The Ultimate Lens for Milky Way - 20 to 28mm Edition! 

That many lenses, that many f/ratio's and that many different exposure times, my word, you are a sadist Nico. I don't know of anybody on youtube that works that hard to bring that much information to the masses. You're a monster! :) Keep up the awe-inspiring work!

I personally own the 14-24 EF, its served me quite well for Milky way and was super helpful on my Grand Canyon trip back in February. Thanks for checking all these out for us!

I've been looking for this videos for months! Thank you very much for this outstanding video! Literally, no RU-vid astrophotographer took this amazing initiative.

Hey Nico! I just want to say thank you so much for all of your content. I dabbled a bit with Astrophoto last year and bought a star adventurer 2i but never had a tripod sturdy enough to hold it steady. I ended up just not using it all winter but then (thanks to your videos) I was re-inspired to try again this summer. I bought a better tripod and started trying to get things going again about a month ago and I went from taking reallllly crappy photos to some-what decent photos! I would say 80% of what I learned is from you! If you’re interested I made a little short 1:20 video about my recent best imaging session that’s on my channel. Really not trying to plug my channel (it’s my only video) I just want you to see what you inspire! Thanks again for everything you do!

Your videos are always soo cool, they include so much information, great editing and overall great quality. I love to just listen to the info and tips at the start looking forward to the comparison at the end, always keeps me watching!

This was a great review and had to be an insane amount of work. I appreciate the hard work and the information

I started off with the Sigma 20mm, sold it for the Sony 20mm f/1.8. That new Sigma 20mm is good as bought from what I'm seeing. One thing Sigma could do to further "give the nod" to us astro folks is something similar to what Samyang did with their 24mm f/1.8 tiny prime. That is have a function that when engaged automatically focusses the lens to infinity. I use this all the time on my E-Mount cameras and it has proven to be very useful. Top video Nico, really well done!

Thanks so much for taking the time for this extremely comprehensive video. Very insightful!

Super presentation as usual Niko. I just recently purchased the Tamron 15-30mm F2.8 lens after returning a failed Rokinon 14mm. Seeing some of the artifacts and distortion in the corners during your presentation has helped provide a rough baseline for comparison and I'm feeling much better. I'm also toying with the idea of picking up a mirrorless camera, so this has helped shed some light on both the camera and lens.

Awesome video, Nico! Very thorough review, excellent information!

What a fantastic video! So much work went into this, clearly. I own the Rokinon, and it is not great in the corners, as you pointed out. I will upgrade when I move to mirrorless! Thanks again!

Love your content ! THANK YOU for all the work you are putting in this..

Thanks for putting in all the work for this very useful comparison.👍🏻 I pre-ordered a new Sigma 20 for this Aurora season. I love the 20mm focal length and have been waiting for a 20mm f/1.4 with good corner performance. Looks like this may be my 20mm Holy Grail lens. 🤞🏻

Wow , even DP Review would be envious of what you have done here Nico ! Awesome 👏

Nothing sorts out a len performance than a tracked shot towards the corner. Awesome review!!! Wish you could test more lenses like this. Thanks for your efforts

Thank you Nico. Following you from your first video. Love your content and presentation. Thanks again.

Great review as always! I'm using a Irix Firefly 15mm for milkyway and aurora photos. The preset focus "click" position is really great out in the dark!

This was just what I needed to help pick a lens. Going from a kit lens zoom f/4 to a prime f/1.4 is going to be huge for my time lapses!

Excellent review! What i'd like to see Sigma incorporate in the new 20mm and 24mm lenses is an option to dedicate the focus hold button to focus on infinite. Or at least the same way the latest Samyang/Rokinon lenses incorporate this feature to instantly focus on infinity when holding the focus hold button when turning on the camera. If this can be accurately programmed, it's a beast in combination with the manual focus lock button.

I am so glad I found this video. I was very much considering buying ef versions of the 20mm and 24mm and adapting them, but now I think I may go a native E mount 20mm and ef 28mm

Really great stuff, thanks!!!

