I'm still very interested in taking photographs of the night sky. Looking around though, my options are somewhat limited financially - as are everybody else's options given that there's still a horrible recession going on.
The options I looked at were:
1. Getting a Nikon 1 J1 to take the photos. I almost had one too. There was one on eBay but it went for $83 which was above my maximum bid of $75. I already thought $75 was too high and had secretly hoped not to win the auction.
2. Getting a Rokinon 16mm f2 lens as primes are generally better than zooms. The photo above was taken with a Tamron 17-35 F2.8 zoom. It's good aside from the soft corners.
3. Getting a Zenitar 16mm. This was a fast f2.8 lens but apparently is very soft at apertures wider than f8. It's not surprising because Russian quality control is non existent.
4. Getting a micro four thirds camera with the kit zoom. Apparently the kit zoom is excellent and though it's not f2.8 the available ISO would permit the photo. This would cost about the same as the Rokinon lens.
5. Getting a new Canon camera that would have higher ISO, allowing the same level of image to be taken with my current F4 lens.
I used to have a Tamron 17-35 F2.8 but sold it due to it being too soft at F2.8. Certainly the photo looks impressive but the corners kill it for me.
The only gripe I have about my current camera gear is that I can't do night sky photos - which I'd love to do. I like the focal lengths I have. I am very used to the cameras and since one was a gift from my mother on an important occasion in my life, I'm attached to it. I'm not that keen on the bulk of the camera setup but there's little I can do about that. Canon like making big bulky Fischer-Price style cameras.
Whichever way I go, it looks like it'll take a while what with car tax and insurance both due in January. I'd been looking for a secondhand Rokinon but they seem unavailable.
posted from Bloggeroid
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