Six Cameras Shoot the Eagle Nebula - Astrophotography comparison with Sony a7RV, Canon R6, and more

This video could have also been titled "Astrophotography for Backpackers: Getting the most out of what you already have". Because of how much I travel for shoots, I tend to keep my equipment on the lighter side. While I do not have a particularly advanced astrophotography setup, it's still enough to get a pretty good idea of how this unusual assortment of cameras compares to each other for shooting deep sky objects.
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Cameras in this video:
Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Canon EOS 6D, Canon EOS RP, Canon EOS R6, Sony a6500, Sony a7RV
#Canon #Sony
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[@JasonTaylor-po5xc]

I've seen a lot of folks crapping on the Sony A7R V for some reason - too much noise or something like that. But, your images look pretty good to me. Basically, I'm looking at getting an all purpose camera (hobby). It's a stretch to spend nearly $4k on a camera so I'm also considering the A7CR or A7C II - as long as I'm comfortable with the grip. When I travel, I'll probably opt for the cheaper/lighter lenses anyway and I'll have it on a tripod for any big guns. I've been a photo bug since the early 2000s with the Canon 20D being my first dSLR - but I'm new to astro.

[@DesmondButler]

Welcome to the club! People think I'm crazy for leaving the full frame cameras behind when I travel and instead opting for the Sony APS-C, but like you, I prefer to travel light, and as you mentioned, the smaller lenses certainly would be cheaper to replace if they got damaged in transit. That being said, the a7R V is an incredible choice when you just gotta have those deep details. If you check back later this month, I just tested a camera that may give the a7R a run for its money. Videos on that coming soon.

[@billkonkel6325]

The Canon T3i is the easiest to Astro modify and it also has a very small cropped in video mode that’s good for planetary. You can also pick up a used body in good condition for $100 to $150.

[@DesmondButler]

They're extremely inexpensive and very common, so always worth a mention. Do you own one that has been astro-modded?

[@my-pixels]

Great review! I love these comparison videos. No wonder the 6D is still considered one of the best cameras for astrophotography.

[@TheAceTroubleshooter]

Did you notice the meteor your captured in the R6 shot? Its pretty sweet ^_^ {upper part of pic}

[@DesmondButler]

Good eye. It's somewhat common to catch shooting stars in Milky Way landscape photos because they're so much wider, so that is pretty cool that the R6 spotted a tiny one.

[@1234clarknj]

Desmond, great videos in your portfolio. Your narration is "top shelf". Vert natural and easy to listen to. Instant Subscriber!!! Keep up the effort and grow your channel if you have the time. I am certainly looking forward to following you and learning.

[@DesmondButler]

Thank you for the compliments! I'm glad the effort is being appreciated.

[@kshgarg147]

2:36 what a beautiful shot!

[@mikemoran5439]

Great videos man. How do you only have 288 subscribers? Make that 289.

[@DesmondButler]

Haha, I appreciate that. Thanks for watching! More to come.

[@jd.1184]

I've got a modded 6d and man the strength of its sensor for the price is pretty awesome! It's no wonder that it's the most popular DSLR for astrophotography, and this video does a great job at showing why.

[@DesmondButler]

An astromodified 6D would definitely be impressive. I bet you capture some great shots!

[@luboinchina3013]

I had the same Nexstar 8SE and the mount REALLY makes the difference. Night and day. I sold out nexstar and went for EQ6R-pro Although if you like portability, you may go for AM5. Although I still miss that nexstar sometimes when I want to show kids some naked eye astronomy and don't want them to mess my running astrophotography session😊

[@stefanschneider3681]

