Sandwick Aurora

We have been blessed by a good number of Aurora nights, long may they continue

Down at Sandsayre in Sandwick it was another very still night, it seems we may be getting more nights like this in winter

It was good to see rays and a good green arc on a night without the moon. 

Still light pollution from Cunningsburgh (Line of lights) and a dome of light from Lerwick, both reflecting off the cloud

More cloud coming in but still plenty of green showing

 

Clear skies and good Aurora

 

Finally a clear sky after weeks of cloud, gales and rain. This coincided with an Aurora which are now getting more regular as we progress to solar maximum

Headed down to Bigton early and picked  up the Aurora showing to the north

It was good to see the Milky Way above the Aurora

It was a totally dark night for a change with the Moon not due to show until the early hours

Good to see Orion as well

The Aurora seat, the best in Shetland

Join Shetland Aurora Hunter in facebook for the latest information

I will be doing a talk on the Aurora in Sandwick on the 17 February if you would like to join me, tickets are free but you must book in advance

Sony 24mm F1.4 GM astro test

After been very disappointed with the Samyang 24mm f1.8 lenses i have now moved onto the Sony 24mm F1.4 GM lens.

While this lens doesn't have an astro setting for focusing you have to selecting a star and then zoom in to obtain the focus.

I had to wait sometime for a clear sky before trying it out, wow the sharpness is incredible even at F1.4, and wide open lets more light in than the Samyang

I tried it out on our cats at F1.4 & a Sony A7iii and was blown away with the quality. 

I have bought this for both Astro photography and landscape photograph. I like working with wide angle lenses although it needs a different approach. You also need to obtain a good focus with the very narrow depth of field

I manage to get out last night to test out the focus on the stars with a part clear night, just outside our front door. The wind was around Force 5 so fairly strong. 

As far as focusing goes, set the lens to manual focus and turn the focus ring. The Sony A7iii then enlarges the stars. Make sure they are the smallest possible, not quiet at infinity mark, then increase magnification first x5.9 then to x11.7,  and then take photo before checking on screen

Today manage to get them on the computer for a closer look and here they are. ISO3200 6 seconds first at F2 .

The 24mm Sony F1.4 is consider the best lens for astrophotography and it feels the part. Smaller and less heavy than the Samyang 24mm F1.4. Also this is completely weather sealed, unlike the Samyang and it also has a brilliant autofocus. It also captures the metadata which the Samyang F1.4 lacks so checking settings later would be a problem. The filter size is 66mm rather than the 77mm Samyang although i don't intend to use a filter as it will degrade the quality of the lens.

The resolution is again much better than the Samyang which is what you want for Astrophotography. I also managed to get £230 off with various discounts. It pays to get the best quailty lens you can afford and i have been saving for this for a while now

ISO3200 F2   6 seconds

You still get a small amount of Coma but nothing like what you get from the Samyang F1.4 and F1.8 lenses and its razor sharp, worth the money if you are going to use it for Astrophotography and other types of daytime photography. 

Top corner of the one below, ISO3200 6 seconds F1.4

More test shots to come later, the weather has been very poor since i got this lens with gales and rain/ cloud most nights

Astro with Samyang 24mm F1.8 Auto

I am always on the look out for good lenses for astrophotography. I already have a Samyang 14mm XP lens which is superb

Samyang QA is not all it should be, if you have a 14mm F2.8 lens you may know what i mean, often you find one side totally out of focus while the other side is ok, but more recent released lenses seem a lot better, or so I thought

I have used Nikon for many years and still use a Nikon D750 for the majority of my Aurora and night sky photos with the excellent 14mm XP lens. Since i bought a Sony A7iii i have been wanting a lens for astro work but something different to the 14mm lens. This 24mm lens, released April 2021, is only available for Sony full frame and cropped.

The 24mm lens offers something a bit different, something that gets you a bit closer and still allows a lot of light in.

This new lens is in the mini range, very small and light.

What attracted me to this lens is the new astro setting, this is a button on the side that automatically turns the focus to star setting (infinity), so no need to guess the focus point in the dark. The LED lights up to green when focus is achieved, so good it has an on board memory.

I am always dubious when i hear focus is infinity as this is not normally a point that the stars are in focus. The good thing is that you can configure this setting to make it as accurate as possible and then save it, so next time you press the button it goes to the new focus point.

If you do night sky photography you will always work in manual mode, but with this lens you work in A or S mode and the lens sets it self to star search, then once found sets its self to manual and locks off. If you knock the focus then it  turns red, so just reset back to green

If you have the lens attached you need to press the button before you turn on the camera (Important)

The first time i used it I was in manual mode and thought I had a faulty lens, so switch back to A or S mode

It is completely weather sealed  at the lens mount gasket , button and switch which is good for keeping out Shetland weather,  sharp, great flare controlled, very little coma  and little CA making it ideal for astrophotography, that is when you get a good copy.

Using the lens for normal daytime use is a delight, very quick auto focus, although there is no distance of depth of field scale on this lens

Lens 1. Returned as it was showing a lot of coma 

Lens 2. The astro setting button didn't work so no focus was obtained

Lens 3. Never turned up , refund issued

Lens 4. Returned astro button not working 

Lens 5. Returned lots of coma and CA

Lens 6. Returned, well out of focus all over with astro setting, lots more coma and CA

I did try the Samyang F1.4 manual lens which is now at the end of its production life. The problem with this lens is finding the focus point and although it lets more light in is actually dearer by £100. Also the box wasn't sealed so may have been a returned copy. All but two of the Samyang lenses i have had before have all been sealed boxes

Good job i used Amazon . Samyang still having QA problems, just need to make sure you are happy with your lens. I will now try another make, watch this space

An update on the Shetland Aurora Hunter book. All 500 books have now been sold so thanks to everyone who has bought one.

Only a few places left on the next Night Sky Photography course at Islesburgh in Lerwick early next month. Book direct with Learn Shetland