Awesome review

Thanks for the video, i strongly consider the 24mm DG DN for milkyway panos. One thing that would be great to see on a focus by wire lens, would be a programmable button that automaticly focuses on infinity, i saw it on one of the new Samyang lenses for E-mount.

There are a handful of amateur astrophotographers that make this hobby accessible to the poor beginner (many have grown) Kamil Pekala is one I discovered in November last year. I've been following you for a while, was delighted to see you present on T.A.L.K! This site is beyond the former by and large. I use a gen 1 Star Adventurer, and MSM. Kamil convinced me 50mm Sigma Art was a great prime. I also bought 35, since I have an astromoded Rebel t7i (APS-c). Into cine as well. Saw Rokinon "4 pack" of cinema on BH for a nice price, so I too have lens you do(and probably the other 3). I recently bought Sigma 20mm CANON AF. After seeing this review, I might try to exchange it for 24mm. I'm not doing mirrorless for obvious reasons. Just did Cephius region for Bubble nebula and it's "friends " with the 50 Sigma (80 equivalent)past Friday and Saterday. Your content keeps me inspired ! THANK YOU most sincerely.

Thanks for this comparison! Presently I only have a zoom for the ultrawide range (Tamron 17-35), so I hope that Sigma introduces the 24mm f1.4 for the Canon RF mirrorless mount in the future, since the performance of this new design looks great, and significantly better than their current 24mm f1.4 EF-mount DSLR design.

Great video and good to see you giving the Sigma 20s a Chance when normaly other reviewers would write them off directly. Maybe this one was to obvious with that much lacking quality but still great to point out especially for beginners that u just cán have a bad batch.

Awesome video.

Thanks for doing this, I know how difficult and how time consuming this kind of scientific comparison compare to the typical RU-vid lens review, greatly appreciated, you deserved a lot more than just a " like". I also have some of those lens on your video and your finding totally mirrors mine, I really can't find any flaws from the 14 and 20 F1.4 DG DN except for the high level of vignetting, which is pretty easy to correct in post. I thought I was the only crazy guy thinking the DLSR Sigma 28 F1.4 is still great today against all other lens in that focal range, and your review demonstrate that as well, DG HSM Art lens, it's probably the most technically perfect lens Sigma has ever produced, and that lens never got any attention and I hardly see anyone shooting with it in the field. I also used to own the DSLR Sigma 20 and 24 F1.4 HSM but so disappointed with those and replaced them with the Sony 14GM and 20G as soon as those came out. I shoot with multiple systems so I can just pick the lens I like and use them on different bodies.

Excellence review.! Thank you

Wonderful video. I'm really excited for the Sigma 20mm. One notable correction, and one of the reasons I've chosen Nikon for astro: You can adapt any of the mirrorless lenses to Nikon. There are multiple Sony E->Z adapters, and the new Megadap ETZ21 is wonderful both for astro and for daylight. The Sony lenses are really fantastic, and combined with Nikon's not eating or turning stars green, it's a winning combo.

I plan to buy DSLR lenses to adapt with my camera: I do this because, I mean, they're a bit slower to focus, they're not as sharp, but they are adaptable to my camera and to a future astro camera with it's adapter. Only issue is that I have to do some manual stuff to keep the aperture opened to the max or even stopped down since the adapter for the zwo doesn't provide any kind of clutch for Nikon lenses

Great comparison,thanks

Very nice review. Something of note: Nikon Z mount does have a couple of adapters to Sony E lenses. How well they work seems to be very lens dependent but it is an option for those on the Z mount but want more lens selection, especially 3rd party Sigma and Tamron. Those adaptors being Techart TZE-02 and Megadap ETZ21. I think there are also Nikon Z to L mount but I've not looked into those.

Wow, awesome work! Thanks a lot! I really hope Sigma will be allowed to develop these lenses for the RF mount.

