Really, I was keen to try it all, but tonight would be my first attempt at Astro or moon photography to be precise. It wasn’t a full-frame but the little pocket rocket e-mount Sony Alpha 6000 known as the Sony a6000, with its 24MP APS-C sensor. s.async = true; Aside from the hot shoe and camera’s built-in flash, there ... 2) Rear Buttons. I flew into New Zealand with a very loose idea of what I wanted to do and I wasnât even sure how long I was going to spend here. I decided to invest in a Peak Design carry strap which I attach to a couple of Peak Design anchor connectors via a 3/8″ D-ring screwed into the Kirk Replacement footing on the lens. Life Pixel – Sony A6000 DIY Digital Infrared Conversion Tutorial. With a growing interest in photography, I knew it was time to purchase a proper camera. This image was captured hand-held at the maximum focal length 600mm, ISO 640, shutter speed 1/1,600 using Spot Metering, DMF (direct manual focus) and then processed in Lightroom. Thanks Marnie! 12 Shares. This article will take you through how to photograph the moon. Mode 1 was selected on the Sony lens. })(document, 'script', '//aff.bstatic.com/static/affiliate_base/js/flexiproduct.js'); As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Click here to Browse our Photography Galleries from which you can choose gifts such as jigsaws, mugs, coasters, placemats, bags or prints and canvasses. It’s easy to do and doesn’t require as much equipment as star or Milkyway photography. Thank you for supporting us. Camera Settings. Sony α7S. If you can see the Milky Way with your naked eye, then youâve got perfect conditions. Afterwards itâs just playing around with the color curves, contrast, highlights, filters, etc⦠to bring out what you want to convey in the photo. Recommended Sony A6000 Settings. Double check that the stars are in focus, no star trials, etc.. tweak settings and keep shooting until you get what you like. Capturing the Milky Way. For more info, read our Disclosure Policy. Tampering with your camera will void your manufacturer’s warranty. Tweet. Buying the bundle which included the Sony a6000 with these two kit lens: 55-210mm telephoto lens and the 16-50mm zoom lens, was the most cost-effective way to go. The Sony A6400 is an advanced mirrorless camera designed for both enthusiasts and professionals, so it has many complex functions and features. If you look at the image below then just to the right of the house is a small red-ish speck of light – that’s Mars. Not sure about manual focusing? Lots of menu options to go through, with different functions thrown under random menus. The intention is to capture night-sky imagery whilst in Canada, the Aurora and various areas of the night-sky. It was compact, had an unbelievable 11 frames per second, was packed full of features at a very reasonable price. As it would apply to any camera, pairing the a6000 with one of the faster prime lenses really makes an improvement. This internally focusing lens is not a heavy-weight by any means weighing in at 2.1kgs and once you add in the weight of the camera, a little over 3kgs. Instead of creating an itinerary beforehand, I wanted to figure things out as I went by talking with locals, other travelers, and playing things by ear because I had the luxury of time. Do you have any tips or tricks you swear by? Essential Settings for Sony A6000. That’s why a camera with full manual control is the best for this genre. Camera Settings: Aperture: 2.8f or set to widest available (lowest number) Exposure: 20 - 25 seconds. Still, you can have a lot of fun with it. With the MoonCalc website open. We hope our travel info, photography and stories help you in your own travel planning and inspire you to visit those places you have on your ‘…one day list’. Previous experience of the Sony A6000 in astrophotography: 1) It has a wired remote input to allow for use of intervalometer and taking time-lapse or multiple photos of extended lengths i.e. The more expensive Sony A6000 (which uses the same sensor) is a possible alternative that does allow LENR to be switched off. We consider this list dynamic in that we plan to update it whenever Sony or a third-party company release a relevant wide-angle product and we are able to test it. This image was captured at 20s exposure, f/1.8, ISO 1600 in our backyard as you can tell, there is no stunning foreground. The recently released (late 2018) Sony 24mm f/1.4 GM lens is another top-quality lens for astrophotography from Sony. Ok, the 55-210 is no super telephoto lens but it should get some passable results. Lars. Below is a shot of the full moon with the a7III and 200-600mm lens at f/9.0 and 600mm. Well thanks for the positive feedback James. I found that the 1/4″ hole on the Kirk was too far forward and didn’t give enough purchase when mounted on my Manfrotto tripod. Most tests focus on its superb auto exposure and auto focus capabilities that rival much more costly cameras, including Sony’s own a7rIII and a9. Or, rather, the built-in noise reduction removes them and there's no way to disable it. Being an Australian brought up in the country, Lars learnt at an early age to enjoy the freedom and beauty of nature. Once I knew this, I was able to plan the foreground composition of the photos so that the moon would pass above this foreground subject. Photographers seem to have their own particular genre of photography that they enjoy shooting whether that be portrait, landscape, Astro, macro or wildlife photography… the list goes on. This lens balances nicely when paired with the Sony A7III and has a sturdy feel. Now what you are able to change is the hour of day slider located at the top of the map. I didn’t want just moon shots in the final image. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. I researched carefully and quickly decided that a mirrorless camera was a good travel camera and a better option than a DSLR for me. Posted by Lars | Last updated Dec 1, 2020 | Travel Inspiration and Tips. Disclaimer: This tutorial is intended for experienced professionals and made available to you for informational purposes only. 18 mm lens. Thanks to modern science and technology though, predicting weather, Milky Way positioning, moon phases and dark sky areas are just a quick internet search away and with proper planning youâll be able to maximize your chance of being out during the right conditions. We’ll look at settings, gear, techniques, and tips used by professionals to help you get the best results. My current setup is a a6000 with a 55-210 mm F4.5-6.3. Really good photos. (A comparison is made in this article by. Therefore, I am looking for another lens and come across the Sony … The camera boasts a 26.2 MP full-frame CMOS sensor, a continuous shooting speed of 6.5 fps, an ISO range up to 40000 that’s expandable to higher settings, and an optimal shutter speed for astrophotography. The Vikeholmen lighthouse I had chosen would work perfectly. What camera did I settle on? I needlessly held my breath just because I was too excited. (The others include Manual Focus Assist and Peaking Level.) I think photography is a lot like golf; everything has to be just right to get that perfect shot. For this shoot of the Blood Moon, I was using the Sony a6000 with the telephoto SEL 55-210 lens on a borrowed tripod. Learn how to setup the Sony a6000 for portraits. The tricky part would be getting the correct exposure for the images as the moon transitioned from a dull blood colour with only a little reflected light into a full moon reflecting a whole lot more light. If you use a longer exposure than this you’ll start to see star trails from the stars moving... ISO: 5000-6400. Basically the deal going on at Best Buy. If you have an interesting foreground subject like Mobius Arch shown above, the rest is easy.Let’s explore that idea. Recommended Portrait Lenses for the Sony a6000: 35mm f/1.8 OSS; 50mm f/1.8 OSS If you want to use the a6000 for astrophotography, get an f/2 or lower f/number lens like the ones that I listed above. If you can barely kinda see it, conditions are decent enough and youâll probably still be able to capture it with you camera. I was using a wireless shutter release and relying on the sony a6000 back LCD screen to follow the moon and ensure it was always in the frame as it moved across the sky. Leaving Australia at the age of 20, although he didn’t know it then, would be the start of a life filled with adventure. Another night with the Sony A6000 - posted in Beginning and Intermediate Imaging: The rough product of 12/28/14s escapades in imaging Taken with a stock Sony A6000, this widefield image of the area from the Flame Nebula to the Great Nebula in Orion encompasses ~51 minutes of imaging. Since then my next goal has been to photograph the Milky Way. Even though the Manfrotto tripod has a 6kg load rating and the camera + lens is about 3 kg, just my touch when manually focussing the lens, induced wobble which made sharp focusing difficult. 3) Camera Menu. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the best wide-angle options currently available to those who use Sony APS-C models such as the a6000, a6300, a6400 and a6500. The Moon Azimuth is measured as an angle from 0 to 360 degrees (N, S, E, W) and Moon Altitude from -90 to +90 degrees. It’s important to note that the Moon Altitude value must be a positive value otherwise the moon will be below the horizon. Sony a6000, Lassen National Park, 30s, f/2.8, ISO 6400. Sony’s a7III camera has enjoyed rave reviews since its introduction earlier in 2018. I have an a6000 as well and have used it extensively for astrophotography. What an inauguration! We’ve sold up and are road tripping around the world. The software allows you to control focus, framing, plate-solving, scheduling, and much more. In this article, I will explain the camera settings I used with the Sony α7R III during the Alpha Imaging Collective Arizona trip in the spring. Sony a6000 series) will give improved image quality with about 2 lbs. The best camera settings for Astrophotography. The neoprene cover on the lens is made by LensCoat. I frequently get messages asking what camera settings to use for night photography. Testing the Samyang 12mm on my Sony a6000: F/8, 0.5s, ISO 100. