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Canon EOS Ra Sensor Measurements at PhotonsToPhotos

Started Aug 13, 2020 | Discussions
valosade Forum Member • Posts: 82
Re: To: Neuropsychology ...(PICS)

WOW

GXAlan Regular Member • Posts: 223
Re: To: Neuropsychology ...(PICS)
1

I'm yet to source my power supply (Celestron has run out of the 12V 5A variety until late September) but I'm almost ready to go. I'll be sure to report in when I get to sample some shots with longer exposures and slightly smaller apertures. I have no idea if this will work properly... but it should.

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Just waiting for a power supply to become available.... (the smaller Celestron Lithium Power Tank on the right will probably be used to power my lens warmer). The camera + lens is large enough and heavy enough that I needed a mount that would offer me more payload than I might require - with a scope fitted at a later date. I'll be interested to see how the Ra works with a good telescope.

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Regards,
Marco Nero.

If you are in the US, Amazon has plenty of alternatives.  I believe it’s just 12V, center positive, 2.5mm.  Several of the listings/reviews will mention that it replaced the Celestron.  There was on that was UL listed.

Here’s a quick shot of 49 x 1 min from a metropolitan area.  ISO 1600.  F/5.6.  Vixen SXD2 unguided.  No filters.

Eos Ra.  49x1 min from urban city.

Marco Nero
Marco Nero Veteran Member • Posts: 7,582
To: GXAlan

GXAlan wrote:

If you are in the US, Amazon has plenty of alternatives. I believe it’s just 12V, center positive, 2.5mm. Several of the listings/reviews will mention that it replaced the Celestron. There was on that was UL listed.

Unfortunately, I'm in Sydney, Australia ... and I contacted several sellers in the US (including B&H) and they claimed they couldn't send me a Lithium Battery for "shipping/safety reasons".  I have at least one local option sold by our local astronomy stores that looks promising... it's also about a third of the price of the Celestron version I was after.

Here’s a quick shot of 49 x 1 min from a metropolitan area. ISO 1600. F/5.6. Vixen SXD2 unguided. No filters.

Eos Ra. 49x1 min from urban city.

That's amazing to see you got this via a presumably light-polluted urban sky!  If we can only ignore the complications from those Starlink satellites, shots like this will be possible for others.  I haven't attempted any stacking yet with the EOS Ra because the software I attempted to use in the past didn't appreciate the off-center plates.  Even very basic Tracking would at least speed up this process by reducing the risk of out-of-alignment images.  Hand-stacking was also a problem for me, especially with the distortion introduced by wider lenses.  I was able to use hand-stacking with another camera with a 135mmL lens when photographing a comet (46P/Wirtanen), but I needed to just isolate the core of the image.  I had a little trouble aligning the stars towards the corners.  It worked for me, but barely.

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Regards,
Marco Nero.

 Marco Nero's gear list:Marco Nero's gear list
Canon EOS M6 Canon EOS Ra Canon EOS R6 Canon EF-M 32mm F1.4 Canon RF 85mm F1.2L USM +20 more
AstroDan Regular Member • Posts: 276
Re: To: Neuropsychology ...(PICS)
1

Marco, the Ra also responds well to filtration if you are stacking, which helps with the light pollution. I shot this from downtown in a city of 300,000 (limiting mag of approximately 18 over head, but looking due-south over three car lots) using a Hutech NB1 filter with just 40 minutes of integration. So far I have found the Ra calibrates well, and while there is banding on the sensor, it usually doesn't show in post-processing unless I'm riding quite close to the noise floor.

A look into Sagittarius using an HOO filter.

Tristimulus Veteran Member • Posts: 9,998
Re: Canon EOS Ra Sensor Measurements at PhotonsToPhotos

Extremely interesting thread!

Have used the 60Da and a modded 6D for astrophotography (the 60Da is a less sensitive crop format camera and the modded 6D offer odd reflextions and the shadow from the mirror is a constant plague). So am currently using other cameras for the night sky.

Have found the EOS Ra intriguing since release, but have only been sitting on the fence for a while. Comforting to see that the signal handling is tweaked a bit compared to the usual Ra and that modding the R will not quite do...

Might return to Canon for the night sky. Still on the fence, but moving... 

1DSmII Senior Member • Posts: 1,778
Re: Canon EOS Ra Sensor Measurements at PhotonsToPhotos

Trollmannx wrote:

Extremely interesting thread!

Have used the 60Da and a modded 6D for astrophotography (the 60Da is a less sensitive crop format camera and the modded 6D offer odd reflextions and the shadow from the mirror is a constant plague). So am currently using other cameras for the night sky.

Have found the EOS Ra intriguing since release, but have only been sitting on the fence for a while. Comforting to see that the signal handling is tweaked a bit compared to the usual Ra and that modding the R will not quite do...

Might return to Canon for the night sky. Still on the fence, but moving...

Yes, numerous reasons why the Ra should not be overlooked.

Foremost for me is the lenses available, in particular 85/1.2 which is usable wide open or close to it, but others look very good too.

Let's not forget the live view, which seems much better that others, and can even show faint objects like nebula!

It all has me VERY interested even though I've probably spent too much on cameras recently.

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Leo S.

 1DSmII's gear list:1DSmII's gear list
Canon EOS-1D Mark II N Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II Canon EOS 5D Canon EOS 20D Canon EOS 30D +22 more
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