I Tested Every Camera MOD for Astrophotography
Vložit
- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- Want more Ha? You will want to modify your DSLR, but which mod is the one for you? Watch this video, then check out AstroGear when ready to pull the trigger on your next mod: www.astrogear....
This video only compares Canon cameras, but next week I will be covering: Canon vs. Nikon!
I love how in-depth Nico's videos are! Cheers!
Yes, me too!
I have a lowpass and IR-cut removed from my EOS R and I love it. I shoot deep sky with it as well as daytime photos and youtube videos without any clip-in nor screw-on filters. Custom WB handles it all!
You are getting great results Kamil! Looking forward to your thoughts on the EQM35 :)
Do i need to custom WB first my modified Canon 700D before taking pictures?
@@ridersdiary1868 To get natural-ish color for daytime photos, yes.
Excellent comparison. An important factor to consider when testing and choosing a modded camera is the effect on focus position that the various replacement filters - or lack thereof - have. On scopes that’s not a big issue as you manually focus anyway. But when testing you can’t just swap bodies as each camera might focus at a slightly different point, despite all being Canons. That might account for the slightly soft stars on the Ra, as its pixels aren’t that much larger than the cropped frame DSLRs you used (5.35 microns on the Ra vs. 4 or so microns on 18 to 24 megapixel cropped frame cameras).
But where the focus shift is critical is for use with lenses. Will they reach focus at infinity? Will they auto-focus? (That might not be important!). Or if they focus, are they now focusing at such a different place that their aberrations blow up, especially at the corners. Only some mods, or companies that do mods, install filters that retain the original focus point of the original filter stack.
That’s not an issue with OEM modded cameras like the Canon Ra, 60Da, and Nikon D810a, all now discontinued sadly. Also, removing the anti-alias filter, while it does provide slightly sharper images, can I find introduce green stars from poor deBayering of the colour image. The stars are too sharp! At least, I see green stars on cameras that don’t ship with AA filters. It would be interesting if the full-spectrum cameras with anti-alias filters removed show this artifact.
Again, nice work! Thanks!
Oh awesome!!! This is super helpful, I know I've wondered about this a lot. Thanks Nico!
Thanks Nico for this awesome summary of the various astro mods! Covers all the salient points and most helpful!
Amazing. Great help!
Hey, Nico. Modifying a cheap used Canon is a lot of fun ! I did mines twice and results were quite good. You can try to do it yourself
I'm going to have to watch this video once more. It's a great reference.
Excellent, very detailed comparison. This has been needed!
Thanks Jeff!
Also worth mentioning the Original White Balance clip-ins available for most Canon cameras (at least, maybe others too) if you've done a full spectrum mod; my experience here on a modded M200 is that the colour response is nearly indistinguishable from the stock configuration with the OWB clip-in installed without needing to use any custom white balance tricks, which makes such a camera much easier to use for normal photography while not impeding its use in astrophotography at all.
This is of course more expensive since you'll now need at least a UV/IR cut clip-in and the OWB filter in addition to the mod, but I think it gives the best of all worlds. I modified the camera myself, so I put the money I saved there into buying the additional clip-ins ;)
Got a M200 particularly for having it full spectrum modded, so this is good to know, thanks!
And what about autofocus, is it still working?
Great to see all these mods side by side and zoomed in. Honestly if I can mod cameras anyone can, just tape the screws you remove to a piece of paper and label them in step order else you'll be scratching your head when you put it all together again.
One neat thing with my Pentax K-70, and k-1 II is it doesn’t have have the anti alliance filter. All Pentax needs to do is make a modified camera. With their Astro Tracer function it is great. The K-1 also uses the same Sony sensor as the Sony a7R, and the Nikon D810, and D810a.
This was awesome! It’s cleared up a lot of confusion for me for sure! Thanks Nico!
Good stuff! looking forward to the next part of this.
