Another great post, thank you. I have both, Sony and Nikon cameras and lenses, but as much as I love the Sony GM series lenses, I prefer to shoot with the Nikon system because, you may not know, the native Nikon lens will automatically be set to infinity upon power up (set to AF-S, turn camera on, then switch to MF), stars are needle sharp and it gets rid of the arduous "fly-by-wire" difficulties when focusing on stars.

Yes. This is the perfect video for me at the moment. Thankyou Richard

Loved it all as usual Richard!

Great video Richard. I do love the longer focal length images these days and I feel it really fills the frame with the best of the core.

All good information, as usual. Luv ya ❤❤❤❤❤

I enjoyed this video very much Richard! I totally agree with you on the Z mount prime lenses! Your pictures are outstanding in this video...great work!

Once again Richard you have excelled yourself. What a fascinating insight in to what equipment you use to produce your masterfully brilliant nightscape photography. You are definitely a Jack of All Trades and Master of every single one of them. I love your content which is always so entertaining and expertly presented. You know your stuff, keep 'em coming Richard! Car'n Tigers, Matty Knights, KB, utter champions.👍

Thanks Richard. I love seeing how new equipment can/can't change the quality, workflow, and working output. Lots of that here.

Such stunning images mate. Can't wait to get back to Australia

*This was a good show, thank you for sharing.* *Smiles*

The 20mm Z mount is my go to lens as well. Absolutely love it.

Very nice video as always . Very nice lenses

That's a great rundown Richard! I've been shooting mainly with Sigma 14-24 f2.8 but am getting more and more interested in primes.

Thanks for sharing Richard, because of you I began to use longer focal length lens and enjoy the challenge, however, I too love the 20mm prime. I can't wait until the Milky Way is visible again in the night skies here in Texas, USA.

Really enjoyed your video!!!

Great video mate, have to watch it again. Thankyou

Thank you Richard, excellent lens review based on your field experience, as always your videos are highly educational, continuation of Clear skies, here in Lisbon PT it is still very cloudy👌👍🙏

Thanks! This is so informative. "Buy cheap and you buy twice!" I can relate to that. In my case it means buy too much 😊Beautiful and inspiring images! 😍

Great video Aussiemate, have a great weekend.

Amazing video!! This encourages me to go out and shoot at night! Greeting from NZ🎉

Another great vid

Great video, Richard. Lots of food for thought there. I must admit, I use the 14-24mm f2.8 F mount on my D850, and it is still superb, despite its age, particularly stopped down to f3.5 and beyond, but I do tend to keep the lens at the 20mm focal length for exactly that reason of perspective distortion. On a recent holiday trip to Japan, I took the Nikon Zfc (APS-C sensor) with the 16-50mm kit lens in order to cut down weight and bulk. I was blown away at how well this lens and sensor did with night sky photography. I was expecting to be disappointed, but wasn't!! Thanks again, Richard, for all this wonderful content. Cheers.

Richard I also luv my Nikon 1.8 20mm and looking forward to another season of night shooting. Also looking forward to more of your vids in 2024. Hope you and Glenys have another great year. Deb and I are going to Iceland in August to tackle the Laugavegur trail then into a motor home to tour the ring road. Unfortunately the wrong time of year for the northern lights but you never know. Stay safe out there.😊

Very nice Richard, some good points made here. Due to money constraints I use a Tamron 15-30 with my Canon EOS R for nightscape which gives me pretty good results. My favorite targets are the auroras that we frequently get here.

Great advice and images, as always! As a Canon RF shooter, we are short-changed for high quality wide angle primes until such time as Canon finally releases their long rumoured fast RF primes. Or they allow Sigma to release RF versions of their Art lenses. But the Canon RF15-35 zoom is very good and versatile, though f/2.8. Faster would be nicer! Just as you say. Keep cool! We had a spell of -40° nights a couple of weeks ago here in Alberta. No mozzies though!

