The following page affords personally tested and accredited cameras and lenses for Milky Way, big name, northern lighting fixtures & night sky photography here you go.
There are many options for the best digicam & excellent lens for nighttime pictures.
It all depends on your personal shooting style & fee range desire.
Below, I’ve listed my favorites to get you started out, alongside in-depth images guides that educate you on the camera technique & settings for night images.
Best Camera & Best Lens for Night Photography
Full-body cameras and wide perspective lenses offer the high-quality best for nighttime photography.
Crop sensor cameras lack the dynamic variety and low mild photograph excellent of complete frame cameras.
I particularly suggest the entire body alternatives but have provided some crop sensor options as nicely.
The related guides train the underlying generation & technological know-how of how digicam sensors & ISO settings correlate to image nice and dynamic range.
Nikon Full Frame Cameras for Night Photography
Nikon D810 (My Main Camera) – One of the satisfactory nighttime sky & panorama pictures digicam bodies made. A Tough metallic body makes it perfect for mountain climbing and backpacking.
I fantastically suggest this digicam to all panorama photographers who anticipate their gear to carry out on the top degree and take a beating at the equal time.
You can reference my Latest Night Sky Photos to see a number of the pics created with this digital camera.
Nikon D800 (My Backup Camera) – I feel the same about this digicam as the D810. The dynamic variety isn’t pretty as desirable, however still all around an outstanding camera.
I don’t deliver this backup for backpacking/journeying. This is a backup digital camera for lengthy distance picture journeys. This was my primary digital camera and has worked perfectly for the past five years.
Nikon D850 – After my D810 wears out, that is the next camera I get. This is Nikon’s replacement for the D810.
I even shot with the subsequent cameras. They paint well.
That being said, if you could have enough money, go along with the D810 or the D850.
- Nikon D750 – The next high-quality choice after the D850 and the D10 is the D750.
- Nikon D610 – Another fantastic choice.
Nikon Crop Sensor Cameras for Night Photography. I could especially advocate making an investment in a complete body digicam for night sky pictures as well as landscape images.
Nikon Lenses for Night Photography
Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G – The pleasant nighttime sky & panorama pictures lens currently made.
You can reference my Latest Night Sky Photos to see a number of the images created with the Nikkor 14-24mm.
Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF Autofocus Lens – Another splendid wide attitude lens. If you have a preference, go together with the 14-24, above.
Nikkor 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye – This is not a completely flexible lens. It will paintings, however, go together with one of the lenses above if you’re buying a new one.
Rokinon 14mm f/2.Eight – Fantastic wide-angle lens for the price. That being said, it does now not even come close in comparison to the Nikkor lenses above
Sony Full Frame Cameras for Night Photography
Sony and Nikon cameras have excellent sensors for low mild and nighttime sky pictures. They also are excellent for panorama pictures here you go.
Nikon makes use of Sony sensors within the D810 and D800 mentioned above.
I don’t discover Sony cameras to be as hard as Nikon Cameras, this is my primary motive for no longer the usage of them.
The 2nd purpose is that don’t need to use an adapter for the Nikkor 14-24mm required through Sony.
The generation and photo satisfaction are simply as exact on Sony Cameras.
Here are the 2 fashions I propose for night sky images.
- Sony a7R III Mirrorless Camera
- Sony A7R II Mirrorless Camera
Sony Lenses for Night Photography
I’d propose using an adapter with the Nikkor 14-24mm lens, over any of the subsequent alternatives.
That being stated here you go, if you don’t need to spend 2000$ on a lens plus an adapter, those alternatives work properly too!
- Zeiss Batis 18mm f/2.8 – If I had been simplest taking night sky images this would be my lens of choice.
- Sony 12-24mm f/four G – If I were taking landscape & nighttime sky pictures, this will be my lens of desire.
- Sony 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS – This is likewise certainly the right lens.
Canon Full Frame Cameras for Night Photography
Even the exceptional Canon Cameras do now not perform very well in low mild and have a reduced dynamic range in comparison to Nikon & Sony.
This has not nothing to do with brands and the whole thing to do with sensor technological know-how.
I do not advise Canon Cameras for nighttime images. That being said, if you have already got a Canon, it doesn’t harm to provide it a strive. Here are the fashions that might work for nighttime sky images.
- Canon 5D Mark III
- Canon 6D