Photograph the Milky Way with a 24mm focal length!

The experienced Milky Way photographer Anja Kallenbach did during her trip to Chamonix, a commune in France Vitrox lens with a 24mm focal length can test. In this blog post, she tells you about the challenges of choosing the right lens in combination with the Milky Way Photography and what experiences she has already gained with the 24 millimeter focal length.

Testing and preparing the lens for night photography

The summer weather of 2021 with the many clouds has put you to a hard test, at least if you have a new lens for the Milky Way to test. Every night the photographer got up in the week before departure to take a test picture on the balcony. At the Photographing stars all the weaknesses of a lens revealed themselves relentlessly and she had to send back a lot of expensive lenses after just one day of testing. decentered, lots of chroma in the corners, which means that the stars were no longer round or the result in the corners was simply not sharp enough.

She has it all the more Viltrox AF 24mm f/1.8 surprised when she saw the test photo. She couldn't believe how a lot of quality one already for such low price could get. The lens is already fully usable, has little vignette and chroma. Plus it is small, handy and light. This was particularly important for the photographer, as she had to carry her equipment up the mountain, which, in addition to the photo accessories, also included a sleeping bag and tent. Despite the weather forecast, Anja Kallenbach absolutely wanted to test the lens in practice and photograph the Milky Way with it. So she went to Chamonix to the Arctic Ocean. There she had one breathtaking views of the Milky Way, as can be seen in the following result.

camera	cover	ISO	exposure
Sony ILCE-7III	f/2.2	4000	10 seconds

Breathtaking panoramic shots

After a long and hot climb of the mountain, the photographer was caught with a breathtaking view rewarded. The view of the receding glacier and the Drus lay before her. In the background loomed the famous north face of the Grandes Jorrasses, a multi-peaked mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the Alps. This scene cannot even be recorded with a focal length of 14 millimeters as a whole. Let alone the entire Milky Way arc. He was too big for such a shot. For this reason, she usually chose one panoramic shot, since these consist of several individual image sequences is created. She points out that with a 24mm lens, the image immediately became much more detailed. In addition, she has the Rollei panorama head 200 Mark II "updated version" used so that in the dark she knew directly how far she could push the camera for the panorama picture.

camera	cover	ISO	exposure
Sony ILCE-7III	f/2.2	4000	10 seconds

A panoramic image like the one above with a 360 degree all-round view by Anja Kallenbach arises from a total 108 images in four rows. This all needs to be carefully planned so that nothing overlaps too much afterwards and no obvious mistakes are visible in the foreground. It was particularly difficult for her the night she took this panorama picture, because some clouds passed through the subject in the process of taking it and unfortunately she had to start the recording all over again.

In addition to the lens and panorama head, she photographed with a Sony Alpha 7III and the Rollei remote release. The sky was captured with an ISO of 4000, an aperture of 2.2 and an exposure time of 10 seconds. The foreground was exposed for 30 seconds so that the stones and mountains in the foreground are not too dark.

camera	cover	ISO	exposure
Sony ILCE-7III	f/2.2	4000	10 seconds

Chamonix may only be a small village, but it is clear to see that the light pollution shines up to the tops of the mountains. Anja Kallenbach likes to consciously incorporate this enlightenment into her pictures. This is supposed to be Size comparison to landscape serve.

The overall impression of the lens

If the lens for the Milky Way Photography is to be used, whether for panoramic images or simple individual shots, Anja Kallenbach can only recommend the lens. With the 24mm focal length detailed and breathtaking shots succeed. The lens will definitely accompany the photographer on future trips and will continue to do so stunning images create.

You too are with one Viltrox lens been on the road Show us your pictures on Instagram or Facebook at #rolleixviltrox!

---

More from Anja Kallenbach