EOS Ra: A great Full Frame Astrophotography mirrorless camera...

1Dx4me wrote:

nice review, Marco! however, i still consider R/RF cameras as canon's ML Beta format cameras! i think canon's seriousness about ML format will start with the upcoming R5, IMO. YMMV.

This is a fair point when thinking of the camera in terms of daylight performance. Oddly,  the Ra lacking many of the features we now expect, such as IBIS, was part of what attracted my attention for ruse as an astrophotography camera. With IBIS systems it is more difficult to cool a floating sensor, which shows on my A7III after a medium-length session despite the Exmor sensor having a far lower dark current than my Ra or 6D. Obviously still fps and video output were also secondary considerations.

As a general note, Trollmannx is absolutely correct. With the costs of a dedicated, cooled, camera dropping there are fewer reasons to go with a DSLR/mirrorless solution. In my case, it was the ability to pack things down without the need for a laptop while still maintaining compatibility with my Canon lenses that pushed me to this solution. There aren't any magic solutions out there; the Ra would lose handily to most dedicated camera (or to something like a D5300 for that matter within the crop sensor area). You can also buy a stock R and have it modified to get the same performance as the Ra (minus the 30x zoom), for a lower total cost. So, it is worth noting that this isn't the only option out there.

For anyone thinking of purchasing one of these there is a fair bit to consider. Most telescopes cannot adequately cover a full-frame sensor (and despite what we like to think, when it comes to astrophotography most lenses can't either). In that sense there is quite a bit of extra cost here that can only be used in 'edge' cases. Despite all of that, I have enjoyed the camera and don't regret going for it.

Cheers,

Dan