Fantastic video Richard, my personal favourite is the Sony 24mm 1.4GM, I absolutely love this lens. I have recently picked up a copy of the Viltrox 35mm 1.8 for the Sony and waiting for clear sky's to try it out on the MW. I do like the longer focal length also, hopefully will get to try it out soon. Cheers again Richard for a great episode. 👍

Nice to see another video. I love my 24mm f1.8 Z lens which is great for astro but also very good for landscapes. Must say I don’t envy you going out under full moon, that’s when mozzies and midges are worst.

Always informative and engagingly presented, Richard - thank you. It definitely prompts the question “do I have the tools I need for what I’m trying to produce?”. My backpack gets heavier and heavier!!

Thanks for the video Richard. The Nikkor Z 20mm f/1.8 is my favorite lens on the Z6II. On DSLR, Nikon D750 used the Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8.

Great video talking about focal lengths Richard. I really love the 20mm Nikkor Z for my Aurora shooting. I love both the Nikkor 20mm and 24mm Z lenses. I will on occasion use the 14-24mm f4 Nikkor Z for timelapse where I need to get a wide angle in the frame with great results on the Z6ii, I can't afford the f2.8 version unfortunately.

Thank you very much 👍

I agree with you on the Nikon 20mm f/1.8. Its an amazing lens ! I also like to shoot wide open with the 14-24 on the D850.

Hi Richard, I love your videos, both for the tutorials and also for giving me the means to escape when I need to. What I would love to see is...... when you show your photos with the settings you used, maybe you could also include the date taken and the approximate direction the shot was taken. This will help me get a grip on where to shoot at different times of the year. Ill totally understand if it's inconvenient for you. As with every other successful Aussie, I'm proud of you Richard. Good on ya mate!

Thnx Richard! Found your website and payed you a coffee. Keep on! Thank you. Reimund

Awesome to even just listen too.... My go-to are the 24GM & 35GM on the Sony A7Riii & A7. I sometimes shoot a 24mm foreground & a 35mm sky too as I just like the look it gives especially with something like Orion. I do want to try some 85mm stuff though at some point.

I love my 20mm Z mount lens, it is one of the most capable lenses I have ever used. I may as well bite the bullet and get the 14-24 f2.8 too. I also use the Samyang 14 f2.8 for the Z mount but only on a star tracker at f4, but I simply cannot handle the distortion that this lens has. Excellent overview Richard!!

Thanks for the timely video Richard. I'm considering the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM ART Lens because, while I like astro landscape photography, its only one genre of photography I enjoy and I'm looking for a more versatile lens for the nights I go out under the stars.

Glad you pointed out the Tamron 35mm f/1.4 Richard, seems to fly under the radar as a pretty epic lens for astro. In the shadow of the Sigma 40mm perhaps? Only lenses I'd add to your lineup for consideration is the Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 (great Sony 14mm GM alternative) and the Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8.

Great video Richard as always! Was out last night with the NIKON Z20 mm f1.8 as it is beginning of Milky Way season in NZ and Southern Hemisphere. Am interested in trying the 50mm this year at some stage. I got the Z20mm on based on hour enthusiasm for the lens a while back. It is a brilliant lens and see why it is your favourite. 😊

I love my Z 20mm f1.8, it’s definitely my favourite Astro/landscape lens that I use since upgrading to the Nikon Z6ii. Prior to that on Canon crop sensor, I was using the Tokina 11-20 f2.8 and had great results. I still use my Canon 70-200 on my Nikon via the Fringer EF-NZ adapter as well.

Great stuff Richard. I battled away with a 16-35mm f2.8 for years. Grabbing a much cheaper and lighter 20mm f1.8 has been amazing. Both Sony native lenses.