Cool video Nico. I had a "Baader Mod" done on my T3i years ago. It was one of the the first astro things I did. I was glad I did it since I was not ready for a dedicated astro camera yet. Your comparison show a lot and is kind of nice as I agree they are all pretty close and with a little processing they would all be close to identical. The difference is what else do you want to do - get more filters, do IR work, and etc. - Cheers Kurt
Amazing images Nico! Really like your in-depth videos
Nice comparison, one thing to add from experience. If you modify other brands (e.g. Fuji), they can be more sensitive to Ha already from stock. I had the LPF2 removed from my Fuji and unfortunately they put an IR diode somewhere in the body (possibly for exposure determination) and suddenly I had an unwanted lighting in the lower left of my lights and dark frames...so here you will need to add a special IR block filter after removing the LPF2. Don't know if other brands do the same.
What Fuji camera model?
Really cool and interesting comparison Nico! In-depth and informative.
nice vid, just remember if you go for a straight full spectrum mod if you use it without a UV/IR cut and have any lens in the imaging train then you will get some star bloating effects - can be significant on bright stars.
This is a great comparison. I'm right in the midst of trying to figure out what mod to get on my D600 and this is the kind of analysis I really need to see. I was leaning towards just an Ha mod, but I love the concept that the full spectrum can allow the use of clip-ins for Baader L1/L2/L3, IR, or even OWB filters.
Its always in the detail, there's nothing missed out
Perfect timing for us - I love the Dark Side comment😂 - We are huge Canon shooters in this family - just getting into AP after years of wildlife and landscape photography & videography - planning to get an RA and modifying either our 1DX or 5D3 - struggling with how much it will affect our ability to still use the modified camera for normal photography. Any guidance/thoughts on that from anyone would be much appreciated… Thanks for posting this video and all of the other awesome videos that you have posted.
Not sure how well it comes across in the video, but hopefully at the end you can see even with a custom WB set that the modded cameras are not as close to stock as the Ra is in any WB mode. I didn't really emphasize this in the video because I like to let people make their own judgements, but for me the Ra is well worth it. To get that kind of color performance from a modified camera you are likely going to have to get a OWB (Original White Balance) filter from Astronomik, which if only using occasionally for daytime shooting would be fine, but since I use the Ra as my daily driver, would be super annoying. That's something I think people miss about the value of the Ra is it's potential to do double duty. I also use it to film all my youtube videos. Act fast if you want to get one, as the Ra was recently discontinued by Canon and used prices will probably only go up based on what happened with Nikon D810A and Canon 60Da.
@@NebulaPhotos Thank You for your quick response... I appreciate the information... I will definitely see if I can get my hands on a new RA straight away.
Great video! Thanks Nico (and thanks for the intervalometer advice!)
Nice to see the comparison Nico, I did the baader lp1 and 2 mod myself about 6 months ago on my 70d so nice to see how it compares to the other options.
Nico: I'm going to try out that Nikon and maybe I'll switch
Canon: I felt a great disturbance in the nebulae. It was as if millions of photons cried out, but were suddenly cut off.
Nikon: Join me, and together we can image the galaxy as father and son!
Nico, first of all, thank you for always informative concise fun videos! Really enjoy your channel 👍🏼
Secondly, IF you indeed are considering Nikon, strongly recommend testing Z6 with Full Spectrum Mod! Really is the best out there atm!👍🏼
Thank you for the detailed video with those very helpful illustrations.
That was a great explanation... Thanks
Great video - so interesting to learn more about this process and to be able to see the results. Thank you.
Great job Nico I’ve been waiting for this video for so long a lot of great information and very helpful thanks
Nice comparison. I'm waiting for the second video. I would be very happy if there are more photo samples this time :)
Thanks for the video Nico. I am about to mod my camera and the websites you added in the video really helped me :)
Self modding comes pretty easy for me (at 14 so far) and saves a ton of cash. I have been picking up used Canon T3i (and the like) for $100, plus the full spectrum glass for $45, so the total modded camera is less than the cost of the mod alone. Also not "blue skies", dark clear skies is what we want.
Ozzy, we should talk. I might score a D6 soon and would want it modded. Interested? How much $ and I'll pay for shipping.
