Thanks so much Tyson. The wonders of YT algorithms I guess, glad you enjoyed it and just hope it helps some people trying to decide on which 20mm prime to get for Astro.

Same question the other way, why does this guy only have 25 subscribers?! 26 now including me! Keep the good work going! And about the lenses.... I guess i will take the Sigma just because i do a lot of daytime (also portrait) stuff, and just LOVE the sigma ART line, using the 35mm f1.4 for 2 months now and really love it

Thanks for the sub Barry! Yeah, the Art line is an amazing collection of lenses. The new E-Mount 85mm is very interesting to me, excellent performance in a much reduced size from the DSLR version.

@@AstroRoad yes! I saw that one haha, the DG DN instead of the DG HSM, but i like having that extra wheight to be honnest somehow haha. First i want to grab the 85mm for sure because of the portrait capabilitiles using it together with the 35mm for a great combined shoot. Starting to get some jobs, friday did a wedding with only the 35mm and this saturday the same couple wants a pregnancy/after-wedding shoot in the same Dress and costume so fingers crossed!

Thanks so much. Yeah, it is a shame about the Sigma primes, seems to be the wider angle mainly. The 40mm, 85mm, 105mm and 135mm all seem decent. Just one of those characteristics of a lens you really need to do your research on before buying I think. That 14-24mm is a solid lens, I actually use the Tamron 15-30mm G1 adapted to my Sony cameras. Brighter would be great, but f/2.8 can still get some great results. That new Sony 12-24mm GM lens is very interesting. F/2.8 is about as fast as they get at 12mm anyway, and to have to versatility of a zoom would be amazing. That price tag though, going to be hard to justify for many. Anyway, thanks for the comment. So glad you've enjoyed the content so far.

Thanks Никита, so glad it was useful for you!

Definitely a great aurora option. I've since gotten the newer Sigma DC DN 20mm f/1.4 which is in my opinion the best 20mm. Looking forward to an opportunity to get out and test that one.

Thanks very much 👍! Of all the lenses I've purchased for astrophotography, if I had to pick one, it would be the Sony 20mm f/1.8.

@@AstroRoad +1. Thanks :)

Thanks so much 👍. I was much the same, think I'd only had my Sigma 20mm around a year when Sony released their 20mm. I don't think anybody was expecting it to be so good, definately not expecting it to be in the same league as the Sony 24mm f/1.4 GM.

So glad it was of use for you Ken. I know the Sony and Nikon 20mm f/1.8 are both very decent for astro, not sure what is available on the RF mount, though Canon have been releasing a few interesting lenses here over the past little while (I especially love the look of that 800mm f/11 for lunar photography). Perhaps the EF version of the Samyang 20mm f/1.8 in the meantime? I found my Samyang too soft at wide apertures, though coma performance was better than the Sigma. Thanks for watching!

Thanks so much 🙂. I will certainly be doing more into this year. Very much looking forward to getting out there again after such a heavy year of lockdowns we had here last year. Thanks for the tip re astro modifying my camera. Have been thinking I might do this with one of my a7R bodies. Might end up being one of my projects for the year, we'll see how I go.

Glad you enjoyed it, though I would point out the Sony is significantly better than the Sigma for astrophotography. Sigma is a great lens for many scenarios, unfortunately astrophotography is not one of them if pinpoint stars across the image are of concern. Given the price point of the Sony and the Sigma if buying new is nearly identical (where I am at least), I find it hard to recommend the Sigma for astrophotography use.

@@AstroRoad Well dang...that is disappointing to hear! I need a solid Astro lens that is going to pair well with my 1DXMK3. I guess it’s back to the drawing board...thanks for the heads up!

