Astrophotography with the Viltrox AF 24mm f/1.8: Chicago Star Trails

I recently got the new Viltrox AF 24mm f/1.8 lens and tried it out on some star trails shots in Chicago. Join me on a night of shooting stars from a light polluted city.

Viltrox is a relatively new player in the realm of autofocus lenses. As of this writing, they have several large aperture full-frame and APS-C autofocus prime lenses available for Fujifilm X, Nikon Z, Canon M and Sony E mount cameras. Their list of AF lenses includes:

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APS-C

Full Frame

It’s notable that all of their lenses are large aperture with f/1.4 apertures on APS-C lenses and f/1.8 apertures on full frame lenses.

The Viltrox 24mm f/1.8 is one of the Viltrox lenses I was most excited to try from their lineup since it’s a fast wide angle: just the type of lens I love to use for landscape astrophotography. It’s also notable that their AF 24mm f/1.8 is priced very competitively. Comparable full frame mirrorless system alternatives to the Viltrox 24 are the Rokinon/Samyang 24mm f/1.8, Nikkor Z 24mm f/1.8S and perhaps the Sony FE 28mm f/2. Out of all these lenses, the Viltrox 24mm is the most affordable, instantly making it a viable competitor in the full frame realm. Check out the video below to see how it performs.

I wanted to take you along on my first outing with this lens in the city of Chicago. This photo excursion was a little bit unorthodox from my typical romps through the California desert, but I’ve been excited to build a photo series of Chicago at night. Check out my shooting experience with the Viltrox 24mm in this short vlog review:

Gear Used

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Software Used

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-Ian and Diana

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