Hi everyone, I'm an newbie interested in astrophotography, but also day-time photography. I've just bought a Sony A7iv (full-frame mirrorless) camera for both and have a Sony FE G 50mm F2.5 lens. I'm currently shooting untracked to get experience finding objects and post-processing. I would like to purchase a longer lens that I can use for both astro and day-time photography. My intended targets are the likes of Orion nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, etc.
I was originally thinking of a Samyang 135mm F2 (about UK£500) but given that it is fully manual it is not going to be ideal for day-time applications. So I am currently thinking of the following options:
(1) Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 (II) (UK£2500)
(2) Sony FE 70-200mm F4 (UK£1100)
(3) Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 G2 (UK£1200)
I know that there is a significant price difference between these lenses and between these lenses and the Samyang 135mm, but that is not my primary consideration, I'm looking for a lens that is going to be very good for both astro and daytime photography. My plan is to continue shooting untracked for a while and eventually move onto tracked DSO astrophotography using my camera and selected lens.
So my questions are:
`1) Are any of these lenses good for DSO astro?
2) As far as DSO astro images are concerned, which of these lenses produce the best quality images?
3) How do they compare with the SAMYANG 135mm for DSO astrophotography? Excluding cost issues, are these lenses significantly better than the Samyang 135mm? Is the extra 65mm bought at the expense of image quality?
4) How do the DSO images produced by these lenses compare with the REDCAT 51 (F4.9, 250mm at UK£700)?
5) Is it worth considering adding a 2.0X teleconverter to (1), making it an F5.6 400mm? If so, how would this compare to a REDCAT 71 (F4.9, 350mm at UK£1599).
Please don't simply reply by saying get the REDCAT or some other telescope, that is not the question, I want my investment to work for both astro and day photograph, so I'd like to know how much image quality (if any) am I sacrificing by getting the camera lens compared to the roughly equivalent telescope.
I was originally thinking of a Samyang 135mm F2 (about UK£500) but given that it is fully manual it is not going to be ideal for day-time applications. So I am currently thinking of the following options:
(1) Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 (II) (UK£2500)
(2) Sony FE 70-200mm F4 (UK£1100)
(3) Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 G2 (UK£1200)
I know that there is a significant price difference between these lenses and between these lenses and the Samyang 135mm, but that is not my primary consideration, I'm looking for a lens that is going to be very good for both astro and daytime photography. My plan is to continue shooting untracked for a while and eventually move onto tracked DSO astrophotography using my camera and selected lens.
So my questions are:
`1) Are any of these lenses good for DSO astro?
2) As far as DSO astro images are concerned, which of these lenses produce the best quality images?
3) How do they compare with the SAMYANG 135mm for DSO astrophotography? Excluding cost issues, are these lenses significantly better than the Samyang 135mm? Is the extra 65mm bought at the expense of image quality?
4) How do the DSO images produced by these lenses compare with the REDCAT 51 (F4.9, 250mm at UK£700)?
5) Is it worth considering adding a 2.0X teleconverter to (1), making it an F5.6 400mm? If so, how would this compare to a REDCAT 71 (F4.9, 350mm at UK£1599).
Please don't simply reply by saying get the REDCAT or some other telescope, that is not the question, I want my investment to work for both astro and day photograph, so I'd like to know how much image quality (if any) am I sacrificing by getting the camera lens compared to the roughly equivalent telescope.
