night photography lens questions

[CmazzJK]

I am going to get a wide angle lens in the next month or so. I have searched far and wide on the web looking for help in figuring out what the most practical lens would be for me I shoot mainly landscapes, and just recently realized how awesome night photography is. Should I be looking at wide angle primes for the best all around lens for landscape and night shots for lower apertures? I need some help here.

 

[vimwiz]

A fast lens is a must. For example, I mostly shoot street, and i've found my 50mm f/1.8 prime to be the best for me in terms of speed at night, though its not wide, so may not be any good for you. But a fast prime, for sure.

 

[Braineack]

A fast lens is a must. For example, I mostly shoot street, and i've found my 50mm f/1.8 prime to be the best for me in terms of speed at night, though its not wide, so may not be any good for you. But a fast prime, for sure.

Yeah I always take night time landscapes at 1/60 and f/1.8 too.

 

[Tailgunner]

I am going to get a wide angle lens in the next month or so. I have searched far and wide on the web looking for help in figuring out what the most practical lens would be for me I shoot mainly landscapes, and just recently realized how awesome night photography is. Should I be looking at wide angle primes for the best all around lens for landscape and night shots for lower apertures? I need some help here.

I don't speak Canon, so I can't recommend a specific lens. Anyhow, I will recommend buying a good sturdy tripod if yo don't already have one. Your shots more than likely going to be 1/60 or slower which is susceptible to hand shakes. I would also recommend a cable button again if you don't already have one. As for wide-angle glass, I used one once for night time city scales and found it too wide for my needs. So I generally use my 28-70mm 2.8 or 17-55mm 2.8. You're probably not going to stop down to 2.8, I usually shoot around F/8-11 but I 'm generally shooting cityscapes with sufficient ambient lightning. If you don't have enough lighting, the larger aperture glass will come in handy allowing more light.

 

[CmazzJK]

Majority of my night photography is not going to be in town per se. I live in the rurals, I spend a good amount of time in the middle of nowhere. So lower apertures seem like they will be my best bet from what your saying. I shoot from a tripod no cable release yet I have been using a timer bt I know I can't do long exposures like that so I'll have to get one. I just want the pictures to be as sharp a possible. All I have now is a 18-55 IS, and a 55-250 IS. Looking at a canon 24mm or 28mm or 10-22mm but its only a 3.5 so I wasn't sure if that would be a smart move

 

[table1349]

Night time landscapes/cityscapes are no different than daytime. If you want a narrower DOF then get fast glass. If you are looking for a wide DOF then fast glass is not that critical. Where fast glass comes into play is if you need to keep your shutter speed up to stop motion of your subjects. I have used the 10-22 for years and loved it for nighttime landscapes/cityscapes. Only reason I traded it off and got the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 was for indoor sports photography. It is my go to lens when shooting college basketball where one of the teams has a prolific dunker. I will attach it to a third body that is suspended about 11-12 feet above the basket. Great for getting those dunk shots from above.

 

[JoeW]

I am going to get a wide angle lens in the next month or so. I have searched far and wide on the web looking for help in figuring out what the most practical lens would be for me I shoot mainly landscapes, and just recently realized how awesome night photography is. Should I be looking at wide angle primes for the best all around lens for landscape and night shots for lower apertures? I need some help here.

Depends upon what you're shooting at night. If it moves, you need faster glass and a high ISO. If it's stationary (or you're shooting star trails or plane contrails) than a slow as molasses lens can be great.

I've got a Nikon 35mm f1.8 that is a nice combination of speed, wide angle, and inexpensive. There are plenty of 18-70mm zooms out there that could serve your purpose. I agree with the other posts....if you're going to shoot landscapes and/or in low light than you've gotta get yourself a top of line tripod. No $50 POS. Plan on spending at least $150 (and likely more) to get a Gitzo, Kenbo, or Manfrotto. And I assume you've got some hiking involved. So consider weight and portability. But bottom-line, if you're shooting a 2 second exposure of a waterfall or a 30 second exposure of the moon than you must have stability. So don't skimp on a cheap tripod--that's worse than having no tripod at all (b/c a cheap tripod creates the illusion in your mind that you've got a stable platform while with no tripod I'll bungie my camera to a tree or clamp it to a car with the motor off). Also consider a NDF so you don't overexpose on stuff like sunrise/sets and blurred water.

 

[Tailgunner]

Majority of my night photography is not going to be in town per se. I live in the rurals, I spend a good amount of time in the middle of nowhere. So lower apertures seem like they will be my best bet from what your saying. I shoot from a tripod no cable release yet I have been using a timer bt I know I can't do long exposures like that so I'll have to get one. I just want the pictures to be as sharp a possible. All I have now is a 18-55 IS, and a 55-250 IS. Looking at a canon 24mm or 28mm or 10-22mm but its only a 3.5 so I wasn't sure if that would be a smart move

If you like night time photography, you will enjoy a 2.8 lens more and a remote cable button for sure! You can get away with using an F/3.5 shooting stuff such as star trails but I think you will be way happier with a 24mm 2.8 or 28mm 2.8 lens. I would pick up a cable remote as well. Long exposures are just so much fun.

