An Assortment of Sunstars and Nightstars shot with a Nikon D7200

Have you seen on-line pictures with awesome 5 or more pointed sunstars? How does one achieve those in their own pictures. Here are some basic rules of thumb for achieving sunstars:

• Use small apertures like f16 or f22
• Night shots at high f-stops will require a tripod and long exposures
• Day shots including the sun should have pure light with no clouds in the way
• Partially obscuring the sun or light to make it smaller can sometimes improve the sunstar
• The number of rays in the sunstar depend totally on your lens and its number of aperture blades
• Not all lenses can produce sunstars. Basically it should have 7 or 9 blades (odd number) for best results.
• Straight blades can produce crisper sunstars. But modern lens are moving towards rounded blades for better looking bokeh.
• Others have noted:
  • The wider the lens, the smaller the sunstar in the frame, making it "crisper"
  • 5 blades = 10 point star
  • 6 blades = 6 point star
  • 7 blades = 14 point star
  • 8 blades = 8 point star
  • 9 blades = 18 point star
• Here are some that can:
  • Tokina 35mm f/2.8 AT-X M35 PRO DX Macro (9 straight blades) (My Shot)
  • Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 ATX PRO DX (9 straight blades) (My Shot)
  • Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 ATX PRO DX II (9 rounded blades) (Sample)
  • Tokina 11-20mm f2.8 ATX PRO DX (9 rounded blades)
  • Tokina 28-80mm f2.8 ATX PRO (9 straight blades)
  • Sigma 17-50mm f2.8 (7 blades) (My Shot)
  • Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4 AF C (7 rounded blades)
  • Sigma Art 18-35 f1.8 AF (9 rounded blades)
  • Sigma Art 24mm f1.4 AF (9 rounded blades)
  • Sigma 30mm f1.4 EX DC HSM (8 straight blades) (My Shot)
  • Sigma Art 35mm f1.4 AF (9 rounded blades)
  • Sigma 15mm fisheye (7 blades)
  • Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 AFS G (9 rounded blades)
  • Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8 AFS G (9 rounded blades)
  • Nikkor 20-35mm f2.8 AF D (9 straight blades) (My Shot)
  • Nikkor 28-70mm f/3.5-4.5 AF D (9 straight blades) (My Shot)
  • Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 AF D (9 straight blades)
  • Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 AFS G (9 rounded blades)
  • Nikkor 20mm f2.8 AF D (7 straight blades) (My Shot)
  • Nikkor 20mm f1.8 AFS G (7 rounded blades) (Sample)
  • Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AF D (7 straight blades)
  • Nikkor 24mm f2.8 MF AIS (7 straight blades)
  • Nikkor-H 28mm f3.5 MF (5 straight blades) (My Shot)
  • Nikkor 35mm f2.8 AF D (7 straight blades)
  • Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AF D (7 straight blades)
  • Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF D (7 straight blades)
  • Nikkor 24mm f1.4 AF-S (9 rounded blades)
  • Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AF-S (7 straight blades)
  • Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF-S G (7 rounded blades)
  • And several others not listed...