Another great informative video, I probably should have watched it before my mod, but it least I understand what they did now - Thanks 😀
Amazing video and information. Thanks for the astonishing comparisons.
Excellent video thank you very much
Nico, I am a Canon user myself, and a few of my friends have Nikon bodies. I've got to say, comparable Nikons, and pretty much all Sony sensors are superior to Canon's (in my mind), especially for astrophotography. If and when you try out the Nikon, I think you'll find that as a whole, there is far less noise compared to the Canon.
I've also done a bone stock vs. astromodified dSLR on my channel. Your video is great! :)
Already super excited for the next video!
Your work, while always incredibly useful from the very beginning of the channel, just gets better and better, week by week. I'm delighted to watch Nebula Photos continued success and look forward to your work for years to come. Well done!
I always enjoy watching your channel. Thanks, Nico!
10:16 So do you recognize the criminal amongst these five people? Excellent comparison as always!
Awesome video. Thanks!
It's like you were reading my mind, I was actually starting to look for dslr mods 😎 Thanks for the informative video, looking forward to part two!
Awesome tutorial! Thanks Nico! Greetings from Turkey!
I am surprised with a Baader IR filter. - it really looks good
Really great content. I love videos like these. Could have used them when I started out!
Absolutely great content Nico!. Love your work.
Great video idea! Thank you for sharing your results!
Thank you Nico. A very useful and insightful video. I would be interested to know how the mod cameras stack up against OSC dedicated astro cameras?
I totally agree with The Silent Astrophotographer
Haha, welcome to the dark side. I have a full-spectrum Astro-modified Nikon D810 and I loved it as my dedicated Astro camera.
What goes in the head of those who disliked this video? It should be added to the mysteries unsolved episodes.
Great stuff Nico.
Well done Nico! You know I’m a Nikon shooter. I have both “full spectrum” and “Ha” modded Nikon cameras. As tempting as the “dark side” is, that Canon Ra is an absolute gem of a camera. I don’t think we have anything on the “dark side” that can beat that Ra. Cheers!
My wallet hides away in my house and my bank acct refuses to open when I'm looking at the Ra on the web..
Ha ha cool! Can't wait for your next video 🙂
The thing is ... I got a canon 600d stock which has a horrible glow on the lower edge if exposure gets past 30 secs and another stock canon 2000d which I now prefer ...
Was about to perform the lpf2 mod when a friend sold me the 2000d and sincere thanks both the less noise and lack of glow of the new sensor has me sold I was considering modding it... After watching your video am considering full spectrum mod ...
My Samyang 135 was bought as a Nikon lens and bought a Canon adaptor ... Now if your results with the Nikon are way better ... Might reconsider :)
Yep, having both, the 2000D (T7) definitely has the better sensor. In this shootout, if it wasn't clear, the stock camera and baader mod are 2000Ds and the -LPF2 mod and full spectrum mod are 60Ds.
@@NebulaPhotos for aps-c I find the 2000d really good, never had a full frame camera ... Mind you I lack the filters for it too 🙂 ...
Asi 294 mm on the way so full frame DSLR not on my books for a while. DSLR will be my mobile and osc camera while the ASI for the goto rig ... Which is quite heavy ... I went on holiday with the full kaboodle PDS 130, celestron as-gt, laptop, camera, filters and the lot. Had a couple of evenings and early nights of this labor of love with exceptionally little to show for ... Boy the number of stuff that can go wrong while away is shocking. Since then I said I need two rigs ... Boy this gets expensive in a hurry!
Makes me think about my racing days ...
This is very informative thank you so much nico!
Great photos
Great vid. As a Pentax user and starting astrofotography i have an older tock body wich i'm going to mod myself. This video geves me sometyhing to think about before im going to do the mod..
You really are underrated sir💯💯. Love your content and thank you for putting all the efforts in your videos❤️🙏
Great video!
