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Lenses
The following are the lenses I frequently use for astrophotography. Although I own many Canon lenses, including the EF 28-70mm f/2.8L, EF 300mm f/4.0L, EF 70-200mm f/4.0L, as well as others, I have found only the following lenses to work well enough for astrophotography.
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L Lens
The Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L is the lens I most frequently use when shooting astronomical objects. It is one of Canon's sharpest and most underrated lens providing tack sharp images even when shot wide open at f2.8. This lens employs Canon's famous rear-focus telephoto optical design that delivers outstanding picture quality and extreme sharpness throughout its entire focusing range as well as correcting aberrations. This lens uses two ultra-low dispersion (UD) glass elements which ensure maximum image sharpness and accurate color performance. With the Canon 20Da, which has a 1.6x crop factor, it provides a field of view of approximately 6.5 degrees by 4.4 degrees, which is perfect for widefield objects such as the North American and Pelican nebulae as well as others including the Rho Ophiucus complex. The lens does work quite well wide open, but I have found that stopping the lens down to f3.5 really makes this lens shine and provide ultra sharp images across the entire field of view. If there is one lens an astrophotographer needs, it is this one. And at about $650.00 USD, it is quite a bargain, especially considering its part of Canon's "L" series.
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Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L lens
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Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Lens
The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens is an excellent widefield lens for astrophotography, especially given that the price is only $70.00 USD. Stopped down at f3.5, this lens provides extremely sharp images and with my Canon 20Da DSLR, it provides a field of view of 25.5 degrees by 17.0 degrees which is large enough to frame most constellations, including Orion. For the price, the optical performance is exquisite and outperforms lenses in the same class costing hundreds of dollars more. However, the build quality of this lens is extremely poor and at a mere 4.6 oz., it feels like a cheap piece of plastic. But then again, if you drop it and break it, its only $70.00 USD. Just buy a new one!
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Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens
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Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lens
The Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens is my most favorite lens. With the Canon 20Da, it provides a whopping 73.5 degrees by 54 degrees field of view. The peformance of this lens is outstanding and the images are sharp even in the corners using my Canon 20Da. Its the perfect lens for shooting widefield shots of the Milkyway.
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