AstroFest, Galway Astronomy Club’s annual festival of all things astronomy, will return next week after a three year hiatus.
The festival will take place in the Menlo Park Hotel on Saturday January 28, and promises a packed programme of talks, along with trade displays, photographic displays, and a lunchtime workshop with Tom O’Donoghue, one of Ireland’s best known astrophotographers.
Registration will open at 9.15am on the January 28, and will run all day.
On January 27, the evening before AstroFest, Galway Astronomy Club will host a special screening of Contact, the 1997 film starring Jodie Foster as Dr Ellie Arroway, who after years of searching finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, which has been sending plans for a mysterious machine. The screening will take place in the Pálás Cinema at 9pm, and is a rare opportunity to see this classic film on the big screen.
The day-long festival on the Saturday will include talks on a wide variety of topics; these include ‘Cutting Edge Radio Astronomy in Ireland’ with Jeremy Rigney, ‘Is there Anybody Out There’ with Brian MacGabhann, ‘Ancient Irish Rock Art and Astronomy’ with Aoibheann Lambe, and ‘Detecting Exo-Earths with Future Telescopes’ with Nicholas Devaney.
Tuam native Tom O’Donoghue is well-known in the Irish astronomy community. One of Ireland’s leading astrophotographers, his work has won several awards. He has been featured in the BBC’s The Sky At Night, and in magazines such as Astronomy and Space, Astronomy Now, the French Astronomie Magazine, and Practical Astronomer. Those familiar with our AstroFest will have seen O’Donoghue’s images bring colour and the ‘wow’ factor to previous festivals. For more information see www.astrophotography.ie
The highlight of the day will be the Patrick Moore Memorial Lecture, ‘Artemis and Beyond: Where Past Meets Our Future’ with Shehnaz Soni, an aerospace engineer at NASA who will be speaking live from the US on the Artemis Project, an ambitious plan to return humans to the Moon and, ultimately, Mars. The festival dinner on Saturday evening will give attendees the opportunity to meet and chat informally.
The talks are geared toward a general audience, and will appeal to both scientists and laypeople. Children aged over 11 years who are interested in all things science and space are also welcome to attend.
Tickets for the festival are €30 for guests, and €20 for club members and students. Entry is free for children under 16. The festival dinner is €40, and can be booked online or on the door. The festival screening tickets are available from the Pálás Cinema, www.palas.ie/films
For full details visit www.galwayastronomyclub.ie/astrofest-2023 or find Galway Astronomy Club
Getty Images has announced legal proceedings against AI image generator Stability AI, claiming that the firm processed ‘millions’ of images from its library to train its AI.
Getty claims that Stability AI illegally used millions of images from its archive to train its Stable Diffusion image generator and should have paid licensing fees.
Getty Images clarified its decision to open legal proceedings at London’s High Court of Justice:
This week Getty Images commenced legal proceedings in the High Court of Justice in London against Stability AI claiming Stability AI infringed intellectual property rights including copyright in content owned or represented by Getty Images. It is Getty Images’ position that Stability AI unlawfully copied and processed millions of images protected by copyright and the associated metadata owned or represented by Getty Images absent a license to benefit Stability AI’s commercial interests and to the detriment of the content creators.
Getty Images believes artificial intelligence has the potential to stimulate creative endeavors. Accordingly, Getty Images provided licenses to leading technology innovators for purposes related to training artificial intelligence systems in a manner that respects personal and intellectual property rights. Stability AI did not seek any such license from Getty Images and instead, we believe, chose to ignore viable licensing options and long‑standing legal protections in pursuit of their stand‑alone commercial interests.
In potentially damaging evidence, The Verge has published images it created using Stable Diffusion, which shows the familiar Getty Images watermark. What’s more, further analysis has shown that Stability AI’s technology uses a large amount of content from Getty and other stock image sites.
The potential lawsuit raises many questions about the future of AI in photography and how AI art tools like Stable Diffusion will move forward when their development depends on the use of human-created imagery. Stability AI has said that photographers will be able to opt out of Stable Diffusion going forward, but many experts believe this isn’t going far enough.
LONDON (Reuters) – Zambia received a ‘debt-for-nature swap’ proposal as part of its $13 billion restructuring discussions, a move that while complex to secure and not part of current talks, could set an eco-friendly precedent for other debt crises if eventually included.
Zambia has become a test case for the G20-led ‘Common Framework’ restructuring vehicle launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, but differences with some of its main creditors about the debt relief required means progress has been slow.
The government confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday a previously undisclosed detail – that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) provided a blueprint last year on how conservation pledges could be part of the deal.
In their simplest form, debt-for-nature swaps replace expensive bonds or loans with cheaper financing, usually with the help of a credit guarantee from a multilateral development bank.
It is an approach that helped both Belize and Seychelles secure writedowns that put tens of millions of dollars into ocean protection and conservationists see Zambia, known for the iconic Victoria Falls, as an obvious candidate.
Its vast swathes of national parks are home or migration routes for some of Africa’s most impressive wildlife including lions and elephants. Their habitats, though, are under increasing threat from climate change and deforestation.
“The Ministry of Finance and National Planning has received a proposal from the World Wildlife Fund regarding the consideration of debt-for-nature swaps,” the ministry said in an emailed response to whether it was looking at a swap.
The idea has not been factored into the International Monetary Fund’s current debt sustainability analysis but that wouldn’t prevent it being added later, especially if creditors made it clear that they might back it.
“We will be considering all debt restructuring options that are in the framework (G20 Common Framework)which falls within the DSA (debt sustainability analysis) parameters… and that are acceptable to all parties,” the ministry’s response added.
GRAPHIC: KAZA conservation area https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/zjpqjeoxqvx/Pasted%20image%201674043715091.png
COMMON FRAMEWORK
WWF’s Zambia country head, Nachilala Nkombo, told Reuters that the most recent talks with the government took place last month.
While some of Zambia’s private sector bond holders are expected to be open to the idea, it is not known where China, France and other key ‘official sector’ creditors stand, given that talks have already dragged on for two years.
Sri Lanka, another Common Framework restructuring country, has said that it would like to do a debt-for-nature swap and with Zambia still hoping to wrap up its deal this year it would likely set a precedent.
IMF head Kristalina Georgieva will visit Zambia in two weeks. Her trip will coincide with the country’s rationing of electricity supply to mining firms due to critically low water levels of the country’s hydroelectric dams that provide most of its power.
The Victoria Falls, the country’s main tourist draw, have been reduced to a trickle at times in recent years. Farmers have see crop yields plunge, poaching remains a scourge and deforestation rates are among the worst in the world.
“That is somebody’s job, somebody’s food and that is the country’s future at risk,” Nkombo said.
You’ve seen it before: a photo shot at night or in low light that’s distorted with a random pattern of speckles. That’s what’s known as photo noise. Here we’ll explain what photo noise is, how to avoid it when shooting, and how to nearly get rid of it in editing using either Photoshop or specialty photo-editing software that’s better at denoising photos than Photoshop.
You’ll be amazed at how much better photos look after running them through the denoising steps below: They can turn even unusable shots into ones you can be proud of! These tricks can even be used on old photos from cameras with less-than-great noise characteristics—or even on scanned film photos with too much graininess—to make them look like you shot with a newer model.
What Is Photo Noise?
In digital systems, noise pops up in pictures in the form of false color and rough texture. Conceptually it is not that different from film grain, especially since the false color aspect is relatively simple to remove with raw processing software. Noise can sap photos of fine detail and harm color accuracy, but it’s not impossible to remove.
In fact, all digital photos have some noise, but the camera and photo software can usually remove most of it. Noise tends to show most when the sensor is set to a high ISO, the numerical measurement of light sensitivity. As such, we tend to think of noise as a problem for low light situations more than for brightly-lit scenes. You’ll see it in unedited raw format images as splotches of false color, along with a rough, grainy texture, evident in the image below.
(Credit: PCMag)
Why Does Photo Noise Happen?
