Sigma 20mm F1.4 DG DN Art Lens Sample Pictures

When two wide-angle f/1.4 lenses promoted as ideal for photographing the milky way (an addicting pursuit) show up in the same box with a dark, cloudless sky predicted for the next evening, you drop everything and drive hours to the darkest sky location in the region. In this case, that location was Cherry Springs State Park, an International Dark Sky Park, near Coudersport, PA. After a few hours of sleep and especially after loading the photos from the memory cards, you forget about arriving home at 2:30 AM.

The two lenses were the Sigma 20mm F1.4 DG DN Art Lens and the Sigma 24mm F1.4 DG DN Art Lens. The 20 and 24mm ultra-wide-angle focal lengths are ideal for framing the heart of the milky way, and the ultra-wide f/1.4 aperture allows sufficient light to reach the imaging sensor in the exposure time necessary to prevent star trails.

Here is the Cherry Springs State Park Milky Way at 24mm.

I recently shared Rock Cut in the last light. I didn't go home after the sun set, and instead tolerated high winds and very cold temperatures for a couple more hours. It seemed that the rock formations here would make a good foreground for a Milky Way photo.

Getting the rock formations to rise above the other landscape meant climbing down to the edge of the cliff, and low-level lighting was used to bring out the rock color. The foreground lighting in this Rocky Mountain National Park Milky Way image is from a pair of Simorr Vibe P96L RGB Video LED Lights on Manfrotto Befree Advanced Travel Tripods.

Once the lights and camera were set up, waiting (did I mention that it was really cold?) for the Milky Way to rotate into the desired position was the remaining task.

The Sigma 20mm F1.4 DG DN Art Lens is an outstanding Milky Way lens. The difference that f/1.4 makes in Milky Way image quality over an f/2.8 lens is dramatic.

Join me in RMNP this September. I have an opening or two for the Elk Rut in Rocky Mountain National Park Instructional Photo Tour.