Canon, either through their own or 3rd party, does not have the same level of astro suitable optics as Sony or Nikon at the wide end. Not all is lost though, the Samyang/Rokinon 20mm f/1.8 and 24mm f/1.4 are well worth a look. They are a bit soft by comparison to the Sony lenses and known for focus decentering issues (be sure to check any copy you intend to purchase), but when I had the 24mm I was definitely able to get some images I was happy with after some work in post. They also have the pretty much standard 14mm f/2.8 beginner lense, though I'd probably look at the XP line which I think is 14mm f/2.4 and from I've read performs quite a bit better. Sigma do have some seriously good glass for astro, you just have to pick carefully. The 14mm f/1.8 ART is very popular for astro, however not free of the same issues which hinder the 20mm ART. If the focal length isn't too tight for you, the Sigma 28mm & 40mm f/1.4 are truly excellent. These two are probably in the top half a dozen lenses for astro under 50mm focal length. There is always the approach that you can create mosaics as well if you need a wider field of view, these Sigma primes would be excellent for this. My take with primes is that if they have a maximum aperture less than f/1.8 then it is worth looking at a similar focal length in zooms to get the added flexibility. Sigma excel here with their 14-24mm f/2.8. The Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 is also excellent, in fact I still own a EF version of the Tamron 15-30mm G1 lens. It is actually the only zoom I own specifically for astro. Hope this helps.

Thanks heaps 👍. Glad you enjoyed it.

Absolutely Lawrence. Loved the Sigma, perhaps would have even kept it if I were to use it predominantly for low light video as it is a noticeable notch brighter than the Sony. For anything astrophotography though , Sony hands down if you can afford the premium over the Sigma.

Thanks so much Michael. I use a Konova P1 KMS S2 slider. Fairly basic unit, overall I've been very happy with it.

So glad you liked it Lorenz! For sure, get out there and try it. Don't even need to go out spending big money on the latest full frame gear either. It really is a great way to connect with the sky and nature.

@@AstroRoad I definitely will! It fortunately isn’t the the camera holding me back, I own the r6 now. 😅🙏🏼 but I’m new to the techniques and have to check everything out first. I’m the kind of guy who wants to be able to master everything immediately. But video and time lapse is a Terrain I barely touched so far.

I was much the same, video is a very different beast. R6 should be a very capable camera for most things. For time-lapse I started out by just putting my camera on a tripod and pointing it out a window at the sky to watch the clouds roll by. Once you get comfortable with that process, move onto the same thing but at night. Great way to get the mechanics / process nailed down before spending loads of time scouting and shooting at locations.

Thanks so much 🙂, glad you enjoyed it 👍.

The Sony 20mm is definately my favourite. The Nikon 20mm f/1.8 Z mount is decent, but not the same level. Canon RF and Leica L don't even have a comparable lens last time I looked. Sony have been really getting some big wins with astro suitable lenses in the last few years, I don't think any other consumer platform is close when it comes to wide field native mount options. Now if they could just get their star eater issues under control they'd be close to a perfect system.

Now sigma have come out with a 20mm dg dn f1.4 lens which looks like it has vastly improved outer field and has a reasonable size unlike their massive, complex 14mm f1.4.

I actually got the new Sigma just recently, though have not had the chance to put it through its paces yet. Will be planning to do an updated Sony 20mm Vs Sigma 20mm in the new year.

Now I went for an older dg dslr art used with faulty autofocus. At least it'll be f1.4!

For time-lapse it will still be a terrific lens.

Thanks so much Martti, so glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, size and weight the Sony is also clearly ahead. Price wise, if you are prepared to look at the used market I expect you'll be able to pickup the E-Mount version of the Sigma for a song.

@@AstroRoad I already ordered Sony. The used market is very complicated in where I live.

Makes the decision easy then, you'll certainly enjoy the Sony I think 👍

Thanks for watching Duane 👍. Yeah, the slider is one of my favourites, tracker is well worth it too for that extra nebulosity detail. Lockdown is certainly a drain, looking like a second year in a row of missing spring shooting. Have been thinking about putting some more time in to lunar photography, at least I can do that from my backyard. See how this lockdown tracks for the next few weeks.

@@AstroRoad looking at the news tonight, Dan the man looks to extend another 7 days after the 2/9 when LD was ment to finish. Certainly becoming a drain. Haven't been out for a decent travel/shoot in 2 years. Last travel shoot was down in Otways chasing ghost mushrooms

Thanks! Used a variety of techniques here including a motorised slider, rotator and the good old cheat mode of doing it in post.

Thanks heaps, glad you liked them👍

Thanks! Appreciate you taking time to watch. Great eye for detail again, perhaps you could watch my Geminids vid and count how many meteors I really missed 😂.

