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Sony a6000 for wide and deep-sky?

Canon EOS 550D / Rebel T2i / Kiss X4 Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Sony A6000 Equipment Mirrorless
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Boyan Stiliyanov avatar
Boyan Stiliyanov avatar
I'm an amateur astronomer and photographer (though certainly not beginner) and I'm
changing my camera from Canon 550D to the Sony a6000. I really like most of its features
for photography, but what about astrophotography? Do you see any cons?

I use telephoto lenses and the Star Adventurer. I could probably upgrade and add an 
autoguider but that'd be 1-2 years in the future.

Thank you
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Andy Wray avatar
Andy Wray avatar
I believe the Canon cameras are better suited to astrophotography as more people used them in the early days due to their ability to support a remote liveview.  As such, a much better eco-system has been built around them for astrophotography (filters, IR-modding, updated software specifically to support AP etc..).  That said, I have never used canon myself.  I did, however, successfully use the Sony NEX-5N (a predecessor of the a6000) for my initial AP work and was pleasantly surprised by some of the results.  A few examples are:


M31 taken with an old Sony NEX 5N camera



M27 ... The dumbbell nebula



Moon -- quick stitch of 30 shots on Sony NEX 5N through Skywatcher 200 PDS

The biggest drawback of the NEX-5N was its lack of liveview and remote control (I had to use an infrared intervalometer).  Hopefully you can check out how the a6000 supports remote control/liveview.
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Boyan Stiliyanov avatar
Boyan Stiliyanov avatar
Andy Wray:
I believe the Canon cameras are better suited to astrophotography as more people used them in the early days due to their ability to support a remote liveview.  As such, a much better eco-system has been built around them for astrophotography (filters, IR-modding, updated software specifically to support AP etc..).  That said, I have never used canon myself.  I did, however, successfully use the Sony NEX-5N (a predecessor of the a6000) for my initial AP work and was pleasantly surprised by some of the results.  A few examples are:


M31 taken with an old Sony NEX 5N camera



M27 ... The dumbbell nebula



Moon -- quick stitch of 30 shots on Sony NEX 5N through Skywatcher 200 PDS

The biggest drawback of the NEX-5N was its lack of liveview and remote control (I had to use an infrared intervalometer).  Hopefully you can check out how the a6000 supports remote control/liveview.

Thanks, the a6000 seems to have the features you mentioned. Great photos. And you're right, most of the software and hardware is available for Canon.
Gernot Schreider avatar
Gernot Schreider avatar
Hi Boven

I am in astrophotography now for about 2 years and I do use a Sony Alpha6000 since I started, because I owned it already.
I am quite happy with the camera and I use it for widefield in combination with a 300mm and a 135mm Zeiss lens and for deep sky objects in combination with a Meade 8" SC.
The camera is very robust and even in below freezing temperatures it has never let me down. I recommend to buy a dummy battery adapter to connect the camera to a power supply, because the battery will drain quite fast.

I think if you already own the camera it is a good start into the hobby and soon you will make your own experiences.

If you want to start guiding you could get a affordable guide camera and then you are well enough equipped to get started.

CS
Gernot
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