Canon Lens Conundrum

SpikeK6

SpikeK6

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After a little advice from people who have been through this

Me and the wife have booked a cruise next year to see the fiords and the northern lights, its not till december next year so loads fo time.

Been looking at youtube vids on how best to photograph the northern lights and what lens are best. few seem to have variants of the following

I just need some real user experience on the following

24-70 F2.8 (this one maybe my choice as it will get more use afterwards)

16-35 F2.8

24mm F1.4

These will be attached to a 5D Mk 4

I am not worried about buying one then selling on after the trip, I would just like the best option

Feel free to offer up other lens to put in the mix

We will be in Tromso Northern Norway to hopefully se the lights

Thanks, all help,advice recomendations muchly appreciated
 
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I'm suffering a similar dilemma.

I want to change out my 17-40L and my 24-105 L (mk1).

Lenses in the running for me have been,

16-35 f4,

The Mk2 24-105, the 24-70 f4.

All nice glass but to be honest, the Sigmas are catching my eye too. They don't really have a lens for Canon FF wider than 24mm, unless you go for a 2.8, which is more expensive and F4 will do me for landscapes.

Sorry if this doesn't help your own dilemma but the Sigma 24-105, is appealing to me, over the Canon.
 
Thank you for the replys, never really done land scape or night photogrphy before so all very new to me, I know I need 2.8 or lower.
I have the 17-40 F4 so will mess around with that and get some practice in at 24mm.
I think 24mm prime will be the one

Thanks Lewis for the link I will take a look at that too.
 
Focusing accurately at 1.4 in the cold and the night is not easy, definitely worth practicing that in advance
 
TimHughes said:
Focusing accurately at 1.4 in the cold and the night is not easy, definitely worth practicing that in advance
Click to expand...
The night I can practice without too much problems the cold might be an issue as i live in guernsey so does not get too cold here, normally around zero on a winters night.
When you say focussing accurately at 1.4 what do you exactly mean by that , in what way difficult?
 
You'll be manually focussing bang on, on a camera that doesn't have a traditional focus screen (with split prism centre spot). That can be tough in itself.

Now you're in the dark...

Now you're using an aperture of f/1.4 so you have to get the focus absolutely bang on because the depth of field is tiny.

Add in the pishing rain or snow or a gale force wind and it becomes a chore.
 
If you're talking purely for northern lights, a manual focus lens will be fine, which opens up your options to some of the Samyang/Rokinon lenses like the 24mm f1.4.
You can also go for 14mm options like the Canon EF 14mm f2.8 or the Samyang 14mm f2.8 (AF and MF versions).
Sigma also make a 14mm f1.8 Art lens as well and a 20mm f1.4, which is just a touch wider than the 24mm.
I've tried shooting the milkyway at 24mm and found it to be not quite wide enough. I think with the Northern Lights it'll be similar, wide skies, trying to capture the drama of it all.
But if you're also thinking of how you might use the lens elsewhere, a 16-35 is a useful range to have.
@SpikeK6 What other lenses do you have? That might give an idea of what lens might be most useful to have.
 
For me a 24mm f/1.4 is my night sky/milky way/etc go-to lens for sure.

It's been quite a few years since I had my 5D2 but can you not go into live view, magnify in & manual focus with those bodies? That is your way to nail accurate focus really.

I do use the Sony A7 series though.
 
Another option. I am really really pleased with my Laowa 12mm F2.8. Compared to my canon 16-35 mk2 there is a lot less coma (star stretching) in the corners and because its so wide you just set it to infinity and jobs done. I am seriously concidering getting their 15mm lens as well for the same purpose (astro) as you.

This one was taken in october 2021 with that lens. This was before the current wave of activity as the aurora is moving into a more active period over the next few years I beleive.

5G4A2969-Edit-Edit.jpg
 
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