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Old 20-06-2013, 08:14 PM
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allan gould
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Olympus om-D e-m5

Has anyone used the above Olympus camera for astrophotography?
I'm interested to see how the 3.7 um pixels would perform with say a 900mm refractor and bulb mode.
Anyone with any experience?
Allan
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Old 20-06-2013, 10:07 PM
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Chris (omaroo) uses an OMD. Perhaps you can PM him.

One feature it has which is cool is it shows the long exposure building on the LCD screen. It also allows unlimited exposure time internally in the camera without requiring the stupid bulb setting and an intervalometer.

It is a micro 4/3rds sensor which is the same size as the KAF8300 but relatively small in digital camera sensor sizes. This means physically the sensor collects less light. It also means lenses have a 2X crop factor.

It won camera of the year by public vote and won narrowly over the Nikon D800 on DPreview so it is very popular and has happy owners generally speaking.

From what I read it has good low light performance.

Greg.
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Old 21-06-2013, 06:02 AM
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sheeny (Al)
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Sorry, haven't tried it. I've only used mine for startrails and nightscapes in the astro realm.

Al.
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Old 21-06-2013, 01:18 PM
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I have the Olympus OMD and its very nice for astrophotography.

The Pros:
- Excellent live view capability (In my 12" Dob, Individual stars could be just resolved in 47 Tuc with liveview)
- High sensitivity (similiar to Canon/Nikon).
- Very compact, but rugged
- Excellent in-body stabilisation (3 stops easily).
- True raw files - the raw files appear untampered.

The Cons:
- Can't do tethered control (apart from remote shutter, for bulb mode, etc)
- Relatively little software support

To be aware of (could be a pro or con).
- Smaller field of view as well as smaller pixels.
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Old 21-06-2013, 06:10 PM
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Thanks for that but had continued delving into the Internet and find that many nightscapes have been taken with it and it seems to do really well at that. I shall be trying some AP with it when the adapter arrives.
Omaroo (Chris) has been a great help and I thank him and others here for input.
Allan
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Old 22-06-2013, 12:26 PM
Garbz (Chris)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley View Post
One feature it has which is cool is it shows the long exposure building on the LCD screen.
A cool feature it is... if your camera is powered from mains. This demolishes your battery life.
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Old 24-06-2013, 05:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Garbz View Post
A cool feature it is... if your camera is powered from mains. This demolishes your battery life.
There you go. Didn't know that.

From my experience so far for astrophotography in mirrorless the best is Fuji X series. They are releasing an XM1 which is even smaller, lighter and cheaper but the same sensor. That will be a good deal. They seem to be going from strength to strength.

The earlier Sony Nex 5n was rated as very good. Have a look at Alex's nightscapes and dob shots with a modified one. They are superb.
Nex 6 is good as well. Both Fuji X series and Nex 5/6 will outperform any APSc Canon. Modern APSc Nikons, perhaps not. ISO 6400 is useable on both with a touch of noise reduction in summer.

Ultimately modern full frame is still the king. Canon 5D3, 6D, 1DX or Nikon D800/E, D600, D4 are way ahead.

Sony RX1 may be good too but you can't change the lens. Same with Fuji X100s. It has even better low light low noise performance than XE1.

Other brands - I don't know, but the above are the leaders in this field. OMD EM5 is also very good with the above a bit better (not much from what I read but no experience with the camera except it has a smaller sensor so physics starts to affect things here no matter how good the processor or sensor design).

There are rumours of a Sony Nex camera with a full frame sensor. Now that could be hot if it eventuates.

DSLRs days are numbered. Use a mirrorless for a while and then watch how you don't drag out your DSLR as much as you used to. All mirrorless have to do is bring autofocus up to DSLR standards. Its not there yet.
In the APSc world mirrorless are already better than DSLRs in almost every way except fast motion shots AF and perhaps price. Lens choice can be a tad limited as well depending on brand. But Fuji for example make lenses a cut above Canikon.

Leica ruled this realm for some time with their full frame M series etc. Once full frame mirrorless hit the shops DSLRs will take an even bigger loss of market share.

Greg.
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Old 24-06-2013, 05:33 PM
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I have the SONY SLT A77v which is 'mirrorless' although it works as a DSLR. It has an EVF screen (Electronic View Finder) which is excellent for getting exposure right as it responds to the changes in settings as you adjust. I wish it had a LiveView mode because it works well as a Astrocamera. No amp glow present either that I have found.
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