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Old 25-09-2019, 11:49 PM
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rustigsmed (Russell)
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new canon astro 'a' camera

this was mentioned about a week ago, haven't seen anyone post it
apologies if they have...


https://www.techradar.com/au/news/ca...ophotographers

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/n...s-astro-camera
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Old 27-09-2019, 08:50 AM
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It could be a good camera but it will be interesting to see someone else test it for astrophotography. I note 'sharkmelley' on CN is having some issues using the Nikon Z6 for astro.

Hopefully the Ra will have no problems given that it's targeted at astrophotography.
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Old 27-09-2019, 12:06 PM
DuaneDibbley (Phil)
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I don't quite 'get' these OEM astro dslrs... They're as expensive as dedicated cooled cameras and they're flawed or at least degraded as regular terrestrial cameras.
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Old 27-09-2019, 12:28 PM
glend (Glen)
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Yeah, I have to agree, can't see a niche in astro which is not already full, and let's face it - it is not cooled. Format might give it a tick but you can bet it will be expensive. Like all the other DSLR Astro models, it will sell in small numbers, but fade away in a year or two (my prediction).
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Old 27-09-2019, 12:59 PM
casstony
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DuaneDibbley View Post
I don't quite 'get' these OEM astro dslrs... They're as expensive as dedicated cooled cameras and they're flawed or at least degraded as regular terrestrial cameras.
Depends exactly what the buyer wants the camera for and how fat the wallet is. At new price these will be out of my price range too, but I have no intentions of buying a cooled astro camera. There are good, low noise, cheap options currently available such as the Nikon D5600 and D750 (new or used and I can modify them myself).
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Old 27-09-2019, 01:07 PM
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ChrisV (Chris)
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Geez why doesn't someone just put out a reasonably priced astro cam that is cooled && APS sized && mono.
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Old 29-09-2019, 08:19 AM
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I have an EOS R and its a great camera. I also have a Sony A7riii which is also a great camera. I like them both. The EOS R is a tad noisier than the Sony overall but the Sony has some issues. One is red/blue speckle noise in long exposure shadows of nightscapes. Photoshop dust and scratches filter cleans it up though.

Sony also does RAW hot pixel filtering and it turns tracked images faint stars green. Colour info is lost. That's the worst of it.

Both Sony and Canon apparently use some sort of IR light internally. The Sony for shutter timing. Perhaps the EOS R does it for the same reason.

Canon will have to either shield the ESO Ra sensor from the internal IR or use a filter that allows Ha but not the IR.

The EOS R gets the way better star colour than the Sony but really they are both good. Canon is more ergonomic for nightscapes than the Sony.

EOS R natively seems to have fairly decent Ha response as does the Sony A7iii.


Greg.
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Old 29-09-2019, 10:11 AM
Startrek (Martin)
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Agreed Chris
But I don’t mind using a colour version
I imaged NGC 6541 last night , had my little fan running on the 600D , first few subs , sensor was running at 24 deg C after 15 minutes got down to 17 deg C and stabilised at 19 deg C all night
I’m not looking for noise reduction because that’s impossible with a DSLR just to reduce the temperature to preserve the life of the cameras electronics
A 5 or 6 deg reduction does help solid state circuitry
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Old 30-09-2019, 04:05 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley View Post
Both Sony and Canon apparently use some sort of IR light internally. The Sony for shutter timing. Perhaps the EOS R does it for the same reason.

That's really helpful info Greg. Thanks.
The quoted bit is a bit of a concern for me as I was thinking of getting a third party, full spectrum version. So, maybe not now.


Do you think that there has been much uptake of the EOS-R amongst astrophotographers/nightscapers ? I don't see it mentioned very often on the forums that I read.


Steve.
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Old 03-10-2019, 08:40 PM
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That's really helpful info Greg. Thanks.
The quoted bit is a bit of a concern for me as I was thinking of getting a third party, full spectrum version. So, maybe not now.


Do you think that there has been much uptake of the EOS-R amongst astrophotographers/nightscapers ? I don't see it mentioned very often on the forums that I read.