Thanks Richard. As i wanted to avoid the extra cost of an startracker i opted for the Pentax Astrotracer option, it gives of course not the full spectrum of a startracker, but instead of 16s on 18mm APS-C it offers up to 300s on 18mm APS-C, and it is very easy and fast to set up, with longer focal length ofcourse also the available time on astrotracer lowers. But the Astrotracer offers you approximate 18times longer exposures than without, i personally would limit it to max 10 times to have a usable foreground and less streaks in the edges. If 10 times the exposure is not enoughthan of course an astrotracker would be the next investment. But as with the lenses, of course you get what you pay for, but on the other hand don't pay for something you don't need or isn't limiting you, the prices increase exponentially from level to level.

A very informative video Richard,as always. I shoot Sony and I have three G Master primes,1.8 14mm,1.4 24mm and 1.4 50mm,all excellent lenses.The 24 would be my favourite for nightscapes.I call it my goldielocks lens because,as you said,it fits a lot in the frame without the distortion of a wider lens but with a big sky view,just right.The 50mm is new and I've not had a chance to use it at night but daytime comparisons lead me to expect just as good image quality as the 24mm.The 14mm is great for capturing panoramas in less shots than a longer lens,still with plenty of overlap for clean easy stitching.Distortion is not too bad for such a wide lens.You have to get pretty close to objects to see unfavourable levels of leaning trees or walls.Overall I'm quite impressed with these lenses as they produce crisp sharp images night or day. Thanks for the knowledge Richard.Between you and Alyn Wallaces guidence my nightscape photography is improving in leaps and bounds.

Great information and I have been using my Nikon 14-24/20 mm on my D850 and just recently bought the Z version of the 14-24 to go with the Z9. Looking forward to trying it out and I will try the 85 1.8 as well. I never thought of using anything more than 24mm for Astro, but your suggestion on loner primes looks promising! Great info videos for NightScapes!! Any recommendations on trackers?

Great information, Richard. I shoot Canon Mirrorless, and currently I use the Rokinon14MM F2. 8 lens. I saw your image using the 50MM F1.4 lens - I have a Canon version and I like it, but it has way too much coma in the corners (It is the older version of this lens though!) In the upcoming Solar Eclipse, I will be using my Sigma 150-600 and, on my tracker, (mainly to keep the sun from drifting out of the frame as I do a time lapse before totality! Thanks again for your insight and knowledge - I really appreciate it!

Great review, asl always Richard. Hope you survived those mozzies.

Hi Sir Aditya amazing and very educational video like always. I just love your art style so creative is your style of teaching to people like us. I know you have heard this from me very often but I hope to meet you and learn from you. I'm a big and huge fan of yours. Thank you so much sir again for this beautiful educational video. Hope to meet you soon and learn and be a successful nightscape like you one day. Cheers Buddha bless you and your sweet family always 😊❤❤❤

Stunning images as always!! BTW do you have any input on sigma art 85 f1.4 and sigma art 105 f 1.4 lenses ?

Great Video. Waiting for Benro Polaris long term review.

thanks for your video as now alot of new lenses as i am looking into add some new wide angle lens. I am not so happy about Viltrox 24mm f1.8 due to not wide enough and have to add 1 stop to get corner sharpness better.

Great video as always! I’ve been following your channel for years and I’m always impressed by your knowledge, enthusiasm and beautiful photos! I’m primarily not an astro photographer and I shoot mostly black and white. What’s your opinion on black and white milky way shots? I know many of your photos, especially the ones with light painting, would look amazing even with the colour stripped away! Give it a try and share your thoughts with us! Love from Sweden🔭

I am getting in to Astrophotography. I am shooting the full range from wideangle 14mm all the way up to telephoto deep space. But, living in the UK, and especially Wales, my main challenge is the damned weather. Would happily accept the mozzies for a clear sky! Thanks for the video!

Hello Richard. Great video! The fastest super wide angle is the Sigma Art 14mm f/1.4, not yet available for Nikon and Canon. There are only versions for Sony and Leica, unfortunately. Hug.

