Wide-angle zooms are favoured for landscapes, as well as for architectural photography. But turn your gaze heavenwards on a star-studded night and you can take in a whole new perspective. For shooting the Milky Way with a full-frame camera, a zoom range of around 15-24mm fits the bill.
You’ll need to suck in as much light as possible, so a fast aperture of f/2.8 is ideal. This avoids the need to send your ISO setting into the stratosphere in order to keep exposures short enough to stop stars trailing across the sky.
So what makes a good zoom lens for astrophotography? As well as good sharpness across the whole frame, you’ll want to watch out for aberrations that degrade image quality at the widest available aperture. Towards the corners, these include vignetting, ‘coma’ – which gives celestial bodies the appearance of having a comet-like tail – and ‘astigmatism’, which turns dots of light into lines – and a combination of coma and astigmatism can produce an irregular shape sometimes referred to as ‘batwing coma’. Spherical aberration can also occur throughout the entire image frame, giving points of light a soft halo effect. Helpfully, all of these aberrations tend to be greatly reduced when you narrow the aperture by an f-stop from its widest setting.
Zoom lenses aren’t the only solutions for shooting stars: wide-angle primes are a viable alternative. You’ll lose the flexibility of being able to adjust the focal length, but you’ll sometimes get a faster aperture rating. Two of our favourite primes for astrophotography are the Irix 15mm f/2.4 Blackstone and the Samyang XP 14mm f/2.4. For now though, let’s get back to the zooms…
Denne historien er fra January 14, 2021-utgaven av Photography week.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra January 14, 2021-utgaven av Photography week.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
CALIBRATE YOUR COLOURS
James Paterson reveals how he captures stunningly colourful sunsets by using this secret weapon
ABSTRACT PORTRAITS
Mike Harris shows you how to use slow shutter speeds and multiple exposures to capture a series of motion-blur portraits
BREATHTAKNG IMAGES FROM ABOVE AND BELOW THE WAVES
A final hit of inspiraton: Ocean Photographer of the Year reveals stunning winning photos
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO AUTUMN
James Abbott reveals the secrets to capturing amazing images during the most eye-catching season of the year
CANON UNVEILS NEW PORTABLE, FULLY-WIRELESS PHOTO PRINTER
The Selphy QX20 is ideal for quickly printing your smartphone snaps on the go
FUJINON GF120MM F4 MACRO R LM OIS WR
This powerful medium-format lens is ideally suited to extreme close-ups
HOW TO...CLEAN UP A SCENE WITH AI
James Paterson shows you how the AI-powered Remove Tool can revolutionise your retouching
SHOOT AN '80S PORTRAIT
Jason Parnell-Brookes recreates the neon look of the 1980s using torches and hollow acrylic rods
THE BEST MONOCHROME IMAGE OF 2024 IS A REAL CRACKER
Black and White Photo Awards announces stunning selection of winning images
88 TIPS FOR GREAT BABY PHOTOS
From lighting to posing and pacifying, here's how you get the perfect shot