Advice on Fuji XA3 for astrophotography

[Velocipete]

Hi guys, I am an absolute beginner so please bear with me. I have a Skywatcher Discovery 150P with Synscan GoTo etc. I was thinking about getting into imaging without spending a fortune ..yet. Have been reading about the limitations of prime focus with the scope & not willing to make any adaptions which invalidate the warranty so would link the camera to the scope with the Barlow lens. Mirrorless is more what I'm likely to use & I like the look of the Fuji XA3 which is available for c£400 at moment. What T ring & adapters would I need ? & where can I buy them ? to make this set up work as everything seems to be Canon\Nikon focussed (excuse pun)..Is this a worthwhile option to start me off.

[happy-kat]

Have you down loaded and read the manual? You will want to check that you can turn off any noise subtraction for example.

[russ]

Definitely worthwhile, the X-A3 will be as capable as any APS-C Canon or Nikon DSLR but with some added bonuses. Such as very small size and weight, so less stress on the telescope. Plus it has excellent Liveview, great LCD. It's a fully manual camera, noise reduction can be completely turned off. The downside is i doubt any of the astro software is geared to Fuji.

Adapters needed for Fuji are readily available on Ebay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adjustable-T2-T-Telescope-Lens-to-Fujifilm-Camera-X-Pro1-Adapter-S4L8/282491388560?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

That adapter will let you attach the Fuji to the barlow. Which is okay for lunar imaging but the mount/telescope are going to be an issue if you want to image galaxies, clusters or nebula as its an AltAz tracking mount. It follows the stars in a stepped motion. Plus using the barlow will only make matters much worse, amplifying the problem. 

You can use a 1.25" prime focus adapter in combination with the above adapter, like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M42x0-75-Astronomical-Telescope-DSLR-Camera-1-25-T-Mount-Adapter-Metal-Bracket/201461255637?hash=item2ee806cdd5:g:nGoAAOSwHsRYExTE

So you don't have to make any mods but doesn't get round the tracking issue.

 

Edited March 19, 2018 by russ

[happy-kat]

However that is a mirrorless camera and there is a chance you might reach focus without using the barlow, I can't recall how much focus travel is needed to reach focus versus how much is gained by the camera not having a mirror. You might have to convert the raw files to dng before DSS can use them.

There is a thread for imaging with this type of mount and staying within the limitations of the mount.

[Velocipete]

Thanks people for the comments & advice. I told you I was a newbie & I mistakenly thought the Fuji had a viewfinder which I would like for general photography. The best alternative mirrorless I can find in my price range is the Panasonic Lumix G7 @ £450 inc £50 cash back. Does your advice still hold with this combo. I understand the limitations of the Alt/Az tracking but have seen on youtube some images of deep space shots with dslr & modied version of my scope.

[russ]

The Panasonic G7 is a good camera, especially for video and blogging. But the sensor is small and struggles with noise in low light situations. That’s not to say it couldn’t do it. And the smaller sensor would better suit the 1.25” focuser on the scope would no vignetting. 

Have you looked at a Sony A6000? Brilliant camera. Same 24mp APS-C sensor as the Fuji X-A5. But with viewfinder. They can be found on offer all over the place for £499 with 16-50 lens. Massively capable camera, image quality to match anything the DSLR can do.

[GlenM]

Hi Russ,

 

Do you know if the Sony A6000 has the 'stareater' problem of the FF Sony's? I think it's something to do with the algorithm they use.

This year I intend to use my Olympus OMD EM10 II to do some astro work. I know it's only MFT,but the camera itself has amazing specs. Once you have adapted to the Olympus menu system.

 

Glen.

 

[Fredster1970]

The A6000 is affected by the star eater bug. As with all the other Sony models it only happens when engaging bulb mode. So exposures up to 30secs are unaffected. God alone knows why Sony are doing this. Brilliant cameras hobbled by a silly over sight on Sony's part. And highlights the big difference between Fuji and Sony. If this was Fuji they would have fixed that issue sharpish with a firmware update.

Hence why I avoided the Sony's and went the Fuji route. I also read that the Fuji X-Trans goes further into the red channel. As it is I have never bothered with astro images but still glad I went the X-T1 (or even the X-T10) route.

[GlenM]

To top it all I have just read that some of the latest firmware upgrades brings this problem down to 3.2 seconds before the star eater kicks in. It was bad enough just in bulb mode. I have looked at Fuji,but I'm pretty much locked in with my MFT lenses.

 

Glen.

 

[Fredster1970]

Be interesting to see how the EM10 II gets on with astro. I had the EM10 MkI before the X-T1 and loved it to bits. Once you have enabled the Super Control Panel its awesome. I had no complaints with menus to be honest and loved the look of the images. I didn't need to swap either as I have never done anything low light with X-T1, so the EM10 would still have been perfect.

What is great about MFT are the lenses. They truly are tiny and so light yet optically are brilliant. I shouldn't think about this anymore, it could be dangerous.

[GlenM]

I had the mark 1 version then moved on to the mark 2. I found the controls much easier to use. My smallest physical sized lens is the Olympus 25mm F/1.8. I also have a 

Samyang 12mm F/2 (I got a good one) and the Olympus 40-150 F/2.8 Pro.

With being ill recently I have been doing a lot of surfing and found out it can be expensive. At the moment I have resisted.

 

Glen.

 

 

[The Admiral]

30 minutes ago, Fredster1970 said:

The A6000 is affected by the star eater bug. As with all the other Sony models it only happens when engaging bulb mode. So exposures up to 30secs are unaffected. God alone knows why Sony are doing this.

Because Sony's primary concern is with conventional photographers for whom it isn't an issue, and it allows them to improve the appearance of images by reducing the apparent noise. In doing so it probably also allows them to advertise a higher maximum ISO, which, for some reason, seems to be the thrust of competitors' advertising. Just my 2 penny worth. It does beg the question, though, why they couldn't allow the user to turn it off if required? Probably not as simple as it sounds though.

Ian

[jefrs]

I'm afraid DxO smite MFT by correcting the low light (sports) performance for sensor size. If you know anything about photon sensor testing you know that is a massive no-no. There is even a code of practice that says thou shalt never, ever, never, correct for sensor size. To uncorrect the  DxO number multiply by 3.98 and you will see they are a lot better in low light than FF sensors.

Several reasons. The smaller the size, the less heat produced, the less noise. LMOS sweeps stray electrons off the sensor, CMOS does not. Smaller size, less read noise. MFT can shoot video at night in a tent lit by a candle, news reporters have relied on that.

The Lumix G7 and later Lumix have "Starlight AF". It can AF on say, Jupiter.  You won't have AF with it on a telescope but it does mean the focus peaking will work reliably.; Jupiter is not at infinity.  By default Lumix NR is a bit too aggressive, turn it down for less artefacts. Whilst the G7 is not as cleaned up as the G9, it's not speckled like the G5.  Whilst the G9 does not have "Dual Native ISO", it does have a step in its ISO range which makes ISO 12800 as clean as ISO 6400 by trading off dynamic range. Compared to the oldest digital cameras I have ISO 20,000 on the G9 is more than acceptable.