inbigd

Hello

I want to start taking pictures of stars / sky and someday get a telescope etc., but for now will have to use a camera only. I have a D610 and 50mm 1.8 (plus an old Canon EOS-1ds) and I've been considering getting a mirrorless camera because I like the idea of the electronic viewfinder where I can see the results of adjustments plus I would like to have a small carry around camera.

Do you find EVFs good for night photography or is everything too dim to see?

thanks

BassmanBruce Loc: Middle of the Mitten

I shoot a sony A77 and the evf is as bright or as dim as I care to make it by adjusting either the shutter speed or the iso.
I have no problems night shooting with it though for static objects I will ussually go with live view 10x and the lcd screen for focusing and framing.

Edit: My personal 'druthers - I prefer an optical view finder in good light and an evf for low light.

MtnMan Loc: ID

Much better because most of them show you what you will get with the selected exposure settings.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

I only shoot Star/Milky Way shots with my D800E through an easy to use computer program, DigiCamControl. It's the only way to go in my humble opinion. It's completely remote doing away with any contact with the camera that can cause camera shake. Any Laptop, 1 USB cable and a simple free download. If you have a tripod you're already to go and didn't know it. When you are ready let us know and we can walk you through it. You could be shooting tonight. 😀😀😀 Your 50mm will be a decent lens but for Milky Way shots I would recommend a lens in the 18mm range.
Craig

inbigd

Thanks so much. Do you utilize live view exposure preview before taking a picture? I found out the hard way that the D610 is restricted in its exposure preview in live view. The only way that setting changes are updated on the lcd is to switch to video mode and even then changes in aperture don't get updated on the lcd screen. Crazy.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Yes Digicamcontrol has a live view that I use all the time when shooting with the D800E. Or my Modified IR D600 that I use on my Celestron 9.25" scope for Nebula shots. It also shows you each shot after it's loaded into the Program. It has an ASTRONOMY MODULE I use for Long Exposures. Be suree to download the Beta Ver. It has the support for the new cameras.
http://digicamcontrol.com/
Craig

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Like Craig sez, DigiCamControl is great for running your DSLR.
And even I got through the learning curve. So You know it has to be easy.
I've used it to run my D3300, which is about as 'Brownie' as you can get.
I prefer my laptop view because it is bigger, and more realistic to compare your web shots.
If you'd like wide field of view images, a wider lens would be better. But work with whatever you have for now.
No need to wait or waste time. And always remember, you have the delete key to hide the evidence.
I started with making Star Trails. Then one winters eve I found Orion in a spotting scope....
Been in love with Nebula every since.... (But it's really a short story....)

Welcome to the Black Hole!

dlmorris Loc: Loma Linda, Ca

But I think his question is....and mine also....can you see the stars in order to focus or frame using an EVF?

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Yes.
For example, my D3300 has a + zoom button to zoom in, and - zoom button to zoom out, in Live View. (They work for reviewing picture files, primarily. But in Live View, zooming.)
I found it best if I set my Camera display to its dimmest setting. That way your eyes aren't being blinded by brightness.
So for a specific camera, that would be something to look for.

When starting out, I read somewhere that when focusing, the Moon is your friend. The Moon is a very bright object to begin learning your focusing at night.
There are several settings to turn off so they don't interfere with your use at night. Flash (obliviously), and other automatic functions trying to adjust the camera to things it was not intended to do, stars. Camera manufacturers are more in tune to folks taking pictures of terrestrial things, not interstellar. So they do things like matrix's to enhance the colors found in sunlight. It makes it tricky to work around those, but it's doable.
If I can do it, I should think it would be reasonable for folks with a real brain. I'm an Ameba.

I found I could tap a wealth of information on YouTube. I love this kind of mining! https://www.youtube.com/results?q=Using+an+Electronic+Viewfinder+camera+to+take+pictures+of+stars
Entering the specific camera into the search helps follow more specific titles.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Using+a+D610+Electronic+Viewfinder+

It's easy to get lost in the results.

Of course, my camera is very much a beginners camera, cropped sensor, very limited in several functions. But not knowing any better, I forged ahead anyway. Manual settings are your friend, and longer exposures, and higher ISO settings.
Experimenting is fun.

As always, Your Mileage May Vary.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

I've moved totally to mirrorless cameras for astrophotography; a Sony A7S, A7R II and RX10 III, all with excellent electronic viewfinders. After years with optical viewfinders I now highly recommend an EVF! EVF's have better brightness for low light and more information displayed.

bwa

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

And there isn't all the stuff flipping around to jitter the shot.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

You can get "shutter shock" on some of the mirrorless cameras with mechanical shutters. The Sony A7R has this problem if you don't really tie it down.

bwa

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

I can second this. With EVF, you can do your fine tuning on faint stars. And this makes a big, big difference.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Using my regular DSLR, Nikon D800E, in live view on Digicam Control I just kick up the ISO to 6400+ and the faint stars show for good focus. I also use "Mirror Up" too combat shutter release shake.
Craig

inbigd

Thanks for all of the replies and great information. Must say I'm jealous of most of you because you seem to live by the desert or other nice locations where you can step outside and see a dark sky. I have to drive a ways from Dallas and to get a real nice sky probably go to west Texas. Plan on doing that very soon.

Will be using my D600 and may try my old EOS-1ds too. Need to invest in a better tripod to start.