Steve.
I am using an EOS R for nightscapes. I also have a Sony A7riii I use for that as well. Yes I am not aware of anyone else using one. I suppose most have their DSLRs and are not that drawn to a mirrorless.

The EOS R does not do RAW filtering like the Sony does which can result in some false green stars.

The EOS R is very good for natural star colours. Its quite low noise although the Sony is a tad more sensitive and lower noise but suffers from red/blue colour speckle in shadows of nightscapes.

The EOS R has a few more user friendly aspects like touch activated shutter, full touch screen, programmable sequence of longer exposures beyond 30 seconds.

I slightly prefer the Sony tilt screen, its more compatible with L angles. Sony A7riii has pixel shift which I find somewhat useful but you need a tracker.

EOS R is basically a Canon 5D4 and now with its firmware update it probably matches the 5D4 in every way and exceeds it at least in eye detect AF.

Greg.
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Old 07-11-2019, 08:05 AM
Xeteth (David)
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Well, it's been released. Looks nice but for that price why not just go for a proper astro camera?

https://petapixel.com/2019/11/05/can...graphy-camera/
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Old 07-11-2019, 08:26 AM
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a bit of a review here
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Old 08-11-2019, 04:55 AM
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Greg,

I haven't really kept up with the pros & cons of the various Sony cameras, so I'm not sure how my A7s compares to the one you have.
I have astro cameras too but in your opinion, would the standard R be a step up, down or sideways from the A7s for nightscape use ?


Steve.
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Old 08-11-2019, 05:54 PM
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Originally Posted by SteveInNZ View Post
Greg,

I haven't really kept up with the pros & cons of the various Sony cameras, so I'm not sure how my A7s compares to the one you have.
I have astro cameras too but in your opinion, would the standard R be a step up, down or sideways from the A7s for nightscape use ?


Steve.
That's a harder one as the spatial filtering that Sony uses on RAW images that creates the "star eater" effect has varied over the various models.

Later models have that star eater filter cut in after 3.2 seconds or later 4 seconds. The earlier models may have it cut in only in bulb mode of longer than 30 second images. I'd have to check on that but I think that is how it went.

EOS R would be noisier than A7S as A7S is the low light camera Sony created. lonelyspeck.com uses an A7S and they get good results.

I think its less about the camera really and more about using a tracker and taking several images and stacking them. Noise then is eradicated from any manufacturers' images by doing that.

The star eater issue is not too bad for nightscapes and if you stick to 30 second exposures (I do anyway) then you should have no issues.

The star eater effect on my A7riii is mild and consists of some dimmer stars being turned green. If I run HALVG free plugin for Photoshop it removes the excess green but it also leaves the stars white. I do get nicer star colours from the EOS R.

As far as EVF and focusing etc I think A7S should be excellent for that. EOS R is fine as well with its 10X zoom.

So in that case the cost of an EOS R does not make a lot of sense.

Sonys best nightscape camera currently would seem to be the A73. Very low noise, largish pixels good Ha response.
A7riv seems a bit of a dud for nightscapes. Much higher noise and I read a lot of people having issues with the AF system giving slightly off focus.

The EOS R is really just a modded EOS which you can get modified by several companies like Lifepixel etc for around US$250.
So you could get one 2nd hand and have it modded. The 30X zoom may be nice but not really necessary as I have no trouble with either my Sony or EOS R focusing on a bright star at 10X. Also the AF will work sometimes on bright stars on the EOS R. The AF system works well in low light, I think better than any Canon DSLR.

Even my Sony A7Riii will focus on a bright star at F1.8. Better to use manual focus
though.

As far as Factory calibrated white balance you simply use custom white balance and take a midday shot of an 18% photographic grey card and use that image for custom white balance and it should correct for the excess red in normal day images.

But you would have to be clear on why you would want your expensive mirrorless modded. If its just for nightscapes then you'd have to be fairly keen. Unmodded the EOS R is reasonably good at picking up Ha.

Greg.

Last edited by gregbradley; 09-11-2019 at 08:40 AM.
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