The Sony FE PZ 16-35mm f/4 G is an extremely lightweight wide-angle lens. Although a 16mm wide angle might seem a bit outdated in the era of mirrorless cameras, considering its weight and image quality, we still give it high marks. Its power zoom feature makes it particularly well-suited for video shooting. As for starburst performance, an important criterion for wide-angle lenses, it performs decently. While it doesn’t quite match Canon’s wide-angle lenses, it certainly surpasses Nikon in this regard.

16mm

35mm

The Nikon 24-200mm f/4-6.3 is one of the best superzoom lenses ever made, offering excellent image quality across the entire zoom range, while maintaining a compact and balanced size and weight. Its main drawback is the relatively small aperture at the telephoto end, but this can be compensated by the lens’s powerful image stabilization when shooting still subjects. However, the lens’s performance in producing starbursts is a weak point, as shown in our tests.

24mm

200mm

The Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM is an entry-level telephoto lens for Canon’s EF mount. Given its price, it offers excellent value for money, with very fast autofocus and impressive image quality. Surprisingly, it also provides outstanding starburst performance, although this feature is not typically crucial for a telephoto lens. However, our tests revealed a subtle drawback: a slight presence of flare and “corona” as shown.

70mm

300mm

The Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 is a lightweight and high-performance wide-angle lens. Its strengths include good image quality and portability, making it easy to carry. However, one drawback is the strong reliance on digital correction, which leads to a drop in image quality at the corners. Additionally, the lens’s starburst performance is somewhat disappointing, which is a significant downside for a wide-angle lens.

14mm

30mm

The Samyang 14mm f/2.8 is an affordable and effective wide-angle lens for astrophotography, earning the love of many users due to its excellent value for money. Since astrophotography typically involves using the widest aperture, the starburst effect is relatively less important. Our testing in this regard was primarily just for fun.

The Nikon 85mm f/1.8G lens provides excellent resolution and attractive color rendering, and with its reasonable price, it remains a great choice even when adapted to mirrorless systems. However, one of the main drawbacks of this lens is its rather loud focusing noise, which makes it less suitable for video recording. Additionally, based on our tests, its sunstar/starburst performance is also quite unappealing.