Best lens for night time lapse

[igbass]

So assuming I'm going to be doing night time lapse photography--not necessarily an hour long exposure to get star trails and whatnot, but taking 100s/1000s of shots in order to turn it into a video--what lens recommendations do all you fine folks have?

I just upgraded to a 5D Mark III, and have the 24-105mm, 50mm f/1.4, and a Sigma 12-24. The upgraded camera and a new tripod were supposed to be all my camera spending for this holiday season, but now I'm thinking I should probably get another lens. Maybe. If I can be convinced to part with the money. If, for example, the 24-105 or Sigma lens doesn't cut it.

Anyway, I just saw that B&H had a discount for cyber monday on the Canon 16-35mm (for $1349 after mail in rebate) and though I might go for it.

Thanks for any help!

Edit: Or would a 70-200mm be more appropriate?

 

[F1point2]

if you don't need the 2.8, the 17-40 f.4 will be a better and cheaper alternative. If you want to get the "star" effects on lights in your time-lapse shots, you need to go f 8 - f 22, so the 2.8 won't be necessary. I've used both lenses, and they are both really sharp f4 and above.

whether to get the 16-35/17-40 or the 70-200, well that depends on what you want to shoot. Wide or Telephoto.

Whichever way you look at it, the 16-35/17-40 will be a sharper lens than the 12-24, an will also give you less ghosting and chromatic aberration.

If you want to stay with your setup and want to add a whole new focal length, forget the 16-35/17-40 and get the 70-200.

Ideally, personally, 16-35 + 24-70 + 70-200. Done.

However, at the end of the day, the gear you already own is plenty enough for time-lapse night photography. You just need patience, and shoot shoot shoot. You might rather invest in a good Thermos and a comfy portable chair.

Cheers,

Mike.

 

[BrianHawkins]

If you want to do night timelapse when the moon isn't out, such as timelaapsing the milky way, then you need to shoot at ISO 3200 @ f/2.8 for 30 seconds. This makes most f/4 lenses unsuited to the job.

For astro timelapse, I use the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 which is only $350. This is a full manual lens, meaning you have to manually set the aperture and focus. For timelapse and landscape photography, this is a good thing. It's good good sharpness, color, and contrast. Flare can be a problem if there is a bright light source off to the side. All in all, it is a phenomenal value. All the milky way shots in my timelapse reel were shot with it https://vimeo.com/57908848

I also have the Rokinon (or Bower or Samyang, they're all the same lens) 24mm f/1.4. Again, fully manual, but it bests the Canon 24mm f/1.4 L when it comes to coma distortion of stars.

For night timelapses with moonlight, I use the Canon 17-40mm f/4L. This lens is cheaper, smaller, lighter, and sharper than the 16-35.

 

[F1point2]

Excellent reel Brian! Bravo. Makes me want to dust off my tripod.!

 

[cayenne]

How about everyone's favorite cheap lens...the Rokinon (or Samyang, etc) 14mm f/2.8

It can be had for under $300 if you catch it on sale.

Seems to be about $339 today:

http://www.amazon.com/Rokinon-FE14M-C-Ultra-Canon-Black/dp/B003VSGQPG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386017086&sr=8-1&keywords=rokinon+14mm+f2.8

 

[yorgasor]

I just tried this for the first time last week using the Rokinon 14mm. I used 13s exposures at f/2.8 & ISO 1250.

Night Sky In D

I plan on redoing the video when I have a few more time lapse shots. It was my first attempt really using premier pro, so I'm still getting the hang of the timing and formatting of the movies.

 

[yorgasor]

By the way, the screenshot for the video is absolutely horrible. The video actually looks much better than that.

 

[Ruined]

So assuming I'm going to be doing night time lapse photography--not necessarily an hour long exposure to get star trails and whatnot, but taking 100s/1000s of shots in order to turn it into a video--what lens recommendations do all you fine folks have?

I just upgraded to a 5D Mark III, and have the 24-105mm, 50mm f/1.4, and a Sigma 12-24. The upgraded camera and a new tripod were supposed to be all my camera spending for this holiday season, but now I'm thinking I should probably get another lens. Maybe. If I can be convinced to part with the money. If, for example, the 24-105 or Sigma lens doesn't cut it.

Anyway, I just saw that B&H had a discount for cyber monday on the Canon 16-35mm (for $1349 after mail in rebate) and though I might go for it.

Thanks for any help!

Edit: Or would a 70-200mm be more appropriate?

The two I've seen people use a lot for stars due to low coma at borders are:

Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L (stopped down to f/2.8 )
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II (wide open at f/2.8 )

 

[scottkinfw]

I would second this. It is on sale now for less than $300 and is almost a throw away lens, compared to some of the expensive Canon offerings. I posted a few from my slot canyon trip to show what it can do under some difficult contrasty lighting conditions, with minimal pp.

Don't be put off by manual aperture an focusing, the lens will perform. You do need to put time with it to learn how to use it, and DON'T even think of using the distance scale on the focusing ring- it is on there only for decoration as far as I can tell.

Best to you with you new goodies.

