Nikon DX to FX upgrade for astro

[JoelRed]

Hi All,

In people's opinion, is a D810 or a D750 a worthwhile upgrade over the D7200 for landscape astrophotography?

I currently have a pretty good stable of lenses for the DX format and a move to FX would be pricey, but if there is a decent increase in quality then it's something I will do.

Cheers

[gregbradley]

APSc versus Full frame.

I did landscape astrophotography with a D800e. It was great. It also has a great time lapse function which I liked a lot.

In my case I have a Fuji XT2 (APSc) and Sony A7r2 (full frame). I always notice the extra light gathering of the full frame. Size does seem to matter but I don't think your APSc will hold you back from being able to get a great image.

Not sure about the high ISO performance of the D750. I would check that out. D810 has a superlative reputation and that Sony 36mp sensor is divine.

D850 would be the best but its also very expensive. I have seen some astro landscapes with it already and its a solid performer.

Greg.

[Atmos]

As Greg says there is a difference between APS-C and Full Frame although it has nothing to do with the sensor size, it's all to do with pixel size.

I also have a Nikon D7200 which is a fantastic sensor BUT it does have smaller pixels than pretty much every FX sensor on the market. Let's take a comparison between a D7200 with a 24mm lens and a D810 with a 35mm which give a comparable FOV working from a 1.5x crop.

The D7200 has 3.91 micron pixels and the D810 has 4.88 micron pixels. This means that with a 24mm f/2.8 and a 35mm F/2.8 both wide open.
1) Same FOV
2) D810 has a 55% increase in pixel area for photon capture
3) D810 has higher resolution (28.75"/pixel vs 33.6"/pixel)

The D810 does this with 50% more pixels! So yes, a FX setup will outperform a DX setup if both sensors are good (they both are). Whether this is worth 5x the price tag is all up to you :)