Astro Landscapes (Starscapes) with Fuji?

[dereksurfs]

Hi all,

 

I enjoy shooting landscapes under to stars. I would like to hear from those of you who have tried this with your Fuji systems. If you haven't, speculation is not what I'm after. The reason I ask is that shooting at night under dark skies, away from city lights, brings unique photographic challenges all on its own. Cameras perform differently under these conditions. Though I'm not looking for perfection, just Fuji user experiences since I'm considering one of the newer Fuji models (X-Pro2, X-T2).

 

I've been shooting night landscapes for a while now with Canon and currently with Sony FF. Overall, I've found Sony mirrorless more challenging to use under these conditions. Though of course it has other strengths apart from these types of shots; and there are workarounds. DSLR's have much nicer OVFs which work better for me in dark areas. With Sony, its really hard to turn off all the LCD and still use the functionality needed to get the shot. Most of my images are longer exposures (30+ seconds) where I do not want the LCD on for that entire duration. I'm wondering how Fuji systems work in these sort of night conditions? Can one turn off the LCD for long exposures at night? How about other challenges like focusing at infinity with stars in focus, long exposure sensor heat producing additional noise, etc...? Anyone on here doing these types of shots? Even if a newbie, I'd like to hear and/or see your experiences with Fuji at night.

 

Here are a few examples of what I am talking about with the Sony A7:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

Derek

[lhuhn]

Wow! Really nice images.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[umad?]

Haven't done it with the new sensor, but the old 16MP Sensor was really good. 

And also the cameras. Focussing would be similar to the Sony. Either with magnification (and some light source) or a bit of trial and error (I have marked just the infinity spot on my lens).

 

The sensor doesn't produce a lot of dark current noise and the few hot pixels will mostly be removed by the dark frames. 

 

With the viewfinder you can set it (with a button on the body) to: LCD only, EVF only, Eye Sensor and EVF and Eye Sensor (all displays are off until the eye sensor detects something and activates the EVF.

 

Personally I have just turned down the brightness on the LCD. 

 

Lenses for those kind of shots would be:

Samyang 12mm f/2.0

Fujinon 14mm f/2.8

Zeiss 12mm f/2.8

Fujinon 16mm f/1.4

Fujinon 10-24mm f/4

 

The Samyang is often said to be one of the best lenses for this kind of stuff. It's sharp and bright. However it doesn't focus at infinity where the focus ring says (you have to try it and mark it). And there is very little coma.

The Fujinon 14mm is just as good, but 1 stop slower.

The Fujinon 16mm is acceptable sharp wide open (not as sharp in the middle as the samyang or 14mm wide open), however it suffers from quite some coma on the edges. 

The 10-24 works too, however it's an f/4.0 lens - that's not really what you probably want to go for. 

The Zeiss 12mm would work too, but I don't see the point in this, since there are the Samyang and Fuji 14mm both cheaper and as good (if not better). 

 

 

There are some reviews about Fuji gear and astro photography on the web. http://www.lonelyspeck.com has some reviews (I think both the X-T1 and Samyang 12mm have been reviewed)

 

In the end a Sony A7S with the right glass will probably give you a bit better images, but I like the Fuji because it is very capable and also very light and flexible. 

[BigPix]

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.....3 Image Pano of Stars @ Catho, best of the series, all a tad grainy, but my first real try at star gazing. This one @ 2500iso and 50 seconds f8, images can only get better.......Fuji XE-1, 3 image Pano

Edited May 22, 2016 by BigPix

[ric.gayan]

I tried an A7 RII with 55 1,8 and the 28 mm, no exactly in night lanscapes, but in city night , compared with my XT1 + 35 1,4  and 10-24; the sharpness is similar, but a 2500-3200  the Sony has less noise; for me is the only advantage. I tested my XT1 on lanscape night and the results nor are bad, quite similar to my previos Canon 6D. This is my little experience.

[George_P]

No moons ? (after it was in all the news yesterday ?) Surely you guys have better ones, but in the meantime here's mine. The old fella was too high up by the time I got home.

 

X-T10/50-230/handheld/Silkypix

 

Edited November 15, 2016 by George_P

[Niklas Feldmann]

I am unsure wheather I should invest in the 8-16 f/2.8 or rather get the 10-24 f/4. I also need the lens for general whide shooting therefore I need a zooming lens that is also sharp, but still usable for astro.