I have one video recommendation for you, spectroscopy using your telescope
Nice mug shots Nico 😂. Also good info on the mods 👍
If one is not using telescopic lenses for astrophotography (yet), are there any benefits to having this mod: Luminance UV/IR blocking filter with Enhanced Spectrum (Visible + H-alpha + Sulfur II)? It is on a Canon RP Astro Mod
Great video and you got some nice hair dude!
Spencer’s talked about how full spectrum mods increase luminosity vs ha mods. I’m guessing that’s mainly for Milky Way shots. I use an ha mod only so I’ve never compared.
If you actually use it full spectrum (which I usually don't) then yes you will pick up way more stars because lots of stars will appear in the infrared that don't appear in visible. This would make the milky way brighter, never thought of that. Interesting idea!
Great info. I bought a white balance mod from your sponsor. But I don't understand what white balance setting (oir how to make a custom one) to use for astro after that is done. I have a Canon 90D, and ordered the "1A. UV/IR blocking filter removal with LPF (Enhanced Spectrum)."
Thank you.
Hi Michael, To get anything close to natural colors, custom white balance is the best bet and should be done anytime you change lighting conditions. Here is how to do it. 1. With the white balance set to auto, take a picture of something white (evenly lit white paper will work), and fill the frame with it. In order to take the photo, you will probably need to use manual focus, but focus doesn't actually matter. 2. Go to the menu and on the third page of settings, there should be an option for setting the custom white balance, use the white photo you just took. 3. in the Quick menu (press Q button), change the white balance to custom (last icon). In the 90D manual, it is described (with screenshots) on page 225: gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/3/0300036243/01/eos90d-ug-en.pdf
Good video. I use a nikon d7200 dslr for a couple of years. It has no low pass filter. I read that can capture more details because of this can be also more sensitive to Ha?
Full spectrum then doesn't necessarily need filters for daytime shooting as long as the white balance is customised well, right.
You can see the performance of custom white balance with full spectrum and the other mods for daytime photography towards the end of the video. It’s definitely not perfect compared to a stock camera, but may be close enough depending on what you are looking for. You can also shoot raw and continue to adjust white balance in post.
very helpful and great work! thanks!
@7:27 im not sure if i see a Blur there. Looks to me more like in the lpf2 the stars are elongated which could be due to guiding error or tilting.
Great video Nico.
best astrophoto youtuber!
Nicd in-depth review!
Very nice comparison!
With a full spectrum mod, is it beneficial to use a narrow-bad filter? If so, which one(s) and when? Thanks!!
Very informative.
The baadar mod would be good for landscape astrophotography
So in the end a much more light sensitive but still stock full frame camera is probably the better option than modifiying a cheaper, older APS-C?
I mean, it totally depends on the telescope and usecase if FF is working on the scope or if a 1,5 or 1,6 crop with smaller pixels is the better choice, but in overall if the camera is also used as regular camera i think the stock fullframe is the better option?
At least im fine with the much bigger pixel size of my Eos RP and enjoy a much better light catching capability at ISO 6400 instead of 1600 on my APS-C
If your goal is h-alpha response, No. All stock cameras have the filter stack installed which rolls off before the Ha line and only allows 30-50% of the light at 656nm to pass on to the sensor. Slightly bigger pixels (5 vs 4 micron) will not make up for that loss of light.
Just snagged a good deal on a Canon T5i. It's heading out tomorrow for a Badder mod leaving the LPF1 in place. Yourself, #Astrobackyard and #Astrobiscuit have been an inspiration to join this hobby.
Thank You
😍 great help
Amazing, just wanted to type "but what about the Nikon which has no anti-alias filter to begin with..." and then the video rolled and said you gonna compare it to the Canons next week. I can't wait, I got a full spectrum Nikon D5300 (naked sensor) that pulls in some amazing and sharp details and I use both a UHC LP filter or just a UV-IR cut filter . I'm myself has no brand favorite, I did use a Canon camera as well in the not so distant past, also Pentax.