A camera’s ISO sensitivity setting determines how much light the sensor gathers in a set amount of time. Higher ISO settings gather more light and are the main contributor to image noise. You can avoid them by using brighter lenses or a longer shutter speed, but in some situations there’s no getting around using a high ISO to freeze a subject in motion and capture a properly bright image.
Though cameras are continually improving in how well they capture images at high ISOs, you still end up with noise if you shoot above ISO 6400 with an APS-C system or above ISO 12800 with many full-frame cameras. These are settings you’ll use to freeze subjects in motion in tough light, and often come into play when using telezooms with smaller f-stops, or when snapping photos at parties and events.
Astrophotography is a special case. Night sky photographers and others who are interested in making photos with long exposure times will contend with heat buildup. Many cameras take a dark exposure immediately after a long exposure photo in order to better control noise.
Luminance vs. Chroma Noise
There are two main kinds of noise that photo-editing programs usually address: luminance (light) and chroma (color). The latter is unique to digital photography, and it’s the most unpleasant form. Luminance noise shows up not only in digital images but also in film photography, where it’s usually referred to as grain. It’s just a matter of not having enough light available to produce a clear, sharp image, so the sensor or film reproduces the image imperfectly.
Tips for Reducing Photo Noise When Shooting
The conundrum of reducing noise in a photo is that by smoothing out the jagged, spotty edges in an image, you lose the detail that those spots were representing. So, you end up with either a detailed noisy shot or one with details smoothed over and blurred. The tips below offer ways to do both—remove the noise and retain the detail.
Shoot in a Raw camera file format. An image in a Raw file format gives you far more powerful de-noising capability editing than a JPG. Raw formats are usually proprietary to each camera with file extensions like CR2 or CR3 for Canon, NEF for Nikon, and ARW for Sony. Leica and Pentax offer support for Adobe’s Digital Negative (DNG) format. The file extension isn’t that important, though—instead, you’ll need to make sure you’ve got software that supports your particular camera to process Raw images. Most programs are updated regularly to support new cameras.
Shoot with the lowest possible ISO setting. When you do decrease the ISO setting, the shutter speed slows down, and the aperture is larger, or both. Of course, those changes come with compromises. A slower shutter speed can mean more motion blur, and a higher aperture reduces the depth of field. Many cameras let you set a maximum ISO so that you won’t shoot over your tolerance for noise.
Get a better camera! The older your camera and the smaller its sensor size, the worse its image noise. Ideally, you want a new full-frame camera, according to PCMag’s camera expert Jim Fisher. Megapixel count isn’t as huge an influencer over noise as in years past, but full-frame models in the 24-33MP range show less noise than 45-60MP models, generally speaking. Many newer models employ Backside Illuminated (BSI) or Stacked CMOS chips, which offer an advantage in noise control versus older FSI CMOS and ancient CCD sensors.
Shoot with sufficient light. Light your subject and expose the shot so that the subject is bright enough. If you crank up the exposure or shadows in software after the fact, noise is likely to appear. Since getting sufficient light isn’t always possible, knowing how to denoise a photo using Photoshop or another tool comes in handy, and I show you how to do that in the next section.
Don’t rely on in-camera noise reduction. Even if your camera has it, in-camera noise reduction doesn’t give you the control you get with the software solutions below, and it tends to smooth out the image too much, losing detail. In-camera noise reduction only works with JPGs, which aren’t nearly as editable as Raw format photos.
Below, we’ll go through the process of reducing photo noise in several of the most popular programs for doing so: Photoshop, Lightroom Classic and non-Classic, DxO PhotoLab, and Topaz DeNoise AI. The last two can actually be used as Lightroom Classic and Photoshop extensions to conveniently slide into your workflow. These aren’t your only options, with worthy offerings from companies like Capture One, CyberLink, On1, and Skylum, but those outlined below offer a great start, and the process is similar with other tools. If there’s interest in the comments section at the bottom of this article, I’ll update it to add more denoising software.
Note that some of the differences in the images below are due to programs rendering Raw files differently in general, rather than to their noise correction tools. Also, note that you can get a slightly larger version of the image by right-clicking on it in your browser and viewing it in a new tab.
How to Denoise a Photo in Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop has long offered noise reduction tools, and they have improved over the years. But I wish the company would put some of its AI know-how to deliver a tool that automatically analyzes photos for noise and automatically eliminates it, as other tools like DxO PhotoLab, DxO PureRaw, On1 NoNoise, Topaz DeNoise, and CyberLink PhotoDirector do. I’m a fan of one-button fixes that don’t require lots of tinkering, and I expect a lot of other photographers are too. That said, you can do a decent job reducing noise in the top photo software. In fact, the software offers two noise-reduction tools, one for Raw camera files in Adobe Camera Raw utility and one for JPGs in the main interface as a filter.
Here’s how to reduce noise in Photoshop’s Adobe Camera Raw tool:
Open the photo, preferably one that’s shot in raw camera format. When you open a photo in raw format, you must go through Adobe Camera Raw utility before you can open the picture in Photoshop. But you can still use Camera Raw as a filter for images already open in Photoshop. Below, I zoomed in to 200% to clearly show the noise. Unless you zoom to at least 100%, it’s hard to see the noise adequately to deal with it.
(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)
Scroll the right-hand control panel down to the Detail section and uncollapse it. Here you see sliders for Sharpening, Noise Reduction, and Color Noise Reduction. Photoshop automatically sets the Color Noise Reduction to 25, since color noise is always undesirable, but the plain Noise Reduction (luminance) to 0.
(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)
You can further expand the two noise reduction sliders to reveal more sliders for Detail and Contrast (we’re now at 100% zoom):
(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)
The first thing to try is to slide the top Noise Reduction slider to increase its effect. For some photos, this may be all you need to do. Here’s what I got when raising this setting to 100:
(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)
While, yes, the noise is gone, the photo has lost sharpness and detail—though this aspect has greatly improved over previous versions of Photoshop.
To fix those byproducts, you probably want to lower the noise reduction strength and push up the Detail and Contrast sliders. The image below shows how the image looks with 78% noise reduction and 79% Detail, and 36% Contrast. I find that more contrast can produce an unpleasant effect. It’s a definite improvement on the noisy original and is a decent compromise between noise and detail. (Note that the dumbbell in this shot has a texture lost in the 100% reduction.)
(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)
If you see color noise, move the Color Noise Reduction slider further to the right. Below is a shot with no color noise reduction applied, so you can really see the distracting off-color pixels, looking like an old color TV set image:
(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)
And here it is after color noise reduction in Photoshop (note that some luminance noise remains):
(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)
When done adjusting, open the image in the main Photoshop program by choosing Open at the bottom right of the ACR window.
Export it using File > Export to the format of your choice, usually JPG.
Another Photoshop Option: Use the Reduce Noise Filter
You can also reduce noise with a standard Photoshop Filter option, Noise > Reduce Noise. You may want to duplicate the background layer that contains the photo and create it as a new Smart Object layer(Opens in a new window) when using this tool to separate it from any other edits you may be doing to the photo and retain the ability to adjust the layer further.
(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)
Select the layer containing the photo
Go to the Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise menu option
Move Strength, Preserve Details, Reduce Color Noise and Sharpen Details sliders to taste. This tool uses a scale of 1 to 10 rather than up to 100.
Its results aren’t as good as those you get with the Adobe Camera Raw tool (the right side of the shot above shows its effect at a setting of 8), but if you have a noisy JPG, it’s an option. This tool opens with correction levels preloaded and adds the ability to remove JPG artifacts; if you’re working on a low-res image, check this box.
You could also choose the Advanced view, which simply lets you adjust the noise separately for red, green, and blue color channels. The need for doing this is an edge case since the noise will usually affect but if you see noise in a particular color, it’s worth a try. One final point in this section is that you can also use Adobe Camera Raw as a filter to use its noise reduction tools on photos that are already open in the main program.
How to Denoise a Photo in Lightroom
Lightroom uses the same tools as Photoshop’s Adobe Camera Raw utility for noise reduction, but you get to them a little differently. The noise-reducing process is the same for both Adobe Lightroom Classic and the non-Classic version of Lightroom. With either app you don’t need to go through Adobe Camera Raw, but you do need to import the photo into your library (simply called Add Photos in newfangled Lightroom).