We primarily chase auroras when we are traveling northbound to Finland, Sweden and Norway. In the past I have been using Zeiss prime lenses for our DSLRs (15mm 2.8, 25mm 1.4, 35mm 1.4, 50mm 1.4) and with me slowly moving into mirrorless I am considering at least the Nikon 20mm 1.8 Z-mount.

I've been enjoying my Irix 15mm F2.4. There's virtually no barrel distortion, but the tradeoff to achieve that is an angle of view that is considerably less than other wide angle lenses at that focal length. Obviously, it still suffers from exaggerated angles on buildings unless pointed straight on. I did a star trails image last year. Straightening the buildings had two effects: 1) significant cropping on the sides, and 2) elongation of the star trails into an oval, which I kinda like how that turned out. Otherwise, I've gravitated recently toward 50mm. One of my few opportunities to shoot last year (Canadian wildfires screwed up the skies for months) was at a fairly long wooden footbridge to do some light painting, remembering and utilizing many of your methods. I tried every lens I had from 12mm to 85mm, and 50mm was the one I liked the best. It gave me the best rendering of what my eye saw that night. It's a Yongnuo 50mm F1.4 - who knew, right? I like everything about it, except that there's a little bit of a magenta cast to fix in post. I just got my hands on a Nikon brand 50mm F1.4 just this past weekend, so I'll look forward to trying it out as soon as the winter clouds leave Michigan.

Hi Richard, very good review of all the options, I enjoy your videos very much, thanks for sharing your expertise and knowledge. I have one question about the Nikkor Z 20mm lens. My main lens for landscapes in general is the Z 14-24mm lens. But I am hearing from you and many other Nikon Z astrolandscape photographers that the Z 20mm is the one that everyone prefers. The question I have, how often you actually use it at f/1.8? Because if you stop it down to, say, 2.8, I could get the same result with the Z 14-24mm at 20mm, right? So do you really use it at 1.8 and do you see any difference in the corners when compared to 2.8 aperture? thanks, Miklos

Excellent review and good timing as I was going to pick your brains about the nikon 20mm 1.8 s. Now I'm thinking about that lens in the future. Did buy the Megadap and was slowly moving towards Sony lenses with my Z6 but the Megadap stopped working and the 2 year warranty they offer is obviously a no go because they have never replied back to all 5 emails, so look after your copy. Mine stopped working after an update😢. Going to buy the Neewer adapter version soon but definitely that Nikon 20mm

Hi Richard get video I use 2 lenses. I shoot with a d850. Both lenses are tamron 1 tamron sp 15-30 2.8. 2 Tamron sp 24-70 2.8 g2 I’ve enjoyed my results The 24-70 is my general go to lens

My favorite lens is the Sigma18-35 f1.8 S mount. I bought it when I was using my Nikon D5600. When I moved up to a Nikon Z6II, I got an adapter for it. I have a couple other lens mentioned in this video, but my Sigma lens seems to give me the sharpest pictures. The only negative is that it's a heavy and long lens. But my thinking is that weight means more glass, and sharper pictures. I do have an off topic question. What "Picture Control" settings do you use in your Nikon Z6II? I'm currently using Landscape. But would Auto, Neutral, or Standard, or Custom be better for nightscape and Milky Way? Thanks for what you do, Richard. You've taught me a lot and keep me motivated.

Can you go over video settings for Astro photography? I just started enjoying AP and would love to add video. Been a professional Real estate and commercial photographer for 14 yrs now and cannot believe I waited so long to do AP. I love your channel and that you light paint. We do that in Real estate photography too when doing twilight photos. You do very beautiful work. Thank you for being so thorough with your teaching!

Great video! Did you try the Viltrox 20mm 1.8 manual lens?

For nightscapes I use Sony 14mm 1.8 GM, Sony 24mm 1.4 GM and Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 35mm 2.0 Aspherical, all great Lenses which I highly can recommend.

