Are Medium Format Cameras Worth It For Astrophotography?

In this video we look at whether the Fujifilm GFX50SII is any good for astrophotography and see how it stacks up against the full-frame Sony a7IV.

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[shubhamc]

Hasselblad’s X2D 100C looks like a piece of art and with the 25, 55 & 90 f2.5 lenses would be my dream astroscape setup!

[TheBestDadForever]

Most of the negatives kind of fall apart as soon as you use a tracker. You can get long enough exposures like 30s-40s at F4 with the 20-35mm and 1600 or 3200 ISO that are just incredible. I have the 100s so I get 100 mp. I use the Sky Watcher and it handles the weight just fine. Also the lenses have zero comma and other issues wide open at F4. Not sure what those fringes are but I don’t have any issues like that. I am surprised you didn’t review it in that manner. I love your videos but this one just felt a bit rushed to conclusions.

[JarredSpec]

The sensor on the 50Sii is ancient these days which will account for some of the shadow recovery issues. I find my 100S pretty good for shadows but agree that the lack of fast, wide lenses hurts them for Astro use. I keep an HA Modded X-T3 for Astro myself :)

[Astrolavista]

Well this has solved my lust for a Fuji MF camera for Astro, and I'm thankful considering the price! I was impressed with Fuji X-trans APS-C cameras in terms of Ha performance and noise to some extent. I've tested a number of camera brands and noticed stock Fuji cameras are significantly more sensitive to emission nebulae compared to Canon, Sony, Nikon and Panasonic, but I'll stick to APS-C, thanks for the test.

[regularathom]

Put it on a tracker and that's when it shines. I've been using my GFX 50s for 3 years now and don't think I'll be going back to FF for the foreseeable future. Lenses are absolute beasts, virtually no aberrations wide open, corner to corner. But I also bring an adapted Sigma ART 40mm, for when I want to shoot at f1.4 to f2.5-ish.

[Andrew.J.R.Simpson]

One thing, the F stop conversion for MF to FF is a reference to the focal plane. For the Aperture regarding light F4 is F4 so you using the same shot settings effectively means the GFX is 1 stop underexposed. Check them in daylight and you will see that.
That said as a GFX user I agree it's not great for astro, my limited knowledge puts it down to the faster glass for FF letting you get more light where F4 on the Fuji you are always struggling to get enough light in the shadows. Cheers

[tomwedge]

Bright Monitoring! Never knew I had that on my Sony, thanks that's going to save time in the future

[StagnantMizu]

always when I see orion I get that feeling when I first consciously looked at the stars one winter night and started my astronomy journey

[marianochaverri]

I had waited for a medium format camera comparison video for a while. Thanks!

[karyleianawildernesscapes]

Many of the "pain points" you mentioned in this video for Fuji & for Sony, Nikon has thought about:

• I've found that stock/non-modified Nikon Z cameras (w/fast lenses &/or trackers) pick up on Ha colors. Even does well with blue of reflection Nebulae. // They do extremely well Astro-modified.

• up to 900 sec exposures, before you have to go into Bulb.

• Starlight view to help with composition in the dark.

• "Warm Color Display" modes to turn your screen warm/red to protect your night vision. You can choose whether you want the full screen that way or just your settings/menu.

• Illuminated buttons, also helpful in the dark. Monitor screen can be dimmed ALOT too.

& then weird quirks, such as it actually does better with VR ON, even on a tripod. Super counterintuitive, after years of shooting DSLRs. But Ive tried it & I swear the images look best when utilizing VR.

^^Just to name a few things. I know alot of ppl make a fuss over AF tech nowadays, but that doesn't apply to Astrophotography & Nikon really IS thinking about their users. It's a shame more ppl don't look at Nikon Z mirrorless as viable, well-rounded options.

I'm a life-long Nikon shooter, so I am admittedly a bit biased. But I've also been knowing for a while now that I want to be a "dual-system" photog & I have been dazzled by Fuji's medium format cameras.

I dont think this video has detered me. However, I'm also very keen on some Sony lenses, by Sony or Tamron/Sigma/Samyang etc, so I think an adapter is in my immediate future...& the A7iv is a pretty spectacular camera**.

**Tho I'm waiting to see if Nikon will drop a Z6iii in the next couple of years.

[ChuckleChuckleVision]

Prob a little too late now, but Irix have a 45mm f1.4 for the GFX which looks pretty good and the Pentax 645z has 45 and 55mm lens a f2.8 and 35mm f3.5. I think we'd need to be using a tracker to get the best performance out of MF, but even then, that MP count is going to hurt!

[lesalterman]

Oh, thank you, Alyn! I had no option to take a medium format to test, so your video helped a lot to finalize the decision about new body)))

[michio]

When he mentioned the 30s limit I was so glad that my EOS 6D is compatible with Magic Lantern. This unofficial firmware add-on allows any exposure time.

[comeraczy]

Thanks a lot for this video. I believe that the GFX50SII image looks darker because you used ISO 6400 on both. In order to get the images as similar as possible between the two cameras, you need to apply the squared crop factor to the ISO (in addition to applying the crop factor to the focal length and to the f/stop). In this specific case, you need to multiply the ISO on the GFX50IIt by 1.6 (ISO 10200). The noise of the GFX50SII already compares poorly to the Sony A7IV at same ISO (from ISO 400 onwards the GFX50SII has more than 1 stop worse noise). Add to this the fact that you need to increase the ISO on the GFX50SII to compensate for the larger sensor (and therefore less density of light on the sensor) and you end up with almost 2 stops more noise on the GFX50SII than on the Sony A7IV. The website photonstophotos.net show all the data for every possible camera.

[ageprevention]

Thanks Allan. You could have exposed the GFX for 18 seconds using the rule of 500 with the difference in sensor size taken into account.. I have never had a Fuji GFX 50r image fall apart like that. There has to be something more to it. Also Capture One definitely imports a better GFX image than Photoshop or Light Room for some reason.
Great vid 😊jd

[savagefrieze]

A number of years ago Luminous Landscape did a Astro-photography article using the Pentax on a star tracker. I’ve wanted to replicate that ever since, probably with the Hasselblad x2d, Pentax and top lenses. Don’t give up just find the right set up. The results can be stunning.

[andrewbrooks]

WOW that was an outcome I wasnt expecting

[IliasKoureas]

All i want is to have over 30 seconds without an intervelometer. Dont understand how camera companies dont do that

[ruiner]

I was curious about that myself. Thanks for the video. Great insight.

[vldy]

So many people in the comments not understanding the f-ratio multiplied by crop factor, you should make a video about it (even tho there are already plenty)!
People really can't understand the difference between exposure and total amount of light gathered, and that signal to noise ratio depends on the latter.
I'd do it myself but I'm not sure my spoken english is good enough ahha.