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment We were very lucky with the weather that’s for sure – though it sounds like you had a spectacular display with the lightning! ~James, I’ve come to love photography since we’ve been travelling, I’ll be posting as we go and sharing what I learn. My Photography equipment mentioned in this post: This post may contain affiliate links. What we are interested in is the azimuth value where the moon rises just above the horizon. Lars. If you’re shooting the Milky Way, you should have a good idea of where it’s going to be in relation to your foreg… Handheld image shot with Sony a7III and Sony 200-600. The Sony A6000 has a rather simple and uncluttered top plate. What particularly attracted me was its low ISO wide dynamic range, great auto-focus speed, fast frame rate burst shooting and a large number of auto-focus points covering 93% of the sensor. After performing an ISO-invariance test, he discovered that ISO 1600 is the sweet spot on the a6000 for astrophotography, though he states that anything between 1600 and 6400 is quite useable. Also, hope to hope to hear tips from others. With low ISO, I should have improved dynamic range in the images to capture more colour. Although my camera has multi-metering which would show an underexposed shot due to the dark sky, I would be controlling the exposure in manual mode. What beautiful pics – sadly, we didn’t see the moon at all due to the stormy weather. Take a look at this video by Jason Vong. Use tape on my lens to fix the position of focus and prevent it from moving. Natural Bridge, Yoho National Park. So I headed over hoping to do one big hike in the area. At this point a larger mirrorless camera and lenses (e.g. Manually focussing on the moon at focal length 600mm with the telephoto lens, whilst mounted on the tripod, was the most challenging part. It was shot with a tripod, bracketed 3 shots (-1, 0 +1 EV) and using a remote shutter release to reduce potential vibrations. I have now retired my Sony a6000 and added a new filly to the stables, a Sony a7III. These values will be fixed for the day you have selected and shown as different coloured curves on the map. I love photography and seeing the beautiful photographs that others take. APT supports a wide variety of astrophotography cameras including Canon EOS, Nikon, and CCD or CMOS astronomy cameras such as the Starlight Xpress SX-42. My next challenge? Once the moon started to reflect more light I could have tried the Moony 11 rule. I’ve been taking photos most of my adult life, and from the standpoint of gear, it’s been a pendulum swing from super simple to as many bells and whistles as I could afford. Below I talk through the hardware setup of my Sony a7III with the Sony FE 200-600 f5.6/6.3 G and test it out on a moon shot and later use the Sony a7III with the Sigma 16mm APS-C lens. Here I was in Norway, awaiting the rise of the blood moon over the iconic Vikeholmen lighthouse in Skudeneshavn. A coat pocket kit with mini-tripod is the sweet spot for a small camera. I heard from other travelers I met in New Zealand that Tongariro National Park was a place I couldnât miss if I wanted to see some of the unique nature/volcanoes of the North Island. Technical details: Sony A6000 with Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 lens at f5.6, ~300mm equivalent ISO 800 34 … A great camera is not complete without a great lens: the Sony FE 200-600 f5.6/6.3 G OSS lens. p.parentNode.insertBefore(s,p); I was happy after I got to see the images on the big screen as viewing them on the rear camera display doesn’t give you much of an idea of what you have captured. var s = d.createElement(sc), p = d.getElementsByTagName(sc)[0]; 1. After all these years and struggles to get the best shot, I’ve learned a couple of truths: no matter how fancy the gear, nothing can compensate for bad compostion, and thank God for the digital format. We shoot everything on manual. I’ve also been shooting with the Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 G Master. One of the handiest astrophotography tips is to practice dialling in your camera settings until you can do them blindfolded. This is the direction we want the camera to be facing including the foreground subject. (function(d, sc, u) { I believe the below image could be better but this was the best of my shots. Thank you, getting plenty of practice on our travels ? I was shooting on a Canon 70D & Sigma 18-35 f1.8 and just switched to the Sony A7R III & Sony 16-35 f2.8GM for Astrophotography but unfortunately, I don’t find the combo sensible enough. Just beware that it "eats" stars. The controls range from point-and-shoot, simple through to full manual. Last night we were able to test the A6000 with a f-2.8 to 5.6 16-55mm and fixed aperture f2:8 30mm lens. And when you mentioned the planet next to the house I muttered, “Sooo cool!”. Stars: 10-seconds, f/3.2, ISO 5000; Canyon 30 seconds, f/11, ISO 800. Checking and double-checking the camera settings. In this article, we will go over important information on what settings are recommended for day-to-day photography and videography needs, as well as explain what some of these settings do. Learning how to photograph the moon is a gateway niche to astrophotography. It’s is essential to get to know your cameras’ capabilities. Mather Point, Grand Canyon, AZ. s.src = u + '?v=' + (+new Date()); will allow us to do astrophotography in Bulb mode. Though the sheet lightning flickering around the sky was blood red. So youâve got your equipment, settings in mind and are in the right conditions. You have found a nice spot, you have your camera on the tripod and the main dial is set to M (Manual mode). Try to block any kind of wind or anything from causing even the slightest vibration to your camera. With a full moon and few clouds, there was going to be plenty of light about. 