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DSLR camera's for Astrophotography

charmedkelly

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Tinkerbell

Tinkerbell

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Posted
No I don't mean that sort of noise - the comparisons done for daytime photography (which these are) are mostly irrelevant to astro work. What is needed for astro work is stuff like the level of dark current and amp glow (and the QE, so you can work out signal to noise). But none of the comparison sites ever measure these. As a result there is no way to compare the astro abilities of the different DSLRs.

The Clarkvision site has some stuff on, but he only has detailed stats for Nikons and Canons, and strangely, despite claiming to be analysing them for astro work, has virtually nothing about dark current.

One thing is sure, it is not as clear cut as people make out, because all cameras have different gains, so you can't just say "my camera has a lower dark current in ADU so it is better".

NigelM

Lo Nigel

Could this be a good starting point < Noise, Dynamic Range and Bit Depth in Digital SLRs >

Only Canon tested but its a start.

:)

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Bukko

Bukko

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I have used a DSLR for around 3 years, with good results. Once modded, it will not work well for terrestrial pictures, though. However, the specialist filters, such as Ha and light pollution will be great. I use a Canon 350D, but considered the 50D as an upgrade. I did some back-to-back comparisons on 30 second dark frames and the 350D was much better. I think that the new Nikons are better for image noise at high ISO's now, but I have a small fortune's worth of Canon lenses, so pretty stuck.

Slightly off subject, I use a laptop for autoguiding, but it struggles to control both the guider and main image capture and exposure control for the DSLR in real time. On the famous auction site is a Chinese supplier of Battery Grips for canon and Nikon's, with a built-in shutter control. 99 minute exposures and 999 images, with the ability to set some delay time between frames. It includes a double battery compartment, so increasing the camera life. (A big problem with DSLR's is the power consumption in holding the shutter open) It also adds some mass to the whole thing, which I have found helps with any mirror/shutter vibration. Just type in Battery Grip in the Photography section and good luck with your choices.

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Dave In Vermont

Dave In Vermont

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Well Andy just arrived, so he didn't know about how these things work yet. As for the rest of you? And no one bothered to link him over to the astrophotography-forums either? Hmmm.....So:

WELCOME AND GREETINGS TO YOU, ANDY!

Thank you for joining us. New people are always nice to see here. The people on this forum are very nice and quite intelligent. And we love helping our member's find answers to questions on a wide range of the wide world of all-things-astronomy. Regards your questions about the Canon, these would best be answered in our Equipment forum:

http://stargazerslounge.com/forum/3-equipment/

As well as our Imaging forum:

http://stargazerslounge.com/forum/8-imaging/

Clear Skies,

Dave

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kalasinman

kalasinman

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here's a good comparison between Nikon and Canon

Nikon vs Canon DSLR Cameras for Astrophotography

Regards

Kevin

Not so good, as it is dealing with dated models and doesn't include the excellent Sony chipped D5100 and D7000 Nikons. There have been several significant developments for Nikon: Backyardnikon (BYN) by the developers of BYEOS, significant improvements in firmware performance (including true lossless NEF, focus control in liveview, and elimination of dark point clipping) by Nikonhacker. Couple this with the amazing Sony sensor and things are brand new for Nikon. I will say the camera modders haven't caught up yet, but the Baader BCF-1 is a direct replacement for the stock Nikon filter for D5100/D7000 for DIY or Brent Oliver http://hyperdslr-mods.blogspot.com/ does a fine job also.

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Charic

Charic

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Not so good, as it is dealing with dated models and doesn't include the excellent Sony chipped D5100 and D7000 Nikons. There have been several significant developments for Nikon: Backyardnikon (BYN) by the developers of BYEOS, significant improvements in firmware performance (including true lossless NEF, focus control in liveview, and elimination of dark point clipping) by Nikonhacker. Couple this with the amazing Sony sensor and things are brand new for Nikon. I will say the camera modders haven't caught up yet, but the Baader BCF-1 is a direct replacement for the stock Nikon filter for D5100/D7000 for DIY or Brent Oliver http://hyperdslr-mods.blogspot.com/ does a fine job also.

Does this mean I need to replace my D5000?  :eek:

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D4N

D4N

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LOL - four years later and l'm stlll plugglng away wlth same Fujl DSLR cameras!

The fuji superccd is a great design for astro though, a pity they stopped making them.

Just a pity the tether software is quite limited.

TSED70Q, iOptron Smart EQ pro, ASI-120MM, Finepix S5 pro.

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sharkmelley

sharkmelley

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There have been several significant developments for Nikon: Backyardnikon (BYN) by the developers of BYEOS, significant improvements in firmware performance (including true lossless NEF, focus control in liveview, and elimination of dark point clipping) by Nikonhacker. Couple this with the amazing Sony sensor and things are brand new for Nikon.

I'm very interested to know more about the "elimination of dark point clipping".  This has been the main drawback preventing me from moving from Canon to the excellent Sony chipped Nikon (high sensitivity, low dark current and low read noise across all ISO setttings).  Do you have more info?

Mark

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kalasinman

kalasinman

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I'm very interested to know more about the "elimination of dark point clipping".  This has been the main drawback preventing me from moving from Canon to the excellent Sony chipped Nikon (high sensitivity, low dark current and low read noise across all ISO setttings).  Do you have more info?

Mark

Mark, I installed the firmware last week. There were earlier  non-released versions that were reported to interfere with normal jpg  use. I find the released version to have no effect on my jpgs, however. I have yet to try it at night, as skies have not been favorable .

http://simeonpilgrim.com/nikon-patch/nikon-patch.html is the site of the patching tool. Prior to use you must have "upgraded" your firmware to Nikon's 1.01 version. You must also have Silverlight. Keep a copy of the 1.01 data file (D5100_0101.bin) in a convenient folder of your computer.On the patching tool click on the start Silverlight icon and the patch tool will activate, ,then enter the 1.01 firmware file location "select firmware file". a list of available features will appear. Carry on from there, remembering to separate the patched version with a changed filename. Then load the patched file in the DSIC file of your camera card, turn off camera and install card, then follow firmware upgrade procedure from camera menu. Turn off and back on, done!

https://nikonhacker.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1821  is a list of available upgrades produced prior to the dark current mod being added FYI.

https://nikonhacker.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2151 a sort of before and after showcase.--Jack

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kalasinman

kalasinman

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A quote from the author "Now you could use dark frame at different temperature or exposure time, or even taken at a different day, making it possible to collect more photons from the deep space." How much hassle is this going to eliminate?!!--Jack

BTW in the previous post I meant to load to the DCIM folder of the video card.

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sharkmelley

sharkmelley

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Hi Jack,

If you are able to post an unclipped short exposure raw dark frame or bias frame somewhere I could pick it up I would be very interested.  You may also be interested in a Cloudy Nights thread I started last year which discussed this issue amongst others (just Google for Cloudy Nights Nikon D7000 read noise gain thermal noise).

Mark
 

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