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SLR or Standard digital

freelander86

By freelander86
in Imaging - Discussion

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freelander86

freelander86

Posted
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Here me out first....

I have a decent bridge camera, and have thought about upgrading it to an SLR for better astro photography results but then I though why will an SLR produce better results?

Apart from the longer exposure times (bulb mode) available shouldn't a good digital camera produce similar results?

A good camera like this:

Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR Digital Camera - 3-inch LCD: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Has a 16MP sensor! Should that not produce something worthwhile!?!

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Grunthos

Grunthos

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If you are considering any serious astrophotography you will need full manual control of exposure time i.e. a bulb or b-lock mode.

The camera you posted seems to be able to expose up to 8 seconds - fine if you are only shooting off an alt/az mount but pretty duff if you have an eq mount with all the trimmings.

For that sort of money you could get (or put it towards) a decent Canon body second hand...

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Ags

Ags

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I would hazard a guess and say no, it won't be any good for a couple of reasons. I think the sensor is small (because it has 30x zoom - this usually indicates a tiny sensor) so it will be very noisy in low light, especially as it has such a high megapixel count, which of course makes the pixels even smaller. Secondly I am not sure you can take the lens off and attach the telescope - the camera needs to allow interchangeable lenses.

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Ags

Ags

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Very impressive - but note they start by saying low light performance of the HS20 is not at the level of the DSLR (I would guess at the performance in this regard is nowhere close). And if you can't take that lens off, you can't attach it to a telescope. Considering the camera for widefield work, you would need to know the speed of the lens - this is not advertised, but again I guess that is not that high.

Some parts of the review were a bit wierd - like trying to shoot a macro with an 800mm tele! The DSLR, with the correct lens attached, will give higher quality on any shot, but you have to spend more money, carry more kit, and swap lenses as needed.

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dph1nm

dph1nm

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I would hazard a guess and say no, it won't be any good for a couple of reasons. I think the sensor is small (because it has 30x zoom - this usually indicates a tiny sensor) so it will be very noisy in low light, especially as it has such a high megapixel count, which of course makes the pixels even smaller

Not really relevant if you are doing afocal imaging, as the amount of light hitting each pixel is mainly controlled by the scope and eyepiece combination, not the camera. So you can get just as much light onto each tiny pixel as your DSLR pixels get at prime.

NigelM

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A-L-E-X

A-L-E-X

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If you are considering any serious astrophotography you will need full manual control of exposure time i.e. a bulb or b-lock mode.

The camera you posted seems to be able to expose up to 8 seconds - fine if you are only shooting off an alt/az mount but pretty duff if you have an eq mount with all the trimmings.

For that sort of money you could get (or put it towards) a decent Canon body second hand...

I actually have this camera and in full manual mode you can go up to 30 second exposures. The high ISO options are actually pretty good.....it goes up to ISO 12,800 using pixel fusion or binning..... in other words, you can choose 8 MP mode and you get as much dynamic range as an APS-C DSLR and you can do up to ISO 1600 8x10 images with little noise (definitely no chroma noise.) I would stick with 8 MP instead of 16 MP with this camera, as the DR and high ISO improvement is easily 1.5-2 stops.

The problem with this camera is that the lens is huge and it has both a manual zoom lens and a manual focusing ring......and the lens zooms out quite a bit, so in doing afocal imaging its best to leave it at full wide. The lens takes 58mm filters and does RAW and has a full range of manual controls, takes AA batteries, has a remove and cable release available, etc. It is just a bit too big and unwieldy for afocal astro...... I wouldnt use a DSLR for astro either, because of the archaic mirrors they have.....go for something like the Sony NEX-7 or the new Panny Micro 4/3rds, mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras are the future..........

One thing that the Fuji HS20 really excels at are high speed captures....you can do 1080P imaging at 30 fps, 720P imaging at 60 fps and even up to 320fps at 320P.......really good for stacking :)

I actually got the camera to autofocus on Venus the other night and was able to get a nice clear shot at full zoom, at ISO 3200 and 6400; the camera was able to resolve the disk and even what looked like some sort of banding features on the planet.

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A-L-E-X

A-L-E-X

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"Super Moon" and Saturn (HS10 + 1.7x lens): Fujifilm Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

This is the HS20's predecessor, the HS10, with the same threaded lens as the HS20 has, but a 10MP sensor. Look at the nice pics of Saturn he achieved with the zoom lens alone plus stacking. Oh btw, since the lens is threaded, he was able to attach a quality 1.7x teleconverter.

"Super Moon" and Saturn (HS10 + 1.7x lens): Fujifilm Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

The smaller pic of Saturn is two shots stacked minus the teleconverter and the larger pic of Saturn is five shots stacked plus the teleconverter.

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A-L-E-X

A-L-E-X

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The only problem I am having using this camera for afocal astrophotography is that with my Nexstar 8 SE no matter what I do, I'm getting that darned central obstruction in every image.....I've tried with and without the Celestron Reducer/Corrector, 40mm Highlight Plossl, 32mm Series Plossl, 25mm Plossl, etc.

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A-L-E-X

A-L-E-X

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I was amazed by them too! Enough to make me buy that camera's successor :) The only planet I have been able to see is Venus since I got the camera and I was able to capture it, but there isn't much detail to be seen on Venus except for the clouds lol.

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A-L-E-X

A-L-E-X

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the EXR sensor on the HS20 is really nice.....I would use this exclusively in 8 MP mode, but for astro, I may do 16 MP imaging.....I have some images of the moon which are almost 1000 pixels wide. I'm dying for the next total lunar eclipse so see what this camera can do, might even try HD movie mode for that and bump up the ISO, since there is very little noise at ISO 1600 and even 3200 is okay.

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A-L-E-X

A-L-E-X

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This is what he said:

This sensor is so much quieter than any other Fuji that I have used for this type of exercise, and easily rivals shooting with my 35mm Slr's. If I could find a way of attaching it to the telescope for prime focus photography, I think it would be a winner.

The amount of detail in one

frame when processed through Registax 6 is remarkable.

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freelander86

freelander86

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I have had similar results with my Fuji (see my blog link below)

Im going to try the zoom outside on Saturn now after being encouraged by your link above.

My s6500 only has a 28-300m Zoom equivalent though...

Might also try a few higher ISO settings too

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freelander86

freelander86

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Thanks. Yes it was the same camera. Sometimes it produces stunning images...

But its not consistent. It been a great purchase though and lasted years!

Going to try some more images outside tonight... Would like to try the full zoom on saturn but might have to wait a few hours! Id like to see if I can come close to efforts from the link above!

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