Import the photo if it’s not already in your collection and select it in the Library view.
In Classic, switch to Develop mode. In non-Classic, open the Edit right-side panel.
Scroll down to the Detail section of adjustments, and you’ll see the same Noise Reduction options as in Photoshop’s Adobe Camera Raw tool above.
(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)
Move the Noise Reduction slider to the right until the noise is gone but not so far as to blur the image excessively. Pro tip: For this kind of photo in which the unpleasant noise is mostly only the background, you can select and mask the subject so that the correction only affects the background.
(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)
Then move the Detail slider to bring back lost image definition. You usually end up with some blurring, so it’s a judgment call as to how much noise reduction you want versus how much detail you want.
Export the photo to the desired output.
How to Denoise a Photo in DxO PhotoLab
DxO was the first company that brought to market a denoising tool that didn’t compromise effectiveness for speed. The company’s Prime (Probabilistic Raw IMage Enhancement) noise reduction tool was the first to take the approach of not worrying about how long the correction took and only worrying about how good the result was. It often took nearly a minute to process a raw image file. The later DeepPrime got even better results in less time, and finally, DeepPrime XD, introduced in DxO PhotoLab 6, takes the noise reduction another step further.
The algorithm the company’s imaging scientists came up with examines a larger area of neighbor pixels to determine what is noise and what isn’t. It differs from the Adobe tools in that there’s no tinkering with sliders—it works automatically. And it delivers noise-reduced images with more detail retained than you can get with Photoshop or Lightroom. DxO also includes a denoising tool called HQ, which works on compressed image formats like JPG.
You can use DxO’s software as a Lightroom Classic or Photoshop plug-in (the non-Classic Lightroom doesn’t support plug-ins) or in DxO’s own PhotoLab and its PureRAW, which costs less. The latest version, DeepPrime XD, is only available in PhotoLab 6, though I expect it to arrive in PureRAW at some point. The software uses graphics hardware to accelerate its performance; if you don’t have a decent graphics card, you may be waiting longer for it to finish.
Recommended by Our Editors
Open your raw format photo and choose one of DxO’s four levels of denoising—HQ, Prime, DeepPrime, or DeepPrime XD (PhotoLab only). We’ll stick with DeepPrime XD since it’s the most powerful correction tool the software offers.
(Credit: DxO/PCMag)
You won’t see the fix in the main image preview window, but you get a small preview loupe of its effect above the correction slider. You can move it around, though it takes a few seconds to update. Tap the magic wand button to get the automatic correction; you can also make tweaks with the Luminance slider and uncover Advanced settings for dead pixels and “noise model.” Moving the slider up for that last one can add sharpness to the result.
Export the corrected image. A blue Export to Disk button at the lower right makes this easy, and you can export to DNG, JPG, or TIFF formats. Exporting is the only way to see the full image with corrected noise, and it can take some time, slightly under 30 secondsfor a 24MP test shot on my PC with a 3.4GHz Core i7 CPU and an Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics card and 16GB RAM. Here’s the hummingbird shot after processing. The speckled noise of the background is gone, yet the feathers are more clearly defined.
(Credit: DxO/PCMag)
How to Denoise a Photo in Topaz DeNoise AI
Topaz DeNoise AI is one of the most highly regarded denoising tools out there. It’s impressive indeed. It’s a rather large program, taking up 4GB on my hard drive, more than Photoshop itself. DeNoise AI offers five methods for denoising: Standard, Clear, Low Light, Severe Noise, and Raw. I found that the latter works best for me, but of course you need to use it only with Raw files.
Open an image in DeNoise AI. You can start with either a JPG or a Raw image file. You see a grid of four denoising options. You can change that to show just one or two versions using buttons at the top. You can also switch the view to the original noisy shot.
(Credit: Topaz/PCMag)
Select the option that looks best to you. For Raw files, the Raw option always looks best to me; with JPGs I find the Clear option a good choice.
(Credit: Topaz/PCMag)
Make sure the lightning bolt is enabled for automatic correction, or play with Remove Noise and Enhance Sharpness sliders to get a result you like.
Click the big blue Save Image button. As with DxO Prime, the process takes a bit of time—about 40 seconds for the same sample image.
Denoised Photo Comparisons
So which methods produced the best results? Here’s a comparison of two of my test shots in the three tools mentioned (counting Photoshop, Lightroom, and Lightroom Classic as a single tool).
We’ll start with hummingbird shot corrected with Photoshop/Lightroom:
(Credit: PCMag)
Then in DxO DeepPrime XD:
(Credit: PCMag)
And finally in Topaz DeNoise AI (Topaz didn’t provide me with a license after repeated requests, hence the watermark):
(Credit: PCMag)
It’s quite clear that both the DxO and Topaz corrections are significantly better than the Adobe one, which neither removes all the noise nor delivers sharp detail. Topaz seems to come out on top for detail and naturalness.
Here’s the portrait shot denoised by Photoshop/Lightroom:
(Credit: PCMag)
By DxO:
(Credit: PCMag)
And by Topaz:
(Credit: PCMag)
Again, Topaz retains the most detail, while removing the noise. Don’t worry about the less vibrant colors in this result, because the program outputs DNG files that can easily be edited in Lightroom or other software for color correction. Here, we’re just concerned about noise and detail.
Do More With Photos!
To dig deeper into getting the most out of your digital photos, read our roundup of the best photo editing software. To choose a better camera, read about the best digital cameras. And for some advice on taking better pictures, check out our 10 beyond-basic digital photography tips.
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Often, the weather in the Arctic lands can be rainy, cloudy, or snowy. I love to capture the best of these weather conditions and the elements in these kinds of landscapes. The pure magic of the arctic lands can be felt during blue hour or on a snowy day. Observing the artistic three-dimensionality of the ice or the wild movement of the waves in the sea, I always can find inspiration for new points of view to accentuate the dark beauty of nature.
Another magical situation is when the landscape is illuminated by the moonlight which makes the contrast stronger; in night it’s possible to capture amazing tonalities of blue.
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You can find Isabella Tabacchi on the Web:
Copyrights: All the pictures in this post are copyrighted Isabella Tabacchi. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.
Linda Vaughn (left), Jane Jackson, center, and Freda Scott, look at Storms of Gold, by Diana Al-Hadid which is one of the art pieces featured at the 2020 FOG Design + Art fair in the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle
Over the past decade, the third week of January has become an unofficial art week in San Francisco. Anchored by the Fog Design + Art fair at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, the multi-day showcase has grown since the first fair in 2013 to now include scores of gallery openings, events and pop-ups taking advantage of the international crowd who come to the city.
While the fair itself attract art lovers to the Marina District venue, the Dogpatch neighborhood will be a major draw for activations and events at the Minnesota Street Project as well as the new Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, which opened in October. Galleries and art spaces downtown and South of Market Street will also be opening new shows.
The festivities officially kick-off Wednesday, Jan. 18, with the Fog preview gala benefiting the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, with events through Sunday, Jan. 22. Here’s a guide to the Fog Design + Art fair, plus other shows and happenings throughout the city.
La Seine by Cesar is one of the art pieces featured at the FOG Design + Art fair in the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle
Fog Design + Art
The Fog Design + Art fair returns to Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion for its ninth edition. The fair will include 45 booths featuring 48 galleries from around the world, ranging from local favorites like Crown Point Press, Fraenkel Gallery and Rebecca Camacho Presents to celebrated out-of-town dealers like David Zwirner of New York, Modern Art of London and Galerie Chantal Crousel of Paris.
After postponing the fair in 2021 due to the coronavirus, the event came back in full force in 2022 with a packed schedule of artists talks and panels led by art world experts as well as the same high caliber design and art it is known for. This year’s no different.
