Excellent camera equipment is important when trying to capture the night sky in stunning detail, and the lens you choose may be the most important factor.

You need a wide-angle, wide-aperture lens in addition to a camera with high light sensitivity and strong low light image quality to capture as much of the night sky in a single photograph.

What to look for when choosing an excellent lens for astronomy

Because a full frame is the ideal sensor size for astrophotography, many of the lenses in this round-up were created for this format, and the most preferred focal length is between 14 and 24 mm. The corresponding focal length for APS-C lenses is around 9–16 mm, but for Micro Four Thirds, the range is 7–12 mm. A wide-angle lens works well in this area for even intricate vertical multi-shot panoramas that capture the Milky Way.

Aperture size also matters since it affects how much light is let in, which is essential for producing the finest possible images while working in low light. The maximum aperture should be as wide as possible. Any aperture between f/1.4 and f/4 is suitable.

You should choose a wide-angle lens that holds detail effectively since one downside of wide-angle lenses is the image quality drop-off in the corners. When set at their widest aperture, mirrorless lenses can offer superior corner detail performance compared to similar DSLR lenses.

Additionally, you may select between zoom and fixed focal length lenses. Zoom lenses have significantly improved in terms of quality; nonetheless, handling, not picture quality, is what really sets them apart. For instance, a fixed focal length lens will probably be less expensive, smaller, and have a wider maximum aperture than a zoom lens, which is often bulkier but gives you more focal length options.

One more thing to note is that there are lenses for popular cameras like Canon, Nikon, and Sony, as well as many third-party solutions for various lens mounts. Obviously, it is impossible to include every acceptable lens in this list. From Full-Frame to Micro Four Thirds, this collection is arranged according to sensor size.

So without further hemming and hawing, here is the list of the top astrophotography lenses, starting with the finest full-frame lenses, then the best APS-C lenses, and finally the best Micro Four Thirds lenses.