Is Nikon d3200 Good for astrophotography?

[deepind]

HI All,

I have nikon d3200 , is it good for astrophotography? i tried with 18-140mm lens but the shots are too much white not good..do i need to upgrade to d3400 or d5300 or d5600?

 

[Victor Boesen]

The white could be because of light pollution. Is there a lot of lightpollution where you live?

[deepind]

yes..but am not satisfied with the camera...is d3400 or 5300 good?

 

[MARS1960]

What settings did you use? Can you upload an image?

[Luna-tic]

1 hour ago, deepind said:

HI All,

I have nikon d3200 , is it good for astrophotography? i tried with 18-140mm lens but the shots are too much white not good..do i need to upgrade to d3400 or d5300 or d5600?

 

Try these settings: auto white balance; MANUAL mode, aperture open as far as the lens will go, focus at infinity; ISO 1600, shutter speed varied from 5-25 sec. Mount on a tripod and use a remote release. You can experiment by varying ISO and shutter speed, but something along those lines should get some images, if light pollution is not too bad (sky looks black). If the picture is still washed out at lower ISO and faster shutter speeds, you're probably too light polluted.

I have a D3400, it's just the latest version of your D3200 (with the D3300 in between). I get great results with the pictures I'm taking.  If you plan to step up, go at least to the D5600 or D7500; the D500 is the top of the DX line.

Canon seems to be the go-to for astrophotography, you may want to look at some of their offerings.

[serbiadarksky]

Well, not the best for AP

I would recommend canon, as I used the 6D, 600D and 450D

6D expensive uh

600D nothing to say, paradise for AP

450D cheap, easy to to the astro mod, live view 

 

[davew]

If you're trying to use the camera on a tripod with a lens then it's as good as anything else.

No need to upgrade or change camera make.

Dave 

[Josh40996]

I use a Nikon D3200 for my images, I don't believe it is holding me back at the moment. I'd imagine you'd be best upgrading other equipment before the camera.

[M Astronomy]

I would try and get better results with the equipment you have. Most DSLRs these days can get decent results with a standard lens and tripod. Keep trying! If you upgrade with the expectation of getting good results straight away, you will be disappointed. All the gear, and no idea as they say. Be patient, ask questions and most importantly get out there and have a go!

[Icesheet]

3 hours ago, Josh40996 said:

I use a Nikon D3200 for my images, I don't believe it is holding me back at the moment. I'd imagine you'd be best upgrading other equipment before the camera.

 

1 hour ago, M Astronomy said:

I would try and get better results with the equipment you have. Most DSLRs these days can get decent results with a standard lens and tripod. Keep trying! If you upgrade with the expectation of getting good results straight away, you will be disappointed. All the gear, and no idea as they say. Be patient, ask questions and most importantly get out there and have a go!

+1 to both of these!

 

I use a D3200 and I'm more than happy than the results I'm getting. 

[johnfosteruk]

I’ve used a 3200 for astro since I started and will do so for a long while yet. Plenty of use to be had. Here’s a few examples. They’d be good with somebody who was good at it in charge

 

[deepind]

6 hours ago, johnfosteruk said:

I’ve used a 3200 for astro since I started and will do so for a long while yet. Plenty of use to be had. Here’s a few examples. They’d be good with somebody who was good at it in charge

 

Hi,

How What lens you used to get pic of orion nebula??

[ronin]

For the basic intention then the Nikon is fine. The basic beinng that you take say 20 exposures of say 20 seconds each then head off and stack them in DSS.

Might be a little simplistic but Canon were recommended initially as Canon supplied software for their cameras whereas others did not. How much you will or might use this software is a question. Assuming no use then no great difference. One internal difference is the IR filter, on a Canon their filter will pass about 23% of the incoming Ha and on a Nikon it is lower at around 15-18% - the curves I have are a bit out of date.

Main reason for problems is likely to be settings on the Nikon. The whole thing needs to be in Manual, so you set the exposure length, the ISO and the focus. You also have to turn off the Noise Reduction. Sure they is something else in there that needs doing.

Assuming you have an intervalometer (you will need one) then you need to set the Mode to "B" for Bulb (old photography term that got carried over), then the exposure length is determined by the intervalometer and after the exposure set a Wait time to allow the DSLR to perform all the required post exposure functions. Do not just get on taking the next exposure, there needs to be a time period for things like writing the data to the memory card.

One thing to remember is that a DSLR was not intended for AP the exposures are too long and this causes problems, also AP tends to go for RAW files which are big. They will manage AP to an extent but you have to work with them.

For stacking you will need say 20 or 30 good exposures and if possible 10-15 (say half as many) darks. Darks are "easy" same setting as the exposures, set the number of exposures to say half as many and press the Go button on the intervalometer then put the whole lot in a fridge and close the door, Make a coffee and at the end you will have Darks.

Stick with just those for the early stages.

If I recall DSS will stack jpegs so you could just collect standard images initially to get going and learn what is involved with the DSS options. It is a bit less involved at the start.

You will have to track down all the setting for manual operation, they do tend to hide the things and occasionally in odd places.

 

[Galen Gilmore]

On 12/9/2017 at 09:36, deepind said:

HI All,

I have nikon d3200 , is it good for astrophotography? i tried with 18-140mm lens but the shots are too much white not good..do i need to upgrade to d3400 or d5300 or d5600?

 

That is an issue of light pollution, and not a limitation of your camera. A 15 second exposure with the Canon 5D Mkii where I live is almost completely white. Try getting out to a dark sky where everything is 100x better.

[parallaxerr]

Nothing wrong with the D3200, it's very capable! I've had mine modded and got good results, have a look at my Ha Horsehead

 

[ollypenrice]

The OP is in India where I guess the nights are very warm. This might be a big problem for any uncooled camera doing longer exposures.

Olly

[johnfosteruk]

On 10/12/2017 at 06:59, deepind said:

Hi,

How What lens you used to get pic of orion nebula??

That was with a 200mm lens. 133 Short subs of 2.5 seconds.

[Chris33benoit]

Wow these are great pictures especially the Nebulae!  I am far from those images but i am getting there.  Would it be fair to say that using a dobsonian (mine is a Meade LB12) is a almost impossible challenge for DSO's?  If you are using a dob for those pictures please tell me what I am doign wrong.  I have too a D3200 from Nikon.

[Firecat Infernus]

it's 2020 and my D3200 is 6 yrs old but takes star pics lke a charm. Might be light pollution or something in ur area or maybe ur settings might need changing because of ur lens. Use only 18mm with the aperture set to the lowest f value possible, ISO 1600 and shutter speed of 20 secs. Use a tripod and don't shake ur cam. use a remote or the wireless adapter. Also focus to infinity. Some of my pics r a bit red cz the camera heated up (tropical heat).