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Nikon D800E and astrophotography

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alfalahi

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hey guys

this is my first post here , i have some question about D800E , im interested in astrophotography and asked around most people told me to get Canon 60DA and some said to go with 800 because of the big pros

i would like to know which i should get and why?

what lenses do i need?

also did they fix the problem with Nikon AF? is it safe now to buy it or should wait till it fixed?

is Nikon made in Japan? or im going to waste my money of china products? bought Sony video camera and it was made in china cost me about $1700

any advice for me would be great

thank you for great forums
 
alfalahi said:
alfalahi wrote
Click to expand...
alfalahi said:
this is my first post here , i have some question about D800E , im interested in astrophotography and asked around most people told me to get Canon 60DA and some said to go with 800 because of the big pros

i would like to know which i should get and why? what lenses do i need?
Click to expand...
In a word, the 800E is fantastic for astrophotography. Some will say that you need the filter modded and I won't argue. But I've seen plenty of gorgeous astro photos with it and that's what I'm using. For wide field images, nothing beats the 14-24. For nebula and galaxies, spring for the 400 2.8 or go big with the 800 5.6 :) Also see the astrophotography forum on this very site and check out the DSLR Imaging forum at cloudynights dot com. dave
 






Taken with unmodded D800E and sigma 35 f1.4
 

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alfalahi said:
alfalahi wrote:

hey guys

this is my first post here , i have some question about D800E , im interested in astrophotography and asked around most people told me to get Canon 60DA and some said to go with 800 because of the big pros

i would like to know which i should get and why?

what lenses do i need?

also did they fix the problem with Nikon AF? is it safe now to buy it or should wait till it fixed?

is Nikon made in Japan? or im going to waste my money of china products? bought Sony video camera and it was made in china cost me about $1700

any advice for me would be great

thank you for great forums
Click to expand...
why so concerned about where something is made?? Many apple products are assembeled in china to exceptional tollerences in very high quantaties. what matters is the tolerence required manufacturer. Apple insist on high quality and pay for this. Many dont.

the d800 is made in japan btw
 
alfalahi said:
alfalahi wrote:

hey guys

this is my first post here , i have some question about D800E , im interested in astrophotography and asked around most people told me to get Canon 60DA and some said to go with 800 because of the big pros

i would like to know which i should get and why?

what lenses do i need?
Click to expand...
Many use the 14-24/2.8...there is no lens on the Canon side that even comes close. The 16-35 VR or one of the fast wide primes are popular as well.
alfalahi said:
also did they fix the problem with Nikon AF? is it safe now to buy it or should wait till it fixed?
Click to expand...
There was never a widespread issue, and I haven't seen a complaint about D800 AF in months. Recent firmware updates seem to have fixed the issue for some people who had it as well. Nikon also has a fix for those bodies affected, and has for quite some time. I would say it's definitely "safe" to buy a D800, as it has always been since day 1.
alfalahi said:
is Nikon made in Japan? or im going to waste my money of china products? bought Sony video camera and it was made in china cost me about $1700
Click to expand...
The D800 is made in Japan, but that doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is HOW it's made, and that goes for anything. Nikon and Canon both manufacture things in China and/or Thailand as well.
alfalahi said:
any advice for me would be great

thank you for great forums
Click to expand...
Good luck with your decision - there is no better camera for this than the D800/D800E in my opinion.
 
alfalahi said:
alfalahi wrote:

hey guys

this is my first post here , i have some question about D800E , im interested in astrophotography and asked around most people told me to get Canon 60DA and some said to go with 800 because of the big pros

i would like to know which i should get and why?
Click to expand...
Canon used to make the best DSLR's for astrophotoraphy, but the new Nikon pro bodies have surpassed them.

Astrophotography is a black hole for money.
alfalahi said:
what lenses do i need?
Click to expand...
To shoot from a fixed tripod, you need a rather wide lens. The Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 is good because it is sharp to the corners at wide apertures.

For longer focal lengths you have to shorten the exposure time or use a tracking device to avoid oval stars. You can make a "barn door" mount that will work with lenses around 50mm. There are some small commercial tracking mounts that are available for around this focal length.

When you get into telephoto lenses and telescopes you need a German Equatorial Mount (GEM). They can cost anywhere from around $1,000 for a light model of decent quality (for small refractors) too somewhere in the $10,000-15,000 range for an Astro-Physics 1200 or large Takahashi mount.
alfalahi said:
also did they fix the problem with Nikon AF? is it safe now to buy it or should wait till it fixed?
Click to expand...
Safe to buy.
alfalahi said:
is Nikon made in Japan? or im going to waste my money of china products? bought Sony video camera and it was made in china cost me about $1700
Click to expand...
The D800E is made in Sendai, Japan. Sendai was partially flooded by the tsunami, but the Nikon factory was far enough inland to not be flooded.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msi...0.002796,0.003991&iwloc=00049e31162448ee3ac8b

The D600 is made in Thailand.

