I have a FUJIFILM Finepix S1000fd Camera. Is this good enough to get going?

[Synq]

I just need someone to give me an idea if this is fine to start with. Thanks.

[Girders]

Hi Synq,

Firstly, I'm not into the astrophotography side of things, but I do have this camera.  This is a bridge camera with a built-in long zoom (12x?), so there's no way to attach it directly to a scope like you would a DSLR.  It's also probably too heavy/awkward to attach using a phone adapter behind an eyepiece.  I think I tried at one point setting it up on a tripod behind a scope but was never able to align things correctly.  If I remember correctly you'll also have the problem that the maximum exposure length is short to keep the sensor from overheating - 4 seconds maybe?  As such you'll probably find you can get better results using your mobile phone for bright planets or the moon - and even for the stars if your phone has a good night sky mode.  Sorry that's not more helpful.

On the plus side, I found this a brilliant camera for taking shots of the northern lights on a trip to Norway - much better than he Fuji HS-20 that we'd bought several years later.

If anyone else has had more success using this camera I'd be delighted to hear about it!

[Synq]

31 minutes ago, Girders said:

Hi Synq,

Firstly, I'm not into the astrophotography side of things, but I do have this camera.  This is a bridge camera with a built-in long zoom (12x?), so there's no way to attach it directly to a scope like you would a DSLR.  It's also probably too heavy/awkward to attach using a phone adapter behind an eyepiece.  I think I tried at one point setting it up on a tripod behind a scope but was never able to align things correctly.  If I remember correctly you'll also have the problem that the maximum exposure length is short to keep the sensor from overheating - 4 seconds maybe?  As such you'll probably find you can get better results using your mobile phone for bright planets or the moon - and even for the stars if your phone has a good night sky mode.  Sorry that's not more helpful.

On the plus side, I found this a brilliant camera for taking shots of the northern lights on a trip to Norway - much better than he Fuji HS-20 that we'd bought several years later.

If anyone else has had more success using this camera I'd be delighted to hear about it!

Thanks so much

[DaveL59]

As Girders has said, it's going to be quite limited. You might be able to hand hold it at the eyepiece for snaps and perhaps short video of planets but the extending lens you'd need to be careful of not catching it, so power up and let settle before attempting it. I have the bigger S100FS and that can't be used easily at the eyepiece, too long and bulky.

You might be able to try on a tripod if you can manually focus to infinity, or use the trick method (lens cap on, get it to attempt focus, then switch back to manual focus), at full zoom you could then shoot the moon in video perhaps. For much else you'll need longer exposure or focal length. I gave the S100FS a try briefly as that can do 30s but no longer. It'll mainly only pick out the brighter stars, combination of exposure time and the lens being quite slow zoomed out to 400mm.

 

Edited December 8, 2020 by DaveL59