Night sky photography, full-frame and the Sony "Star eater"

[dclutter]

So I'm currently a MFT user (Panny G80 and Oly Em5ii) and I want to do more night sky photography. I'm also going to Lapland in November to hunt northern lights. I found getting a Samyang 12mm F2 greatly improved the images I could capture. That extra light went a long way.

I'd love to move to Full Frame before I go (pending funding and wife approval) and I've had my eye on Sony for ages. I've read a lot about the "star eater" firmware issue with the Sonys. Is it really that bad? Anyone had any real experiences?

Canon 6d vs Nikon D610/750 vs Sony A7 - Am I really going to see much of a difference between them for night sky?

I also find the dynamic range appealing from the 3 cameras I listed too for my other photography I do!

 

[PaulButler]

I have no idea about the star eater issue (never even heard of it tbh) ... I'd expect a full frame camera to be better simply because it has a larger sensor and they generally perform better in low light situations. If the camera is to be used only for astro work the Nikon D810A may also be worth a look, it has a modified IR filter to capture more in the reds etc ...

 

[twist]

The new Sony a7 MK3 doesn't have this issue.

 

[dclutter]

I have no idea about the star eater issue (never even heard of it tbh) ... I'd expect a full frame camera to be better simply because it has a larger sensor and they generally perform better in low light situations. If the camera is to be used only for astro work the Nikon D810A may also be worth a look, it has a modified IR filter to capture more in the reds etc ...

Yea, not looking for a dedicated camera for it. Just something that performs better.

The new Sony a7 MK3 doesn't have this issue.

Yea, the A7III seems to be a hell of a lot of camera. But it's also a lot more expensive than picking up a second hand A7/A7II.

 

[magicaxeman]

Yea, not looking for a dedicated camera for it. Just something that performs better.



Yea, the A7III seems to be a hell of a lot of camera. But it's also a lot more expensive than picking up a second hand A7/A7II.

The Sony A7/A7II have terrible battery life which can become an issue when shooting a sequence of long exposures for stacking.

 

[jbw]

So I'm currently a MFT user (Panny G80 and Oly Em5ii) and I want to do more night sky photography. I'm also going to Lapland in November to hunt northern lights. I found getting a Samyang 12mm F2 greatly improved the images I could capture. That extra light went a long way.

I'd love to move to Full Frame before I go (pending funding and wife approval) and I've had my eye on Sony for ages. I've read a lot about the "star eater" firmware issue with the Sonys. Is it really that bad? Anyone had any real experiences?

Canon 6d vs Nikon D610/750 vs Sony A7 - Am I really going to see much of a difference between them for night sky?

I also find the dynamic range appealing from the 3 cameras I listed too for my other photography I do!

It may be worth you watching this video review of the Sone A73 use in astrophotography.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=en4eeK33UoE


Also - Alan’s Dyer ( a very well known astrophotographer of international repute) also uses the A73 I thinks it makes a great astro camera for stars and aurora.

I also own one and can speak of its great dynamic range, ISO invariance and super low light ability. If you need to know more then feel free to contact me.
Hope that helps
James

 

[dclutter]

The Sony A7/A7II have terrible battery life which can become an issue when shooting a sequence of long exposures for stacking.

Yea, familiar with that problem with my cameras already.

It may be worth you watching this video review of the Sone A73 use in astrophotography.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=en4eeK33UoE


Also - Alan’s Dyer ( a very well known astrophotographer of international repute) also uses the A73 I thinks it makes a great astro camera for stars and aurora.

I also own one and can speak of its great dynamic range, ISO invariance and super low light ability. If you need to know more then feel free to contact me.
Hope that helps
James

I would truly love an A73 - It's been on my dream list since the launch. The problem is I could get an A7/D750/6D (second hand) + lenses and still have plenty of cash left before I even reach the cost of the A73 body. What I"d love to do is invest in the A7 series with the plan to upgrade to an A73 later when I have money and they have come down in price. Hence the question of is the star eater a proper deal breaker.

 

[woof woof]

Maybe it depends how serious you are about stars?

I'm sure that a star eater Sony wont eat every single star and maybe those absent would only be noticed to be missing by a reasonably hard core star shooter? For more casual use a star eater camera may be ok?

I read a blog recently on this issue and that's pretty much what the guy said but sadly I can't provide a link as I was just idly Googling and came across it.

 

[dclutter]

Maybe it depends how serious you are about stars?

I'm sure that a star eater Sony wont eat every single star and maybe those absent would only be noticed to be missing by a reasonably hard core star shooter? For more casual use a star eater camera may be ok?

I read a blog recently on this issue and that's pretty much what the guy said but sadly I can't provide a link as I was just idly Googling and came across it.

Yea this is exactly what I'm trying to work out. This is all a hobby for me (mostly landscape) but I want to do more night sky when I travel (unfortunately live too close to London ATM). So it's a more casual use.

It's hard to read between the lines on the blogs/posts about "star eater" firmware. Was hoping for some more real world experience. I suspect even with the star eater an A7 + F2 or faster lens is going to beat the pants off my MFT + F2.

 

[jbw]

Yea this is exactly what I'm trying to work out. This is all a hobby for me (mostly landscape) but I want to do more night sky when I travel (unfortunately live too close to London ATM). So it's a more casual use.

It's hard to read between the lines on the blogs/posts about "star eater" firmware. Was hoping for some more real world experience. I suspect even with the star eater an A7 + F2 or faster lens is going to beat the pants off my MFT + F2.

I suspect you are correct.
Remember, the spatial filtering ( commonly called stareater) only filters out suspected single pixel ‘spots’ of light ( as unwanted spurious hot spots or random noise) - so as long as the star occupies more than a single pixel it won’t filter it out. So any brighter stars ( which always will spill over to adjacent pixels) or even an almost undetectable amount of star trailing will be ignored by the filtering algorithm. There are some great deals on the Sony A7 series cameras in the second hand section on here and also on eBay.