Tamron 24mm f/2.5 01BB

Ok for landscapes but not for star photos I take Star photos, Northern Lights and meteor shots; so I need a fast lens. My Tamron 28mm f/2.5 BBAR 02B is sharp; so I expected this 24mm one to be sharp too But the ten element 24mm has heavy flare on bright stars, and edge coma-distortion. Look at the flaws in the attached photo of the Milky Way rising over the Mountains--Cygnus and Lyra visible. Vega the big flaring star at top centre in Lyra. Notice bright stars around the right top are half-circles. No matter how I focused, I couldn't get any sharper. I put a little millimetre scale on the lens focus ring and moved it from 0mm to 6mm from infinity end, taking test shots every 1 mm. Dim stars were sharpest at 3mm, but bright stars flare. Flare not as bad at 5mm, but it was overall fuzzy then, so it appears the flare is ghosting from an element that focuses it slightly above the focal plane. And the focal plane isn't flat, it curves up around edges to cause coma tilt. I tried a lens hood as well, but no improvement, except it didn't frost up in the minus 22 night. Perhaps it's a nice wide angle lens for landscapes and mountains. But not for stars.Read full review

Very sharp and picks up as much detail as a professional lens I use this lens for shooting flowers close up. I mount it on a Olympus E pl5 body with an adapter and a couple of extension tubes. It is very sharp and picks up as much detail as a professional lens. For my use, it has become my go-to lens for still life macro photography. I have used a few other lenses for this specific application and it to my best choice so far. I would recommend this lens for anyone who is familiar with using older manual, prime, lenses on a digital camera for still life photography in limited lighting. In the situations I use this lens for, low ISO 200 or less. I have no need for a fast shutter speed since I use this lens exclusively when my camera is stationary and I am using a remote shutter release.

sharp, versatile, true F2.5. Can doiuble as 35mm lens on full frame Small profile, can be used on both Sony E mount (A7RII) and Sony A mount (A99II) with appropriate adapters. Super sharp in center, so can be used as 35mm lens without loss of quality.