The Fog Talks programming series, which is free with fair admission, is slated to include discussions with designers Yves Behar and Fernando Laposse; curators Janet Bishop, Natasha Boas, Nancy Lim and Phil Linhares; museum directors Christopher Bedford of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Lori Fogarty of the Oakland Museum of California, Ali Gass of the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, Veronica Roberts of the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University and Monetta White of the Museum of the African Diaspora; and artists Sadie Barnette, Machine Dazzle, Ana Teresa Fernández, Trevor Paglen, Troy Lamarr Chew II and Mike Henderson, among others.
Exhibition view, “Pae White: Slow Winter Sun” at Jessica Silverman. Photo: Tony Bravo
‘Pae White: Slow Winter Sun’ and ‘David Huffman: Odyssey’
The first solo show by California multimedia artist Pae White at Jessica Silverman Gallery includes new textile works, paper-clay paintings and ceramic works that engage with her practice’s interest in the fleeting nature of California’s environment. At the center of the show are five large-scale tapestries that commemorate events in nature, like fireflies illuminating at dusk and the journey of a snail.
Upstairs at the gallery, Oakland artist David Huffman presents paintings and works on paper created from 2004 to 2009 that feel prescient of current conversations around violence against Black communities and concepts of Afrofuturism. The pieces on view notably feature Huffman’s “Traumanaut” figures ( the term is a combination of the words trauma and and astronaut) against haunting cosmic and planetary backgrounds.
10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Both shows on view through Feb. 25. Free. Jessica Silverman Gallery, 621 Grant Ave., S.F. 415-255-9508. www.jessicasilvermangallery.com
Koak, “California Landscape #1,” 2023 Photo: Koak and Altman Siegel, San Francisco
‘Koak: Letter to Myself (when the world is on fire)’
Koak’s second solo exhibition at Altman Siegel includes new paintings, drawings and sculptures by the San Francisco artist. The body of work explores concepts of disaster, panic and failure, specifically through images of landscapes and figures in turmoil.
Kija Lucas, “Misplaced (bluegum eucalyptus, English ivy, fennel, Himalayan blackberry, ice plant, morning flory & nasturtium), 2022, Photo: Kija Lucas and For-Site
Kija Lucas at the Guardhouse
The For-Site Foundation’s inaugural installation at the former U.S. Military Guardhouse at the entrance of Fort Mason features work by San Francisco photographer Kija Lucas. The pieces, which can be viewed 24 hours through the building’s windows, includes botanical photos as well as a custom wallpaper taken from Lucas’ images.
Open to public 24 hours a day, viewable through the windows, until March 12. Free. Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, 2 Marina Blvd., S.F. www.for-site.org
‘Human Nature’
Audiences have a final chance to see Shack15 artist-in-residence Tiffany Shlain’s exhibition “Human Nature” before it closes next week. The exhibition’s 24 works include six tree rings installations as well as 12 lightbox works, photography and video art that engage with ideas in feminism, neuroscience, ecology and philosophy.
8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Friday. Through Jan. 26. Free. Shack 15, 1 Ferry Building Suite 201, S.F. www.shack15.com
Marianne Boesky Pop-Up at Gallery 181
New York’s Marianne Boesky Gallery presents its largest showing in San Francisco yet, featuring works by international stars including Pier Paolo Calzolari, the Haas Brothers, Sarah Meyohas and Frank Stella. The works are presented against the impressive views of the city thanks to the gallery’s location at the top of the 181 Fremont building.
By appointment only. Through March 17. Gallery 181, 181 Fremont St., S.F. To schedule an appointment, call Holly Baxter of Holly Baxter & Associates at 415-350-5595 or email [email protected]. 181fremont.com/art-program
Genevieve Gaignard, ‘Look What We’ve Become’, 2020. Photo: Jeff Mclane / Photo by Jeff McLane
Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco
The Dogpatch museum’s final shows of its inaugural series will launch during San Francisco art week.
“Resting Our Eyes,” curated by Tahirah Rasheed and Autumn Breon, explores new and existing works from 20 multigenerational Black artists, while Bay Area artists Liz Hernández and Ryan Whelan’s “A Weed By Any Other Name” will look at the blackberry fruit as a symbol of the artistic community of the Bay Area.
Noon-5 p.m. Wednesday; noon-7 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Both shows on view Saturday, Jan. 21 through June 25. Free. Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, 901 Minnesota St., S.F. www.icasanfrancisco.org
‘Nina Molloy: Shrine’
The first solo exhibition of New York City-based artist Nina Molloy is curated by Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander, curator of modern and contemporary art and co-director of the Asian American Art Initiative at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.
Molloy’s richly formal paintings explore relationships between time, historical perspective and her specific experiences as a Thai American growing up in Bangkok.
2 pm.-5 p.m. Fridays- Saturdays. Through March 18. Free. 1720 Armstrong Ave. 1A, S.F. friendsindeed.art
Spencer Finch, ‘Study for Back to Kansas,’ 2014. Part of ‘Color Code’ at the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts. Photo: McEvoy Family Collection, courtesy of James Cohan.
Minnesota Street Project
The art gallery hub has several new shows at its 1275 and 1150 Minnesota Street buildings.
At 1275, check out “J. John Priola: Natural Light/Symbiosis” photos exploring nature healing post-disaster at Anglim/Trimble, Lee Materazzi’s “Nipples Pulled Through” at Eleanor Harwood body-focused photo series and “Looking at the Sky” by Davey Whitcraft investigating color through photo and video work at Themes + Projects.
At 1150 Minnesota Street, “through the electric grid promised land” an immersive media-based project curated by Cloaca Projects looks at the unstable systems that are considered the foundations of San Francisco’s cultural landscape as well as the final weeks of “Color Code” at McEvoy Foundation for the Arts.
11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, check individual galleries for hours. Free. Minnesota Street Project, 1275 and 1150 Minnesota St., S.F. minnesotastreetproject.com
Anna Kunz, “The Changing Light,” 2022. Photo: Anna Kunz and Beggruen Gallery
‘Anna Kunz: The Tide’
Painter Anna Kunz is based in Chicago but her new show “The Tide” is inspired by Bay Area environments. The relationship between light, color and human senses in nature is represented through vivid geometric scenes that represent everything from bodies of water to our regional fog.
10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Through Feb 18. Free. Berggruen Gallery, 10 Hawthorne St., S.F. 415-781-4629 www.berggruen.com
The South of Market arts organization partners with the Haines gallery to present a show of watercolor, sculpture and digital animation by the Tehran-born artist. Many of the works on view draw inspiration from traditions of Persian, Indian and Middle Eastern art and address the tumult of the artist’s early experiences growing up during the Iranian Revolution and Iran-Iraq war.
A free opening party on Thursday, Jan. 19, also feature site-specific installations and performances by multi-sensory artist Beatrice Glow, video artist Darrin Martin, interdisciplinary artist Kalie Granier, and a capsule exhibition of the upcoming grantLOVE project by Alexandra Grant.
7-10 p.m. Jan. 19. Free. Through March 31. Inquire for regular viewing hours. Saint Joseph’s Arts Society, 1401 Howard St., S.F. www.saintjosephsartsfoundation.org
Ruth Asawa and Albert Lanier holding Xavier and Aiko. Photo: Courtesy Estate of Ruth Asawa
‘Generation: The Roots of Making in the Asawa-Lanier Family’
This new group exhibition brings together four generations of the Asawa-Lanier family — the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of San Francisco artist Ruth Asawa and architect Albert Lanier — with work spanning 1965 to 2022.
In addition to works by Asawa and Lanier, the show features paintings and clay work by their son Paul Lanier; textile, collage and painting by their daughter Aiko Lanier Cuneo; origami portraits, paintings and paper construction by their granddaughter Lilli Lanier; and paintings by their great-granddaughter Lucia Ruth Soriano.
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday. Through March 31. Free. Ruth’s Table, 3160 21st St., S.F. 415-642-1000. www.ruthstable.org
Venus and Saturn are on a visual crash course, and you can watch the planets make their close approach all this week.
The two planets are, of course, more than 800 million miles (nearly 130 million kilometers) apart on average, so there’s no chance of them literally colliding. But their orbits will make them seem like they might from the vantage point of skywatchers here on Earth.