In the 1950's, "Made in Japan" was synonymous with "cheap junk" in USA jargon. Japan was making inexpensive toys and other items in their attempts to recover, economically, from WWII. Then an American went over there and showed them that they could do much better with quality.

China has used a similar low cost strategy for the beginning of their economic expansion. Doesn't mean they can't make quality when they want to.
 
Thanks Jack!

Yes D800E is hard to beat. I agree with the assessment that it is the best current camera for that type of shot. And yes the 14-24mm lens is the best lens for widefield shots. I see some Canon 5D3 and mainly Canon 6D shots and these are good too. The Canon 6D shots seem a bit variable in that some look pushed too hard or a bit plastic looking. Canon seems to be using their firmware and processor to suppress noise harder than Nikon probably because they have to in order to compete.

60Da is good but its still an APSc. Also noise levels are pretty high in a 60D. Nothing like a D800E.

60Da would be lower but its still a 60D. I have read conflicting reports about the 60Da from best camera ever to didn't like it. Images I have seen so far are not impressive. The older 20Da was fantastic at its time but Canon may not have reproduced that wow factor this time around.

As far as using it with a telescope I did see a fantastic image from one guy who had his D800 modified. But he did complain about nonlinearity in the D800's images. I think he meant Nikon subtracts a base amount off the image considered to be noise down low in the image and rescales the image. It caused him some difficulty with processing but he seemed to get around it.

As good as the D800 is, for deep sky objects you will still get better results with a dedicated astronomy cooled camera that is mono and uses a filter wheel to create a colour image.

These are very sensitive and super low noise.

If you do chose Canon you can get a nice Novoflex adapter with aperture control to fit Nikon lenses so you can still use the Nikon 14-24 on a Canon. Canon does not have a good range of UWA lenses and most seem to use the Rokinon 14mm F2.8 which is also very good and fabulous value.

Greg.
 
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alfalahi said:
alfalahi wrote:

hey guys

this is my first post here , i have some question about D800E , im interested in astrophotography and asked around most people told me to get Canon 60DA and some said to go with 800 because of the big pros

i would like to know which i should get and why?

what lenses do i need?

also did they fix the problem with Nikon AF? is it safe now to buy it or should wait till it fixed?

is Nikon made in Japan? or im going to waste my money of china products? bought Sony video camera and it was made in china cost me about $1700

any advice for me would be great

thank you for great forums
Click to expand...
Read this, seems like everyone thinks the D800/D800E is better than everything

 
Astrophotographer 10 said:
Thanks Jack!

Yes D800E is hard to beat. I agree with the assessment that it is the best current camera for that type of shot. And yes the 14-24mm lens is the best lens for widefield shots. I see some Canon 5D3 and mainly Canon 6D shots and these are good too. The Canon 6D shots seem a bit variable in that some look pushed too hard or a bit plastic looking. Canon seems to be using their firmware and processor to suppress noise harder than Nikon probably because they have to in order to compete.

60Da is good but its still an APSc. Also noise levels are pretty high in a 60D. Nothing like a D800E.

60Da would be lower but its still a 60D. I have read conflicting reports about the 60Da from best camera ever to didn't like it. Images I have seen so far are not impressive. The older 20Da was fantastic at its time but Canon may not have reproduced that wow factor this time around.

As far as using it with a telescope I did see a fantastic image from one guy who had his D800 modified. But he did complain about nonlinearity in the D800's images. I think he meant Nikon subtracts a base amount off the image considered to be noise down low in the image and rescales the image. It caused him some difficulty with processing but he seemed to get around it.

As good as the D800 is, for deep sky objects you will still get better results with a dedicated astronomy cooled camera that is mono and uses a filter wheel to create a colour image.

These are very sensitive and super low noise.

If you do chose Canon you can get a nice Novoflex adapter with aperture control to fit Nikon lenses so you can still use the Nikon 14-24 on a Canon. Canon does not have a good range of UWA lenses and most seem to use the Rokinon 14mm F2.8 which is also very good and fabulous value.

Greg.
Click to expand...
Greg-

I am very interested in using the 800E for Astrophotography. I was planning on using it with a telescope. Am I correct in reading into your comment that all these amazing pictures were taken with just a wide lens? That is very incredible. How are the cameras tracking these objects for such a long time with just a camera and a lens? Are they using autoguidance systems with cameras mounted on a tripod using camera lenses only? If so, what is a good setup and what does it cost?

Thanks for your input.

Vince
 
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