Great video, this is exactly my style! I want to keep it simple, too. Here's my setup: Telescope Celestron NexStar 6 SE. With my alt-az mount I could never go beyond 12 second exposures, even tried a wedge, but didn't do any good. But I had a lot of fun anyway and most important: I learned a lot! Camera: My mighty Canon 90D, does it all, catching fast flying birds during daytime, beautiful landscapes and also does a great job screwed behind my telescope with an external releaser. But also directly on the mount it makes amazing things possible. Because yes, I did upgrade to an EQ-mount 6 months ago. But since I still wanted to keep it simple I went for the Star Adventurer CGi and planned on just using it with the camera and different lenses, since the telescope is theoretically too heavy, and during winter it was perfect! Orion constellation including Barnards Loop is just amazing. But then I couldn't help myself and mount the NexStar on top - and it works! Definitely is a little shaky, no wind allowed, but had some great nights, Bodes and Cigar in one picture taken while waiting for Superbowl to start, still probably my best picture yet (Siril is just aching under 150 pictures of M86, let's see what comes out, the light frames look promising). I have a due heater, vibration absorbing pads, an adapter for external power to the mount and a red light on my head, that's it! Very transportable. And I only use Siril and Lightroom on my MacBook Air, works fine but with external HD you need to be patient. My wish-list of course has a larger EQ-mount, a refractor-telescope, a faster computer with more memory etc. and I could actually afford it. But I first want to squeeze everything out of this material and still am very happy with the results. So why change? More gear sometimes comes with more problems ... Thanks a lot for the video, I will have a look at your playlist now.

[@DesmondButler]

Haha, another shooter doing the most with the least. I know there has to be more of us out there. Nice work getting the six inch to work on the tracker! I'm impressed.

[@stefanschneider3681]

@@DesmondButler biggest problem was I had thrown away the red dot finder, since I was using StarSense. But now I improvised something with some thumbtacks and that works surprisingly well for orientation. Sent you last nights picture, you‘ll sure know what I pointed at, love it!

[@luboinchina3013]

The mount is essential. If you like lightweight, go for AM5. No need for laptop. Just get ASIAIR mini. It can control your DSLR camera. It can aslo livestack your images. It will also split the power to the astrophotography camera in the future if you choose ASI2600MC DUO

[@DesmondButler]

Thanks for this tip! I'll have to look into those products.

[@passioneperlascienza6571]

Grazie !! meravigliose comparazioni ! ...mi sto comprando una CANON 6D usata.. per iniziare.. poi, molto probabilmente farò eseguire la modifica sel filtro UV-IR Con i tuoi filmati non ho più dubbi ! Seguirò volentieri altri tuoi video ! 🙂

[@erictousignant495]

I loved your comparison, great info. I also follow your philosophy of keeping it simple. Living in downtown high rise, I have to travel to a dark site, so to keep it simple I use a DSLR (SL3 or Astro mod T3i), an AZ GTE mount in Alt Az mode (again keeping it simple) and a fast 200mm f2.8 lens (which greatly minimizes my total integration time). I just take lots of 15 second subs.

[@DesmondButler]

It's still cool what you can get out of stacks of 15 second exposures. Sounds like a great guerrilla setup to me 👍

[@fretBeastForever]

I`m planning to get a Nikon D7500 + 300mm, no telescope.

[@DesmondButler]

Nice. I've wondered about getting just a 200mm and a very basic star tracker just to see what it could do with larger objects like Andromeda. Best of luck on your shoots!

[@fretBeastForever]

@@DesmondButler thank you :).

[@vidthreenorth4007]

Re. the Sony a6500: The a6400 has the same sensor and the same controls, except for sensor shift image stabilization (which I don't think can help for astro) so that can save a bit of money. The a6100 might have the same sensor (I'm not sure) but does not have all the image control options. It might be able to achieve the same results, but, as I said, I'm not sure. The new a6700 has a new sensor and it is starting to look like it might be better for astro than the older a6400-a6500.

[@DesmondButler]

With it being the first in the series to integrate Sony's back-illuminated sensor technology, it almost certainly will be far better at Astrophotography. I hope to test one out once they start to ship to stores.

[@adammacsween3230]

Nice upload. You should also have a look at Fuji X series cameras. Apparently they are more sensitive to hydrogen alpha than all the rest of your cameras tested here. I have only just found that out and haven’t tested it as of yet.

[@DesmondButler]

Very interesting. I will have to see about getting my hands on one to see how it fares. Thanks for the tip!

