The best astrophotography camera for you depends on the subjects you intend to capture with it. For example, a DSLR or Mirrorless camera is great for wide-angle nightscapes and Milky Way photography, while a dedicated astronomy camera is better suited for deep-sky imaging of galaxies and nebulae.
If you are interested in photographing planets, a dedicated astronomy camera that is capable of capturing high frame-rate videos is best. These cameras can be surprisingly affordable due to their smaller sensor size.
Useful Camera Links
If you’ve been following AstroBackyard on YouTube, you’ll know that I regularly shoot DSLR astrophotography images under the heavily light-polluted skies at home. My night sky is classified as Bortle Class 8 in terms of sky quality, a white zone on the light pollution map. This certainly makes things more difficult in terms of collecting data…
The ZWO ASI294 MC Pro is a remarkably capable one-shot-color CMOS camera for deep sky astrophotography. Whether you use it for broadband true-color images on a moonless night or ultra-long-exposure images using your favorite narrowband filter – this camera can produce insanely beautiful images. This is easily one of the best color cameras I have ever…
A mono astrophotography camera gives backyard imagers in the city the opportunity to collect dynamic LRGB, and narrowband images from home. Although LRGB image acquisition using a filter wheel requires some extra setup time early on, the flexibility of this configuration is appealing. Up to this point, I have not experienced the joys of shooting…
In my opinion, the best astrophotography lens is one that can capture a variety of images of the night sky in a reliable and consistent way. Not all camera lenses are created equal, and imaging a night sky full of pinpoint stars has a way of bringing out the worst (or best) of your lens’…
With the aid of an Astronomik 12nm Ha filter, I can capture deep-sky images more often than ever before. With both the Canon EOS clip-in version for my DSLR and the 2″ CCD round mounted version for the my dedicated astronomy camera, I collect photons in every moon phase. Despite the bright 80% illuminated moon…
Thanks to my friends at Ontario Telescope and Accessories, a brand new Altair Hypercam 183C arrived at my door last week. The striking purple exterior color of this one-shot color CMOS camera makes a bold statement, but it’s the deep sky imaging capabilities of the cooled sensor that have captured my attention. There are many…
I am extremely excited to review a new astronomy camera from Altair Astro, the Hypercam 183C. This is a CMOS color deep sky imaging camera and boasts some impressive astrophotography features out of the box. I should be receiving the Hypercam as early as next week, and I will be providing a video review of its…
I have recently installed the Astro Photography Tool camera control software on my dedicated astrophotography laptop. From my very first imaging sequence, I knew I was going to like this application. There is no better way to learn a new imaging application than to put it to use for a night of deep-sky imaging. With…
Update: When this article was written, I referred to any non-DSLR camera a “CCD” camera. The correct term for this type of camera is “dedicated astronomy camera“, as the model mentioned in this post includes a CMOS sensor. Since then, I have had the pleasure of experience a true CCD camera, the Starlight Xpress Trius…
A Bahtinov mask is a clever tool for precisely focusing an astronomical telescope. The distinctive pattern of the Bahtinov design was created by Russian amateur astrophotographer Pavel Bahtinov in 2005. To use the mask, you simply need to cover the telescope’s objective and point the telescope at a bright star. The mask creates a pattern…
The very first camera I used for astrophotography was an old Canon Rebel Xsi (450D) DSLR. Even though the production of this camera was discontinued many years ago, I still use and enjoy this camera today. A DSLR camera like the Canon Rebel 450D is a versatile choice as it can easily be attached to…
Astrophotography video from Canon Canon shows you how to take great astrophotography and night sky photography The is the type of video I have envisioned creating for years now. The video features award winning photographer Phil Hart, as he explains the basics of astrophotography in a simple and easy to understand way. The video is…