Starting Wednesday (Jan. 18), the planets will begin their close approach toward one another. About 45 minutes after sunset, look to the northwest sky, close to the horizon, and you’ll spot the two planets. Venus will be substantially brighter than Saturn — it’s the third brightest celestial body in the sky, after the sun and the moon.
Related: See Venus and Saturn snuggle in the sky Sunday (Jan. 22)
The two planets will make their closest approach, also known as an appulse, on Sunday, (Jan. 22). At the same time, Venus and Saturn will also reach conjunction, which is when planets share the same right ascension (an angular distance used to locate celestial bodies in the night sky).
On Jan. 22, the planets will become visible from New York City at 5:18 pm EST (2218 GMT), according to skywatching site In-the-Sky.org (opens in new tab) about 14 degrees above the horizon in the southwest sky. (If you need help measuring that distance, it’s about one and a half of your fists stacked on top of each other at arm’s length.) The pair won’t be visible for long, though — they’ll sink below the horizon at 6:48 p.m. EST (2348 GMT).
But while they’re visible on Sunday (Jan. 22), they’ll appear to be extraordinarily close together, just a tiny one-third of a degree apart, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (opens in new tab). That means they’ll be close enough to see within the field of view of a pair of binoculars, and perhaps even some low-powered telescopes.
Need to purchase some gear before before the big show? Check out our lists of the best binoculars and best telescopes to help you find the right device for you. If you’re looking to catch some photos of the pair, check out our guides on the best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s Note: If you snap a photo of the close encounter between Venus and Jupiter and would like to share it with Space.com’s readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to [email protected].
Follow Stefanie Waldek on Twitter @StefanieWaldek (opens in new tab).Follow uson Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) and on Facebook (opens in new tab).
Somewhere inside Oxford’s austere Weston Library, a vast, deep part of the city’s Bodleian Libraries that holds a fair chunk of its 13 million items, figures from the gloriously mahogany mid-1970s come to life. Angela Rippon, the newsreader, prances gaily in a chiffon dress; Margaret Thatcher smiles as only she can. David Hockney stands pensively beside a portrait of his own father, while Rudolf Nureyev sits in his chair, slightly tense. King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, grins in a carefree way not seen much in the five decades since.
“He is an unusually good-looking young man, better-looking than I thought from his pictures” read the notes on the royal sitting, which took place in March 1977. They are by Bern Schwartz, the businessman who made a surprising and successful late conversion to professional photography. He assures us that the future king has a “very, very warm manner”; Charles’s only request was that he not be called “Prince”. “In America, he’s called ‘Prince’ all the time,” records Schwartz. “Just as if someone was calling a dog.”
These are the brightest traces of the Bodleian Libraries’ latest big acquisition. They have been given Schwartz’s entire archives – a time capsule of 1970s portraits, negatives, faded typewritten notes, thank-you letters and Schwartz’s favoured camera (a Hasselblad medium-format) – alongside a gift of £2mn by The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation, now headed up by his three children and a family friend. If the Foundation has already given gifts and prints to various non-profit institutions, as part of its aim to preserve Bern’s legacy, this is its biggest cash donation ever. It has allowed the Bodleian to hire a curator of photography for the very first time, who will be able to marshal a huge and disparate holding that ranges from William Henry Fox Talbot’s personal archive to extensive photography of the anti-apartheid movement.
The Prince of Wales, Nureyev and Lester Piggott are each asked if they like ‘body-surfing’
“It’s going to make us an institution that’s as well regarded as the V&A or the National Portrait Gallery for photography,” says Phillip Roberts, the man who has been hired as the Bern and Ronny Schwartz Curator of Photography. In the library’s hushed low-lit rooms, he unpacks the archive – much of which, such as the sitting notes and correspondence, has not been seen before. The gift will also lead to other archive acquisitions (he is in final-stage talks for four more) and several photography exhibitions; the archive itself will go on show in 2025.
The gift also preserves the legacy of Schwartz, who went from being a penniless youth in the Great Depression to a very rich man who got to photograph John Gielgud and Golda Meir, Margot Fonteyn and Edward Heath, “Kiwi [sic]Te Kanawa” and Cardinal Basil Hume. Not bad when you consider that he had his first proper lesson in photography in 1973, when he was nearing 60. The notes from his classes with the great Philippe Halsman are in the gift too, plus correspondence typed up by Schwartz’s ever-supportive wife Ronny. “To have the notes and the negatives from the working process… that’s what makes it really special,” says Roberts.
Bern Schwartz was born in New York City in 1914 and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His father died when he was 18, forcing him to immediately get to work. It was hardly a propitious time – but it was also the end of Prohibition, and the young Schwartz got a job selling beer trays to a newly alcoholic nation. It led to many successful business ventures for a man who seems to have mixed suave, calm charm with a whirling restlessness. Eventually Schwartz would buy a textile manufacturing company in 1954, which led to him making a substantial fortune; he sold it to Standard Oil of Indiana in 1968. The Schwartzes began to split their time between La Jolla, California and London; it was also now that Bern could start photographing in earnest. He had always loved it: he bought his first Kodak aged 14. Soon, Schwartz used his contacts to get sittings in London, and the results would go so well (Thatcher used a portrait for an electoral campaign) that new sitters would appear by word-of-mouth.
“He wanted his pictures to be a ‘visual biography’ of the person,” says his son Michael. “He wanted the person to be engaged in expressing themselves, and to show their greatness.” To him and his siblings, it was obvious the archive should go to the Bodleian Libraries. “It has been around for a few hundred years,” he says. “Chances are the photography is in good hands.”
Both Michael and Roberts affectionately use the same term to describe Schwartz’s approach: tunnel vision. He seems to have needed it to court and cajole his famous faces. According to his notes, most meetings seem to start by someone saying how busy and tired they are: Henry Moore is “harassed”, Zandra Rhodes is “quite drowsy”, Rudolf Nureyev is “exhausted”. In fact, the ballet superstar looks “like a walking zombie” after a round of endless performances and partying. Hockney, meanwhile, forces Schwartz out of his comfort zone, as the photographer tries to incorporate the artist’s own painting of his parents into the shot; countless negatives show how the two work together. Yet somehow, the sitting always seems to end in effusive thanks and invitations to tea. Schwartz’s means of seduction vary, but it’s notable that the Prince of Wales, Nureyev and Lester Piggott are each asked if they like “body surfing”, a late passion of his discovered in California. Broadly, they do.
There is another touching comment in Schwartz’s notes on the Prince. “I also told him about my philosophy of life,” says the photographer. “That no matter what age I died, whether it was next year or when I was 100, I hoped that I would die young and that this meant just exercising and keeping very involved in activities.” The following year, in November 1978, Schwartz was due to be in Rome to photograph the new pope, John Paul II. However, the 64-year-old abruptly had to cancel in order to fly back to California to have treatment for pancreatic cancer. Six weeks later, on 31 December, he was dead. Michael, who was 30 at the time, eventually decided to interview many of his father’s business colleagues and family members to find out the source of his extraordinary drive. One told him that “working with Bern, you had a sense of satisfaction, because you felt like you were building something”. The large cache at the Bodleian Libraries suggests he’s set to keep doing the same.
During last month’s edition of Bamako Encounters–African Biennale of Photography, as dusk arrived following a captivating artist talk by revered Nigerian photographer Akinbode Akinbiyi, southern winds carrying Saharan dust settled over Mali’s capital and clouds of bats took flight between the trees across a lavender-hued sky.
Pioneering photographers such as Seydou Keita, Abdhourahmane Sakaly, and (of course) Malick Sidibe loom large here. And at such moments, even an untrained eye can understand how Bamako is an image-maker’s paradise, and a seemingly perfect setting for a photography biennale. The city’s endlessly compelling, starkly geometric architecture—angular and curved, Sahelian, colonial, and contemporary—is magnificently illuminated by the light.
In early December 2022, dozens of artists from across the world convened for the 13th edition of the Bamako Encounters, which runs until early February 2023. It is titled “On Multiplicity, Difference, Becoming, and Heritage,” a theme that invites the audience to consider moving past understandings of the world that focus on singularity and essentialism, creating room for movement, change, and malleability. Mali is a country with diverse geologies and geographies, inevitably yielding varying ways of living and cultures. This biennale thus explores a universally applicable theme in a place where liminal spaces are ever present.
