Difference of star trails is because that stars are moving at different speeds depending on how close they are to the pole. If those are star trails, it's not the problem of the lens.

Always learn something from you. Thanks Richard

Happy New Year Richard. Good to see the new lens. Really beautiful shots 👌

Great video mate, some beautiful photos

Hi Richard, Just a thought on the star trails on the left side of the image. Because of the wide-angle, if the right side was more toward the south the stars would be moving slower than the stars to the north on the left side of the image. I may be way off, but one idea on why you see trails.

Cheers Richard, I bought this lens and love it. I did sell a kidney, but it’s OK she has another one, the wife that is.. I’m using the lens now and getting some great results. Would love an updated tutorial on nightscape pano and your workflow for stitching etc.

Thanks for another great review Richard. I shoot with Canon 5D MkIV and recently purchased a Sigma 14mm-24mm, f 2.8. Very happy with the sharp results and was about ½ cost of Canon 16mm-35mm with less than stellar reviews for coma. Looking forward to hearing about your review on the 15mm Laowa.

Again great Video! Thank you. Looking forward to my 20 1.8s coming next week.

Thank you Richard!

Thank you so much for posting your wonderful videos, I’ve picked up some really useful knowledge I’d never have got from reading through heaps of articles. It’s always helpful to see someone actually doing something, rather than showing the finished photo, with no idea how they got there! If at all possible (and I’m sorry if I’ve missed something that covered this) but I’d love a video that covers what I could expect from gear I actually own (or can afford!) photography is an expensive hobby, and it’s possible to spend a small fortune on equipment, but I’m trying to get the best results from old, secondhand, budget gear that I’ve had to save for ages to buy! I’d be interested to know what to expect from budget equipment, and how much of your obvious talent is down to skill and technique, and if it’s possible to get good results from old and inexpensive equipment please! Keep up the great work!! It’s very inspiring!

Excellent tour de force of the lenses capability

Richard, you are going to luv the 15mm lens you have on order. My wife uses one on her z7 15mm f2.0. It takes fantastic photos of the night sky. As you said all manual but once you get it focused does a great job.😀

Well Done Richard Great info See you Next weak !

great video Richard i love the image with straw bale all the best phill

Great review mate, although I don't have a Nikon this was helpful and interesting to see those lenses and your great photography!

Thanks Richard, very honest review :) for time lapse the left corner sharpness doesn't worry me so much, but the two week wage price tag does..... Great channel another thumbs up from Me :)

Hi Richard nice vid as usual. I have the Sigma version for my 6D and sometimes get the same thing happen I put it down to rotation, when checking the spot star function in PhotoPills it recommends 9.8seconds.

Thanks for the review Richard, I liked the critique not because I was considering the lens but just what to look out for. I think I have mentioned before that I have been using the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 (15mm full frame equivalent) since the summer. Being totally manual on my micro 4/3 Lumix GX8 presents no problem at night or in the daytime.As it is a prime there's no chance of moving the focal length accidentally either. It is incredibly sharp, small compared to that Nikon beast you have reviewed (weighs just 170g) it's also rectilinear so minimal distortion for such a wide angle. Yep, completely happy with it, hope you find the same and look forward to your review.

G'day Richard. Good revue with great images to back up your words. I was stunned though when you said $3500!! Way out of my league. Thanks mate, stay safe.

thanks for that review. I have also been looking at that Laowa lens for Z6. Curious to see your experience once you spend some time with it.

Great review

Spot on review Richard and I think this is the most unbiased and honest review I’ve seen on this lens. I’m with you. The price just can’t be justified for what you’re getting. Basically the same price as a camera alone. As a landscaper I’d prefer the cheaper 14-30mm F4 S lens as I never venture below F8. You could buy 2 good primes (like what you have) for the price of that 14-24mm S lens. Thanks so much for the video mate, cheers 🍻 👍🙏

nice clip again thanks Richard. The funny thing is that the top right and top left image sharpness doesn’t really change when you shift from landscape to portrait orientation.

Richard, looking forward to your review on the Laowa. Have been thinking about this lens myself but haven’t found many reviews that solely focus on astrophotography. From the comments below, sounds like people are happy with it.

