- ASTROTOASTER WITH BACKYARDEOS FULL
- ASTROTOASTER WITH BACKYARDEOS SOFTWARE
- ASTROTOASTER WITH BACKYARDEOS ISO
It is probably the most sensitive low light consumer camera in existence at the current time.But I would counter this by saying that good dark frame calibration allows even more faint data to be stretched out of the image. Many people say that the noise levels are so low that dark frames are unnecessary. This means that proper dark frame calibration can be used - just like Canon but unlike Nikon DSLR cameras which clip dark frames making them unusable (unless you have installed the Nikon "hack"). Low power consumption = low generated heat. With Wi-Fi switched off (airplane mode) and rear LCD deactivated (FINDER/MONITOR set to Viewfinder) battery life is 6 hours for an imaging session of continuous long exposures.So at 8C ambient temperature, even a long 20 minute exposure would have a thermal noise of 7e which is less than the read noise of a typical cooled astro-CCD At around 8C this drops to 0.04e/pixel/sec. My own experiments indicate a dark current of 0.15e/pixel/sec after 2 hours of solid imaging at an ambient temperature of 20C. This opens up the possibility of using the A7S on a whole range of scopes that previously were not that suitable for DLSR or mirrorless cameras. the complete absence of warm nights!) even on a slowish scope such as F6, skyglow will always dominate thermal noise (unless you are using narrowband filters). Very low thermal noise means that for astrophotography in the UK (i.e.
ASTROTOASTER WITH BACKYARDEOS ISO
It is believed that the sensor has 2 modes for analogue to digital conversion and it switches to the low noise mode at ISO 2000 and above - hence the step in the curve. Thierry Legault has done a very useful analysis of read noise here I have also verified these figures with my own experiments. At ISO 2000 and above, read noise is 1.3e and falling to well under 1e at very high ISOs.In silent mode the shutter does not activate - meaning no shutter wear.Compared with DSLRs (especially full-frame DSLRs) the camera body is very compact and light in weight.
ASTROTOASTER WITH BACKYARDEOS FULL
Apologies in advance for the technical nature of this but this is the stuff I wish I'd known in advance in order to make a more informed decision before buying the camera.Īs an overview of the Sony A7S, it's an interchangeable lens, full frame camera with relatively large pixels - only 12.2 megapixels on a full frame - bucking the trend towards tens of megapixels. In this post I'll present a quick summary. Rather than repeating other reviews my intention is to present some (limited) personal experience and other technical information not easily found elsewhere.
ASTROTOASTER WITH BACKYARDEOS SOFTWARE
Real time integration of images in software (Electronically Assisted Astronomy) makes this a great instrument for public outreach events.īut I'm jumping ahead. These are certainly its party tricks - enabled by its ridiculously low read noise which drops below 1 electron (RMS) at high ISOs. A 1 second exposure makes the spiral arms of galaxies being to appear.Īnd here it is imaging auroras in real time in Norway at 25 frames per second: Put a 50mm F1.8 lens on it and through the electronic viewfinder in liveview you'll see hundreds of stars invisible to the naked eye. The A7S is the camera famed for seeing the Milky Way in liveview. I recently bought a brand new Sony A7S full frame mirrorless camera with the intention of finally replacing my ageing but trustworthy modified Canon 350D.