@@AstroRoad haha I will give it a shot tonight. Last summer at Rainier National Park I shot the Perseids meteor shower. It was amazing to me that I could spot satellites with my eyes

Beautiful part of the world. Quite sad that the majority of us will never really experience what it is like to be under truely dark and clear skies with properly night adjusted vision. The sort where the light from stars themselves cast shadow on the landscape and reveal millions of fainter stars and orbiting objects drowned out by even moderate levels of light pollution. I bet it was amazing to watch in such a location.

Good eye for detail you have there Danial. Thanks for watching 👍.

Thanks so much Sara!

Thanks Ken, glad you enjoyed it 👍

Thanks Brandon, so glad you like it. For focussing I use the depth of field calculator in the Photo Pills app to calculate the near plane of focus while maintaining far focus through to infinity. You eventually just remember these off the top of your head. For example, anything beyond 4m when focussed to infinity with the Sony 20mm f/1.8 lens wide open will be in focus. I always allow a margin of error, so tend to just pace out 5 large steps from my camera and know it'll be in focus. It is a bit like flying blind, I may end up doing a video on it at some stage.

Hi Mark, thanks for the feedback. In hindsight it would have been better to compare the RAW images rather than the processed final result. Having said that the basic stacking techniques used here do not eradicate rendering defects such as coma, so the comparison I did at around the 2:50 mark stand up. Jist being the Sony has very significantly less coma than the Sigma. Can also add the Sigma still has significant coma at f/2.8 by with point you've negated the light gathering advantage of using a prime over something like the Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 or Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 zooms which give you a lot more flexibility. At wide open the Sigma does collect noticeably more light, however it is a very large and heavy lens given it is a DSLR design rather than for the mirrorless E-Mount design of the Sony. Seeing the advantages in regards to size and weight E-Mount offers being picked up more and more these days with 3rd party manufacturers such as the Samyang Tiny Prime series and even Sigma's own excellent 85mm f/1.4.

I will usually stick around the ISO 2000 mark on the gen 1 a7S/a7R cameras used here. Shutter speed was 15 second from memory.

Thanks so much, and thanks for watching 👍! Setup I use for video is my trusty gen 1 a7S with a Mitakon 50mm f/0.95.

Thanks Richard, really appreciated 🙂

Thanks Namgyal, glad you liked it 👍. For taking time-lapse of the Milky Way you'll be best served using a Full Frame camera using a fast (f/2.8 or faster) lens somewhere between 15mm and 24mm focal length. You can use crop sensor cameras, however for untracked wide angle compositions (especially time-lapse) full frame is better suited. Finding the Milky Way on the night is easiest done using a planetarium app on your phone. Photo Pills and Stellarium are both excellent. When setting up your cameras composition you'll need your camera in full manual mode on a solid base using a tripod. Take some test shots to tune your iso and exposure time, take special care setting your manual focus as that can easily result in an entire night of unusable shots. Once all set you'll need to use your cameras internal intervalometer function (or and external intervalometer if it doesn't have one) to take your photo sequence. Once finished, import your processed images into your video editor which in most cases will enable you to stitch them together to make a video. Hope that helps.

@@AstroRoad thank a lot I does definitely help I would love to follow you in ig

Thanks for watching, so glad it was helpful. I loved the Sigma, it is a great lens. The Sony is clearly superior though, I've no regrets to my decision.

@@AstroRoad Yes I only notice the coma at corners in some photos that I found on Flickr. Thanks for show directly that issue in your comparison. If you have the Sigma 14-24 DG DN Art, can you make an astro review? I don't know which one to decide for (Sony 20 or Sigma 14-24)

I don't have that lens, but reviews I've seen rate it very highly. I already have the Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 adapted to my Sony cameras, so can't really justify that purchase. Having said that, the new Sony 12-24mm f/2.8 GM has me very interested. Only rectilinear zoom I'm aware of that goes that wide.

Thanks so much Arshad! Glad you liked it 👍

Thanks heaps 👍

Thanks so much 🙂

Thanks for watching Greg, glad you liked it. I haven't used any of the E-Mount APS-C cameras, however from what I've seen they should be plenty capable. I started astrophotography with Panasonic micro four thirds cameras which have an even smaller sensor.