Очень интересно . Спасибо Ричард !

Thanks for this review ! Focusing on infinity with the 14-24/2.8 seems to be more tricky than the 20/1.8. Don’t you use the focus infinity startup feature this time ?

Thanks for the video and review mate. Have a word with Nikon and try and get your hands on the new 50mm. Would love to see the picture quality wide open at f/1.2 for astro.

Hi Richard, It appears from your "review" that one doesn't always get better images with massively more expensive lenses. Thanks for sharing your experiences. JohnV

I wonder if there was a minor variance in the inner lens alignment. With so many internal parts, a slight mis-alignment could be the issue. Especially on a rental or press review lens that's been run hard and put away wet more than a few times (ever driven a clean running, no issue rental car?). One thing I did discover was how much the curving at the bottom (fence lines, rail tracks) and inward slanting trees were a distraction for me. I really didn't realize how much that effect was for a wide angle. I have seen other reviews of the lens, but they were landscapes with focus points quite a distance from the camera. Your review is the first one showing how distorted it can be. Looking forward to your review of the Loawa 15 mm lens. Thanks for the awesome review! Here's to a you and yours having an excellent new year.

Interesting, but the only way to accurately star test a lens is to place the camera on a star tracker to eliminate any star trailing which will vary with distance from the celestial pole, as others have pointed out and mimic aberrations. And then it’s best to take in as much sky as possible so there are stars in all corners. Even the tilt of the camera with a heavy lens can cause the lens to shift or sag, perhaps shifting the focal plane or perhaps the lens elements. If the lens is permanently decentered then the aberrations will stay in the same place relative to the frame regardless of camera orientation. If the top left was soft in landscape orientation then that corner becomes the top right in portrait if the camera is turned clockwise. If the same corner appears soft no matter what orientation the camera is in then it could be a physical sagging of the lens on the mount. Shooting a tracked shot straight up would be telling! Thanks! I enjoy your videos from Oz.

Very interesting review. Even before you said it, my thought was " not at that price". I have the S 14-30 f4, a great little lens, also light and sharp. The f4 is not such a problem as the sensor is so good, one can push the iso and also do stacking. Like you, my goto lens is the 20mm f1.8 - really good. In hindsight it might have been interesting to try focusing on a spot in the top left and then top right, to see if there were differences, also may be to swing camera around so the stars in top right are then in top left. In my experiance, all the S lenses are very sharp, they are all better than any of the old F lenses ( though these were also good ). Loved the pics, in particular the single tree pano and the haybail.

Hello Richard .... Great review .. I do appreciate the integrity in which you appraised the lens and the basis for your conclsions. Perhaps a comparison to the F mount equivalent lens would have been helpful too. Stay sate Regards Rob

Hi Richard, thank you for the great video. Do you mean the 20/1.8 Z is the better choice for nigthscape than the 14-24/2.8 Z? Thanks in advance. Kai

Interesting lens! Like others have said, the main reason for more obvious trailing on one side of the image vs the other is distance from the pole. Your shutter speeds exaggerated the issue because you'll always get slight trailing at 20sec & 14mm unless using a very low res sensor. It was a little better with the 15s sample. For perspective, I get trailing at 14mm even with 8 secs on my A7Riv at 61MP! Did you centre focus or corner focus? Most of these 12-24 and 14-24 zooms are best when focused off-centre to account for field curvature; focusing on the centre will lead to worse average sharpness across the frame. Clear skies!

What filter do you use for Astro photos on the 14-24 2.8?

Great stuff. Love the photos. I shoot from a Nikon D5600, and personally I'm looking at adding the Sigma 14-24 f/2.8 dg hsm art to my collection, I could get one for around $1300 CDN from Amazon. I'd go with the Nikkor version, but it's almost $1000 more, and from what I can tell the difference is negligible for that amount of money.

Totally with you on the lens cost and weight front Richard. Similarly for Sony, the Sony 12-24mm GM lens is extremely good for astro, however at $5300AUD I will never know. I make do with an Adapted Canon EF mount version of the Tamron 15-30mm F/2.8 G1 which I got used for a fraction of that price.

