https://petapixel.com/2022/06/08/new-pentax-gps-unit-makes-it-easier-to-photograph-the-night-sky/

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On Thu, 9 Jun 2022 07:47:33 -0700 (PDT), RichA <rander3128@gmail.com>
wrote:

https://petapixel.com/2022/06/08/new-pentax-gps-unit-makes-it-easier-to-photograph-the-night-sky/

DSLR's are obsolete. And any camera that doesn't have GPS built in at
the native level is completely missing the boat.

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On Thursday, 9 June 2022 at 11:00:28 UTC-4, Chris L Peterson wrote:

On Thu, 9 Jun 2022 07:47:33 -0700 (PDT), RichA <rande...@gmail.com>
wrote:

https://petapixel.com/2022/06/08/new-pentax-gps-unit-makes-it-easier-to-photograph-the-night-sky/

DSLR's are obsolete. And any camera that doesn't have GPS built in at
the native level is completely missing the boat.

Their top cameras have GPS built-in, but the lesser models which have astro-tracking as well needed an add-on
GPS module. The new module is some kind of improvement. Doesn't really matter if it uses a reflex mirror or
is mirrorless. Pentax has had a few mirrorless but it's holding the line on getting rid of DSLRs.

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On Thursday, June 9, 2022 at 9:00:28 AM UTC-6, Chris L Peterson wrote:

And any camera that doesn't have GPS built in at
the native level is completely missing the boat.

That may be, but for a camera to have the option of correcting
long exposures for the Earth's motion, if one is taking an astrophotograph, seems to be something special.

And there's the small matter of the camera being attached to a Newtonian instead of a refractor or catadioptric - how does one tell it in which direction
it's _really_ looking in that case?

John Savard

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On Friday, 10 June 2022 at 01:01:28 UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:

On Thursday, June 9, 2022 at 9:00:28 AM UTC-6, Chris L Peterson wrote:

And any camera that doesn't have GPS built in at
the native level is completely missing the boat.

That may be, but for a camera to have the option of correcting
long exposures for the Earth's motion, if one is taking an astrophotograph, seems to be something special.

And there's the small matter of the camera being attached to a Newtonian instead of a refractor or catadioptric - how does one tell it in which direction
it's _really_ looking in that case?

John Savard

Most people have used it coupled to camera lenses. The anti-vibration mechanism of the sensor
is used to "track" the objects. I've seen images from 200mm lenses taken with the older system,
they were pretty decent. A newer, more accurate system should be ok. There is a limit which is dictated
by the range of motion of the sensor.

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On Thu, 9 Jun 2022 22:01:27 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca>
wrote:

On Thursday, June 9, 2022 at 9:00:28 AM UTC-6, Chris L Peterson wrote:

And any camera that doesn't have GPS built in at
the native level is completely missing the boat.

That may be, but for a camera to have the option of correcting
long exposures for the Earth's motion, if one is taking an astrophotograph, >seems to be something special.

That's a separate issue. GPS chipsets are a couple of dollars. Even
the cheapest phones have them. And they provide an essential function
for cameras in geocoding images. One reason why I usually use my phone
and not my DSLR these days.

And there's the small matter of the camera being attached to a Newtonian >instead of a refractor or catadioptric - how does one tell it in which direction
it's _really_ looking in that case?

By solving the star field? That's pretty easy to do these days.

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Den 2022-06-09 skrev RichA <rander3128@gmail.com>:

https://petapixel.com/2022/06/08/new-pentax-gps-unit-makes-it-easier-to-photograph-the-night-sky/

An interesting concept for sure, but I assume it is primarily meant to
be used when the picture is not shot through a telescope. Them talking
about having it mounted on a tripod makes it sound like we're not
talking 30 minute exposures.

I wonder if it only bases the compensation off of GPS data or whether
it can do frame by frame comparisons to detect star drift relative to
the sensor? It might not be an intended use case, but I would think
correction solely based on GPS coordinates would not be enough to
improve upon a setup where the camera is mounted to a scope doing
unguided or guided tracking.

If built-in tracking could eliminate the need for a guide scope, that
would be quite amazing.

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On Friday, 10 June 2022 at 12:39:44 UTC-4, Andreas Kempe wrote:

Den 2022-06-09 skrev RichA <rande...@gmail.com>:

https://petapixel.com/2022/06/08/new-pentax-gps-unit-makes-it-easier-to-photograph-the-night-sky/

An interesting concept for sure, but I assume it is primarily meant to
be used when the picture is not shot through a telescope. Them talking
about having it mounted on a tripod makes it sound like we're not
talking 30 minute exposures.

I wonder if it only bases the compensation off of GPS data or whether
it can do frame by frame comparisons to detect star drift relative to
the sensor? It might not be an intended use case, but I would think correction solely based on GPS coordinates would not be enough to
improve upon a setup where the camera is mounted to a scope doing
unguided or guided tracking.

If built-in tracking could eliminate the need for a guide scope, that
would be quite amazing.

Lots of people use camera lenses to image now, why lug an equatorial mount and telescope into the field
if a camera and standard camera tripod can do a decent job for basic deepsky work? Olympus has 9 stops of vibration control now, Pentax's system is quite good too. Plus, they can rotate the sensor in short arcs so no field edge trailing.

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