The Tamron 35mm 1.4 is definitely one of the best lenses in it`s range ! ONly it is big -- but nowadays quite cheap second hand ! OF course there are so many more options when taking manual focus lenses into account ! The Voigtlander 50mm f2 Apo comes to mind😉 ( maybe just a view lenses might be better than the Nikon z 50mm 1.8 when looking for a 50mm for astro, but of course some are, I guess the Milvus series might be extremely good , the 50mm and the 85mm 1.4 ! )

Great images!!! Yes any maker of cameras' and lenses today are superb. I started Astro MW in 2015 and the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 (no contacts) was terrible and not even Lr had a LC for it for a couple years, that was then! I capture with the Sony A7SM1/2/3 and the A7RM2. IF you are just starting the E 10-18mm (15-27mm) APS-C f/4 OSS is great came out in '14 before the A7 line BUT it will work in full frame mode 12-18mm (18mm if you remove the rear light shield) the positive is treads for filters if you want. Smaller than the 12-24mm f/4 or f/2.8 and even the 14mm f/1.8 even needs a filter holder. Ok all ultrawides the reason is you can do a MW ARC in July and Aug in a single row of a pano. Just for info yes the 16-35mm f/2.8 or f/4 are great no filter holder needed. f/4 is great and 25s image. Learn to do panos and it will save you from buying a lot of lenses. Lastly the Sony Mod 1 and 2 you can put apps on cameras and the app "Digital Filter" will allow capturing with any and all camera setting separate for sky and foreground.

I am a Sony Shooter I mostly use Sony 20 mm f1.8 G and Voigtlender 50mm APO Lanther f2 for my night scapes. You should try Voigtlander.

24mm is my jam. The 20mm distorts too much, but not enough at the same time. I got a 14mm recently too and I like it, because it distorts SO much, that it's fun, know what I mean? It's so extreme that it's artistic,whereas I find the 20mm distortion just not enough to be artistic, but not as clean as 24mm provides. This is of course personal preference. I mean look, they make 28mm because some folks claim they don't like the distortion of the 24mm! I personally, can't see what they do with the 24mm, so this is why it's my go to focal length. I think it's wide enough and provides nice sharp, straight sides. I just upgraded my main 24mm lens from a Rokinon 24mm 1.4 to the Sigma art 24mm 1.4 It's great having the auto focus for daytime shots and I can't wait to try it out this summer during Milky Way season. I have a sigma art 35mm 1.4 which I love for regular photography and have used it for Milky Way too, when I can, I'll use that to help pull in the sky. I have the common 50mm 1.8 Nikon which is great for smaller scenes to really pull the sky in. The larger the Milky Way looks, the better, so long as good subject can fit in there too. Also good for pano's. Next focal length I just picked up a Rokinon/Samyang 85mm 1.4 I'm not sure yet how it will do for stars but during the day, I got a nice clean copy and this thing is impressive for a little over $100 USD used. Super sharp, so I hope to get some Milky Way pano's with it. Then of course, like I said I just picked up a 14mm, also the Rokinon/Samyang 14mm 2.8 I got it for some fun, out of the norm artistic shots but the first time I used it, I was out on a beach with a wide open scene and all it did was take a great big, clean shot hahaha just like you said in the video, if it's a wide open landscape, it works without distortion there. So I used it in the wrong place for fun artistic style, BUT I learned what you mentioned; it can be a great "normal" view in such cases too, so it's good to have on hand. Especially considering the low priced used. I also recently picked up Nikon's old school 16mm 2.8D fisheye. I think that could make some fun, silly, artistic shots of the night sky too. Like the 14mm, I don't expect to go out, and take my best shots with these, but where there's still time, yet not enough time to move to another location, pull out one of these for some shots after taking the more serious, 24mm-50mm main shots. Still rocking the, now old school D610 DSLR with no desire to move on from it anytime soon. I love this old girl.