Highlights
Spread across seven key sites, including the National Museum of Mali and a disused train station that formerly connected Bamako to Dakar, a standout feature from this edition of the biennale is its substantial inclusion of artists from across the African Diaspora.
Still from Baff Akoto, Leave The Edges (2020).
One of the noteworthy works from the biennale, Leave the Edges (2020), which won the biennale’s Grand Prix/Seydou Keita award, came from artist-filmmaker Baff Akoto, who was raised between Accra and London. The work explores African and Diasporic spiritualities, and how they have mutated and transformed across time and in different spaces, as a metaphor for a wider conversation around cultural exchange.
An exceptional and meditative piece, employing tender cinematography, subtle lighting, and mesmerizing soundscapes, Leave the Edges is a poetic movement film melding performance art and commemorations of slave rebellions in Guadeloupe.
Installation view of works by Anna Binta Diallo, both 2022. Photo by Photp by Tobi Onabolu.
Meanwhile at the National Museum, Anna Binta Diallo’s futuristic looking work explores the historical roots of folklore and storytelling. Employing a variety of maps, prints, and images superimposed onto outlines of human forms, Diallo invites us to consider what it means for humanity to exist in symbiosis with the natural environment. Concurrently, she explores concerns such as migration, identity, and memory.
Installation view of works by Anna Binta Diallo, both 2022. Photp by Tobi Onabolu.
Sofia Yala works in the same vein, but on a more personal level within the setting of her own family, questioning the notion of the body as an archive. Yala’s work involves screenprinting her grandfather’s archives—whether private notes, I.D. documents, or work contracts—onto photographs taken by Yala in domestic spaces. Through the process, she is able to uncover deeper layers of identity—a poignant exercise in the context of reconnecting with the artist’s Angolan heritage.
Installation view of works by Marie-Claire Messouma, all 2022. Photo by Tobi Onabolu.
Over at the former train station, sub-themes of magic, the ethereal, and eternity emanate through more conceptual and abstract works. Marie-Claire Messouma’s mystical, melismatic photography aims to spark a conversation about humanity and the cosmos, mixing textile sculptures, ceramics, and other materials, and evoking the feminine.
Similarly, in Fairouz El Tom’s work, the artist questions where the “I” ends and the “you” begins within the discourse of human ontology, prompting vital discussions around the interconnectedness of humanity—or, perhaps, the lack thereof, in this age of uncertainty.
Installation view of works by Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo, all 2019. Photo by Tobi Onabolu.
In Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo’s haunting works, we are invited to reflect on the legacies of human violence and the enduring trauma that comes from it. Drawing on his own past and personal experiences, Hlatshwayo has converted the tavern where he grew up—a site of intense trauma—into his studio, demonstrating a tangibly curative element within his practice.
Who Is It For?
With a high-profile curatorial team attached to the biennale under the artistic direction of superstar curator Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Bamako Encounters is a triumph for the artists, and undoubtedly an impressive notch on any exhibition C.V. Yet the hyper-conceptual nature of “On Multiplicity, Difference, Becoming, and Heritage,” married with sub-par scenography that often attempts to emulate the white cube model, also creates a disconnection between organizers and audiences, prompting questions, the most pressing of which is: “who is this really for?”
The well-curated, robust program of artist talks and conversations was predominantly attended by the artists themselves, alongside other industry practitioners, once again creating the all-too-familiar echo chambers that the art world is known for. The same problem is felt with the text-heavy, exclusive language of art that accompanies this exhibition, often using insular vocabulary that very few people outside of the industry even understand.
In recent times, the scrutiny of these echo chambers, and the industry at large, have become well popularized by the likes of the Instagram-based account @freeze_magazine. Such critiques often touch on how the art world perpetuates harmful capitalist tendencies, whose victims include both humans and the environment; the flaws and hypocrisy of institutional spaces; and general elitism. And at points, the 13th edition of Bamako Encounters might be guilty of all three offenses, even if to only a fraction of the degree of the Venice Biennale or other biennials in the Global North, or the market at large.
Installation view of works by Adama Delphine Fawund, all 2020. Photo by Tobi Onabolu.
“If the art only exists within institutional spaces it makes you wonder who is it really for and how is it functioning?” exhibiting artist Adama Delphine Fawundu told Artnet News, reflecting on these challenges. “I think most artists are making work that deals with subject matter that actually interrogates the institution. Therefore, what’s important about this biennale is the way that it’s documented, through the books and the text. Fifty years from now, what will people be saying about today? And if the work is not being documented at least for the future, then the biennale has to be interacting with people. How do you take it outside of the museum or the gallery space, and actually engage with real people that we see around? Because this is what we’re actually concerned about.”
And although this edition of Bamako Encounters has a central theme that relates so directly to contemporary realities in Mali, access to these conversations is largely limited to industry practitioners and socio-economic elites, many of whom were flown in specifically for the opening weekend (inevitably producing excessive quantities of carbon emissions just for the biennale to take place). In African contexts, the debate around the most effective modes of presentation and sharing critical artistic work with new audiences continues to bubble.
Nevertheless, perhaps the biennale’s biggest strength was that it became this meeting point for important, unfiltered conversations between artists and practitioners who may never have met otherwise. Indeed, amidst an onslaught of almost-farcical organizational errors, including missing baggage and overbooked hotels, the artists rallied together, evoking the power of the collective through their inter-generational and cross-cultural collaborations and exchanges. With the sheer number of artists present for this event greatly outnumbering overbearing know-it-all curators, hard-to-please institutional overlords, and opportunistic dealers, Bamako provided the platform for real connections to emerge between its exhibiting artists.
And so, despite underlying political uncertainty in Mali, fears of a global recession, and the overarching problems of the global art system, the 13th edition of Bamako Encounters emerges as a success, albeit with a plethora of concerns left to consider.
The 13th Edition of Bamako Encounters, African Biennale of Photography, is on view at venues throughout Bamako, through February 8, 2023.
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When you’re tired of just looking at the stars, the best astrophotography cameras will enable you to enjoy and explore the heavens above in ways that your telescope simply can’t compete with.
Instead of just looking at the stars, you can record the universe for creative expression or scientific record-keeping. The best astrophotography cameras are carefully tuned imaging devices with extremely specialized features, so you can’t capture good pictures of space with just any old equipment.
The best astrophotography cameras unlock the secrets to taking breathtaking pictures with the kind of clarity and detail that others are just not able to do, thanks to bespoke sensors made to cut through solar radiation and custom GPS features that follow the path of the stars.
No matter what kind of astrophotography camera you’re searching for — a conventional camera, a CCD camera that mounts to your telescope, or even just the best smartphone for astrophotography — we’ve got you covered in our guide, and everything is split up into sections so you’ll know exactly what you’re looking at. If you’re starting from scratch and are looking for more than just a camera, we think you’d be interested in our guides to the best binoculars for stargazing and the best telescopes to build your stargazing kit.
After the camera options listed below, you’ll also find some useful information about astrophotography cameras, and what you should be looking for when making your purchase. You can also check out our guide to the best astronomy books if you want to learn more about the night sky.
Best astrophotography cameras
(Image credit: Canon)
1. Canon EOS Ra
A pure astro camera with custom full-frame sensor
Specifications
Camera type: Mirrorless
Sensor size: Full frame (IR modified)
Resolution: 30.3 megapixels
ISO range: 100-40,000 (expandable to 50-102,400)
Rear screen: 3.15-inch vari-angle touchscreen, 2.1 million dots
Viewfinder: 0.5-inch OLED, 3.69 million dots
Max video resolution: 4K up to 30p
Reasons to buy
+
IR-modified full-frame sensor
+
30x magnification in live view / viewfinder
+
Uses Canon RF and EF glass (with adapter)
Reasons to avoid
–
4K video is cropped
–
Single memory card slot
–
Not well suited to non-astro shots
There have been a handful of dedicated astrophotography cameras over the years, such as the Canon EOS 60Da and Nikon D810a. However, the only model currently on the market is this, the Canon EOS Ra. A special edition of the standard EOS R mirrorless camera, its 30.3MP image sensor has a modified IR filter array to accommodate quadruple the amount of hydrogen alpha rays – enabling the camera to capture the distinct details and deep red hues of nebulae.
