Lens for night time cityscape shooting for a6300?

[lisa1988]

I have a a6300 and want to shoot night time photos in city enviroments. I guess I need a wide angle lens. Any recommendations of which to get? Prime lens is preferred.

[Golem]

I have a a6300 and want to shoot night time photos

in city enviroments. I guess I need a wide angle lens.

Any recommendations of which to get? Prime lens

is preferred.

   

Kit lens: 

  

  

  

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I don't know if you actually have a kit lens, but I'm guessing that you do.

If your night scenes don't approach what you see above, you have not

yet outgrown your kit lens. 

  

OTOH, if you just got a big four-figger grant from The Arts Organization,

get a Canon 24mm Tilt-Shift lens and a MetaBones adapter. 

   

You didn't post any of your work-thus-far, so perhaps there is none ? if

you intend to shoot wide cityscapes in the dark, you ought to be more

concerned with software than lenses. You'll want versatile perspective

correction, noise management, HDR, pano-stitching, and a magnificent

raw file processor for digging into shadows and taming hot spots.

 

By the time you learn all that, you won't care what lens you use.

 

  

  

  

 

 

`

[Gilgenberg]

Sigma 30mm F1,4 DC DN | Contemporary

 

or Sony Zeiss Sonnar 24mm 1.8

[Guest]

Talking about wide:

Voigtländer 15mm f/4,5 Super Wide Heliar which comes with E-mount as well.

No auto focus, but manuel focus assist and exif data

[brett]

Samyang/Rokinon 12mm f2

 

Sigma 30mm f1.4

 

Tripod

[Austerror]

+1 for the Zeiss 24mm.  Sharp across the frame.

[frontlinefreediving]

I'm a big fan of the Rokinon 12mm I just picked up. 

[Reinhold_1]

Stop searching.

The best lens for this task is the Sony Zeiss Sonnar E 1.8/24mm ZA.
This lens is already one of the best APS-C lenses from or for Sony.

And the focal length of 35 (36) mm is ideal!

[Golem]

Stop searching.

 

The best lens for this task is the Sony Zeiss Sonnar E 1.8/24mm ZA.

This lens is already one of the best APS-C lenses from or for Sony.

 

And the focal length of 35 (36) mm is ideal!

   

Way too fast for cityscapes but excellent FL choice.

[rsj]

Samyang/Rokinon 12mm f2

 

Sigma 30mm f1.4

 

Tripod

I tend to like this suggestion. Although you could probably downgrade to the Sigma 30mm f/2.8 and the Samyang 16mm f/2.

Probably about half the cost. The Sigma has been going for $169 and I just bought a rebranded Bower 16mm f/2 for $100.

Alternately you could get the 19mm f/2.8 Sigma for $199.

 

The 2 above are really good lenses but, they will set you back about $600-$700.

 

The previous suggestion about noise reduction is valid for night shots. Get the Nik collection free plug-in for photoshop/lightroom. It includes DFine to fix noise. And did I mention, they are free and DFine is stupid good. I will state that that dude who shot with the kit lens jacked with those photographs. There is definitely something wrong with that lamp post in the photo outside the bar. It ain't right. Don't now about you, but I don't like spending hours on each photo. Get it right in camera. Straightening your horizon is fine but if I had to guess, he did a lot of post processing with something like bracketing with HDR projects. Just guessing. It might explain why that lamp post is kind of bowed. Who knows? A car might of hit it. But the vanishing points on the architectural lines don't make sense to me with at lamp post. I got nothing against HDR, just an observation. HDR is very striking in detail.

[Golem]

.............. I will state that that dude who shot with the kit lens jacked with

those photographs. There is definitely something wrong with that lamp

post in the photo outside the bar. It ain't right. ..... Get it right in camera. 

  

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............. he did a lot of post processing with something like bracketing

with HDR projects. Just guessing. It might explain why that lamp post

is kind of bowed. Who knows? ............  

  

     

If you look carefully, both lamp posts are equally out of line

from all the verticals of the surrounding architecture. That's

very likely to be meaningful, considering that most of what

we can see appears to be seriously old. And the bollard is

yet a third version vertical in the scene. The boxy little trash

receptacle appears to vote with the bollard.

  

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For those who like to "get it right in camera", but encounter

scene illumination that truly demands HDR treatment, don't

ignore that we're Sony users. HDR and "in camera" are not

conflicting ideas for users of most current Sony gear. HDR

is one of my most fave Sony features.

    

Nikon and Canon have in-camera HDR too, but their HDR is

barely noticeable. OTOH Sony in-camera HDR is adjustable

all the way up to a somewhat heavy-handed effect.  

  

I'm not seeing the foreground lamp post as bowed, if by that

you mean curved. I see it not curved, but clearly tilted slightly. 

I would not think to blame that on bracketing, or on HDR, but  

as you've said, "Who knows ?"