Thanks for the review! I'm not sure differences in star rotation account for everything there. The last example looked softer in the left corner without a noticable difference in trailing. Maybe a decentered lens? Looking forward to the Laowa review!

Looks cool! Have you had the chance to try pictures in the Z5 or the Z6ii?

The image of the cottage is beautiful Mate, a really nice shot 👍 As for your findings with the lens, it would be interesting to know Nikon's response.

Hi, which prime lense in the range 14-16mm would you recommend for milky way photography for the Nikon Z6ii? (in terms of quality and it should work good together with the camera)

Hi Richard. i have the same problem in the left uppercorner with my 14-30mm f4

Hi Richard, I have seen similar issues in the top left corner of wide angle lenses. I put this down to the large field of view going more to the east than the rest of the image as that are of the sky moves much faster and may not be an issue totally with the lens, Taking images at 10 seconds or less would help clarify that. Regards

Hi Richard, Happy New Year! Laowa 15m f/2 is a great little lens. I bit of vignetting, but no coma and is sharp! Looking forward to your experience and video about it👍🏼 But I think you will enjoy it😊 And yeah, I think as some pointed out about the 14-24S, the corner trailing could be because of the position in regards to the pole, as the lens is so wide, or could be a bad variation of the lens .

hi Richard! Love your videos, thank you for all of the great content! I am considering upgrading from my current crop sensor Nikon (D7500) to a full frame, possibly the D780, in an effort to improve noise handling and image quality. I really want to start doing more nightscape photography. Do you think this is a good reason to move to a full frame? Do you shoot any nightscapes on a crop sensor camera? thank you!

Thanks once again... off to look for snowy owls tomorrow so this lense definitely not for that. Not night-cap images tomorrow either, but who knows what the evening will bring. Take care.

Regarding the top left streaking/star trails, do you have image stabilization turned on or off?

Happ 2021, Richard! Very coincidental you made this video - Over the last week, I was just thinking about a new lens - the 20MM as you like! I also have wanted a 16-35MM (I shoot a Canon EOS R.) I thought - well, a 16-35 has 20 MM in its range so maybe kill two birds with one stone! BUT I am worried about chromatic aberration as my Canon 50MM 1.8 lens has ( Very Bad!) Just wondering if a zome lens has more than a fixed lens? Or is it a problem that is lens-specific ( in other words if I got another 50MM 1.4 lens might it NOT have the issue?) Thanks again for your videos! They are very helpful!

If it is indeed a lens problem, then it shows up mainly in the horizontal images. Once you put it in vertical orientation, the top left becomes the bottom left and you don't have stars there and distortions are much more difficult to detect in grass or other ground features. Just a thought.

I have owned Sony 16-35 2.8 GM and have had the same issue. one corner of the image will have a noticeable star trails when we zoom in and another corner won't. I am not sure if I have owned a bad copy one or this is a nature of wide zoom lens tbh.

How do you take those panoramic photos? Do you have a video how you do them? How you edit them?

Morning Richard my question is the same as john height are you getting trailing on the left due to rotational speed difference

I enjoyed this vid - why not just manually set focus at infinity when shooting images of stars?

So to shoot at 14mm focal length with a Z lens at 2.8 or faster, the 14-24 is the only option? There is no 14mm prime? I am using the F mount 14-24 on my Z9 but will be upgrading to the Z 14-24. I shoot mostly at 2.8 so the f4 version is not something I would consider. Being able to go from 14 to 24 means not having to carry a bunch of primes at those focal lengths and you don't have to keep changing them. Yes, it is expensive, but it is an investment that you will easily recover the bulk of the cost later when you sell them. It is certainly not as expensive as most of my other Nikon lenses ...

Can you test the Sony 12-24 F2.8 with A7SIII ???

@10:00 How come the top right corner of the lens in the first check was FINE and the SAME corner in portrait mode comes wrong??? Don't you think that YOU don't face the sky properly or something else gone wrong???

Hi Richard, have you formed an opinion on the 15mm Laowa? I'd certainly be interested to hear your thoughts.

Hi Richard, any update on the Laowa 15mm f/2? I've been looking forward to a video on automatic day-to-night timelapses, which I thought you mentioned in one video you were going to do. Any further developments on that?

