A couple jupiter shots with the sx730

[saaber1]

Got some Jupiter moon shots last night and one that barely shows the bands on the planet. It's pretty cool that such an inexpensive camera that fits in your pocket can do this. I have tried the same shots with my FF dslr and 150-600 lens and they don't look this good.


4 moons visible (see diagram below for moon names)


Bands barely visible (diagonal from upper right to lower left)


Jupiter moon names diagram. Image from wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moons_of_Jupiter


size comparison with the sony rx10 for those not familiar with the sx730

 

[Big Hands]

I have been very satisfied with my SX730. Had it out to the Alabama Hills (in between Lone Pine and Mt. Whitney) and was very impressed that I could take a shot of the moon like this, handheld no less! Never been able to get anything like this with my DSLR and 'L' lenses either.

 

[Stefan BW]

Very impressive, I wasn't aware of this tiny sx730.

 

[reyalp]

You should be able to make out Saturn's rings too, angular size is similar to Jupiter.

SX710 shot:

 

[saaber1]

Nice moon shot! I remember some time ago I experimented with digiscoping (i.e. compact camera through a telescope or spotting scope) and the results were terrible compared to something like the sx730.

I kind of view the sx730 as like having one of the Canon or Nikon "super zoom bridge cameras" that fits in your pocket. I mean it is a 1/2.3' sensor and crazy long zoom but without all the bulk of those long barreled bridge cameras. The sx730 is even half the size of my ultra-tiny 12x binoculars.

If I get time I would like to use the sx730 to try a video of moonshot like yours with the space station passing by the moon.

 

[saaber1]

Very impressive, I wasn't aware of this tiny sx730.

Thanks! Yes it's a bit unknown as you don't see much discussion of it. I've been pretty blown away in particular by the image stabilization. I shot a bald eagle the other day at 1/160' shutter speed, at 960mm equivalent, handheld. I wouldn't have thought it was possible to get a non-blurry at those settings/focal length. Also the AF seems to be always right on and no hunting.

 

[saaber1]

You should be able to make out Saturn's rings too, angular size is similar to Jupiter.

SX710 shot:

Wow very cool! I definitely will have to try it. Saturn was always below the horizon at the time I'm still awake but I will have to check and see if it is visible now. What blows me away is that you can get a recognizable shot of Saturn with a camera that fits in your pocket (without a telescope I mean). Really neat and thanks for sharing that shot!

 

[londonparisroma]

Fun shots, I just got a 730. I wanted a larger Superzoom but then those long barrels scream "private investigator" or something. Pull a 730 out at a picnic and nobody freezes-up

 

[saaber1]

Fun shots, I just got a 730. I wanted a larger Superzoom but then those long barrels scream "private investigator" or something. Pull a 730 out at a picnic and nobody freezes-up

Ha ha too true. I used sx730 to shoot video of my kids soccer game and im sure it looked like an innocuous toy camera to others. I couldn’t say the same if I had used a dslr with 500mm lens on it. Dslr does attract a lot of attention for some reason, especially with a long lens like 70-200 or longer.

 

[PhotoRaw]

Beautiful!

 

[saaber1]

Got some shots of saturn tonight with the sx730. Atmospherics were pretty poor. I would love to get this same shot in the mountains or somewhere with clean air rather than in a big city (where this shot was taken). Also saturn was low on the horizon which doesn't help. It's pretty cool that it is recognizable though. Thanks go to Reyalp for the pic posted above which let me/us know that it can be done with even a pocketable camera. Fun stuff!

 

[PhotoRaw]

@saaber1,

Wow! Very nice, nice ring. The sx730 is a portable telescope.

Great job!

 

[saaber1]

@saaber1,

Wow! Very nice, nice ring. The sx730 is a portable telescope.

Great job!

Thanks! I tried shooting Jupiter with dslr and 600mm lens but sx730 looks much better. For moon dslr beat it by a long shot but for Jupiter and Saturn they are just a tiny speck in the frame and sx730 did much better.

Btw, I read that yogager spacecraft took over three years to reach Saturn at 37,000 miles per hour. Seems crazy to get pics of something that far away.

Next challenge for this little camera I think could be trying to get shots of the space station. I have tried with dslr and wasn’t successful. I don’t think it was camera shake (possible though) or motion blur that was the problem. I think it was just too small in the frame. Sx730 might fix that but trying to shoot space station at a high enough shutter speed and not be just a noise-fest might be a huge hurdle. Anyway. I think that would be a fun challenge for this little camera. No idea if it could do it or not.

 

[reyalp]

Next challenge for this little camera I think could be trying to get shots of the space station. I have tried with dslr and wasn’t successful. I don’t think it was camera shake (possible though) or motion blur that was the problem. I think it was just too small in the frame. Sx730 might fix that but trying to shoot space station at a high enough shutter speed and not be just a noise-fest might be a huge hurdle. Anyway. I think that would be a fun challenge for this little camera. No idea if it could do it or not.

It can. In a good overhead pass, ISS is bright enough that you can use quite fast shutter speeds, like 1/300th at ISO 80, and angular size is comparable to Saturn or Jupiter. Images below were taken with sx710, hand held. Not much to look at, but definitely some real shape visible. I found framing and tracking quite challenging. I had best results using Tv mode, dialing down the shutter speed to brighten the display to frame it and then dialing it up to shoot


ISS, SX710 hand held, 1/320th ISO80. Two frames

 

[PhotoRaw]

Wow, the the International Space Station. Impressive for a small camera that fits in your pocket.

 

[saaber1]

Next challenge for this little camera I think could be trying to get shots of the space station. I have tried with dslr and wasn’t successful. I don’t think it was camera shake (possible though) or motion blur that was the problem. I think it was just too small in the frame. Sx730 might fix that but trying to shoot space station at a high enough shutter speed and not be just a noise-fest might be a huge hurdle. Anyway. I think that would be a fun challenge for this little camera. No idea if it could do it or not.

It can. In a good overhead pass, ISS is bright enough that you can use quite fast shutter speeds, like 1/300th at ISO 80, and angular size is comparable to Saturn or Jupiter. Images below were taken with sx710, hand held. Not much to look at, but definitely some real shape visible. I found framing and tracking quite challenging. I had best results using Tv mode, dialing down the shutter speed to brighten the display to frame it and then dialing it up to shoot


ISS, SX710 hand held, 1/320th ISO80. Two frames

That's way better than what I was getting with FF dslr + 600mm lens. Very recognizable as the space station. And handheld no less. Cool! Nice job!

 

[OpticGlass]

Cool shot, reyalp.

and hand held!

It can. In a good overhead pass, ISS is bright enough that you can use quite fast shutter speeds, like 1/300th at ISO 80, and angular size is comparable to Saturn or Jupiter. Images below were taken with sx710, hand held. Not much to look at, but definitely some real shape visible. I found framing and tracking quite challenging. I had best results using Tv mode, dialing down the shutter speed to brighten the display to frame it and then dialing it up to shoot


ISS, SX710 hand held, 1/320th ISO80. Two frames