Hello Richard, and thanks for the video. When you used the Sony lens on the Z6 (for stills), did you find it easier to focus as compared to the Z lens? I ask because I own the Z6ii and a few Z primes, but I have a REALLY tough time focusing on the stars and getting decent results. I am pushing 70 years of age, but in theory it should not be that difficult to focus these lenses. I thought maybe the Sony might have been easier. FWIW, I did purchase a used Nikon F 50mm 1.8G, and it is a bit easier to focus, but the coma is really bad even stopped down.

Hi Richard, thanks once again for a great video. The quality of your nighttime videos is truely amazing, I actually thought you shot it in a studio and threw a nighttime background onto it! I pretty much agree t all yo said. My absolute favourite is also the 20mm 1.8 and I too have tried 14-16mm but was never really happy with them. As a result of watching your channel for years, I also tried the longer lenses, well 35 & 50 mm and was truely amazed at the results. It's something I would probably not have done off my own back, so thanks for that. In your conclusion, you mentioned a few disadvantages with star trackers, but realistically, with all the tech and apps now available, they are not so difficult. Lets face it, you can set one up accurately, even in daytime in just a few minutes. Looking forward to your next video.

Thanks for this nice compilation of lenses and your thoughts around these lenses. These were some very impressive images as well. I just got my 20mm f1.4 Sigma Art DG DN and I am lovin it. It has such a nice sharpness and the amount of light at f1.4 is insane.

Thank you Richard! I am wanting to buy a lens for the purpose of time lapses, and wondering whether I should try the new Sigma Z range at 16mm.

Hi, Richard! I think I'll upset you. In the spring, I bought a Sony 14mm 1.8 and used it on my Nikon Z5 via Megadap ETZ. For six months, I observed tangential astigmatism up to f2.8 on a lens worth more than $1,000. I couldn't stand it and sold it to a neighbor, and it turned out that there were no aberrations on his old Sony A7R. Apparently it is better to use lenses only for the native mount...

I owned all the 20mm you mentioned on your video, plus the Sigma 20 1.4 DG DN, and the Voigtlander 21 F1.4, and I found the Sigma 20 F1.4 DG DN wins hands down in every category. For the 24, I totally agree with you the Sony 24GM is really the best of the best for Astro. the Samyang 24 1.8 comes next, Nikon really have nothing that can compete with them whether in F or Z, in fact, other than the new 20 F1.8Z, Nikon really got nothing to compete with E-mount for Astro in the wide end. . yes, I pretty much only use E-mount lenses on my Z body for landscape and Astro. I also agree with you that Sigma 40 1.4 is just fantastic which Nikon don't have any answer to that either, I am surprised I don't heard a lot of people mentioned this Sigma 40 F1.4, but after playing with it it became my favorite lens right away, I now have Sigma 40 1.4 , Sony 35GM , Voigtlander 35 F2 APO, Sigma 35 F1.2, and Zeiss 35 F1.4 Milvus in ZE mount, I really have hard time to name which one is the " best", I guess for Astro specifically, I would vote for the Sigma 35 1.2 and Sigma 40 F1.4, but the Sony 35GM I just as good. unfortunately again, Nikon has nothing to compete in this area either, I have the 35 1.4G but it's pretty horrible in Astro, the new 35 1.8 Z is much better but still not in the same league as the Sigma and Sony. You also mention you would love to have the Sony 14GM, but have you tried the Sigma 14 DGDN? after I received my Sigma 14 F1.4 DG DN, both my Sony 14GM and Sigma 14 F1.8 Art lost their love from me and they are no longer my favorite 14mm, again the 14 1.4 DG DN wins in every category just like the 20mm, that manual focus lock is a really a killer feature for astro, and that alone makes lens heater use so much easier, just a fantastic lens. we are really living in a great era with some many awesome choices.