Could the calibration of the lens be slightly off to cause the issue? Still, for the money, it should be spot on.

Maybe they don't like loaning out the good lenses. Does the adapter not give you good performance?

Very good review Richard, many thanks. Looks like a dodgy copy to me, which is really sad for such an expensive lens. What I don't understand is that if you focus to infinity, even if you are not 100% spot on, why would you see one corner sharper than the other, if both targets are so far away. I think that that was a de-centred lens. I was waiting for that lens for a while but when it was announced, the price but even more the huge filters that would be required pushed me to the 14-30 f4 to use for landscapes. For nightscapes the 20mm f1.8 s is just superb. It would be nice to see how you get on with the Laowa.

Hi, great feedback about this lens. What 14mm do you currently use for time lapse?

Have you ever tried the irix lenses? I have seen the NPAN (National Parks At Night) guys using them a lot and theajority of them shoot nikon cameras.

I just purchased a z7ii coming from Olympus om-d e-1 mkiii and I do allot of night photography. I was thinking of getting the z mount 20 mm 1.8 what are your thoughts

Hi, Richard. Any chance you could bung this lens on your star tracker? And/Or do a brick-wall test? That might be a conclusive test for L vs R sharpness (and add more content to your channel!!)

Hi Richard. I know that you are using Nikon for you astrophotography and since I have great respect of your work i thought I could ask your opinion on something that has to do with a lens choice for astrophotography. I am about to order my Nikon z6 II + ftz adapter and I want to ask you if I could use the AF Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 D lens as an alternative to the Nikkor Z 20mm f/1.8 S which is almost double the money? Thank you anyway, and that's ok if you don't know this lens.

i know you didn't think about it in the field, but take a 2 second exposure at 12,800 ISO and then look at the corners. I bet all corner stars look pinpoint and sharp. But yeah...for the most part, i buy 14-X lenses for the 14mm end. I really wish Nikon would make a 14 or 15mm F/1.8 or F/2 Z prime lens.

Hi Richard, I might be mistaken here, but did you mention purchasing a Laowa lens, and if so which one and how do you rate it? Thanks

That's a mighty steep price, lens is showing circa £1,500 in UK, I suppose fright and import taxes would soon eat into the differential. Would Nikon strike a deal with you for reviewing it and giving feedback to them? Excellent images as always, really liked the little cottage.

Hello Richard, and Happy New Year! Agree with the comments that star trailing on the left side would be due to the stars moving faster on the left, relative to the right side based on positioning. Another downside of ultra wides. And in that first image you went through you were at a 20 sec exposure, where some of the others it was 15 sec and didn't have as much trailing. I'm not sure if others may have mentioned this, but some of the images that you were doing a right/left comparison were in a portrait orientation, and therefore you would really be comparing top and bottom of the right side of the lens. So, if there was actually some distortion with the left side of the lens, which I don't think was the case, it would actually be in your foreground and you're not going to really notice it much there in the compositions you had. Also, at 21:05 you can see some similar star trailing at the bottom in fact, at least to me, even though you said it looked sharp. That's the bottom left side since it was a landscape shot and it seemed to be similar to the top left corner for that image, again indicating more of a star relative motion rather than any lens distortion. It's always possible that the lens had some slight decentering, but I would not expect that on that lens. It will be interesting to see when you get your other lens if you were to repeat the same images and get some kind of comparison to the Nikon 14-24 for sharpness. Overall, it was great to see that there was no coma aberration. My 14-24mm f2.8 F-mount has some coma aberration, and the 24mm f1.4 F-mount that I rented once was terrible for coma aberration wide open.

Have you turned off the in camera lens correction...it might also happen due to in camera distortion control...it is active by default...

Do you still using the 7sIII ?

