The Canon EOS Ra Announced
On November 5, 2019, the Canon EOS Ra was announced and is now available for pre-order at various retailers including B&H. This is a 30.3 MP full-frame mirrorless camera designed specifically for astrophotography. The Canon EOS Ra shares nearly all aspects of the EOS R camera body, with 2 key differences for astrophotography. Increased sensitivity to the 656nm (h-alpha) emission line, and a 30X live view focus mode. For a niche hobby like astrophotography, the Canon EOS Ra has sure attracted a lot of attention from the photography world. I pleaded my case to my contact at Canon…
7 Astrophotography Tips You Can Try Tonight
The following astrophotography tips apply whether you are shooting deep-sky objects in space with a DSLR camera and telescope, or with a simple camera lens on a tripod. If you are just getting your feet wet, and are looking to capture a photo of the night sky that includes colorful, sharp stars and maybe a galaxy or nebula - these 7 astrophotography tips will help you get there. As a preface, the bare minimum you will need to take an astrophotography image like the one below is a DSLR Camera (here are some of the ones I recommend), a basic camera lens, and a sturdy tripod. DSLR astrophotogr…
Sky-Watcher EQ8-R Pro (First Impressions)
A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to receive a very large package in the mail, the Sky-Watcher EQ8-R Pro. Some people get excited about the arrival of flowers or perhaps a new book from Amazon at their door. Me? I prefer over 100 pounds of deep-sky astrophotography equipment. The brand new EQ8-R Pro is an observatory-class equatorial telescope mount capable of handing advanced astrophotography equipment, and one of the heaviest objects I have ever attempted to lift on my own. I'd like to think that deadlifting the heaviest of astronomy equipment is something I'll always be able to do,…
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro Review
The Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro is an extremely popular portable star tracker designed for astrophotography. After using iOptron star trackers for deep-sky astrophotography exclusively, it was time to see what all the fuss was about. In this post, I'll share my unbiased opinion about the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro, and actual images I was able to capture using it. The setup I used was the Pro Pack version, that comes with the counterweight kit, latitude EQ base, and fine-tuning mounting assembly. Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro Review If you would like to get a good look at t…
Choosing a Star Tracker for Astrophotography
When it comes to astrophotography, a star tracker allows you to take better images. Your exposure lengths are no longer limited to 30-seconds or less due to a moving sky, and you can dial back camera settings like ISO and F-stop. Equatorial camera mounts are designed to align with the polar axis of the night sky so you can take long-exposure images that are free of star trailing. Astrophotography demands long-exposure tracked images to collect as much signal (light) as possible, and that is exactly what a star tracker allows you to do. This summer, I had the opportunity to review a new sta…