Great review! Thanks for all the work in assembling it. The better lenses from all the manufacturers for mirrorless cameras is one of the best reasons for switching from DSLR to mirrorless, certainly for us astrophotographers. But it seems all are sacrificing uniform sensor illumination to optimize the other qualities, and in doing so are depending on in-camera and raw processing corrections to “flatten” the field. The new DN Arts look great, but the question many - including me! - want to know is when will we see them for Canon RF and Nikon Z. Neither camera company has opened up their system to third party lens companies. We keep hearing rumours of a Canon-Sigma deal but nothing has appeared yet. I look forward to your test of the Sigma cameras. Being able to use the Sigma DN Arts is one good reason to buy one. The question is, where in North America can you get one filter-modified? Legault used a European dealer. Clear skies!

Great video, Nico. Thank you for the high-quality content. Unfortunately, I just bought the Sigma 20mm f/1.4 for my Canon 6D. Why didn't I see your video before!? Best wishes from Brazil!

man i don't know the first thing about telescopes but I still found this interesting.

Great video. I would argue moving to focus by wire for weight though. I mean, they are all still pretty big and hardly light. Most astro guys hate focus by wire, wish they would just do mech as always but here we are I guess!

I own the Tamron 15-30mm f2.8 and Sony 20mm f1.8. The Sigma 24mm f1.4 looks like the best candidate for my next lens also for street and travel.

Great comparison Nico. I am considering getting a 20/21mm like the Rokinon 20mm F1.8 instead of carring both a 14mm and 24mm (I have 35/50mm F1.4), and wondered if anyone else has done this. Possibilities aren't so many for Canon, but there is also a Zeiss Distagon 21mm F2.8.

Thanks for this video Nico. I've been thinking of which wide prime to get. So far I've been using a Samyang 14mm 2.8 manual, and my Canon 24-105 kit lens, but I have to use them at f4 for reasonable sharpness. I have a tracker, so they work fine for that, but it would be amazing having lenses that are usable at f2 or even f1.8. And even at f4 my lenses have worse corners than some of these do at f1.4! I think the sigma 28 seems the best way forward for my canon 6Dmk2.

Regarding the focus by wire I start using it many years ago with my Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2. Couple of years after that, I got the Sony 20mm f/1.8 G which uses the same system. This is infinity better than machanical. First, there is acceleration, depending on the velocity you move it respond with larger changes for the same movement. Second, it has a focus cheking where we fast move the ring and it tests the focus and stops if the camera thinks it is focussed. Also, without a limititation of the ring movement we don't move the setup for macro photos where DOF is so short. Besides, for Zeiss Batis lenses the DOF is shown at a LCD at the top of the lenses. No need to check hyperfocal tables. I have other Sigma DG HSM lens and it also presents this strange chromatic aberration your 20mm presented. It also presents the stars distortions.

Thanks! That's a really harsh test of camera lenses + viewing them at 300%. The 2 soft in the middle lenses appear to me to be slightly out-of-collimation, i.e. flared stars + sharper one side than the other. Mirrorless lenses benefit from the latest computerised designs, shorter backfocus distance and, for Nikon, a larger mount (Z vs F).

I like the images of the HSMs the best. It would be nice to see Tamron thrown in there. I have a couple of their G2 lenses and they are really nice on my Nikon Z72.

Thank you very much!

