What is a good "kit" wide angled lens for astrophotography?

I have kit lens, perhaps someday I will get better glass, but until then I am enjoying my kit lens immensely. I am referring to my 18-135mm IS STM, 55-250mm IS STM, and 50mm f/1.8 II.
These are affordable for me.

With that inventory of lens you can see I have a good set of "kit" lenses.

So, with that, what "kit" lens would be good to add for wide angled astophotography? I want wide angled for better field capture for meteor showers and/or lightning.

Is 14mm what I should be looking at, if so, what brand?

If not 14mm, then what?

Budget: is in line with "kit" lens pricing...lets just say no more than 250.00.

Rokinon 14/2.8. it's a manual focus lens on Canon bodies, which is fine anyway for astrophotography. The corners tend to be a bit soft in some copies but you can crop them off. The focusing ring can have some backlash error on some copies as well, but nothing major.

I agree with Scrumhalf. The Rokinon 14mm is a good deal. Look at the Samyang, too, I'm thinking it's basically the same lens. Looking at B&H it looks like they don't have the Rokinon in stock *new* but they do have the Samyang. I wonder if the Rokinon version has been discontinued???

A couple of things to think about...

Just how often will you shoot meteor showers or star trails? Will it warrant investing in this lens? The wider the lens the "further away" the sky will appear and the meteor trails will be smaller/thinner. BUT...you can take in a lot more of the sky and maybe catch the meteor that streaks to a far side of the scene. Pros and cons.

Do you think you'll use the lens for other things...buildings, landscapes, etc.,? On your crop camera the lens will work out to being about a 22mm. It makes a good creative lens.

It will have flare if bright lights are in the scene. There will be vignetting at the corners. But overall, for the price of the USM, it is a good lens.

I did not know that they had came out with two more versions of the 14mm...even to an auto-focusing one. Mine is a first generation, manual-everything one. With the manual one you learn to focus and set exposure for it...no biggie.

Here is a review of all three lenses, giving pros and cons for each lens. https://shotkit.com/ro​kinon-14mm-comparison/

Best wishes and have fun!
Ed

Yeah, Samyang/Rokinon/Vivita​r.... They are all the same lens.

Scrumhalf wrote in post #19110199
Yeah, Samyang/Rokinon/Vivita​r.... They are all the same lens.

Intheswamp wrote in post #19110197
I agree with Scrumhalf. The Rokinon 14mm is a good deal. Look at the Samyang, too, I'm thinking it's basically the same lens. Looking at B&H it looks like they don't have the Rokinon in stock *new* but they do have the Samyang. I wonder if the Rokinon version has been discontinued???

A couple of things to think about...

Just how often will you shoot meteor showers or star trails? Will it warrant investing in this lens? The wider the lens the "further away" the sky will appear and the meteor trails will be smaller/thinner. BUT...you can take in a lot more of the sky and maybe catch the meteor that streaks to a far side of the scene. Pros and cons.

Do you think you'll use the lens for other things...buildings, landscapes, etc.,? On your crop camera the lens will work out to being about a 22mm. It makes a good creative lens.

It will have flare if bright lights are in the scene. There will be vignetting at the corners. But overall, for the price of the USM, it is a good lens.

I did not know that they had came out with two more versions of the 14mm...even to an auto-focusing one. Mine is a first generation, manual-everything one. With the manual one you learn to focus and set exposure for it...no biggie.

Here is a review of all three lenses, giving pros and cons for each lens. https://shotkit.com/ro​kinon-14mm-comparison/

Best wishes and have fun!
Ed

Thank you both for your responses. Intheswamp: you brought up some things I had not thought about. I will have to see what other uses/applications I may use this lens for other than the occassional astro shots...!

For (a little or a lot) more money, there are plenty of 1.8 and 2.8 ultra wide angle autofocus lenses that have more versatility for general usage (wide angle events or landscapes). Sigma 18-35 f/1.8 and Tokina 11-20mm f/2.8 lenses are the ones that come in mind for me if I were still on crop sensor only. Focusing may not be as good as Canon in all situations, but they’re pretty strong bang for buck lenses that would help with Astro without being so niche to being only used for that purpose.

Intresting .. I have the Canon 70D and bought the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 and have never looked back, nor been dis-satisfied.
Rather ... it's tack sharp edge to edge, focus @ infinity is that, no drift.

For composition, I find having the 11-16 zoom if perfect for including landscape as foreground.
Honestly, I find 90% 11mm is what I like, but there are times I zoom it the 16mm.