Thanks so much 👍. Probably the only scenarios I can think of where the Sigma makes more sense is if you are able to source a used copy for cheap, or perhaps if you are looking for a low light video lens and the extra ⅔ stop of light would help. Optically I think the Sony 20mm is probably the best fast 20mm on the market atm.

@@AstroRoad id pretty much come to that conclusion . Videos like this help a lot when making , for me at least , quite a large purchase . thanks again

@@AstroRoadhi! Thanks for this video because it is really really useful! I thought to buy the Sigma 20mm f1.4 trying to record real time Aurora videos with my Sony A7iv. I have few dubts right now…😂 do you think it would be ok the Sony 20mm f1.8 G even in this case? If so, I would go for the Sony lens 😊

@@alestone_ glad you found it useful. I really need to do a follow up video to this at some stage. The Sigma 20mm f/1.4 lens in this video is the older DG HSM version. Sigma recently released a new DG DN version which is made for mirrorless and optically near perfect, even wide open. This new Sigma lens is the one you want for wide aperture + wide angle shooting. Would also say that the old DG HSM version is likely going to be pretty capable for capturing aurora. The issue with the lens in this video is star shape into the corners, you may find aurora is not impacted by this at all. Reason I bring this up is you might be able to find a used copy for sale at a fraction of th price of new. If price is a secondary concern to performance, I'd give it a pass. My order of lens preference now would be; 1. Sigma 20mm f/1.4 DG DN (mirrorless version). 2. Sony 20mm f/1.8 G 3. Sigma 20mm f/1.4 DG HSM (DSLR version with mirrorless mount). Also not that Viltrox have just released a 16mm f/1.8 lens which supposedly has excellent astro performance too. I've ordered one of these, yet to receive it though.

Wow, haha. Thanks so much 🙂 ! Glad you enjoyed it.

Oh yeah, the Sigma is certainly a chunky lens! Not being able to use a standard filter also detracted from it for me, I always like to be able to use ND's for video or even daytime long exposure. Kind of what has put me off the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 as well. Good luck with whatever you get, I had the Samyang 24mm f/1.4 for a while and found it just a bit too tight as my go-to astro lens. Definately a personal preference kind of thing.

@@AstroRoad Yeah I think 24mm isn’t the standard Astro lens. But with its slightly more narrow field of view it brings more detail in the milkyway and other objects. And if it is to tight I can always make a small panorama with great resolution! Samyang just announced a 24mm 1.8 which is specially designed for astrophotography, I’m really excited for this one!

Wow, this is exciting, I have a lot of love for Samyang. Have been really enjoying my 35mm f/1.8 tiny prime. Mostly using it for night video work, but can be too tight for a lot scenarios. If this new 24mm stacks up like it is sounding, it is going to be seriously compelling.

@@AstroRoad I hope it will be good, especially things like coma and astigmatism would be important for an Astro lens. I tried the manual 20mm 1.8 before the Sigma and 2 copy’s of this lens were terribly decentred. But I’ve heard much more positive things from their autofocus lenses!

Thanks for watching Ilia. I talk about centre sharpness around the 3:50 mark, but yeah, this lens is plenty sharp in the middle. I'd suggest having a look at Chris Frost's or Dustin Abbot's reviews of this lens for a broader examination of this lenses optical performance. Just to make sure I'm being clear, the Sigma 20mm lens in this video is of the original design. Sigma has recently released a new DN version (made for mirrorless from ground up) which is from all accounts a massive improvements. If I had to choose again now between the Sony and the new Sigma, I honestly think I might go with the Sigma for the ⅔ of a stop brighter aperture.

Thanks Nahum, you know I really am very lucky. Not only am I surrounded by beautiful landscape, I'm also able to access Bortle 3 skies with only a half hour drive. Truly fortunate when around ⅓ of the world's population now live under such intensely light polluted skies that they'll never be able to see the Milky Way with their own eyes.

Thanks for watching, really glad it was of use 🙂.

@@AstroRoad :)

Thank you Zahreal, so glad you liked it 👍!!

