Bought this nice compact digital camera a few weeks ago after selling a couple of Canon Powershots I'd been using for some time. This model has a larger sensor and seems to handle the noise levels a little better than my previous compacts. I wanted to test it out on astrophotography. As we all know, this form of photography brings out all the flaws and deficiencies of both lens and camera that go unnoticed in daylight photography.
These were shot at 30 seconds, iso 2000, at f 2.8 ( the widest it will go at the 70mm zoom end ) just to bring out the worst ( or best ) of the lens at these apertures. The 24mm wide end handled the bright stars very well, with very little chromatc aberration and this was a single 30 second shot. I tamed the noise a little in PS but only with a despeckle.
The 70mm zoom end created strange flares on the bright stars which I would think may disappear if I shoot at f 4 to f 5. This would, of course give me two options, increase the exposure or the iso. My preference is to increase the exposure, so an intervalometer will be something I will invest in as this little compact camera has a 'bulb' setting.
These shots were taken Wednesday night before Melbourne's second lockdown, at Christmas Hills, between the end of astronomical twilight and a waning gibbous moon which rose at 8.17pm. So I only managed 18 x 30 seconds for the 70mm shot. The weight of this little compact was a joy for my Sightron Nano Tracker to handle!
