Astrophotography w/ Canon's new (improved?) 100mm Macro

This is Canon's newest, most up-to-date macro lens. So it should be good, right? Right?
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Tracked samples were tracked using the Fornax Mounts LighTrack II. (Fervent Astronomy is Fornax's North American Distributor):
ferventastrono...
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Vetting a lens for astrophotography can be a bit of a pain, as most reviews don't dive deep into lens performance when used on the night sky. As such, I have been compelled to create lens reviews specifically for astrophotographers, which dig into lens performance in somewhat exhaustive detail - all to uncover how the lens performs on the stars.
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To download samples and read up on some of the information discussed in this video, just follow this link:
ferventastrono...
(please respect my copyright and do not distribute these samples or otherwise use them for any purposes other than personal assessment of this lens' characteristics, thanks!)
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Into astrophotography and looking for some gear? Check us out:
ferventastrono...
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Clear skies!

[@alandyer910]

I’m so glad you’re buying or renting then testing these lenses so we don’t have to. I’ve always wondered what these macro telephotos would be like for astro. Now I know! In future I would suggest brightening the slower f-stop images to make them look as bright as the wide open images. That’s what an ISO invariant sensor allows you to do. That would make the images easier to compare. Thanks!

[@FerventAstronomy]

Good point! I normalized exposure in a couple reviews but definitely not a majority. I’ve tended towards boosting exposure by a certain number of stops for the whole run to preserve the relative fall-of in exposure between the shots at different apertures. That helps maintain the relationship of light transmission from f/value to f/value, which is often not all that related to what a lens is reporting to the camera. I did a lot of the filming for these in bulk so it might be a while before I can implement any changes, but normalizing the brightness can definitely be a benefit for showing how the SNR compares at different apertures!