Northern Lights

Northern Lights above Levanger last night. Pentax K-5iis + Sigma 8-16.

For many years I used a Pentax DA12-24 for northern lights photography, but unfortunately I somehow managed to sell it. The DA12-24 was sharp all across the frame at 12mm f4, and thus eminently suitable for northern lights photography. Last night was the first real northern lights outing with the Sigma 8-16, I was very interested in how the lens would perform. Based on my experience last night I would say the DA12-24 is probably a bit sharper and more contrasty, but the Sigma 8-16 is also very good when you nail the focus. And most importantly, the Sigma is 8mm FOV, which is very convenient when doing this kind of photography. No lens is really wide enough when the northern lights are as powerful as they were yesterday (Kp= 7.67).