[@duststar1265]

Very nice video! I got a doubt: have you ever used a Sony a7R III? If that's so, is it almost the same in work as the a7R V? I got to know that a7R III even have corrected the star eater problem

[@DesmondButler]

I apologize, but I've never had the opportunity to use the A7R III. I have done a lot of shoots with the A7R IV and the A7R V though, and the high pixel count has been a huge factor for high detail imaging. I know the III only has 42MP compared to the 61MP on the IV and V, but honestly that's still a lot, and star eating really only comes into play if you activate the in-body noise reduction features. You'd probably get some great shots with the III if you had access to one.

[@duststar1265]

@@DesmondButler Thank you so much for answering

[@alma175w]

Nice comparison! I’ve thought about a telescope, but just don’t want that much gear, my brain just can’t handle that much complexity.

[@DesmondButler]

That's a valid position as far as I'm concerned. A tech-y telescope is only going to help you with long exposures. There will always be cool night shots to capture with normal lenses of every focal length. Thanks for checking out the video!

[@alma175w]

@@DesmondButler Absolutely - I found it as I’m looking to add the a7rv to my kit. Short of an astro mod it seems to have worked really well for this situation. Have you shot any other Milky Way images with it, either stacking or tracking?

[@DesmondButler]

@@alma175w I have been doing some Milky Way shooting with it, but just untracked long exposures. I'll be releasing examples as part of an updated shootout video soon, but as perhaps a bit of a spoiler, the a7RV was once again very impressive.

[@alma175w]

@@DesmondButler I’ll look forward to that - thank you again!

[@deltacx1059]

I am very interested in a Fujifilm camera, they are known for low noise and their sensor have a more permissive cut filter.

[@tomsun3159]

i would like to see a Pentax (even an older one) in the comparison (e.g. K1, K1-II, K3-III, K3-II, K3, KP, KF, K70 (what is in fact same to KF), K50, K30, ... ) the older ones usually dirt cheap to get. Also interesting what about use of a consumer tele-zoom, yes usually not so great aperture but affordable especially at the beginning (e.g. 300mm 5.6 with Pentax GPS-module) allows long exposures, and then stacked would be interesting.

[@DesmondButler]

I used to have an old Pentax and was thinking about tracking it down to see what it can do. I wonder if any of the consumer models you describe can do raw. If so, stacking shots from one of those could definitely be interesting.

[@tomsun3159]

@@DesmondButler The K70 for sure (i have it myself) the K50 should also, KF therefore its in fact a rebranded K70 yes, KP yes,K3 line yes, K1 line yes (k3-2, k3-3, k1-2 have build in astrotracer, all the others can use the Hot-shoe module o-gps-1, o-gps-2. The astrotracer allows exposures up to 5 minutes (depending on the focal length) the use the built-in image stabilization for tracking. I'm just trying to start AP with my lenses (mostly i try it with my Sigma 18-50 2.8, but next weekend if the sky is free i will try a 300mm 6.3 deep-sky shot approx 1-2 minute exposure as we have new moon, and i will be in an area with low light pollution)

[@DesmondButler]

@@tomsun3159 Best of luck with that zoom shot 👍

[@end_theinflu]

still do know a7 RIV or a7 IV for milky way and landscape photography 🤔🤔🤔

[@luboinchina3013]

Also you forgot to mention that even DSLR needs external dummy battery if you want to run it all night long.😊

[@DesmondButler]

That is a fair point with the DSLR cameras. But with the more modern cameras, timelapses actually sip power. I ran the new a7RV two nights in a row for several hours each, and still didn't need to charge it for another week. Even my a6500 does pretty good at just slowly using power for the shutter while keeping the LCD off during a programmed interval.

[@luboinchina3013]

@@DesmondButler Not possible in winter. Also the main advantage of stacking is to use dithering to get rid of the noise. Dithering is the most powerful tool. You need auto guiding to dither, only then you get the most from your dslr or astro camera.