Since you had a cine lens in your lineup and mentioned being into cinematography at one point, I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity to hopefully get a couple of questions answered, or at least make progress in finding out the answers. I have several cine lenses by Samyang/Rokinon, but I am not into cinematography (right now), so I have no knowledge of the niche. I started getting them because they were on special - 24mm and 35mm brand new, each about $200. I've enjoyed the performance I've gotten from them, and I've come to prefer them, at least within the Samyang/Rokinon brand - I now have 4 or 5 of them. I've read reviews and comments from amateurs and professionals. Some say, as you did, it's the same lens as the non-cine, just in different housing. But some, even professionals, said that despite every indication of them being the same, they actually seem to be a little sharper than their non-cine counterpart of the same model. I've scoured the internet looking for articles or videos that might do a deep dive into 1) whether or not it's true, and 2) why. The only thing I can come up with is that the focus range (in terms of how much physical play you have in the rotation) is more generous on the cine lenses and therefore you can do more to dial in the focus - my theory, based on what I've read and seen. So, question 1) do you have an answer about whether or not they are sharper, or can you point me where to find an authoritative answer? Question 2 has to do with the aperture ring on one of my cine lenses - the 35mm. It's a Nikon F-mount. Only when attached to my Nikon, the aperture slowly turns itself to the widest T1.5 spot. If it isn't attached it will stay wherever I turn it, and if I attach it to my Canon EF camera (via an adapter ring) it also stays put to wherever I turn it. So something is engaging a spring within my Nikon camera to turn the aperture to T1.5, but it only occurs with that lens. My other cine lenses, all Samyang/Rokinon and all Nikon F-mount, don't do that, and they all appear to be identical on the rear mouning surface. I can easily use gaffers tape to keep it place if I want it stopped down, but I'd rather not. Unfortunately, I didn't notice this until after a year of owning it, because I almost always shoot wide open, and I've favored my 24mm for Milky Way over my 35mm. I sent an inquiry to Samyang, but never heard back from them. So, question 2) since you sometimes dabble in the dark arts of equipment tinkering, any thoughts or wisdom on how I might fix this quirk?

Hi there, Nico! Great content as always!Do you have any suggestions for this focal length equivalent in sony APSC? I'm current using their old 16mm f2.8 pancake lens (24mm equivalent), wich is pretty bad, and I'm evaluating wich possibilities I have. Thanks in advance!

Great information on the lenses tested. Do have any recommendations for Nikon Z 9 camera 16mm or 20mm 1.8 range?

Thanks!

Wish I saw this before I bought the mirrorless RF mount lens. EF with an adapter seems to be the way I should have went. I have the Rokinon 14mm RF mount for my EOS R camera. The Rokinon CINE is different since it actually looks like a DSLR lens mounted on an adapter. I wonder if there is a mount underneath. Small screws hold the adapter in place. I'm not about to tinker though because so far I like the photos. It is the totally manual CINE version I have. I'm old school so I do not not go for electronic or automatic. I also live in Massachusetts so I deal with the light polluted skies that you know. Your demos are excellent and informative. Keep up the reviews. I also have the Irix 15mm which I find is more versatile in the EF mount. I also have an EF mount camera & an EF mount to a ZWO533 astro camera I use. I got both the Rokinon and Irix at 270.00 each used so I can't complain.

Hi I have just the LUMIX S5ii and i want the 20mm 1.8 but should I take a sigma or the LUMIX lens 1.8 is good too ? I don’t see Astro reviews about the LUMIX lense 20mm 1.8 . Any advises ?

Thanks for video. 28mm is still best for Astrophotography. I will buy it soon or later for my Lumix S5.

I am looking to buy either the DG DN sigma 20mm 1.4 or 24mm 1.4. I do already have the laowa zero D 15mm F2.0. Which of the two sigma is the better buy?

Another great comparison! Just curious on your process. Do you sit down and think about all the things you want in the video and then map out or flow chart the best way to capture all the points at night. It must be great fun juggling seven or eight lenses in the dark! Good thing it's NOT freezing cold out. This shootout would have been much harder with gloves!

I observe the same issue mentioned at 27m40s on my sigma 40mm. I have to sample the edge of the star on the chromatic tool on LR to reduce the artifact...

Very interesting review, great job 👍 Could you please clarify why there was no colour noise on mirrorless lenses and quite a lot on DSLR versions? By the way is that something wrong with that Rokinon? That lense is very highly rated as excellent astro lense even at f1.4 but based on photos it's far way from its fame. What could explain this?

Great video... my only issues with mirrorless is that they are easy to collect dust and other particles in the camera. My best friend has had one for years and the issue of dust and other particles collecting on the sensor has been his major complaint. He has to have it cleaned (the sensor) three or more times a year (depending on the environment). The dust and particles are introduced, on to the sensor, basically when the lenses are changed. Other than that, the lightweight body is a plus, compared to a DSLR.