That same full-frame sensor also allows for beautiful 4K video, albeit with a 1.6x crop (effectively increasing your focal length and ‘zooming in’ on your composition). Perhaps most useful of all, the EOS Ra also boasts a 30x magnification when previewing your scene – most cameras top out at 10x, so this is invaluable for punching in and making sure that your stars are as sharp as possible.
The camera employs the new Canon RF (mirrorless) lens mount, which is populated by optics that are generally fantastic in quality but have a price tag to match. However, it is compatible with Canon EF (DSLR) lenses via an affordable adapter – which gives you a much greater selection of glass and at lower prices.
(Image credit: Sony)
Astonishing low light performance and best in class video
Specifications
Camera type: Mirrorless
Sensor size: Full frame
Resolution: 12.1 megapixels
ISO range: 80-102,400 (expandable to 40-409,600)
Rear screen: 3-inch vari-angle touchscreen, 1.44 million dots
Viewfinder: 0.5-inch OLED, 9.44 million dots
Max video resolution: 4K up to 120p
Reasons to buy
+
Incredible low light performance
+
Insanely detailed viewfinder
+
In-body image stabilization
Reasons to avoid
–
Low 12.1MP resolution
–
Magnification limited to 4x
–
“Star eater” in video mode
The Sony A7S III boasts near night vision performance, thanks to its ridiculous native ISO range of 80-102,400 (expandable to 409,600, though you’ll never actually shoot that high) which also features dual native ISO. While most cameras have just one native ISO (the point at which performance is cleanest), the A7S III has two – one at ISO640 and another at ISO16000 (though this varies in video modes).
As a body designed primarily for video, it should come as no surprise that this is the ultimate astrovideography camera. However, herein lies a compromise: the A7S III only features a 12.1MP sensor. This aids the camera’s low light performance (since there are fewer pixels, each one is larger and able to gather more light), but means there is less detail if you want to print your photographs.
While this is the best camera for filming stars, though, there is one sting in the tail: the “star eater” phenomenon that plagued earlier Sony cameras (where overactive noise reduction would ‘eat’ stars misidentified as noise) occasionally rears its head when shooting video with wide angle lenses that are very sharp. And where the EOS Ra has a monstrous 30x magnification, the Sony only has a paltry 4x – which can make focusing a challenge, especially if you have poor eyesight.
(Image credit: James Artaius)
Innovative GPS and IBIS tech, with lighting and night mode
Specifications
Camera type: DSLR
Sensor size: Full frame
Resolution: 36.4 megapixels
ISO range: 100-819,200
Rear screen: 3.2-inch vari-angle, 1.04 million dots
Viewfinder: Optical pentaprism
Max video resolution: 1080p up to 60p
Reasons to buy
+
Weather sealed
+
Astrotracer to prevent star trails
+
Night mode LCD + external illumination
Reasons to avoid
–
No touchscreen control
–
No 4K video
–
Launched in 2016, so tech is old
Mirrorless bodies are great for shooting the stars, but some of the best astrophotography cameras are still DSLRs. The Pentax K-1 Mark II is the best of the bunch, with its 36.4MP full-frame sensor, weather sealing, in-body image stabilization (IBIS) and cleverly designed flexible angle rear screen. And while it can’t beat the EOS Ra or A7S III for specialist features, the K-1 Mark II might be the best all-round astro camera when you consider everything else it has to offer.
Central to this is Pentax’ Astrotracer technology. Rather than using the stabilization (which makes micro-adjustments to the image sensor) to compensate for camera shake, Astrotracer uses it in tandem with the inbuilt GPS to compensate for the movement of the stars. Using GPS data, it moves the sensor to prevent unwanted star trails when the camera is mounted to a tripod – so you can capture long exposure shots without getting unwanted star trails.
Throw in a Night Vision mode that turns the LCD screen red to optimize it (and your eyes) for shooting in the dark, along with external illumination that lights up the underside of the rear screen as well as the camera mount (for changing lenses in the black of night), this is a camera that’s tailor made for awesome astrophotography.
(Image credit: Nikon)
A fantastic DSLR that lends itself brilliantly to astrophotography
Specifications
Camera type: DSLR
Sensor size: Full frame
Resolution: 45.7 megapixels
ISO range: 64-25,600 (expandable to 32-102,400)
Rear screen: 3.2-inch tilting touchscreen, 2.36 million dots
Viewfinder: Optical pentaprism
Max video resolution: 4K up to 30p
Reasons to buy
+
Huge 45.7MP full-frame resolution
+
Brilliant battery life
+
(Some) illuminated buttons
Reasons to avoid
–
LCD is tilt-only, not fully articulated
–
No inbuilt WiFi for image transfer
–
Not all buttons are illuminated
Unlike other cameras on this list, the Nikon D850 doesn’t have any astro-specific features. Instead, it is simply a fantastic DSLR whose specs lend themselves wonderfully to photographing the night sky.
Its 45.7MP image sensor is back side illuminated (constructed so that the circuitry is on the underside, so as not to obstruct the front), which means that it has superior light-gathering capabilities with less noise and better all-round image quality. This works in tandem with a good, if not great, ISO range to produce enviably low light performance. Like the Sony A7S III, the D850 also has dual native ISO – but at the less useful ISO64 and ISO400 sensitivities.
The chunky DSLR design is a pleasure to handle, boasts weather sealing, and also has a curtain mechanism for the optical viewfinder to stop unwanted light when shooting long exposures. It also boasts two card slots, one XQD / CFexpress and one SD. A big bonus is the inclusion of illuminated buttons, but only on the left-hand side of the camera – we’d love to have all the buttons light up, but being able to see key controls in the dark is a hugely welcome feature.
(Image credit: OM Digital Solutions)
5. Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III
Light enough to carry anywhere – and shoot stars handheld!
Specifications
Camera type: Mirrorless
Sensor size: Micro Four Thirds
Resolution: 20.4 megapixels
ISO range: Low-25,600 (200 base)
Rear screen: 3-inch tilting touchscreen, 1.04 million dots
Viewfinder: Electronic, 2.36m dots
Max video resolution: 4K up to 30p
Reasons to buy
+
Starry Sky Autofocus
+
Shoot astrophotography handheld!
+
MFT is compact, lightweight, affordable
Reasons to avoid
–
MFT sensor not optimum for low light
–
Modest megapixel count
–
Rear screen very low resolution
Micro Four Thirds sensors are approximately 50% the size of full frame sensors, enabling the bodies (and lenses) to be much smaller, lighter and cheaper – so your kit is compact enough to take anywhere. However, because the sensor is so much smaller, it has less surface area with which to absorb light. As the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III proves, though, there is more to consider than just sensor size when it comes to astrophotography.
The E-M1 III features a unique Starry Sky AF algorithm, which can perform precision autofocus on even the smallest stars. The Accuracy Priority mode will help you nail focus when the camera is on a tripod, but the Speed Priority mode (which uses the powerful image stabilization, good for up to 7.5 stops of compensation) means that you can shoot astrophotographs handheld with a wide-angle lens!
Coupled with the Live Time and improved Live Composite mode (which enables you to keep the shutter open for six hours, and only adds exposure when illumination changes to keep your images clean and evenly lit) makes capturing light trails an absolute breeze. You can even use a USB source like a power bank to charge the camera while shooting. If size, weight and cost are considerations, the E-M1 Mark III offers powerful tools that make it a formidable choice despite the smaller sensor.
(Image credit: Sony)
Sony’s super-popular camera is a capable stargazer
Like the Nikon D850, the Sony A7 III isn’t a dedicated astrophotography camera – it’s just a darned good mirrorless camera that is very adept at shooting the stars. And again like the D850, the A7 III boasts a back side illuminated full frame sensor (with a lower 24.2MP resolution) and a sky high ISO range – which hits a staggering 51,200 natively, and is expandable all the way to 204,800.
