Lesholoago Campsite, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Mabuasehube, Botswana

[ElenaH]

Beautiful images Elena. Thank you for sharing

Thank you, Jim!

 

[ElenaH]

Elena….In looking at these spectacular images my eye is drawn to the upper corners (and every one in the sky) and I am seeing the stars as they should be…bright dots, not blobs Which I think is called “coma”…? That Zeiss lens must have an aspherical element(s) to deliver this amazing image… Wow

Thank you, Larry!
Yes, the Zeiss is not bad! It was also not cheap. And this is why I still didn't buy Nikon Z 14-24 ... I decided to shoot with what I have. And I had that Zeiss for Sony E. It delivers nice colours and beautiful overall picture. It has 77mm filter thread (what is very convenient) and its weight about 330g... very light! It is also good corrected for coma and is known as astro-lens. Well.. I also use not more than 13sec for a shutter speed when I am in Africa becasue I am closer to equator and the earth rotates faster there.
The only drawback is that it eats the battery power for some reason ... Maybe because I use it with Megadap adapter and it is adapter what empties my batteries faster or maybe because of the LED-display if the lens. But I rather think that it is adapter. Maybe I need to try with Techart. Normally it is not a problem because you can easily charge it but if you are in nowhere for some couple of days then it is the other story and you need to think what to charge first. ;-)

 

[Jadiehl]

I had two astro-lenses for my Africa trip. One was a older Sigma 24/1.4 F-Mount and the other was Zeiss Batis 18/2.8 for Sony E, which I used with Magadap adapter on Nikon Z. I always wanted to buy Z 14-24/2.8 but then decided to work with what I have...
And I had those two.
24/1.4 is a sharp lens but it is too long for Astro-Photography in Africa. We were close to equator there and I must use shorter shutter speed to get the stars in focus. Sometimes I shoot a few photos for pano but I am not really patient for that especially when lions are not far away.
The Zeiss 18/2.8 gave me a better wide angle, I could get more in the picture. That lens is also very sharp and produced nice colours but it ate the battery of Z cameras even when they were switched off. I noticed it before I travelled to Africa. I don't know how to explain it. Something in combination of E-Mount Zeiss with OLED display and Megadap made the battery of Z9 camera empty. So, that meant I need to be quickly with that lens as well (so, independently of lions ;-)

The campsite lies at Lesholoago pan in Mabuasehube region of Kgalaagadi Transfrontieer Park, in its Botswana's part. There are two campsites at the pan but the other one was empty. The next campsite is approximately 25km away at the other pan and could be also empty... So, somehow you are in nowhere. There was also no water. It was a waterhole in the pan but it was dry. The campsite didn't have any water.

D850 with Sigma 24/1.4 and xeon torch to lighten the tree:

View attachment 101835

Reed Enhancer and Double Fog filters:

View attachment 101836

Zeiss Batis:

View attachment 101837

View attachment 101838

Very cool!

 

[Larry S.]

Thank you, Larry!
Yes, the Zeiss is not bad! It was also not cheap. And this is why I still didn't buy Nikon Z 14-24 ... I decided to shoot with what I have. And I had that Zeiss for Sony E. It delivers nice colours and beautiful overall picture. It has 77mm filter thread (what is very convenient) and its weight about 330g... very light! It is also good corrected for coma and is known as astro-lens. Well.. I also use not more than 13sec for a shutter speed when I am in Africa becasue I am closer to equator and the earth rotates faster there.
The only drawback is that it eats the battery power for some reason ... Maybe because I use it with Megadap adapter and it is adapter what empties my batteries faster or maybe because of the LED-display if the lens. But I rather think that it is adapter. Maybe I need to try with Techart. Normally it is not a problem because you can easily charge it but if you are in nowhere for some couple of days then it is the other story and you need to think what to charge first. ;-)

Exacty! I had the 14-24Z f/2.8S but downsized to the much smaller and lighter 14-30Z f/4S….for my purposes. I realized an older lens on my shelf might have the rendering qualities discussed. Stars should look like stars in the image corners and not elongated blobs. This older Nikkor 58mm NOCT still delivers.. I haven’t tried it on a Z body yet but will….

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[ElenaH]

Very cool!

Thank you, Jim!

 

[ElenaH]

Exacty! I had the 14-24Z f/2.8S but downsized to the much smaller and lighter 14-30Z f/4S….for my purposes. I realized an older lens on my shelf might have the rendering qualities discussed. Stars should look like stars in the image corners and not elongated blobs. This older Nikkor 58mm NOCT still delivers.. I haven’t tried it on a Z body yet but will….

cool! I mena the NOCT
Yeee.. for Africa I need some kind of faster lens like f2.8 at least. But for astrophotography we don't need AF (interestingly, the Zeiss has AF ;-)