I have the 20, 35, 50 and 85mm Sigma Art DG HSM lenses for Nikon F-mount. Unfortunately, the 20mm is the worst choice for astrophotography. Maybe, there are a few good versions of it, but mostly I see complaints as well. For Nikon F the 20mm Nikon lens is a better choice, it's lighter, can accept filters and optically better. Recently not much used the 20mm Art for typical astro photo work. It's good for star trails, when I took single 30-40 min exposure, errors will not be visible due to rotation. Used it in Moon lit photos as well, where lot of moon light helps as well. The Tamron 17-35 f2.8-4 Di OSD (A037N) is performing better in the corners, although it was primarily designed to be autofocus lens, the manual focus ring is "loose", thus harder to focus, than even harder to accidentally not de-focus. The 85 Art is the best I have, even in f1.4 astigmatism is minimal to the extreme corners, chromatic aberration is visible, but correctable. Found the Nikon 50mm 1.8 G is equally bad as the Sigma 20mm Art.

Nico, question sir, any chance you can post something on upcoming astronomy trade shows please. I can’t find anything online anywhere. I live in western Canada but I’m retired so I will travel, thanks. Love your work.

I wish you would do a direct comparison between this new Sigma 20 1.4 DG DN and Sony 20 1.8. I normally shoot astro with Sony 20 1.8, Sigma 28 1.4 and Sigma 40 1.4. Been thinking for an upgrade to Sigma 20 1.4 DG DN for quite a while.

Hey Nico. Another great video. No questions...yet. LOL. I do have an idea for a video. Since a lot of people are newbies to the hobby, maybe you could do a video where you go over which DSLR cameras are best for starting out and why. If you have already done that, just ignore me then. Also, you could do a video on trying taking photos with film camera. I imagine it will be a lot more difficult due to not being able to see your image immediately for making adjustment. Keep up the great work!

The best 24mm for mirrorless Cameras are the Sony 14mm 1.4 GM, I own it and can highly recommend. The Sony 14mm 1.8 GM are also a very good Lens which I own and can recommend.

Excellent comparison. Would be very interested in a review of the cameras from Sigma. Almost sold on switching to L mount - RF lenses remain stubbornly expensive and Sony likewise refuses to give access to unfiltered raw files. For the sigma cameras the main drawback seems to be lack of an articulated screen. Would therefore be very interested in your views. Cheers, Des.

Very interesting video, thanks for your extensive testing. I’ve been using the Sigma 24mm on my R6 and have been disappointed with the astigmatism. I’ve been stopping it down to f/2.8 and starting to wonder if I’d be better off using my Canon RF 15-35 wide open at f:2.8. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

A person should be able to use filters with Sigma 20mm Dg HSM lens with canon EOS R system, if an EF to RF adapter with drop in filter is used. I just bought the lens but have not tried it on astrophotography yet. I have H alpha and IR drop in filters that I use with my full spectrum canon R5. Thanks for your review. I’m wondering if I should have bought the DG n DN lens. I guess it is not available for canon R system yet.

My favorite for Sony fully frame is the Sony 20mm f1.8. I also have the Sony 24 f1.4 but I prefer the 20mm.

Hey Nico. Thanks for another great video as always :-). What is the name and model of your flatmaster shown at 7:43 ?

Another great review as usual with lots of great information. I had the Canon EF dslr version of the Sigma 20mm but sold it due to the terrible astigmatism in the corners. Switched to the RF system and while both Sony and Nikon have great 20mm Astro lenses, so far Canon has not produced anything for Astro in a prime lens. Very frustrating and now they are shutting Sigma out so another slap to the Canon customers.

About focus - using an EOS R and RF lenses - a common complaint about the cheaper non-L versions is they lack the swtich for manual / AF and instead its Focus or Control Ring. Not many photographers like that but its actually a 'feature' for astro. Set the camera to manual focus, focus the lens then flip the switch to control - no more focus movement. Similar to the Sigma Lock Focus thing. Ironic in a way.

Great info. What's the significance of the cephus and cygnus tat?