With dual memory card slots and the ability to employ USB power (such as a power bank) while shooting, taking long exposures all night long won’t cause you any problems. However, the camera does feature a few Sony specific quirks that you’ll have to be able to overlook to get the most out of it.
The main culprit is the dreaded “star eater” phenomenon when shooting stills, whereby aggressive noise reduction can make stars disappear during long exposures. It’s not as bad as earlier Sony bodies, but the problem does raise its head from time to time. The other issues relate to the rear screen, which is a tilt-only affair, has only limited touch functionality, and is very low resolution at less than a million pixels.
Best astrophotography CCD cameras
Where normal cameras are standalone devices, a CCD (charged couple device) camera is purpose-built to work with a telescope. Previously they were prohibitively clunky and costly, but nowadays they are both easier to use and much more affordable – and they are designed to capture images of deep space.
They remain the preserve of more advanced, dedicated astrophotographers, but if you really want to up your game then it’s worth considering one of these CCD cameras from astrophotography specialist ZWO.
(Image credit: ZWO Company)
7. ZWO ASI183MC (Color)
Packs a powerful sensor for deep sky imaging
Specifications
Camera type: CCD
Sensor size: 1-inch BSI CMOS
Resolution: 20.2 megapixels
Max video resolution: 5496 x 3672 up to 19fps
Reasons to buy
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Great for galaxies and nebulae
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Formidable image sensor
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Double cooled for low noise imaging
If you’re looking to get into long-exposure deep sky photography of subjects like nebulae, the ZWO ASI183MC (with color sensor) is an affordable entry point to the world of expensive, cooled cameras.
Its high-sensitivity 1-inch 20.2MP CMOS sensor is made by Sony, and is back side illuminated for clean and efficient imaging (aided by the cooling system to further reduce noise in long exposure imaging).
With a claimed 12 stops of dynamic range, impressive spectral response (the amount of light that enters the telescope and is used by the sensor) and software finely tuned to reduce amplifier glow, the ASI183MC offers impressive performance.
(Image credit: ZWO Company)
8. ZWO ASI120MC (Color)
A great entry level CCD camera to use with your telescope
Specifications
Camera type: CCD
Sensor: 1/3-inch CMOS
Resolution: 1.2 megapixels
Max video resolution: 1280 x 960 up to 60fps
Reasons to buy
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Perfect for moon and planet images
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Low price
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Ideal first CCD camera
Reasons to avoid
–
Not optimal for galaxies and nebulae
Where the ASI183MC is an ideal entry point for deep sky imaging, the ZWO ASI120MC is the perfect beginner camera for CCD astrophotography – making it a great option if this is your first time taking images using your telescope.
While its bigger brother is the one to go for if you intend to shoot galaxies and nebulae, this is camera’s image sensor is a smaller and lower megapixel affair with slightly lower spectral response. It is still very capable for photographing the moon and planets, though, and can capture video at up to 60fps at just under 1080p resolution (1280 x 960).
It’s not well suited to deep sky astrophotography, but otherwise it’s a fantastic choice for your first time shooting the stars.
Best astrophotography camera phones
While they aren’t going to give you anything like the results of a traditional or CCD camera, some camera phones have been designed to take impressive images of the night sky with starscapes and even the galactic core.
So if you’re an astro shooter looking for a new handset, or you’d like a camera that fits in your pocket that can take some impressive (if limited) nightscape images, it’s well worth checking out these camera phones.
(Image credit: Samsung)
9. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Hands down, the best camera phone for astrophotography
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is arguably the best camera phone on the market, so it should come as no surprise that it’s also the best phone when it comes to shooting astrophotography.
This is thanks to the fact that you can take fully manual control. While other phones features night shooting modes, they are powered by computational photography that produces results via software wizardry. The S21 Ultra, by contrast, enables you to use Pro mode to shoot exposures up to 30 seconds, adjust the ISO up to 3200, and even perform manual focus.
Away from astro shooting it’s an incredible all-round photography device, with four cameras including its headline 108MP f/1.8 primary unit and its 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide. For the best photos right from your pocket, the S21 Ultra is a no brainer.
(Image credit: Google)
10. Google Pixel 5a
Hands down, the best camera phone for astrophotography
Google wasn’t the first company to feature an astro mode in its phones, with the likes of Huawei beating it to the punch. However, the Astrophotography mode that debuted in the Google Pixel 4 was a cut above the competition – and it’s better than ever in the Google Pixel 5a.
Built on Google’s HDR+ technology – a system that ‘brackets’ a series of multiple exposures, in order to preserve highlight detail and prevent blown-out images, then boosts the shadows to create artificial dynamic range – Astrophotography mode takes around 15 exposures of about 15 seconds each, processing the sky separately in order to accurately render the stars.
So it’s a completely software-driven system, unlike the manual control offered by the Samsung, but that makes this a much more streamlined point-and-shoot solution to shooting astrophotography on your phone.
What is an astrophotography camera?
Astrophotography cameras are imaging devices that enable you to capture clean long-exposure images of the night sky. This is achieved, primarily, by opening the camera’s shutter long enough (usually around 30 seconds) to allow the dim starlight to be clearly visible through the black of night.
In order to accomplish this, you’ll obviously need a camera with pristine image quality – though getting great photographs in low light conditions is one of the most challenging tasks that any camera can perform.
Thus, the best astrophotography cameras need to possess a number of critical characteristics: exceptional ISO performance (the sensitivity of the camera’s image sensor), the ability to record low noise and high dynamic range, and a capable image processor to translate all this technology into the best possible image.
Some cameras even feature a specially modified IR filter on the sensor, which is designed to allow the infrared rays of deep space to be recorded by the camera (rather than being blocked, as they are by stock sensors in 99% of cameras).
Cameras come in two flavors: DSLR and mirrorless. DSLRs (digital single lens reflex) are chunkier cameras with a traditional mirror mechanism inside that flips out of the way to record an image. These tend to be cheaper and sturdier, but are built on older technology. Mirrorless cameras are smaller and lighter cameras that ditch the mirror, giving you a live ‘what you see is what you get’ view of exactly what your photograph will look like, both on the rear screen and through the viewfinder.
(Image credit: Future)
What else do you need for astrophotography?
Even with one of the best astrophotography cameras, though, you’re still not quite set to start taking great pictures of the Milky Way; the camera body is just one part of the equation…
The right lens Firstly, you’ll need an appropriate optic – the slow kit lens that came bundled with the camera won’t really be up to the job. Invest in a fast, wide-angle lens – fast meaning an aperture with a large f-number (such as f/1.8 or f/2.8), and wide-angle meaning something ideally between 10mm and 24mm. Prime lenses (with a fixed focal length) tend to be both faster and sharper, though zoom lenses (with a variable focal length) offer greater versatility at the expense of speed.
A sturdy tripod Since you’ll be shooting long exposures of 30 seconds or so, you’re going to need something to keep your camera rock-steady. Travel tripods and vlogging-friendly Gorillapods will do in a pinch, but you should really invest in a full size, heavy tripod with as few sections as possible. You want to ensure that your camera is being held as rigid as possible, since even a slight gust of wind will be visible when shooting a long exposure.
Remote shutter Even with a tripod, just the act of depressing the camera’s shutter can cause vibrations. To combat this, invest in a remote shutter or shutter release cable – this enables you to control the shutter without physically touching the camera, and some even come with intervalometers that make it easier to shoot multiple exposures (handy for star trails). Alternatively, you can use the camera’s self-timer to avoid shake when hitting the shutter.
Star tracker A motorized star tracker does exactly what it says on the tin: it tracks the movement of the stars, enabling your camera to move in sync to avoid unwanted trails when capturing long exposures. These are advanced tools of the trade, so once you’ve cut your teeth in astrophotography they’ll offer you the next step to up your game.
Of course, at the heart of your setup is the camera itself – so here are the best astrophotography cameras you can get right now…