I think the hardest part about this whole hobby is getting the wife to agree to let me spend the money
🥲
Now Imagine me trying to persuade my parents into letting me stay up till 4am on a school night and why I need to spend 400 dollars on a filter
@@Adrift555 Do you belong to your local Astronomy Club? I joined mine after I first started stargazing and it has been exceptionally helpful. I was allowed to borrow telescopes/accessories to see if I liked them. Not to mention being able to look through a 24" reflector at 400x and see a galaxy that is a fuzzy star in my 6" reflector. Oh and spending the night with a friend on our 16" Meade LX200 SCT and looking through the Messier catalogue.
Great vid.
I'm 17 years old and I just did a full spectrum mod on my 600d. I am soooo happy that it actually worked and that I didn't f*cked it up. Ribbon cables are no joke, but if you handle them the right way they will NOT break.
Thanks for the video. I wish there was an example of the full spectrum without the added filter. I assume that any filter that you add blocks some light and it'd be interesting to see what comes out of a filter-less camera.
I'm going to manually mod a canon 1200D to full spectrum :)
Comparison images (with / without IR-cut filter) here: czcams.com/video/YXAz_csd-iE/video.html I think the IR-cut is necessary for good image IQ with most lenses/telescopes because of bloated stars (optics can't focus the infrared and visible at same time, esp. bad with fast optics). Cheers, Nico
@@NebulaPhotos Thanks! I intend to use it with the Rokinon 135mm and 24 1.4mm. Hopefully I don't mess up the camera but I'm getting it for less than $150 so worse case it's not a huge loss :)
You show you have a 60D modified and use the clip filter. Is it correct to assume you use only EF series lenses?
Thanks! This was great for me as a newb!
Great video thx
Excellent video nico👍
Extremely helpful info here. Thanks a lot. I would really care for your opinion on this : I have a canon t3i and a sony a7sii (low light killer here) . I am planning to mod one of them but the t3i will be Ha modified and the sony will be full spectrum. From my knowledge if I add a threaded UV/IR filter I could still use the full spectrum modified sony as a regular stock camera during the day. I assume sony would perform much better since comparing stock low light a7sii vs canon t3i , a7sii is light years ahead. :). Please let me know if I got this right, and again thanks for all the precious info you're sharing! It helped me a lot.
Hi Nico... Very informative video as always. Thank you. I would have a quick question if you have any time... I do litle IR too (565 and 720nm) and I have an old FS modified M4/3 Panasonic GF3 (12mpx / 4.33 microns px sze) for that purpose, with an adapter ring for my canon lenses, should I want to use them with it, or the Spacecat51.
Do you think that it woud be good enough for attempting a nebula with it ? And should I use any specific filter, or can just I use it as is ? (Or in other words, is the L2 UV IR block fliter you use or any other filter needed ? - Since I thought removing the Low Pass filters to get FS was to get more of all needed wavelengths to better see the nebulas colors in the first place, and here it seems we're putting some back on with the L2 UV IR or others. May be something I didn't fully catch...)
But at the end of the video, the comparative photo seems to answer my question, showing full spectrum only although I'm not sure you mention "full spectrum" meaning completely bare of any added filter, as my little GF3 is.)
Thank you if you have time for any addtional insight. Cheers...
"Switch to the dark side" you made my day 😆
Btw. I am shooting stock Nikon exclusively and although I envy the Canon users for their clip in filters I for myself decided to skip the step of modifying a DSLR all together and save up for a dedicated astronomy camera. I hope that this will be cheaper in the end as I guess that everybody will use a dedicated and cooled astronomy camera in the end.
I have 2 cooled CMOS cameras , but many times I still pull out my Nikon or Pentax I have, since my cooled cameras have a much smaller sensor and APS-C sized sensor comes handy on larger DSOs. Also bright DSO like Orion Nebula emits plenty of light , and especially during cold winter months, the noise in DSLRs are much less, plus just the ease of use and not even needing my computer connections. I always enjoy using my DSLRs regardless of what I get. Clear skies!
@@Neanderthal75 And did you modify them or are they still stock? I found that especially for the brighter nebulae like Orion or larger galaxies a modified camera does not seam to be essential.