Would lik to se the comparison between Sony 20 1.8, Sony 24 1.4GM vs. new Sigma lenses 20 1.4, Sigma 24.1.4...

@nico have you ever tried the Sony 24/20/14

I started this video wanting to be sold on mirrorless cameras and ended up with the conclusion that they're not nearly ready yet.

how do Nikon 20 1.8 S and Sony 20 GM 1.8 perform in the test?

So the focus by wore sounds like the ones in point and shoot models!

Yeah, I have a Panasonic S1R with the following native Sigma DG DN (made for digital) for the L-Mount: 14-24 F2.8, 35 F1.2, 105 macro F2.8 and 150-600 F5-F6.3. Planning on trying them for some astro photography - starting with the wider end ones first. Looking forward to the Sigma camera review - and also, if you have any idea about the announced upcoming Sigma L-Mount camera that will be using a foveon sensor, what you think that would be like vs traditional sensors. The Foveon X3 sensor should be available sometime this year.

do you have any idea how a speedbooster would work with these? im considering a booster and a used sigma 24mm for astro, but idk if that will work

Great image comparison video.... I'm a long time Nikon shooter, how do Nikkor lenses stack up against others? Thanks

Would love to see a video about the Sigma camera. Seems interesting due to its formfactor, but there are surely advantages/disadvantages to it?

Apologies for all the comments but Im in a mood. Astro Bokeh Challenge? Every single thing Ive seen and aspired to do in astrophotography was the cleanest, sharpest image possible. Every single thing Ive seen and aspired to do in photography was bokeh to focus on the subject and blur out the background. In astro, its cheap to obtain background blur haha - poor focus, etc. In photography, its cheap to obtain perfect focus with no background blur (kind of). I propose a challenge - Astro Bokeh. Super sharp target image on top of purposely out of focus background stars. Maybe Ive had too many beers. Bokehhhh

Will you ever do a video about oversampling and undersaming, how pixel size influences the final result depending on the focal lenght? It's a side of astrophotography I never quite ubderstood

How did you go on with lens profiles? The newer sigma lenses won’t have the profiles yet, could make a big differance

*La Inmensidad de Universo es Indiscutible mis amigos. Como Indiscutibles son las Posibilidades de Vida de Todo Tipo y en Condiciones que de seguro Sorprenderán algún Día a nuestros Descendientes. Gracias y Suerte a Todos.* 👍

Tell Sigma to get an RF mount for these lenses, great program, thanks

Not only the lenses 👍

Great video congratulations Niko i am Tasos Andreou from Greece.The best time to photograph the comet panstars 2017 k2 is now please can you make a video for it

If you have this lens on a star tracker. Does shooting @ 1.4 make it pointless?

27:08 are you sure that's not an issue when adjusting the focus ? I used to do some of those lens tests and it's still quite difficult to genuinely get the perfect focus while switching 10 times a lens

Hi, which lens would be best to photograph the moon where the moon is a biggest possible but still getting the moon in the entire frame? Thank you

If I use a tracker, is fast lens still necessary? Many of my lenses are quite good if I stop down

Hi! I am new to this, I have a D7500 which isn't full frame, would one of these lenses still work with my camera?

Hi I have an eos r and would like to get a new sigma 20mm dg dn. But that doesn't work exist. Is there an adapter that will work for rf cameras.

Hi Nico..I saw many reviews and spend few days trying to find a professional and proper information..and advice..and i

Very nice video. Just a pity I don't see the Sigma 35mm 1.2 here.

How come the Canon 24mm 1.4 L II wasn't included in this shootout. I would like to have seen how the Canon performed compared to it's peers.

how about the irix 21mm f1.4???

25:41 Zeiss Milvus 25mm f/1.4 for EF-mount Little to no vignetting. Sigma 28mm DG HSM f/1.4 for EF-mount Little vignetting, better contrast, sharper focus, less chromatic aberrations

Is it correct that these newer lenses will not be available in a Canon RF mount?

Focus by wire seems to translate into more things that can break An escalator cant break, it can only become stairs

so much less noise in the sigma 20mm DG DN compared to the rest