Unpopular opinion: my $400 DSLR takes better galaxy shots than my $1,800 rig did, and I finally sold the rig

Stella Fisher · 2026-10-10T09:00:04.08881+00:00

I spent two winters hauling a heavy mount and a cooled camera out to a field near Flagstaff, and my Andromeda shots still looked soft after hours of stacking. Last month I grabbed my old entry level camera, put it on a cheap tracker, and got a cleaner core in 40 minutes from my own driveway. The fancy setup never fixed my polar alignment or my focus, it just made it heavier to carry back to the car at 2am. Anyone else ditch the expensive gear and get better pictures, or am I fooling myself because the seeing was just unusually good that night?

HW Forums

Loading…

Unpopular opinion: my $400 DSLR takes better galaxy shots than my $1,800 rig did, and I finally sold the rig | Astronomy Photos - HW Forums