Certainly a great lens, have no problems recommending it if you don't mind the weight and don't plan to use it in torturous lighting situations such as astrophotography.

Thanks so much 👍

Actually a combination of 3 lenses. From my recollection, I was using the Sony here for most of it along with the Sigma and Mitakon 50mm. Thanks for watching 👍

Yep, using the a7S here, likely at ISO 102400 (I don't go higher than that, the amp glow and noise becomes too significant). Here I'm using a Mitakon 50mm f/0.95 lens as it has about the largest clear aperture at the widest focal length available. Light transmission wise it'll be closer to a T1.2~1.3, still among the brightest native E-Mount lenses though. I use it for video only as it is a bit more forgiving of IQ, this lens does not render stars well.

Sure is Antistio, I don't think there is a 20mm on any mount to rival it for overall performance. Sony has been really hitting the mark over the last few years for excellent astro performing lenses.

Hi Joe, no problem. I'm not aware of an easy way, but you can certainly address this to an extent in post. Probably the easiest would be to shoot a heavily overlapped panorama. Stacking software may also help mitigate this. Outside of this you could use the clone stamp tool method (checkout Lonely speck website) or star masks. Dedicated astrophotography post processing software like Pixinsight or Siril may have more advanced/automated methods, but I don't know those programs well enough to comment. End of the day the Sigma 20mm f/1.4 is still a cracking lens, easily better than the Samyang 24mm f/1.8 I also had. Should be noted that Sigma have since released a DN version of this lens (designed for mirrorless from the ground up) for Sony FE and Leica L which from everything I've seen is a significant improvement optically. Still vignettes heavily wide open, but that's what you get with super wide, super fast optics. Hope this helps.

@@AstroRoad many thanks! I'll be sure to check those out. What I was thinking was that there are some profiles for the majority of the popular lenses that use specific algorithms designed to "correct" or at least flatten the problem areas with a click of the button, assuming you've selected the correct profile for your lense.. again, I've been out of the game for a long time so it may have been just a gimmick that never took off. Good stuff, keep it up!

Hi Joe, I think what you're referring to are lens correction profiles. These will correct for known lens attributes such as distortion, chromatic aberrations, vignette, etc. This will not correct for things such as coma or astigmatism which are the aberrations that will deform stars up in the corners of your image.

Thanks! The time lapse sequences are all taken as long exposure photos, then post processed on my computer and finally put into a video in the same order they were taken to produce a video. It is a very time intensive process. In total I probably spent around 10 hours capturing, processing and creating the video which is a few minutes long.

Thanks for watching 👍 ! For Canon there doesn't appear to any wide, fast and sharp primes with decently controlled CA, coma and astigmatism. As far as primes go I would say the Samyang/Rokinon 20mm f/1.8 is perhaps the best option. I had the EF mount Samyang 24mm f/1.4 adapted to my Sony's which was pretty decent for the money, however it was a bit soft wide open and I think light transmission was a bit low for a f/1.4 lens. The Sigma 28mm f/1.4 is supposedly a great performer all round, just not quite wide enough in my view. This could be overcome by shooting mosaics. There are several decent prime options at f/2.4 ~ 2.8, however at that speed I'd rather have the flexibility of a zoom. The Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 is a great choice here, good star shape and super sharp. I have the Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 G1 and is the only EF lens I continue to use and I've found it to be a great performer. Sony have a 12-24 f/2.8 GM which is better, but the $500USD I paid for the Tamron used is a pretty significant difference to the $3000USD of the Sony lens. One day perhaps. If you are going to be shooting on Canon for the foreseeable future, I think the Sigma would be the pick here.

@@AstroRoad What about the Sigma 14mm F1.8? I find it has less coma than the 20mm and is pin sharp.

Hi Les, 14mm definately has the centre sharpness, still what I'd consider noticeable levels of coma up in the extreme corners. Cracking lens though, used by a lot of astrophotographers with terrific results.

Hi Ken, timelapse is a combination of the Sigma and Sony 20mm lenses as well as a Mitakon 50mm f/0.95 lens.

Nice! Thanks 😁! Because I cannot tell a difference in my 1080p capable monitor haha😆

Thanks so much. Not sure why I have so few either, likely because I only put videos out as my free time allows rather than as the KZfaq algorithms demand. Lol. Thanks for watching 👍.

