E-M1 Mk3 Review for Astrophotography

[BDennis]

This chap has a very interesting review of the Mk3 for astrophotography. It has some pretty technical stuff on the sensors and differences between the various EM1 cameras. He seems to conclude that the Mk3 is better than the Mk2 even though it has the same sensor due to the cooling / thermals and the new processor. It is worth watching all the way through as he shows some of his fantastic astro images towards the end and gives an overview of his rig. Also he has got some great results with the Mk3 and Olympus 100-400 lens at 400mm f6.3 on a tracking mount. I was looking at his rig in fear for my credit card!

I will have to watch this again as I was cooking dinner the on the first watch through, the things I do to alleviate boredom when confined to the kitchen!

[wornish]

Hmmm. Don't let your wallet see this. The mount is designed to take a heavyweight scope and camera.

I think its an iOptron CEM120. starting at £4299 without encoders.

or it could be new the lower cost iOptron CEM 70. Starting at £2650

Both prices are without a tripod! Only a mere £829 extra!
Told not to let your wallet see this post


Yes, the EM1-3 does a pretty good all-round job but that's the point it's designed to be an allrounder.

As much as I love my Oly, a cooled ZWO ASI camera these days simply blows ANY DSLR out of the water in terms of low noise. ZWO and a few other makes are a one trick ponies designed purely for astrophotography.
The electronic auto focusser on the scope he shows towards the end of the video can actually adjust the focus to within +/- 1 micron and uses FWHM measurements on the stars under software control to get as close as possible to spot on.
The OLY does try to do the same in camera but I have yet to meet anyone who can hold their hands still to within a micron. Then, there is this thing called seeing - i.e. how much atmospheric disturbance/light-pollution is in the field of view AND that in the end overrides all the kit you can throw at astrophotography.


He is a lucky guy to have and use all that kit but if as he says he is in Bortle 4.9 skies at best then he still wont get the best of the best images.

[pdk42]

Astonishing. I must get my ar$e in gear and do some astro. I want to do some wide-field stuff, but need to get the weather, location, and me all aligned at some point!

[BDennis]

Yes I realised this guy is in a totally different league from what I am likely to want to spend. I might get a cheap tracking mount for the camera at some point. I got the Oly 8mm f1.8 FishEye to do some wide field astro but it was 2 years before I found myself somewhere with dark skies and weather to try some decent astro shots with it!

[Phill D]

That's a great video thanks for posting it Bill.

[timboo]

Its very interesting and educational watching vids will probably be as close as I will ever come to trying it. How do people have a hobby like that and manage to maintain work, a wife or family? I’d be divorced pretty quick without even looking at the eye watering costs. He sure is very passionate and seems very knowledgable. Fair play to him.

[BDennis]

Yes he does seem pretty serious on it - I think he comments on one of the other videos about his wife not being happy with him being up all night. You don't have to spend on all the gear he has for astrophotography - you can try some wide field shots on a tripod with short exposures and dark skies, it is better to start like that than spend £1000s on gear straight off I think. You can also try stacking these shots with software which is free (like this user on DPR here: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/63372064). The next phase might be to get a one of the cheaper tracking mounts which is what I am now thinking about. What I found interesting is that he is doing some serious astrophotography with Olympus OMD cameras.