Rokinon 14mm for Night Skies?

I'm going to be in New Mexico and Utah for three weeks from mid May to beginning of June and would like to take some wide angle night shots, maybe do some light painting in the foreground, with the milky way in the sky (although I will have some nights where the moon is full all night, bummer). I have used my Canon 10-18 stm at night before, but didn't like it because it has no distance markers and is difficult to focus manually, especially in the dark. I was considering renting a Tokina 11-14, but wasn't thrilled with having it for all that time. A friend has very generously offered to let me borrow his Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. I wondered what everyone thought of the lens in terms of taking shots of the night skies, versatility, and durability.

In terms of night sky photography, I would be putting this on my crop body Canon 70d, so, I think 14mm would be plenty wide enough and f/2.8 would be fast enough, am I right? What about image quality? I think the Rokinon or the Tokina would be better at night than my slower Canon 10-18.

As far as versatility goes, I really don't want to carry two UWA with me. I do love the Canon 10-18 stm in daylight for landscapes with foreground interest. It is also pretty light and small. I occasionally use a polarizer on it (when it doesn't cause banding). With the Rokinon 14mm, I think I would just use the hyperlocal distance and have to live without the polarizer. Any thoughts on using the Rokinon for landscapes, too?

So, the scary part and the big drawback for me is the durability of the Rokinon. That is a whole lot of glass on the front element and I will be hiking and camping for at least a few nights in the desert. What about dust and scratches? What if it gets bumped around in my backpack? I try to be careful, but I'm not perfect. If my own lens got ruined, oh well, I buy insurance for that. If I rented, I would buy the insurance, too. But my friend's lens? Yeah, I don't want to scratch or dent that. Will it stand up to a little rough handling?

Thanks!

I'm headed to NM for a week in April and have been researching a lens for the trip. Last time I went to NM I rented a the Canon 14mm which is an awesome lens but a little expensive for that much time. From what I gathered the 14mm Rokinon/Samyang is the way to go and a bargain at $300. It seems to be the go to lens for night sky photography. From the reviews it seems to be well made so I wouldn't worry about breaking it. I will be using it on a 70D for night time as well and a full frame for landscaping. Check out the reviews on Amazon as well

http://www.amazon.com …oliid=IP5ANVHQV​QMRY&psc=1

Rokinon 14mm is one of the best lens for astrophotography. I had used it before and the result was pleasing.

I would take the Rokinon 14mm instead of the Canon 10-18. It would be much better for nightscapes and you can use liveview for focusing landscapes. I haven't had any issues with dents and scratches when I keep it in my camera bag. If you are putting it in a regular backpack with a bunch of other stuff, I would recommend putting it in a lens pouch first.

I rented the Rokinon 14mm for your exact purpose last month. I was so happy with it I purchased my own the same day I had to return my rented copy.

One suggest I would make, if you're going to buy spend the extra $80 and get the Canon AE version. It's the same lens with the perks of being chipped for focus confirmation and aperture control through the camera. This lens has already become my favorite lens to use, which is a great feeling as it's also my 2nd cheapest lens.

Where did you get your for an $80 difference? B&H is a $150 difference in price? thanks

Well the durability of Rokinon is tank like. It's not light and the hood alone feels like a rock solid performer. Image quality is great; now I will say shooting wide open at f/2.8 will have heavy vignetting on full frame though not sure how it is on a crop sensor. It's a concern when you start stitching where you'll want to stop down (and possibly use a star tracker). I had a heck of a time trying to get rid of the vignetting trying to construct the arch and the result was 'okay'.

You'll have to focus manually either way with the live view screen. But why not the Rokion 10mm? You'll get more exposure time. Wider isn't always better in terms of overall image quality when shooting astro but I'd opt for the wider lens if you don't have a star tracker.

I bought mine on Amazon for $429.99, the non-chipped version on there is $340, so $90 difference. However I just looked and amazon is currently charging $500. Guess I got mine at the right time.

NickWell24 wrote in post #17963515
I bought mine on Amazon for $429.99, the non-chipped version on there is $340, so $90 difference. However I just looked and amazon is currently charging $500. Guess I got mine at the right time.

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No worries, I just bought the non chip from Amazon. Thanks

I borrowed my friend's Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 manual focus. It was pretty awesome. When focusing manually, I pointed it at the brightest star in live view, turned the focus ring all the way to infinity, and then turned it back until the star was a pinpoint. I turned it back a lot further than I would have expected but got some nice results. This is at 14mm, 20 sec, ISO 3200. Thanks for all the advice!

EDIT: I only used this for night shots, didn't hike with it, I just stuck with my Canon EF-s 15-85.

Very nice capture , way to go !

I have the rokinon 8mm and I have to turn it back quite a bit also to hit infinity.

Nice pic.

I have a Rokinon 14. It is really good for night skies. Lightroom takes care of the distortion and vignetting very well. Focusing isn't much of a problem with the crazy hyperfocal range.

Beautiful shot.

BTW, never trust the infinity mark on a focus ring (or the window if the lens has a window). Instead put the camera into live-view mode, zoom to the 10x size (with a bright star in the image) and then very carefully focus to make that star as pinpoint as possible.

You can use a Bahtinov focusing mask but the diffraction spikes (you adjust focusing until all three diffraction spikes converge at a common center point) but it helps to take an a deliberately over-exposed test shot ... the spikes are larger (longer) when over-exposed so this makes it easier to confirm that they really do converge at a common center point. I usually crank the ISO to max and take the longest exposure I can get away with -- just to confirm focus (then remove the mask and return the exposure to more sane settings.)

Hi All, what would be the next best lens over the Rokinon 14mm for milky way shots? I am trying to rent one for a star party and it's already reserved. Thanks!