Super Test: lenses for astrophotography

Here are the best-buy fast-wide-angle lenses for astrophotography and shooting starry night skies

Shoot to infinity and beyond with this selection of lenses designed specifically for photographing the night sky

Light is arguably the most important raw material for photography, so things get a bit tricky when there’s not much to play with. Naturally, shooting outdoors in the middle of the night is particularly challenging, even when the subject in question is the Milky Way on a clear, star-studded evening. To make matters worse, the night sky is not only very dimly lit, but it’s also very large and constantly moving. This means that you have to choose wisely when it comes to picking a suitable lens.

To take in a generous portion of the Milky Way and avoid the further difficulty of stitching multiple images together, you’ll need a wideangle prime or zoom lens. A focal length of around 10-14mm is ideal on an APS-C format camera, or around 14-20mm on a fullframe body. You’ll also need a wide aperture for sucking in as much light as possible. This avoids the need to send your camera’s ISO setting into the stratosphere, as you try to keep exposures short enough to stop stars trailing across the sky. Compared with standard and short telephoto lenses, wide-angle optics require relatively large-diameter elements, especially when the design includes a fairly fast aperture rating. This can make them expensive to manufacture, particularly if you add the complexity of a zoom facility rather than sticking to a fixed focal length. Here are some of the best buys that will help you reach for the stars without spending a fortune.