What's the best lens for Starbursts?

[Brooklynboy]

Today, I tried getting starbursts using the Fuji 18-135 and I was disappointed in how these star bursts look. 

Which Fuji Lenses have good star bursts?

[mdm]

Well, you can check Ken Rockwell's site ( http://www.kenrockwell.com/fuji/index.htm#xf ) where he briefly summarize all tech for each lens including "sunstar" section of your interest.

 

Ken claims that 56f1.2 is the best for sunstars.

Edited January 2, 2017 by mdm

[tractorboyx]

Also try the 23/1.4.

Most lens will to some degree around the f11 mark.

Good old ken rockwell - how much repetition can one man have on one website.

 

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[mdm]

Good old ken rockwell - how much repetition can one man have on one website.

 

I believe when product's definition pages have the same structure it's simplify the search dramatically. If to look at pinned topic "Complete Overview over the available and upcoming Fuji X-Mount lenses" we can say that quincy is plain boring and repetitive.

 

And yes, I knew I'd rather not to mentioned Ken R. here... 

[Sluw]

Depends of you want wide or not. Also love the 14mm sunstars.

[Naddan28]

The 56mm is a great starburst lens. Here is an example from some streetlights in Rome:

 

https://flic.kr/p/rX2Whw

[johant]

The Samyang 12mm is not bad for sunstars either.

[Sluw]

The Samyang 12mm is not bad for sunstars either.

 

The Samyang 12mm is an awesome lens which I'd recommend for a lot of things. Sun stars isn't one of them. The Samyang has an even number of 6 aperture blades which results in six pointed stars. The fujinon 14mm for example (and loads of other Fuji lenses) have an uneven number of 7 aperture blades which results in the double amount of star points, 14. Samyang 12mm:

 

Edited January 6, 2017 by Sluw

[johant]

@Sluw your photo convinced me!

[elmacus]

https://500px.com/photo/191896303/sunstrip-by-marc-elm

 

XF-1024.

 

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[Sluw]

Been googling a bit and most fuji lenses have 7 rounded aperture blades and should all perform about the same for starbursts. Of course the focal length is totally different and some lenses have certain characteristics so you might prefer one over another.

[milandro]

If you want many points, any lens that has an aperture with many blades and makes no attempt to have a circular aperture. Starbusts  of the 12mm are great, I agree!

Edited January 7, 2017 by milandro

[Sluw]

If you want many points, any lens that has an aperture with many blades and makes no attempt to have a circular aperture. Starbusts  of the 12mm are great, I agree!

 

Well... everybody has a different taste 

[milandro]

If OP wants a starburst with more than 6 points than he needs a different lens than the 12mm. I am happy with it, obviously otherwise I wouldn’t have posted my picture above which, as far as starburst goes is pretty similar to yours.

 

It is possible to use lenses with 9 or more blades but generally those lenses try to achieve a round aperture which is not what you want to create starbursts. You can also do this with software or with filters.

[Sluw]

If OP wants a starburst with more than 6 points than he needs a different lens than the 12mm. I am happy with it, obviously otherwise I wouldn’t have posted my picture above which, as far as starburst goes is pretty similar to yours.

 

It is possible to use lenses with 9 or more blades but generally those lenses try to achieve a round aperture which is not what you want to create starbursts. You can also do this with software or with filters.

I meant I used it as a bad example you as a good example. So there are no "best" starbursts. If you want 6 like the example you can buy the samyang 12mm if you want more choose another option. Personally I don't mind 6 points but I like a sharp clean starburst and not like the spread out points like the samyang. 

[milandro]

yes, no problem, I too am not greatly in love with this particular effect which I use very sparsely, but  it is possible to get a better star (I find yours better than mine ) with closing the aperture past f8 but the quality of the picture drops dramatically with the 12mm past f11.

 

So there are lenses with better performance, both in terms of coating and in number of blades making more corners, they tend to be the lenses made in the ’80 or ’90 when coating was very much developed and the cameras were predominately reflex (circular apertures such as Leica are very bad at doing this because they are ... too good... too circular.

 

I had a Tokina 17mm which I seem to remember gave very good results with this or perhaps the Pentax 15mm. I had both at some stage, long ago.

 

these are all examples which strike me for their nice star patterns.

 

McEnaney-starbursts-water.jpg

 

Nikon-24mm-f1.8G-Image-Sample-13-960x641.jpg

[Sluw]

yes, no problem, I too am not greatly in love with this particular effect which I use very sparsely, but  it is possible to get a better star (I find yours better than mine ) with closing the aperture past f8 but the quality of the picture drops dramatically with the 12mm past f11.

 

So there are lenses with better performance, both in terms of coating and in number of blades making more corners, they tend to be the lenses made in the ’80 or ’90 when coating was very much developed and the cameras were predominately reflex (circular apertures such as Leica are very bad at doing this because they are ... too good... too circular.

 

I had a Tokina 17mm which I seem to remember gave very good results with this or perhaps the Pentax 15mm. I had both at some stage, long ago.

 

these are all examples which strike me for their nice star patterns.

 

McEnaney-starbursts-water.jpg

 

Nikon-24mm-f1.8G-Image-Sample-13-960x641.jpg

I definitely prefer those indeed.

[Tom H.]

50-140 is great too, even if shot through several layers of dirty windows.

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[mdm]

Tested my 23f2 at f16

 

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[Adam Woodhouse]

I have found that wide angle lenses seem to produce better star bursts than telephoto lenses.  But that's just been my experience with the lenses I've owned.

That being said, I usually go with a wide angle (something less than 24mm full frame equivalent) and stop the aperture down (very important) to approx F16.

[Trek of Joy]

I prefer sunstars with lots of points that taper the further you get from the sun. Personally I think the 10-24's 14-point sunstars are ok but not great. They're still much better than the Samyang 12mm and its 6-point stars that flare out from the sun. The 10-24's sunstars don't taper toward the ends like the 16-55's either, but they're still smaller than the Samyang. The 16-55 has a 9-blade aperture, which gives you more points that taper toward the ends, the sunstars are perfect IMO. The first image is from Cambodia with the 10-24, which has 7 aperture blades. The second is from Egypt with the Sony 16-35/4, which also has a 7-bladed aperture, but produces nicer sunstars - presumably because of the shape.

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Edited January 7, 2018 by Trek of Joy

[milandro]

all Samyang lenses have  a cinema version , if I am not mistaken those have more blades and continuous stopless capability to be se.t.

[mdm]

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18-55mm at f22 has forked rays.

 

 

 

35mm f2 at f16 may suffer from purple flare.

 

 

 

23mm f2 at f16 looks fine.

 

 

[lleo]

1:1 crop of the 23mm f/2 at f/8 probably

Edited January 7, 2018 by lleo

[lleo]

Difference with the 14mm at f/16 1:1 crop

Edited January 8, 2018 by lleo