Scott

If you want to do night timelapse when the moon isn't out, such as timelaapsing the milky way, then you need to shoot at ISO 3200 @ f/2.8 for 30 seconds. This makes most f/4 lenses unsuited to the job.

For astro timelapse, I use the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 which is only $350. This is a full manual lens, meaning you have to manually set the aperture and focus. For timelapse and landscape photography, this is a good thing. It's good good sharpness, color, and contrast. Flare can be a problem if there is a bright light source off to the side. All in all, it is a phenomenal value. All the milky way shots in my timelapse reel were shot with it https://vimeo.com/57908848

I also have the Rokinon (or Bower or Samyang, they're all the same lens) 24mm f/1.4. Again, fully manual, but it bests the Canon 24mm f/1.4 L when it comes to coma distortion of stars.

For night timelapses with moonlight, I use the Canon 17-40mm f/4L. This lens is cheaper, smaller, lighter, and sharper than the 16-35.

 

[Jerm]

Excellent reel Brian,

mind if I ask what products you use for sliding/turning?

 

[emag]

RokSamBow 14.......the newer version (AS ED UMC). I used the Tokina 11-16 on crop, sold it and am getting the 14 for my 6D. My bigger problem at night is dew, but I've finally solved it...........AFTER spending all Saturday night shooting a sequence. 6D noise at 6400 cleans up fine for time lapse video, let's you get away with shorter exposures.

 

[igbass]

Excellent, thanks for the tips!

 

[Axilrod]

You want as fast as possible, f/2.8 at the minimum. The Rokinon 14mm has already been recommended and as cheap as it is you can't really go wrong, so I'll second that.

Also, a few tips that I wish someone had told me before I wasted hours shooting in the wrong places/wrong time of the month:

1. Get away from major cities, as far away as possible (see this map: http://www.blue-marble.de/nightlights/2012), this makes all the difference in the world. I don't care how dark it is in your back yard on a dark night (unless you live in middle of nowhere Iowa or something), if you live within any range of a even moderate sized city it's going to turn out like crap. If you live in the western half of the country this will be much easier for you than the east.

2. GO DURING A NEW MOON. This has a HUGE impact on how good your images will turn out, I mean massive, cant stress it enough. Consult this page: http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases_calendar.phtml

3. Download Stellarium to find out where interesting areas of the sky will be. To find the really amazing part of the Milky Way you see in tons of pictures look for Saggitarius.

4. Get a rock solid tripod, turn on mirror lockup, turn off in camera noise reduction, turn on Silent shooting if you have a 5D3, set your WB to 4000K, ISO 1600-6400 (depending on conditions/what you're going for), open the aperture up, remove the camera strap (wind blowing can create vibrations), and tape over the viewfinder. As for exposure time the rule of thumb is that whatever your focal length is just divide 600 by it and thats the max exposure you can shoot without getting trails. So if you get a 14mm, 600/14mm = 42.8 so you can do a 42 second single exposure before the stars begin to show as an oblong shape.

Honestly the biggest thing you can do for yourself is getting to the right location during a new moon, I was absolutely floored the first time I saw the results shooting out in the Texas desert on the night of a new moon. Suddenly I realized why all the pictures I had taken in Atlanta were shite, it wasn't because I sucked it was just the conditions. Anyways, godspeed and good luck.

 

[BrianHawkins]

I use an eMotimo TB3 for pan/tilt and i built my own slider with motor that plugs into the eMotimo's auxiliary third axis port. It's great combo.

Excellent reel Brian,

mind if I ask what products you use for sliding/turning?

 

[Jerm]

thanks, that's really sweet.

 

[igbass]

Thanks Axilrod! I'm headed to northern Montana, so city lights won't be an issue

 

[Rienzphotoz]

RokSamBow 14.......the newer version (AS ED UMC). I used the Tokina 11-16 on crop, sold it and am getting the 14 My bigger problem at night is dew, but I've finally solved it...........

Could you please share how you solved it?

 

[Mr Bean]

RokSamBow 14.......the newer version (AS ED UMC). I used the Tokina 11-16 on crop, sold it and am getting the 14 My bigger problem at night is dew, but I've finally solved it...........

Could you please share how you solved it?

This will work....
http://philhart.com/content/dew-heaters-night-sky-photography

Or just search for Dew Heaters.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

RokSamBow 14.......the newer version (AS ED UMC). I used the Tokina 11-16 on crop, sold it and am getting the 14 My bigger problem at night is dew, but I've finally solved it...........

Could you please share how you solved it?

This will work....
http://philhart.com/content/dew-heaters-night-sky-photography

Or just search for Dew Heaters.

Thanks

 

[Axilrod]

Thanks Axilrod! I'm headed to northern Montana, so city lights won't be an issue

Ahh I envy you, that's a great spot for astrophotography. During the winter visibility is high but the brightest parts of the Milky Way don't really get too far above the horizon. In the northern hemisphere the summertime is going to give you the best view of Saggitarius (where you want to aim for those awesome pics of the spiral arm), but it's still worth giving it a shot in the winter.

Definitely download Stellarium, it's an absolute must and will show you where everything will be at any given time. When you launch it toggle "atmosphere" to off (hit "a" on your keyboard), other than that it's pretty straightforward. Post some results after you give it a shot!