20-sec., f/2.8, ISO 10,000 Click the shutter button and wait the 20-25 seconds for the exposure. I stood there on the side of the rode, staring up at the sky until it got too cold and my neck got sore. If you like to focus manually, this is a very useful aid, one of several that Sony generously offers to enhance the chore of achieving sharp focus without using autofocus features. 1) Camera Mode Dial and C1. (See other lenses that work well with Sony a7 series cameras here.) The Sony a6000 has the best ISO range between 1600 and 6400 for low light photography where noise is least visible in an image. s.type = 'text/javascript'; Over the next two hours, we watched the moon transition through its lunar eclipse. I loved reading about the planning that went into your final shots. Share. Even Mars shrugged off any initial shyness to join us on this auspicious occasion. Enjoy everyone! I was dipping my toe into the water for the first time with those moon photos. In this tutorial, I show you my favorite in-camera settings for quick candid portraits on the Sony a6000. The plan was to keep the ISO low, let the focal length float between F8 to F13 and play with the shutter speeds. I found that hand holding the lens with the original Sony footing did not give me enough purchase on the footing itself making it quite unsteady. Start with setting the camera mode — the large dial on the top right of the camera. Learn how your comment data is processed. The user interface is not overwhelming, which is rare in the world of astrophotography software. From the below image, the azimuth is about 140 degrees with an elevation of 3.5 degrees at the hour of day slider value of 2300 hrs. This means that we may earn a small commission from purchases you make through our links, at no extra cost to you. Nature did a good job of helping me out too. Now as I am waiting for my flight out, hereâs a look back on the itinerary I ended up with during my month in New Zealand. Wow, those photos are gorgeous. Whether you’ve carefully planned your location or just arrived at some random spot, it pays to really study your earthbound subjects to decide what’s going to work well under the amazing backdrop of your night sky. The table will automatically update the moon information (Rise, Culmination, Set, Distance). My learning curve is steep but I really do enjoy the challenge. Adjust based on your liking. As the moon becomes brighter, I should have stopped down or increased my focal length, decreased the shutter speed and maintained the ISO at 100 so the image didn’t over-expose with bright reflected light from the moon. I also unleashed my Samyang 2.0/12mm for a couple of test shots just on sunset for practice purposes then put it away as the wide angle lens wouldn’t’ give the good close up shots of the moon that I wanted. The area itself has 3 majestic active volcanoes: Tongariro, Ngauruhoe (Mount Doom in âThe Lord of the Ringsâ films) and Ruapehu, as well as some more cool colorful lakes and boiling mud pools. The Alpha a6000 also features their Tru-Finder OLED electronic viewfinder which is an optical system with four double aspherical lenses providing a wide frame coverage and improving visibility for you to take the best photos to add to your astrophotography collection. These settings will encourage background blur to give you that three dimensional look. The Kirk footing is also dove-tailed which means it can quickly mount directly to the tripod clamp. The settings might be in different areas of the menu depending on your camera and firmware. Add your location and date into the table at the top left. Throw in a couple of extra batteries, battery charger and memory card and I had all the gear I needed to get going. Click here to check out our Photography Galleries. Great to hear from you. To be honest, I’d never heard of this one until recently. Understanding Focus Magnifier. How to: Turn the mode dial to select a desired shooting mode. Point your camera to the sky generally at the Milky Way (just take your best guess). Find a bright star that shows up as a pinpoint in your viewfinder and manually focus until that star is clear (infinite focus wonât work neither will auto focus). Lighthouse in Skudeneshavn, 2020 | Travel Inspiration and tips used by professionals to you! Gives a corresponding moon azimuth and moon Altitude value must be a positive otherwise! The top right of the cosmos, planets, and DSOs awaiting the rise of the Kirk footing is dove-tailed... Engineer Land on the moon Altitude value you dial in were chuffed to get know. Tips used by professionals to help you get in your camera will void your manufacturer ’ s essential... A camera with full manual DSLR for me would apply to any camera pairing... 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