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Re: [OM] Macro lenses for astro work

Subject: Re: [OM] Macro lenses for astro work
From: gma <gma@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 23:14:54 -0800
John;

Michael Covington is really the expert here, so I hope he chimes in. 
For my 2 cents, whomever said this is probably either a knucklehead or a
Nikon user (or both) <g> Sorry, couldn't resist.  I wonder if s/he
thinks that because Einstein says space is curved, that we should use a
curved-field lens?  

I did do some tests recently on a number of lenses.  I was looking for
wide-open and 1 stop down performance, since what you want usually for
astro work is to gather a lot of light.  I found that the 2 Zuiko macros
I have, 50/2 and 90/2, were the only lenses which showed edge-to-edge
sharpness with no noticable coma or chromatic abberation when used wide
open. THIS is exactly what you want when shooting star fields. And it
makes sense that a flat-field lens would be designed with edge-to-edge
sharpness, no?  And really, isn't a star-field pretty much the epitome
of flat field subjects?

George


John Petrush wrote:
> 
> On another list, a question was asked regarding the best lenses to use on an
> OM-1 for astro photography.  I replied Zuikos, of course, and went on to
> describe the merits of the 50 and 90 f/2 macros for wide field shots.
> Another list member replied with the following:
> 
> "Never use a macro lens for astrophotography since they are flat field lens.
> While this is exactly what you want for macro photography it is exactly what
> you DON'T want for the stars."
> 
> While I do not agree with this point of view, I thought I'd consult with
> this sage body before I make any response.  I recall George making some
> critical evaluations in star tests and found these two to be quite good.
> Opinions???
> 
> John P
> ______________________________________
> there is no "never" - just long periods of "not yet".
> there is no "always" - just long periods of "so far"
> 
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