Canon R5 Canon R5 lens for milky way

Nadlerje

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Jeff Nadler
I have been studying reviews of Canon and third party lenses at length for my new R5 for milky way images. There is no perfect selection it seems. The Rokinon / Samyang lenses with desirable low coma have too much quality variability for me to mess with. The Sigma choices do not handle coma perfectly without stopping down. Canon itself does not have a perfect RF or EF lens for milky way. Irix has mixed reviews. In fact, I am not sure how suitable third party EF mounts would be with the RF adapter. Milky way shooter suggestions appreciated.
 
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I haven’t done a lot of Astro, mainly because there isn’t much opportunity where I live, but it is an interest of mine. That said, I can tell there are no worries using an adapter and an EF lens.

Adapter is essentially an extension tube with straight through contacts, no real electronics to speak of.

As far as lenses, it seems you have ruled out some of the long recognized Astro champs. Personally I think the variability concern on the Roki and Samyang lenses is overblown. While valid a few years ago my experience is the problem has been resolved. I’ve had Roki 14mm manual and 85mm manual lenses in EF, 12mm manual in both EF-S and MFT, and now have Samyang 85mm AF in RF. Exactly none of them have had any issues.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a review that didn’t mention “some” coma in corners and it seems no lens made is coma free. Now some certainly are much worse than others, but in this case I don’t think perfection exists.

the RF 15-35mm is getting good reviews for Astro if you really want to avoid the lenses you mentioned. I have the RF 15-35mm and it is an amazing lens for landscape but I have not done any Astro with it. When I have a chance, it is what I will use.

if I were in the market to buy an Astro lens, I would pick the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 AF in RF mount. They changed the optical design when they started producing AF lenses, but they still get stellar reviews ;) .

if you are a total peeper and concerned about coma, a 14mm lens on the R5 in crop mode is 22mm equivalent, still pretty wide and wil give you a 17+mp image. That should remove the corner coma concern (as would cropping in post).

Always run the risk of a bad copy, but buying from Amazon makes it near hassle feel to return/exchange for another.
 
I am a rookie MW shooter, but I used the RF 15 - 35 F2.8 L IS USM with decent results. I am happy to send you a few more images if you'd like to do some pixel peeping. This one is SOOC (just converted to .JPG from .CR3), so a bit bland, but perhaps useful to you to take a look before any corrections are applied . I think my 20 sec shutter speed may be a tad long as I am starting to see slight trailing. There is definitely some aberrations in the corners, but at 100%, they are not too evident, and I have seen a lot worse out of other lenses.
_R6_5673.jpg
  • Canon EOS R6
  • RF15-35mm F2.8 L IS USM
  • 15.0 mm
  • ƒ/2.8
  • 20 sec
  • ISO 2000
 
I shot with a Rokinon 14mm 2.8 with my previous body and the shot below was with my R5 and it. Ive recently sold that lens and bought the RF15-35 and will be heading out next week for 5 days in Utah to shoot Milky Way and landscapes with it. Ill have a better opinion of it after that trip. If you can find a sharp Rokinion its a wonderful lens for the price.
 

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I shot with a Rokinon 14mm 2.8 with my previous body and the shot below was with my R5 and it. Ive recently sold that lens and bought the RF15-35 and will be heading out next week for 5 days in Utah to shoot Milky Way and landscapes with it. Ill have a better opinion of it after that trip. If you can find a sharp Rokinion its a wonderful lens for the price.
Nice shot. My RF35 has arrived and I'm also headed to Utah and Yellowstone for a couple of weeks. I think I'm set with the RF35, 24-240 and 100-500L with the 2x extender on my R5. I'm very happy with the results so far although i will agree with complaints that the R5 is a power hungry body. Luckily my new truck has a 110v converter so I can charge batteries in the field.
 
Nice shot. My RF35 has arrived and I'm also headed to Utah and Yellowstone for a couple of weeks. I think I'm set with the RF35, 24-240 and 100-500L with the 2x extender on my R5. I'm very happy with the results so far although i will agree with complaints that the R5 is a power hungry body. Luckily my new truck has a 110v converter so I can charge batteries in the field.
Love Yellowstone, one of my favorite places to shoot. Enjoy!
 
I have done some astrophotography in the past, but not a lot of it. I recently started up again, using the R5. A friend who is deep into astrophotography recommended the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 AF (RF mount for my camera). I bought it through B&H last month and used it for the first time for astrophotography a few nights ago. It is available with just manual focus or with auto and manual focus. I purchased the one with auto and manual, so I could use it for more than just astrophotography. I had trouble with the focus - as I'm learning to operate this camera and this lens. This one is a single un-doctored shot --- I took a series of seven for stacking, but goofed as I reset the camera to JPG. : )
767A3321.JPG
  • Canon EOS R5
  • SAMYANG RF 14mm F2.8
  • 14.0 mm
  • ƒ/2.8
  • 15 sec
  • ISO 3200
The attached was playing around with multiple exposure (additive - three exposures), without tracking. and some light painting. No post processing beyond that -- JPGs.
767A3332.JPG
  • Canon EOS R5
  • SAMYANG RF 14mm F2.8
  • 14.0 mm
  • ƒ/2.8
  • 15 sec
  • ISO 3200
 
I have used the Canon EF 16-35 mm f2.8 III USM with a Canon EF to RF adapter for Milky Way shots with my R5. I previously used the same lens with the Canon 5DMkIV for Milky Way shots. For the post below, I used the R5 to take 12 images of the sky exposed at 10 seconds at f2.8 and ISO 10,000. I then aligned and combined the sky images in Starry Landscape Stacker to remove noise before further processing in Lightroom and Photoshop. You can also see my other Milky Way images on Instagram @JoeSteger.

I am considering selling my EF 16-35 so I can purchase the RF 15-35 f2.8 as I start my lens upgrades to RF.
 

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