I am not sure how to tackle this, but I will start fairly simple:
You need a DSLR, or a dedicated astrophotography camera. You do.
Really, to start, you need a DSLR... or mirrorless prefessional, with the same size full frame sensor or crop sensor as a DSLR camera.
Okay, if all you want to image is the moon, or maybe just some starry night wide angle shots, then you can use your phone for starry night shots, or a nice bridge camera for shooting the moon. If you want to image the milkyway, Galaxies, Nebula, planets... a consumer grade or bridge camera will not get the job done. A smart phone camera will definitely not get the job done.
I am not disrespecting smart phone of good quality consumer or bridge style cameras. You can do a lot with a smart phone or other consumer / bridge camera with good light. You might also be able to take some reasonable pictures of a city street, or city scape with a good consumer grade camera, but these cameras simply do not have a large enough sensor to gather the amount of light you will need to gather for good milkyway photos, and definitely not for deep space objects. Also, in the dark, all your auto functions will not work for astrophotography. You need good access to manual functions, and not have to fight your camera to get to these manual settings. That's even if you could see what you were trying to target with such a camera.
Shooting astrophotography images is hard. You need a serious camera to handle it.
Sensor size = light gathering ability. You need a lot for astrophotography.
The elephant in the room.
Nikon P900/P950/P1000. No.
I am not saying don't buy one. I am saying don't buy one for astrophotography. I own a P900. This line of cameras is super fun for a lot of things. I want to eventually sell my P900 and get a P1000... but I am not going to use it for astrophotography. For astrophotography, I use a Nikon D5300. It's not the best DSLR for astrophotography, but it works decent.
The reason you can get a super powerful zoom with a P900/P950/P1000, is because the sensor is tiny. The larger the sensor, the larger the lens physically needs to be in order to focus an image large enough to cover the entire sensor. If a P1000 built in 3000mm lens is smaller than a DSLR 600mm lens... how big do you think that sensor is?
The sensor in a P1000 is not large enough to gather enough light for a good deep sky image, and you don't need 3000mm for that anyway. However, planets are bright enough... atleast Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Venus are... for that sensor to see these planets. However... sadly... that 3000mm lens isn't actually going to get you a very good image of any of these anyway. (Cue sad trombone sound).
Okay, you can get some good enough images of Jupiter with a P1000 to be able to see the cloud bands a little.... but once you manage that... that's it. The lens is permanently attached. You can't replace it with another lens to get a better image. You can't attach it to a telescope for a better image. ...and it will have cost you about $1,000 new. Maybe $700-$800 used.
Summary for Nikon P900/P950/P1000 for astrophotography.
You can get a better image of Andromeda with a cheap DSLR and a cheap 70-300mm lens, cropped down, then a P1000 zoomed in to fill the screen. You can get good enough image of Saturn & Jupiter to tell they are Saturn & Jupiter... and that's it.
With a DSLR, you can get a better lens. You can attach it to a scope. A DSLR will have far better light gathering ability in the dark. A DSLR will cost you more in the long run as you add lenses, etc, but will give you far better results that you can continue to build on.
Hi Brady, thankyou for starting this blog, so helpful. I have started researching the D5300 as suggested. On Sirihut.co.uk they sell it with a kit bundle for £482.
ReplyDeleteI saw the photos you took of Andromeda and Pleiades, that is what I would love to achieve. I saw you needed a Tamron lens to achieve that. As a beginner is that basically enough to start me off? Unfortunately my budget is limited. Many thanks, Pat
Hello Pat. You don't necessarily have to get a D5300, but I do think it is a good camera to start with on a budget. It's not the cheapest DSLR that you could get that would work well, but it ticks a lot of nice boxes for usability, especially on a budget. What I particularly like, is the moveable screen. Often, after taking an image, you will want to review it, and when you are pointing the camera up in the sky at a sharp angle, getting you face under the camera to look at the previewed image... can.. well.. be awkward and uncomfortable...LOL... being able to angle the screen out and position it so you can look at it without crawling under it is nice. However, there is likely Canon equivalents, though I am not as familiar with Canon or Sony. What I would suggest, is to go to a camera story if you can, and take a look at different cameras, get a feel for what their controls are like, etc, and find something that you could get used to easy. Nikon, Canon, Sony, and others all make great cameras.. but their control surfaces are different, find something that feels good in your hand, like you could be comfortable using it. Also, something with an adjustable screen like mentioned before would be great. Choosing the right brand of camera to go with (Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc) is important, because once you start to buy new lenses for your camera, it gets more expensive to switch to a different brand... hence, if you started to think you liked Canon better after you had already purchased some new lenses for your collection..LOL. Still don't sweat it too much, given that they all take good images.
DeleteThe full list of what I used to take Andromeda, was a Nikon D5300, a 70-300mm VC Tamron lens, as well as a Sky Adventurer tracking mount pro kit, and a sturdy tripod. What I would recommend, is get a camera along with a kit lens first. If you can get it with a bundle that includes a longer zoom as well, like a 70-300, cool... but then just get a tripod, and work on taking 30 second milky way shots, and work on doing star trails, stuff like that... while watching videos that help explain the exposure triangle, and get a lot of experience learning this camera. Also explore just taking some nice sunset or landscape photography during the day. During this time, save up for a tracking mount... or if you already have the money, just set that money aside, while you work on wide angle stuff first. Trust me... trying to go right to Andromeda will be pretty hard without the basics first. When you were in school, you didn't try to take Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus all at once...LOL. Learn this in steps... trust me there will be plenty to keep you entertained. Look into star trails. I've done a lot of star trails, they are pretty amazing too, and there is a lot of creative stuff you can do with them. I will try to get some star trail photos posted too. Summary: Start with the wide angle stuff... and work your way into closing in on targets like Andromeda, and further on.
Thanks, Brady. If I buy a camera it looks as though eventually I will need more equipment to be able to take photos of Pleiades etc.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, with a DSLR, would I be able to take photos of constellations?
The most pleasure I get at the moment is taking a photo with my smartphone and being able to recognise the stars.
I love being able to see Perseus and Pleiades even though the photo is rubbish.
Would I be able to take a clearer, sharper photo?
I've considered a telescope but sounds too complex for me...
Do you have an image of a starry night with the D5300 and nothing else apart from maybe a lens?
Thanks for all your advice...