Hi Richard, luv your work. You didnt generally talk about using truley ultawide, eg 10mm I have been learning my RF10-20mm f4 for 2 months now. Trust me, it can be difficult, but not impossible, to make great shots @ 10mm on this lens. Lots of learning to do. I call 10mm retilinear UUW ultra ultra wide. One benifit of 10mm is being able to aim the lens completely horizontal to avoid tilting buildings. Beware of stretched objects at the sides. 10mm is certainly worthy of astro landscapes, especially from a lookout or clifftop. The other lens worthy of discussion is the RF85mm f1.2. Mine is tack sharp at f1.2 across most of the frame (I use tbis lens every week at f1.2 for all sorts of subjects, inc sports), and for milkywaycore, stopped down a little to f1.6 = sharp and no ca accross the entire frame. 2 sec shot @ lowish iso didnt need tracking. The othe

Next time we meet up, you could try my Sony 14mm f/1.8 GM lens on your Sony a7S3 and see if you like it. I am impressed by this lens for wide nightscapes combined with the Sony feature of "Bright Monitoring" which makes compositions so easy. 😎👌👍

Thanks for sharing. What made you spend the extra money for the 20mm Z mount lens, since you have the F mount? Is the 20mm f1.8 for F mount not as sharp as 20mm Z mount? Kindly share what you think.

Great video. I appreciate your thoughts about the different lens. I am a zoom lover for most things until it comes to astro. Here I prefer primes for the fast aperture and less risk of messing up my composition. Currently using a Sigma 24mm prime but would like something wider for my Canon R mount.

I'm wanting a 20mm Sigma Art lens for Canon. But, unfortunately, prices are so expensive in Brazil that I am discouraged from buying. The same for any startracker. Importing the lens would be an option if there weren't so many taxes. It’s difficult to be an astrophotographer in Brazil... Best Wishes, Richard!

I've been thoroughly enjoying your videos and have been inspired to say the least. My newest addition is the Sigma 20 mm f/1.4 E mount lens along with the Megadap. I plan to put it through its paces in Arizona soon-- I'm escaping the winter clouds of southern Ontario. I have a feeling that it's the one I'm going to use the most. I also switched my original 24-70 mm kit lens, a surprisingly impressive lens optically although slow, for the new 24 - 70 mm lens (f/2.8 but I can't afford the fast 14 - 24 mm lens), My other go-toa lens is the Z mount 35 mm f/1.8 Nikkor. I have to keep in mind that I do a lot of daytime nature photography too!

Did you do a video comparing the 20mm/1.8 with the 14-24/2.8 @ 20mm?

At 12:27 (one heck of a photograph), the tree blocking the light with the storm clouds coalescing overhead, is that the moon or some other light source being blocked by the trunk? There also seems to be more light on the trunk and the tips of the branches than the branches just above the trunk; did you do this with a flashlight or in post?

For full frame, there are a few companies, including IRIX that make a 21mm f1.4 lens. For crop, Sigma makes the excellent 18-35 f1.8 Have you tried either of these?

Hi Richard, Great vid and, I'm pretty you had all bases covered ! :) Last year I decided to make the change to Z, had the Z9, now it was time to change, had the holy trinity, plus a whole lot of other longer lenses , now holy trinity is Z, plus, on your advice, Z 20mm 1.8..................very good advice, plus got the Skywatcher 2i Pro .............. Cry once they say :) Definitely , no regrets Regards, ...................... Gary .........................AU

I love your images but, as an architecture photographer, the keystoning effect is something I just cannot unsee. I'm curious why you haven't experimented with tilt shift lenses. They are typically freakishly Sharp- the new ones- and also go extremely wide. Anyway thanks again for the video and enduring those hellish Australian mosquitoes.

Thanks for sharing such informative insights Richard. As I have opted to use Canon RF I am a little limited in lens options as Canon have chosen not to allow third party lenses for RF mount. I have however recently bit the bullet and purchased an ef to rf adaptor and look forward to getting the Sigma 20mm f1.4 and then the Sigma 40mm f1.4 both in EF mount. Can’t wait to see what’s possible with those lenses. Also I was amazed at how much HA data I was able to capture in a bortle 1 sky using the Canon RF 50mm f1.8 kit lens on a Canon EOS RP (not modified) using the Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTI even without a HA filter. Stopping down to f5.6 ISO 2500 and 2 minute exposures. I was surprised to see some beautiful HA appear revealing Barnard’s Loop as I begun to stretch. 🤩

Excellent video. I'm a Sony person and have some of those lenses! Out of interest what was the lake?