[@DesmondButler]

@@luboinchina3013 I've been successfully stacking hundreds of short exposures for years using this setup. Its not the greatest, but like I said in the video, a guide scope (or autoguider) would definitely improve image quality. You can also check out my instagram to see timelapses I've done in winter with an a6500.

[@fangost]

what lens did you use with the sony a7rv? I do not know the a7rV but I do have the a7r4.

[@DesmondButler]

Each camera in this comparison was mounted to the telescope shown at the 2:18 mark. In my experience, the A7R IV is almost identical in performance to the A7R V when it comes to astrophotography, though the 8k video on the V is a serious advantage when it comes to planetary imaging using the conventional "lucky imaging" technique.

[@darkrangersinc]

Are you using a Bat. Mask and autoguiding?

[@DesmondButler]

I do not own an autoguider, but I am actually looking into the new one Celestron just announced.

[@carlgough7839]

something wrong with the R6 mounting. I own an R6 and 6D "astromodified" and the R6 is far superior. I'm not trying to be critical but the stars show something is wrong with either the r6 mounting, or maybe IBIS was switched on? seems to have bad astigmatism

[@DesmondButler]

The real issue was the servos on the telescope mount. It was hard to get a clean shot with any of these cameras, so I sometimes just went with the cleanest. Its very possible you're just noticing a slight nudge on one example over another, and I'll take the fault for that. I did do a later comparison of these cameras shooting the Milky Way on tripod: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aoDZg6Gch96erassi=PcjtY6IVmAu86mrT

[@carlgough7839]

@@DesmondButler ah mount error. Yeah thought of that after. Please don’t think of that as a negative comment “Altough I’m a little defensive of my R6 and 6D” it’s a great informative video. Maybe an eq mount later down the road with a wider FOV scope. I use an inexpensive star adventurer and either a Samyang 135mm or a Sharpstar on my travels and it offers great bang for the buck. My Orion RC 8” is on a big heavy EQ6-r in the garden and I wouldn’t dream of lugging that about. At the longer focal lengths even the slightest errors shows up big time

[@DesmondButler]

@@carlgough7839 Good suggestions. I really should give some better setups a try. I might even be able to rent something that would work.

[@rockmusicvideoreviewer896]

Canon R is not the same as the Canon R1

[@DesmondButler]

While I did verbally refer to it once as the R1, none of my labels do. That being said, a "Canon EOS R1" does not exist yet; that is only a rumored model at the present time. Unfortunately for me, I still got it wrong though 😅A little while ago, a keen observer was able to determine that that camera is actually the EOS RP (even though it says EOS R on the body). The person I borrowed it from didn't even know.

[@rockmusicvideoreviewer896]

@@DesmondButler I can't remember if it was in this video or another video, where you state that one of the APS-C cameras is brighter than the Full Frame. Usually FF cameras are brighter with less noise once you start to crank up the ISO. So if you cranked up the ISO in both cameras, the FF would overall be brighter with more detail than the crop. Have you considered that?

[@DesmondButler]

@@rockmusicvideoreviewer896 That's absolutely a valid point, but in short, if we're comparing Canon to Sony, that outcome is very unlikely. There are a lot of reasons why Sony models of any size reproduce more light than Canon, especially at maximum ISO, but rather than diving into that, let's consider the functionality of your suggestion. ISO range definitely expands your flexibility with night shots. But if you go that route, then you have to keep in mind that Canon has not frequently touted multiple native ISO values, while Sony has been focused on this feature for a long time. This would primarily be a conversation about noise rather than image brightness, but it just goes to show how different camera models just don't treat these values the same at all in either regard. Essentially, you're right though, in future comparisons it will be important to demonstrate at which ISO selection a camera model starts to produce noise levels that break down the image usability, while also comparing the amount of light capture. Thanks for mentioning this.

[@deltacx1059]

1:29 meanwhile my 250$ phone can just turn down it's sensitivity and exposure time to get a planet or stay open for dim objects. Pretty shameful a camera that expensive supposedly can't do that.

[@rockmusicvideoreviewer896]

ok, clown