Great real life review on that lens. Also great you didn't beat around the bush regarding the price. Holy moly, 3.500 $aus (2.500€) for a zoom lens... wtf? And its still slightly de-centered (I too think the left corner trails were due to higher "star-speed", but still not in every image). So what about quality control? I somehow have the feeling the camera + lens industry slowly turns in to the printer + color cartridges industry. Same pattern. You can pick up a simple printer for less than 100€, sometimes as cheap as 50€. The surprise shows up the moment you need new printer color cartridges. The original branded ones are more expensive than the printer itself... Lens prices have skyrocketed in the past years while bodies have dropped in price (in relation to the new features they're offering). Lenses on the other hand have almost no new features. They just become a little sharper, a little less prone to CA and other artefacts, maybe a little lighter (still as rugged and weathersealed also?) but basically new lenses ("mark II" or optimized for new bayonettes) just still do the same: they cover a range of focal lengths and apertures. I'm really puzzled how the average, even photo-enthusiastic, Joe can afford a collection of standard lenses each priced at way over 2.000€... thats the reason why reasonably priced third party lenses show up more and more! And they're easily ranging between really good (Laowa, etc.) and really excellent (Sigma, Tamron, etc.) in quality already, getting better by the day. And covering more focal lengths and apertures compared to the original brands. Just to name a few: Sigma 18-35/1.8, Sigma 120-300/2.8, Sigma 150-600/f5-6.3, Tokina 11-16/2.8, etc. Sure, some of those are also pricey, but thats for the extra speed and/or focal range! Again, I really appreciate you clearly stated this situation and publically opted for the better suited (price, quality, weight) third party lens. Good on'ya!

Hi, I take it that you only shot with the lens in the vertical position and then created your panorama shots. I wonder if the sharpness issue is with thatt lens only. Did you report your results to the Nikon people who gave you the lens to shoot with? I love your images and the way to stack your photos to create beautiful photographs, really very special. You really do a very detailed lens review. I appreciate all your details and knowledge. You are a very unique photographer. Thank you very much for your review of the "expensive" wide angle zoon lens. No doubt it is expensive due to the high cost of manufacturing and the limited lenses available. Thank you again. 📸 ⭐️ 🌟 💫 🌟

What a lovely lens Richard, I have the 14-30mm z lens and use it 90% of the time. Say what you will about Nikon but they best Glass. All the best mate.

Hi Richard, that is really strange one corner top the other mediocre. Excited to hear you will try the laowa lense. I got the olympus equivalent 7,5 mm f2.0 It is super light weight (114g) and small. The quality in the corners is more at the left hand corner side level of the lense u showed. But as soon as the calendar arrives you can have a look at your own. I am searching for a mft equivalent of the 20 mm lense of yours because you like it so much. But there is not much choice. My momentaneus favourite is the panasonic 10-25 mm f1.7. Reviews are great quality wise The downsides are size and weight (600 g) For mft it is a lot. and the prize 1800€ That was the prize of the brand new OMD EM1Mk3. Just ridiculous high. This hobby becomes more and more expensive ^^ I am not sure if I got the gear gathering syndrom :-P So I am a bit stuck with only about 1000 € more I could go for full frame. But on the other side I love mft and even nightscape quality is fine. Yeah you see decision making is an issue :-P

I agree that thee start trails increase as you deviate from the pole star ..... but the lens is slightly "de-centered' on the top left ............. good shooting btw !!

Good morning Richard.

Yup, $2400 US. I would take some daytime photos to check for sharpness in the corners.

Interesting review Richard, great shots as usual. Did you tell nikon about the soft focus in the left corner, I think they need to look at that for the price its marketing at! Not something that would ever be in my financial grasp. Ive just got a samyang 14mm 2.8 for £182, bargain on ebay! Haven't had chance to try it, weather not too great in uk at the moment and we're in our 3rd national lockdown. So cant travel out of area. Hope things are better for you down under

Hey Richard yes we are ripped off in AUS for lens prices. Dont you have some Sigma lenses?

I think you where shooting through a cloaked Klingon cruiser up there on the left. They are watching you. I have the sigma 14-24 for L-mount, have to test it for sharpness (if we ever have clear skys here).

Do you think making sure the camera tripod is level and shooting straight on to the scene impact the sharpness in the corners?

