112 replies to this topic

[nhmorgan79]

Correct. The A7rV now does really well for astro. Side by side with my a1, the files are much better. Same menu and shooting settings. The A1 has noise reduction artifacts when you zoom in and no shortage of green stars. A7rV files have nice even noise and accurate star color.

[primeshooter]

Correct. The A7rV now does really well for astro. Side by side with my a1, the files are much better. Same menu and shooting settings. The A1 has noise reduction artifacts when you zoom in and no shortage of green stars. A7rV files have nice even noise and accurate star color.

Oh this is interesting. And tempting...I couldn't change my daytime camera for it as it is noiser on pulling from what I have seen despite it's dynamic range.

I have been dying to own the 15 1.4 sigma fisheye for astro though, and it is on E mount. That lens is seriously good on starlight and gives a unique one shot FOV.

Edited by primeshooter, 17 August 2024 - 03:35 PM.

[nhmorgan79]

I use the A7rV as a backup camera for event photography and it works wonderfully. I don't find it to be noisy in low light at all. I sent one to get modified and have had a bit of a bad experience so far, but I picked up a second one for $2500 used with under 2k shutter clicks on it. The prices on these are really coming down, making them an excellent value.

 

The Sigma 15mm 1.4 fisheye is amazing. I bought one one a whim thinking I could return it if I didn't like it, but I ended up selling my Sony 14mm GM instead and just sticking with the 20mm G for a rectilinear lens because I like the Sigma so much. You have to be really careful with framing but it's insane how sharp it is wide open and how good the stars are in the corners. You really don't gain much by stopping down except vignette reduction. I've even been using it for events for some shots. It's only weakness is that the sharpness goes to absolute crap near the minimum focus distance (and it's big, but not unwieldy big). This was taken with the Sigma and an A1 last week:

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Edited by nhmorgan79, 17 August 2024 - 05:26 PM.

[primeshooter]

I use the A7rV as a backup camera for event photography and it works wonderfully. I don't find it to be noisy in low light at all. I sent one to get modified and have had a bit of a bad experience so far, but I picked up a second one for $2500 used with under 2k shutter clicks on it. The prices on these are really coming down, making them an excellent value.

The Sigma 15mm 1.4 fisheye is amazing. I bought one one a whim thinking I could return it if I didn't like it, but I ended up selling my Sony 14mm GM instead and just sticking with the 20mm G for a rectilinear lens because I like the Sigma so much. You have to be really careful with framing but it's insane how sharp it is wide open and how good the stars are in the corners. You really don't gain much by stopping down except vignette reduction. I've even been using it for events for some shots. It's only weakness is that the sharpness goes to absolute crap near the minimum focus distance (and it's big, but not unwieldy big). This was taken with the Sigma and an A1 last week:

It is noicably noisier than the z8 and z7ii. The dpreview studio scene shows it can't be pulled nearly as much as the nikons. If you don't use it this way it won't affect you though. If you use it for daylight and sometimes need to get the shot in one...it is deffo noiser when using it like that.

Yes the fisheye would make me drop a 14 rectilinear too. The stars are so good on that lens...nb nice shot...why is it circular though, it's not a circular fish eye (which I am glad of actually).

Edited by primeshooter, 17 August 2024 - 07:00 PM.

[nhmorgan79]

It was just a quick stitch of a 7-frame pano. Actually need to go back and stitch it a little better. Here is a single frame.

 

I mostly shoot trail ultrarunning so I'm in really bad light a lot. I wouldn't worry too much about what the test charts say. I've shot a lot with both the Z8 and the A7rV. I don't see any meaningful difference in noise between the two in the real world, often with pretty heavy shadow recovery. One of the big benefits for astro with the A7rV is also that it is ISO invariant at ISO320 vs ISO800 for the Z7ii and Z8. That more than one stop difference means you can get longer exposures before clipping the stars and get better color out of the images.

 

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[primeshooter]

It was just a quick stitch of a 7-frame pano. Actually need to go back and stitch it a little better. Here is a single frame.

 

I mostly shoot trail ultrarunning so I'm in really bad light a lot. I wouldn't worry too much about what the test charts say. I've shot a lot with both the Z8 and the A7rV. I don't see any meaningful difference in noise between the two in the real world, often with pretty heavy shadow recovery. One of the big benefits for astro with the A7rV is also that it is ISO invariant at ISO320 vs ISO800 for the Z7ii and Z8. That more than one stop difference means you can get longer exposures before clipping the stars and get better color out of the images.

Ah I see, lovely single frame. Point taken about the ISO. However you can use 500 on the Z8, as that is the gain point. Still seems the sony will be a little better.

 

I really wish Sigma would bring their 15 fisheye and 20/1.4 to Z mount.

Edited by primeshooter, 18 August 2024 - 03:43 PM.

[photobookie]

I use the A7rV as a backup camera for event photography and it works wonderfully. I don't find it to be noisy in low light at all. I sent one to get modified and have had a bit of a bad experience so far, but I picked up a second one for $2500 used with under 2k shutter clicks on it. The prices on these are really coming down, making them an excellent value.

 

The Sigma 15mm 1.4 fisheye is amazing. I bought one one a whim thinking I could return it if I didn't like it, but I ended up selling my Sony 14mm GM instead and just sticking with the 20mm G for a rectilinear lens because I like the Sigma so much. You have to be really careful with framing but it's insane how sharp it is wide open and how good the stars are in the corners. You really don't gain much by stopping down except vignette reduction. I've even been using it for events for some shots. It's only weakness is that the sharpness goes to absolute crap near the minimum focus distance (and it's big, but not unwieldy big). This was taken with the Sigma and an A1 last week:

Great image. What’s your technique for producing a 7 image fisheye pano with this remarkable lens?

[Shubham]

Now that a1 ii & a9 iii have been released, has anyone had a chance to test them? Are the star eater & concentric color polygon issues gone?

[whwang]

Now that a1 ii & a9 iii have been released, has anyone had a chance to test them? Are the star eater & concentric color polygon issues gone?

https://www.cloudyni...-from-a1-mrk-2/

[Shubham]

https://www.cloudyni...-from-a1-mrk-2/

Wow, this seems like great news. Sony finally seems to have listened to the astro community. It’d now be interesting to see the a7v & a7s-iv (if Sony continues their s lineup) cameras. The current a7iv (with star eater) already seems to beat the a7rv in low light performance so it’s improved star eater free version would be very welcomed!

[sharkmelley]

https://www.cloudyni...-from-a1-mrk-2/

I've updated that thread with additional information.

[HSG]

I'm excited to test this on the A6700 I'm receiving this week. I've been out of Astrophotography for a few years and compromised on a Sony for the AF performance knowing about the star eater issues. Maybe I will get some use out of it after all under dark skies.

[HSG]

It took me a while to get around to this, but I've given a shot at reproducing the charts Mark did for the full frame cameras. After disabling all noise reduction settings in camera, it does appear that the A6700 doesn't suffer from star eater. There is still some processing happening to the raws (especially the blue channel), but it looks pretty good in comparison to the earlier cameras.

ISO 8000, 120s exposure:

 

ISO 1600, 300s exposure:

 

I can share raw files with anyone who wants to take a closer look themselves. The code used to generate these graphs can be found here: https://github.com/H...ester/tree/main though it's a bit slow.