Four 35mm Lenses Compared for Night Sky Photography

Here’s the lineup:

Nikon 35mm f/1.4
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4
Sigma 35mm f/1.4
Rokinon 35mm f/1.4

Keep in mind that this test is for a specific style of night photography that captures the stars as points of light. This requires wide open apertures and high ISOs. You can see more of this style of night photography in my Nightscapes gallery.

Coma Performance of 35mm Lenses for Night Sky Photography

Coma is an aberration that can make stars look more like streaks at the edge of the frame when shot wide open. I was surprised to find that all of these lenses performed very well as far as preventing coma goes. Rokinon 14 and 24mm lenses blow away their Nikon and Canon equivalents but at 35mms it’s a different story. The Nikon actually performed the best, followed by the Sigma. The Zeiss performed the worst and the Rokinon in between. None of them performed poorly in this area, though, so I wouldn’t base your buying/rental decision on this alone.

Sharpness Results of 35mm Lenses for Night Sky Photography

I was surprised by the lack of sharpness from the Zeiss in the center of the frame. Oddly, it’s sharper on the edges than the center. Based on this alone I can’t recommend the Zeiss for night photography. Overall the Sigma had the best sharpness, followed closely by the Rokinon.

Vignetting Results of 35mm Lenses for Night Sky Photography

There was not a big difference in this area that I could detect. I didn’t shoot a white wall so this test is not very accurate or significant. I could obviously see that the Rokinon performed better than the rest as far a vignetting goes for my shooting purposes.

Chromatic Aberration Results of 35mm Lenses for Night Sky Photography

Chromatic aberration in night photography shows up as glowing edges around the brightest stars. This is where the Sigma really shined, having almost no chromatic aberration whatsoever. The Rokinon did not fare well in this test. You can really see the bloom around the bright stars.

Color Rendition Results of 35mm Lenses for Night Sky Photography

I feel the Sigma blew the rest out of the water for color rendition. The Sigma has less green haze than the rest and has more purple coming out of the Milky Way. The Nikon performed well and the Zeiss and Rokinon were not impressive -both had yellow/brown haze results.

A Note on Focal Length

The Sigma doesn’t seem to be a true 35mm. It appears to be more around 32mm as compared to the others. I’m not sure how to verify this but when you overlay the images it is obvious.

Lens Weight Considerations for Night Sky Shooting

The Rokinon is quite a bit lighter than the rest, something to consider if you’re hiking to remote locations to do night photography.

Rokinon – .92 lbs
Zeiss – 1.87 lbs
Sigma – 1.47 lbs
Nikon – 1.3 lbs

Autofocus and Night Sky Shooting

I do not use autofocus at night so I did not factor this into the final score but I want to note that the Sigma and Nikon have AF while the Rokinon and Zeiss do not. The AF on the Sigma is the quietest I have ever heard – a very nice bonus.

Price Considerations for 35mm Lenses

A big consideration with gear is, inevitably, price. These lenses vary widely in this category. Below are the approximate prices as of October 2013:

Rokinon – $450
Zeiss – $1850
Sigma – $900
Nikon – $1620

Here are my final scores, 10 being the best:

	Coma	Center Sharpness	Edge Sharpness	Vignetting	Chromatic Abberation	Color Rendition	Weight	Price	Total
Rokinon	6	6	8	7	3	5	7	8	50
Zeiss	7	3	6	5	2	4	3	1	31
Sigma	8	8	7	5	8	9	4	5	54
Nikon	9	5	5	5	6	7	5	2	44

The new Sigma 35mm f/1.4 is the clear winner. It creates the most appealing images out of the group and the price is reasonable compared to the Zeiss or Nikon. However, if I only had $900 to spend would I get the Sigma? At that price I could get the Rokinon 35mm and the Rokinon 14mm and still have money to spare! So what will I do? I’m selling my Rokinon and getting a Sigma. I do this for a living so having the highest quality lens is important to me.

If you can’t decide between these lenses based on the info read here and elsewhere, I would recommend renting them from BorrowLenses and doing your own tests before making the commitment.