Hi Richard , yeah i have the same issue with the tamron 15-30 2.8 canon mount , but i have found if you try it at different focal lenghts eg18 or 20 mm it isn't that bad , i think they have a sweet spot in them . Still not as sharp as the 18mm zeiss 2.8 , nothing beats that lense in the ef mount . so i found my self not using the tamron for night scapes any more . The Nikon is very sharp , as you say the price is of putting , but if i had to use it i would just crop the image to suit if it was that noticeable at a normal a2 print .

keep going with that 20mm f1.8. to much money for that new lnikon lens

Good afternoon, I want to know, maybe you have already bought Laowa 15mm? Very interesting, are you satisfied with the image quality? I found that F system lenses (Sigma 14mm, Sigma 14-24mm, Nikon 14-24mm, Sigma 28mm) give poor image around the edges with an FTZ adapter. I wrote about this in Nikon, but they still pretend that everything is in order. I did many tests and the conclusion is unambiguous - the adapter cannot be used for astrophotography, and now I have to sell all the lenses F. Interestingly Laowa is made on the basis of the FTZ adapter or Z lenses. This should be seen by the quality of the stars in the corners. For example, Samiang added an adapter to the lens of the F system and sells it as a lens for the Z6. I am convinced that there is a bad image.

Nobody asked if you used or setup the fine tune on the focus for this lens?

Interesting analysis. Looking at my currency converter, if you wanted the lens, you would be much better buying it in the US. For some reason, $3,500 Australian dollars is not the currency-adjusted equivalent of $2,400 US dollars.

It looks like a certain decentering problem, IMO. Anyway, nice photos, Richard. You're the one who knocks! 💪🏻

The lens appears to be a little bit de-centered. In fact I would say that the upper right hand side is a little bit too sharp, it's as good as it is in the middle, but the upper left is weak. I don't think it's because of the direction the lens was pointing in. It's a lens to return to Nikon! In fact a basic test everyone should do when buying any lens is to place something small - such as a street sign - in each of the 4 corners, as well as right in the middle of the lens, then compare these 5 objects zoomed in and cropped to a similar size. Most lenses have a little bit of de-centering, but if it is significantly noticeable then the lens should be returned.

I have no experience using this lens and, as I predominantly photograph wildlife, very little experience with wide lenses. However, I've watched Ken Rockewell's video on this lens and he does mention that the corners on this lens (and other ultra-wides without lens stabilisation) can be soft if you have body stabilisation engaged (because the corners of the sensor move 50 per cent more than the centre to achieve the same degree of stabilisation). I don't know if this would explain some of what you've experienced? I doubt it though, because it. doesn't explain why you have one sharp corner! Anyway - the video is here... kzfaq.info/get/bejne/p816jMuQ2NXSdGw.html

but I wanted to buy this lens, it's a pity that it is in the left corner. I'd rather stay on the F system.

I only have money to buy one lens. 14-24 2.8 or 50mm 1.2

Can’t be the lens if it’s ALWAYS in the top left corner, regardless of landscape/portrait orientation...

"Lots of satellites these days". Even more coming with Starlink and other companies rushing satellites into space. What will the future hold for Nightscape Images and the rest of us? Hoping they darken them to solve the problem or maybe we need a program that not only stacks, but removes satellites.

Yeah, that's a whole lot of money for a lens! You gotta be able to make money and get a good return, spending money like that for sure and it better perform flawlessly, maybe even make ya breakfast once in a while too lol.

Maybe the lens needs to go on a dock and be calibrated

The speed of stars is different. That’s not lens thing. Right top corner is probably close to the north star.

I know you said in your opinion there were no issues with coma at f2.8, but that is not what I saw in your images. Plenty of coma to my eyes. Looked like you needed to stop this down quite a bit, perhaps has much as f5-f5.6 to get rid of it. Its not the worst I have seen for a lens such as this. Sony and Canon similar lenses are worse at f2.8, but clear up by f5.6. I suspect this lens will probably be on par with the Z 14-30 f4 when it comes to astro when both are properly stopped down, except you get a little more range with the Z 14-30 f4 that is useful in practice. And its smaller, lighter, cheaper, plenty sharp, and native. I suspected the Z 20 f1.8S was an anomaly, and based on what I have seen there that is holding true. Nikon has never made a better astro lens, IMO.

Haha I bet Nikon won't be sending you any loaners anytime soon.