Rental options

Forums Forums Get Technical Hardware Rental options

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #2423
    Plamadude30k
    Participant

    So it looks like I’m going to be spending some time (up to six nights) up on top of Mauna Kea around the end of November/beginning of December timeframe. This is an extraordinarily rare opportunity, even for an observer working here! I’m thinking hard about what, if any, lenses I might want to rent to bring up with me for that week. My current loadout is:

    Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6G
    Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G
    Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D
    Tamron 90mm f/2.8 (macro)
    Vivitar (actually Tamron made) 28mm f/2.5

    I was thinking about renting something wide and fast to do nice unguided wide-field astrophotos (really, I guess you’d call these astroscapes, since they’re landscapes with astro stuff above). My question(s) are:
    1) How are these lenses (listed below)? Anybody have one/has used one?
    Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G
    Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G
    Nikkor 16mm f/2.8D

    2) What OTHER lenses (f-mount) should I be thinking about?

    I was also thinking hard about a nice tripod, but I’d actually like to buy one of those. That’s contingent on budget, and if I do decide to go for one I’ll start another thread for discussions on that.

    #41511
    Farktographer
    Participant

    I borrowed my friend’s Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8, and it was phenomenal. Absolutely loved it with my D7000. I’d highly suggest it for your landscape/astroscape photos. I had it stuck down to 14mm pretty much the whole time and the resulting photos were all clear and strong.

    #41512
    sleeping
    Participant

    I wouldn’t consider any of the nikon wide angle primes apart from the 24/1.4. The others are older and are not that great optically – modern zooms are better.

    The other fast & wide lens that might be worth considering is the Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 – It may not be quite as good optically as the 14-24 (probably the best wide angle zoom yet made), but it’s got a decent reputation performance-wise and it’s a lot smaller.

    #41513
    sleeping
    Participant

    I forgot one: Zeiss ZF 21mm F2.8. It’s not as fast as the 24/1.4 and it’s not as wide as the 14-24, but it’s reportedly really, really good…

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • The topic ‘Rental options’ is closed to new replies.