This particular example is a blended image. For the foreground (including the trees) I stopped down the lens a bit which will increase sharpness and contrast which for most lenses also reduces lens defects (such as aberrations, vignetting, etc). This foreground shot is taken with a lower ISO and very long exposure time (4 minutes here from memory) and focussed on the foreground. For the sky we are limited on exposure time unless using a star tracker due to the rotation of the earth. Here I opened the lens to the widest aperture with a much higher ISO with an exposure time of about 20 seconds I believe. I took 4 of these shots and then stacked them in software on my computer which reduces image noise and aligns the stars in the images which maximises the detail being captured. I then brought this stacked sky image and the long exposure image into my photo editor (I use Affinity Photo) and blend them together using masks. End result being what you see here. This is obviously a super condensed explaination, I can do a few videos covering a bit more detail if you think that'd help?

@@AstroRoad a video on how to blend foreground and stacked Astro background would be much appreciated.

Hi Srihari, thanks for watching. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll add it to my ideas list 👍.

Actually used my trusty old Sony a7S to record this one.

@@AstroRoad I mean the camera I took the still photos with

For stills I used a Sony a7R.

Thanks for watching. Either the Nikon or Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 are excellent, as is the Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 (I actually have the canon EF version of this lens which I adapt to Sony). As far as primes, the Samyang/Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 is well regarded as a cheap entry point lens, though I find that focal length too wide for regular use and at f/2.8 I think you'd be better served by the versatility of one of the zooms. The 20mm f/1.8 and 24mm f/1.4 Samyang / Rokinon are well worth a look, though they are known to have some issue with defocusing (most likely a QA issue) so be sure you purchase from somewhere with a good return policy. For longer focal lengths the Sigma 28mm and 40mm f/1.4 primes are meant to be excellent. That 40mm is on my list to get one day.

@@AstroRoad thank you for taking the time to reply! I currently have an f2.8 lens, the Tokina 11-16mm which is definitely more entry level. I am planning on getting the Nikon D780 as my full frame (currently using the APS-C Nikon D7500) as this new full frame is very, very good in low light. I am definitely ready to spend some money for a very sharp lens that is faster than f2.8. There are a lot of conflicting reviews out there...

No problem at all. I really rate Nikon for astrophotography, the D750 was a great option and have no doubt the D780 will be great as well. I will say those Samyang/Rokinon lenses do not seem to be exceptionally sharp anywhere near wide open aperture, they do perform pretty well in regards star shape (coma, astigmatism, etc). I had the Canon EF version of the 24mm f/1.4 and ended up selling it as I found it lacked that critical sharpness I was looking for at wide apertures required for astrophotography. If you haven't already, I'd recommend taking a look at Nightscape Images by Richard Tatti. He is predominantly a Nikon shooter and his work is truly next level. kzfaq.info/love/-KNiVo4X76cJIMphH1lEdA

@@AstroRoad Excellent! I will definitely check out his page. Many thanks again!

Absolutely, which is a pity really as the Sigma was quite a good option for other photography genres. Would love to do a rematch using the new DN version of the Sigma, though can't really justify that expense given the Sony is such a capable all rounder.

It really is quite distinct, made worse by the fact you need to stop down quite a way before it gets better. Then there is the weight and bulk of the Sigma, the Sony looks like a M43 lens by comparison. Given the Sony and Sigma 20mm are about the same price new, even beyond astro, I just can't imagine a scenario where I'd be recommending the Sigma as the best option for Sony shooters.

Thanks Chris, glad it was of use. Don't have any good news for you I'm afraid. EF is a great platform, but not much development going on there in the age of mirrorless. Double whammy is that Canon is actively shutting down 3rd party lens manufacturers from selling anything on the RF mount. Seems astonishingly short sighted to me when they already are half a decade behind Sony for mirrorless FF. For DSO I still think Canon are a valid choice if you aren't looking at dedicated astro cams. For landscape astro though, I would saw Sony, Nikon Z mount and even Panasonic L mount now are the best choices. Sony are clearly ahead on quality optics up to 35mm in my view.