a technical review about a couple of lens attributes. (purchased for $1,100), reviewed October 5th, 2008 This lens has only two drawbacks. Digital Cameras & Digital Camera Kits | Camera Gear | B&H These are affordably available on eBay, and result in perfectly round star images, the way nature intended them to be. This lens is very sharp, corner to corner wide open. Material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted or otherwise used without the prior written consent of The Imaging Resource. And it's not the one problem from my L lenses very sad =(, My favourite lens, hands down. It focuses within a blink of an eye, instantly. Tack sharp at f/2. DPReview March Madness, round one - vote! Got it! It is fantastic on my old 5d. Also, when used as recommended, and properly guided at full camera resolution, they are all comparable to a field-corrected APO, producing perfect images from edge to edge which can be easily cropped 25% with no evidence of aberrations. Equipment used was an astromodified Canon 700D, Samyang 135mm f2, SkyTech Triband filter, Star Adventurer 2i, ZWO mini finder with ASI120MM, guiding with PHD2 and polar alignment using sharpcap. Some people like these, and consider them decorative. Can I assume that this article applies only to full frame & not to micro four thirds? The shallow depth of field present at its maximum aperture does indeed create a pleasing bokeh. 135mm F2.0 The optical design includes one extra-low dispersion lens element to control chromatic aberration, contributing to sharp, color-accurate imaging, and each of its lens elements features Ultra Multi-Coating to improve light transmission and reduce ghosting and flare. Now I wonder why people are never happy even on 3rd day of a new year :) Come on guys just think "Micael Widell" was working over holiday period to publish this free article ;). 21P Giacobini Zinner NGC1499 California Barnard 8 Cr399 Coathanger North America and Pelican Veil nebula HORGB M11 cluster area (purchased for $890), reviewed October 21st, 2005 When coupled with my Canon DSLR camera, the entire system weighs just over 3 pounds. The full name of this lens is the Rokinon 135mm F/2 ED UMC, with ED standing for extra-low dispersion, and UMC referring to the ultra multi-coated optics. What next, an article extolling the virtues of 43mm, or 70mm? So there - it is not a perfect object. I think the bokeh won me over with the cat, as well as the fact that I like animals; the case for the duck was the same. It's sharp, has very low aberrations, no real distortion and the bokeh is very nice. An h-alpha filter would still be useful for your D500, but much more so if it were modified! 30-35% diameter reduction is usually necessary on "good" lenses. Trully sharp accross whole frame from f2 on 5d. I loved the Nikon 80-400G for a year, or so, and then found everything with it wrong, and got rid of it. And if you want autofocus, I would recommend the Canon 135mm f2.0L, which is incredibly light for its performance at just 750g. The reason the 135mm lens was that it was the longest lens that would focus with a Leica rangefinder. Lensrentals.com - Rent Lenses and Cameras from Canon, Nikon, Olympus Sure, that would be swellbut it doesn't matter with regard to how it performs. My copy has very stiff manual focus though and is quite heavy. Perhaps I missed it, but did you use a clip-in light pollution filter with your 60D and this lens? You don't have to worry about shopping for a better lens anymore. Check them out for yourself! This way you get both lenses with only one! Tiring. Exterem apertures are extrems (wether it's full open or closed) that should be reserved for extrem cases. From far to near, the AF is instantaneous. Depth of field at f/2 on the 135 is so shallow that I usually shot it stopped down to f/2.8 or f/4 anyway. Canon 135mm f/2 L Review - Ken Rockwell Far from being a generic run-of-the-mill image hosting website, it was created and is still operated by an astrophotographer, and boasts features that are very specific to astrophotography. Another example is the 100mm (or sometimes 90mm) F2.8 macro lens. Excellent build quality, fast auto focus, and its fast. It also focuses really fast and accurate and is light. There is no such thing, in my opinion. It's not a bad lens, probably a great one, even if it doesn't seems really as sharp as a basic 85mm f/1.8 (used at f/2.8) , but it's a bad idea to work wide open if you don't need to. Can't argue with your reasoning, Juksu, about the framing of the article, but just stopping by to say I really liked that cat picture, am shopping for a new smartphone, struck that this type of photo is in another league - all newbie observations, of course, which sort of supports your thoughts that an article like this would be better framed as a "Love this new long lens stuff" sort of thing. Canon 135 mm is really E X T R A O R D I N A R Y lens. I used this lens quite a bit years ago as my main working lens. I am still very proud of some of the photos I shoot with a Pentax O450 15 years ago - a good smartphone camera today is at least as capable. thank you for that great review and also the explanations. We have come to accept that most lenses are strong in only one or two of these three factors, that I personally focus on when researching lenses to buy. Focal length: 135mm Maximum aperture: f/2.0 Lens construction: 10 elements in 8 groups Angle of view: 18 degrees Closest focusing distance: 3 feet Focus adjustment: Rear focusing system with USM Mount: Canon Filter size: 72mm Dimensions: 3.2 inches in diameter and 4.4 inches long Weight: 1.7 pounds Warranty: 1 year See more It could really use an update to its coatings. Why would I want a 135/2.0 lens when I have a 135/1.8? The Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM Lens makes an excellent indoor sports lens. I have done a review comparing the sharpness and quality of bokeh to the Canon 70-200 2.8. $581.00 for 7 days. Creamy smooth bokeh. Sigma 105/2.8 DG EX Macro (very sharp at infinity)