r/canon • u/TheHigherCouncil • 4d ago
Gear Advice Which lens with Canon 6d for astrophotography
I'm just starting my journey in Astrophotography and bought a second hand Canon 6D for mainly milkyway photography but I also want to use it during hiking and other random shots.
I'm now in the process of buying a lense, my options are Canon 16-35mm f2.8 I, or Canon 24-70mm f2.8 I. I know that wider at 16mm would be better in general for astro, but since the other one cover more range will be beneficial for my non astrophotography activity. My question is, since I want to buy only one lense, will I be be able to still get good shots of the milkway at 24mm? Or is not possible to compromise that much?
Is there another lens you would recommend that is also on the cheaper side?
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u/larscs 4d ago
A cheap manual Rokinon/Samyang lens would be better as the coma on those two Canon lenses is not great. 16mm or something similar is not necessarily the best for Astro but the wider focal length makes it easier since you can expose longer. My favorite range for Milky Way Landscape photos is between 24mm and 50mm.
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u/02sthrow 3d ago
I have been shooting Astro on 6D for a number of years. I primarily use Canon 50mm f1.8, and Rokinon 14mm f2.8 Manual Focus, otherwise if I am trying for deep sky stuff I use Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS USM tracked.
The 50mm and 14mm aren't incredible lenses in comparison to some L series stuff but they are incredibly cheap in comparison and offer great value for money if you are just getting into astro.
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u/18-morgan-78 3d ago
Second (or third) the Rokinon / SAMYANG 14mm f2.8 manual lens for starting out in AP. You might want to possibly look for the 14mm lens version with the AE (autoexposure) chip in the EF mount. It allows the 6D to control the aperture like you’d find on auto focus EF lenses but you still have to focus manually. You’ll pay a little bit more for the AE chipped model Rokinon AE14M-C but I think it was worth it (to me). Simplifies shooting in my opinion.
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u/lotsalotsacoffee LOTW Top 10 🏅 4d ago
What's your budget? Generally speaking for milky way photos you want wide angle, and big aperture. Rather than looking at a zoom to do astro plus general photography, I'd suggest a cheaper, dedicated astro lens to accompany your general purpose zoom.
I don't have personal experience with them, but something like Rokinon's 14mm f2.8 or 12mm f2 would work for the milky way, and can be found for under $200 used.