 

[jsecordphoto]

what camera body are you using? are you talking landscape astrophotography? what is your budget?

If you are using a crop sensor body I would go with the tokina 11-16 f2.8. If you have a full frame body I would get the Rokinon 14mm 2.8, if you are on a budget the rokinon is a great lens- but it is 100% manual. I own both lenses but am using a crop sensor 60D and for shooting photos of the stars the tokina is much better. The rokinon is SHARP but on my crop sensor I find any exposure over 20 seconds I get some trailing in the stars. I still kept the rokinon because I plan on upgrading to full frame soon so it'll be great for shooting at night on that, and for now it's still very sharp so I use it for daytime landscapes.

It really depends on what you plan on using the lens for, how much money you have to spend, and what camera body you will be using. If you get a 24mm prime to use on a crop sensor you can forget about doing much landscape astrophotography because it won't be wide enough at all

 

[Dao]

Based on the EF-S 18-55mm lens you have I guess you have a cropped sensor camera. So is the 18mm focal length wide enough for you? If not, you need something wider (shorter the focal length). I my opinion, a good tripod is much better than a fast lens for wide view landscape type photos. Unless, as mentioned the subject is moving. I used to have a 14mm f/2.8 lens, but I seldom shoot it @ f/2.8 anyway. So now I own the Sigma 10-20mm.

 

[CmazzJK]

what camera body are you using? are you talking landscape astrophotography? what is your budget?

If you are using a crop sensor body I would go with the tokina 11-16 f2.8. If you have a full frame body I would get the Rokinon 14mm 2.8, if you are on a budget the rokinon is a great lens- but it is 100% manual. I own both lenses but am using a crop sensor 60D and for shooting photos of the stars the tokina is much better. The rokinon is SHARP but on my crop sensor I find any exposure over 20 seconds I get some trailing in the stars. I still kept the rokinon because I plan on upgrading to full frame soon so it'll be great for shooting at night on that, and for now it's still very sharp so I use it for daytime landscapes.

It really depends on what you plan on using the lens for, how much money you have to spend, and what camera body you will be using. If you get a 24mm prime to use on a crop sensor you can forget about doing much landscape astrophotography because it won't be wide enough at all

Canon 1100D, my budget right now is between 500-600, I will have to look at the tokina.

 

[CmazzJK]

Night time landscapes/cityscapes are no different than daytime. If you want a narrower DOF then get fast glass. If you are looking for a wide DOF then fast glass is not that critical. Where fast glass comes into play is if you need to keep your shutter speed up to stop motion of your subjects. I have used the 10-22 for years and loved it for nighttime landscapes/cityscapes. Only reason I traded it off and got the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 was for indoor sports photography. It is my go to lens when shooting college basketball where one of the teams has a prolific dunker. I will attach it to a third body that is suspended about 11-12 feet above the basket. Great for getting those dunk shots from above.

This was very informative thank you

 

[CmazzJK]

Depends upon what you're shooting at night. If it moves, you need faster glass and a high ISO. If it's stationary (or you're shooting star trails or plane contrails) than a slow as molasses lens can be great.

I've got a Nikon 35mm f1.8 that is a nice combination of speed, wide angle, and inexpensive. There are plenty of 18-70mm zooms out there that could serve your purpose. I agree with the other posts....if you're going to shoot landscapes and/or in low light than you've gotta get yourself a top of line tripod. No $50 POS. Plan on spending at least $150 (and likely more) to get a Gitzo, Kenbo, or Manfrotto. And I assume you've got some hiking involved. So consider weight and portability. But bottom-line, if you're shooting a 2 second exposure of a waterfall or a 30 second exposure of the moon than you must have stability. So don't skimp on a cheap tripod--that's worse than having no tripod at all (b/c a cheap tripod creates the illusion in your mind that you've got a stable platform while with no tripod I'll bungie my camera to a tree or clamp it to a car with the motor off). Also consider a NDF so you don't overexpose on stuff like sunrise/sets and blurred water.

I have a vanguard 263AB with the SBH-100 ballhead. It seems pretty solid so far.

 

[jsecordphoto]

I would look at the tokina 11-16. I had purchased the 12-24 F4 at first because at the time I was pretty much only shooting landscapes at sunrise and sunset, and didn't care about it only being F4 because I was always shooting at F8-F11 anyways. After getting into shooting more at night I NEEDED that extra stop of light. The difference using F4 and F2.8 when shooting in almost pitch black trying to photograph the stars is huge because at F4 my foreground was always very underexposed

 

[CmazzJK]

I would look at the tokina 11-16. I had purchased the 12-24 F4 at first because at the time I was pretty much only shooting landscapes at sunrise and sunset, and didn't care about it only being F4 because I was always shooting at F8-F11 anyways. After getting into shooting more at night I NEEDED that extra stop of light. The difference using F4 and F2.8 when shooting in almost pitch black trying to photograph the stars is huge because at F4 my foreground was always very underexposed

Gotcha, I was hoping for some feedback from people with experience using different types of ultra wide lenses for night photography and landscapes. I just want to find a lens that has a good balance of practicality for me. You have been very helpful, thank you.