A very helpful video to see, thanks Nico! LOL....typing this as I watched the video, only to see you finally curse out loud, saying "Nikon", as I was thinking to myself "darn it, why is Canon on top of things with their designs so as to facilitate snap-in filters, providing a stock astro-modded camera, etc.", me being deep into Nikon.
first blunder of astrophotography. forgot to switch to bulb and ended up taking 812 1/100th sec images instead of at 1sec. dang, welp got clear sky's forecast for tomorrow night. and wife ok'd me to do out again. lol
Hi Nico, always enjoy your informative and useful videos. I started in AP just last winter with a Canon 60D and Canon prime lenses. This summer (no AP In Norway during summer months...) I had a full spectrum mod for my camera, lfp2 was replaced by clear glass from Astronomik. I have done the Cygnus region this fall including the full Cygnus loop, the North America and Pelican nebula, both with a 200mm f2.8, and the Sadr region with a 100mm f2.0, and I am really happy with the results. However, my first target after summer was the globular cluster M13 in Hercules. The cluster show up 'bluish' on most pictures I see. But my photo the M13 is 'reddish'. Is this because of the filter removal and is this therefore a consideration if your targets are mostly nebula, or broadband?
My guess is the reddish M13 is a results of chromatic abberation from the lenses you are using and not a result of the mod. Adobe Photoshop has a filter called 'Camera Raw Filter' that has a 'defringe' slider that works pretty well for getting rid of the red color fringing. I'd try that first, If that's not it, maybe try just adjusting the overall color balance in the mids/highlights. LPF2->Clear Glass shouldn't effect star color negatively.
hi Nico, nice video, I want to ask you about the astronomik uv/ir, someone is selling me a canon full spectrum and I want to buy a uv/ir filter, and i saw there are 3 different astronomik uv/ir, l1,l2 and l3, at first glance i thought the best it would be the L1 filter because is the one tha let pass more of the hydrogen signal but I see that you have the L2. which one do you avdice me to buy? do I buy the l1 or better the l2 for any good reason? even so on cloudy nights someone said that the astronomik gives him annoying reflections. thanks in advance, cheers from Chile
I am thinking about upgrading to a Sony a7 ii from canon but keeping my canon t5 because it’s a beginner for me from several years ago. I am interested in getting into Astrophotography. Any tips?
Maybe I missed it in your excellent video review, but the Canon Ra has been discontinued by Canon. This is really a shame since it is such a great camera. I love mine and use it for Milky Way nightscapes, deep sky.and landscapes. By the way, the red haloing effect with bright stars near the edges of the frame is essentially absent when using RF lenses. I have tested the RF15-35mm f/2.8L, the RF 24-105mm f/4L and the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L with Jupiter at the edges without the issue. The super bright moon did show some of the effect when placed on the edge but the RF lenses appear to work much better in this regard than the adapted EF lenses. Thanks again for your videos.
I think they gonna keep selling the regular EOS R, and with a cheap modification like that Baader mod should make it nearly identical to the Ra's performance for considerably cheaper.
Okay so I do need to get and mod a camera haha. Duno if I wanna mod my EOS550D yet though, might get a cheapper one first
What about Fujifilm x series cameras?
Oh, also, which Canon camera is best for modifying? I would like to get a full frame camera, since everyone seems to say that full frame sensors is better than crop sensors. Why are full frame sensors better than crop sensors? I have heard somewhere that it has to do with pixel size, but I didn't really understand it. Does the megapixel size matter in astrophotography? If you remove the LPF2 filter, do you need replace it with something like a different filter or clear glass or anything?
Full frame is not necessarily better than crop sensor. It is literally just a larger sensor, so you pick up a wider field of view at any given focal length. Bigger pixels are not necessarily better than smaller pixels, just depends on your imaging goals. Lots of misinformation out there. No, if you just remove the LPF2, you still have the LPF1 and don't need to replace it with anything. This is the cheapest, but very effective mod. Get whatever Canon camera you can afford, newer models will have lower noise. And I prefer having a flippy screen.
@@NebulaPhotos Great! Thank you again for your time. I appreciate your assistance.
thanks!!!