Can u do a review on the 10mm ff zero D fro Nikon z?

if i have APS-C camera should i buy a 16mm lense or 24mm lense? like you said in video around 20mm is a sweet point, i heard in crop sensor you have to multiply it by 1.6 and then it shows you a real angle. so when i have a aps-c i should buy wider lense like 16mm to get a reasult of ~24mm? and a 24mm to get ~38mm? a Or am i wrong? Greetings from Poland!

I have the 14mm F1.8 art for canon EF. Its amazing BUT heavy

I ise my Lawoa 12mm D-zero for time lapses and meteor showers. I have 20mmf/1.8 G, Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 excellent and with the best focus ever and with DOF shown in a LCD at its top varying according to focal poin and apperture so even at the dark we know de minimal and maximum distance in focus, 35mm f/1.4 GM, Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 (extremely sharp), 70-200mm f/2.8, redcat 5.1 250mm f/4.9, William Optics GT 81mm (478mm with 1x flattner) and SVBony 854mm f/7.

I agree with the shortcomings of ultra-wide focal lengths. By letting one fit a whole heap into of sky into the frame, they make it easier for astro rookies like myself to shoehorn the galactic core into the capture. :) The distortion though, is generally terrible. One point that wasn't mentioned was how much more light a 35mm or 24mm lens will capture compared to an ultra-wide given the same aperture. I'm betting the farm on a Zeiss Milvus ZE 25mm f1.4. That pig of a lens will be used on a tracker to produce "vertiramas". Richard, thank you once again for a very informative and entertaining video. Mossies suck.

Sony 14mm is a fantastic lens ( am a Sony shooter) currently sits in my bag waiting for that aurora to happen.

Can you make the same video regarding tripods ??

Have you compared the Sony 24mm f1.4 G-master with the Nikon 24mm f1.8 S lens? I've had two copies of a Sony 24mm f1.4 and both had chromatic aberration when in focus. Ever so slightly out of focus, the magenta color aberration disappears. Somewhat annoying for a $1400 lens.

Please try the 135mm plena

I assume this is for full frame cameras? What about apsc cameras?

Richard, is there anything “unethical” about shooting the sky at 50mm and the ground at 24mm - as long as you divulge the truth? I like to do this and I don’t lie about it. Do you feel this is inappropriate? You can’t imagine how much you have taught me and I am doing very well with stock time lapse sales thanks to you.

Interesting update. I followed your initial path to the 14mm Rokinon for exactly the same reasons. However, the field of view was too wide, I wanted to get lower than 2.8, and there was way too much coma in the corners. Thus, I went to the Nikon F 20mm 1.8 and never looked back. So far I have not switched to the Z lens because the impact would be minimal and there are other Z lenses I want more.

I used to have a crop sensor camera and loved to use the Tokina 11-16mm f 2.8 lens with it for photographing the Milky Way. It's a budget friendly lens and it didn't weigh much (I like to go hiking in mountains so weight is always an issue). In 2021 I switched to a Nikon d780 (full frame) and used the Tamron 17-35mm f 2.8-4 lens a lot. I believe that the lens has f 2.8 till 20/21mm, which was already the focal length I normally used. It may not be as sharp as a prime lens or as fast, but once again given the fact I like to do a lot of hiking and I don't only do astrophotography, it's been a great lens for me. Sometimes I like to experiment with the 50mm F 1.8 to get a bit more compression. Now I'm looking for something like a 14mm to have for ultra wide shots and maybe in the future I'll buy the Tamron 35mm

Zeiss Batis 18mm

Mosquito = Like Button