RASC Hamilton Nikon launching astrophotography dSLR: d810a

[Mark Kaye]

At 11:44 AM 12/02/2015, you wrote:

>There is a promotional video on Youtube showing some samples....
>
><https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9gJFc8Qi8k>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9gJFc8Qi8k

    An interesting camera, but probably not the best choice.  I would 
suggest the Canon 6D, subsequently modified by Hu-Tech or Spencers 
Camera as a better choice.  It would cost about half as much, the 
pixel size would be much better suited to astro imaging, the well 
depth would be significantly better.  The Canon can easily be adapted 
to take Nikon lenses.  The ISO rating of the Canon is double that of 
the Nikon and incredibly quiet for the number (102800).  The Nikon 
has 4.9u pixels, which is too small.  A full frame CCD camera 
dedicated to astronomy using the 11002 chip has 9u pixels.  Canon 
cameras are also used by a large number of amateurs, so there is a 
good information base already in existence.
    One other rumour I have heard is that Nikon is in trouble.  Their 
main product are cameras and cameras, especially DSLRs are taking a 
big hit from smart phone cameras.  Canon has a large enough product 
line outside of cameras that they should survive, but it is possible 
that Nikon may be a product of their own success.  Quality cameras do 
not need to be replaced as often and that is their stock and 
trade.  I do hope the rumours are wrong.  What people will do when 
they discover that their smart phones are not great cameras, but that 
Nikon is no more, is anybody's guess.

    Clear skies
                MK

The Observatory by the Lake
http://www3.sympatico.ca/mark.kaye/index.htm 
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