我在CanyonCreek帖子的一个跟贴抛砖说“风光摄影为主的,该买D800,喜欢天文摄影的,该买马克水。”引来老U的宝玉。老U的理论让我觉得自己的说法的确过于简单。不过历来在DSLR天文摄影中,Canon比Nikon受欢迎的确是事实,而无敌兔是公认的最好的天摄DSLR(极少人会用比无敌兔这个档次更高的DSLR来做天文摄影的,因为更高一档的Pro DSLR(如Canon的1Ds)的价钱,完全可以买性能更好的冷冻CCD天文摄影专用相机如SBIG的STL-11000M)。我在前面提到的跟贴里讲了两点:Canon的“better noise control”和“真正的raw”。它们是Canon让天文爱好者更倾心的原因。我只重点谈谈关于第二点(Raw的纯洁性)的资料:
资料出处:文1:http://www.astrosurf.com/buil/d70v10d/eval
文2:http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/NIK_CAN.HTM
(对不起,在杭州呆久了)
我的理解和说明(如发现我的理解有误或我有故意断章取义之嫌望不吝砖头):所引的文1是比较旧的,比较的是Canon 10D vs Nikon D70. 所以就具体机子而言,其结论自然不能不加论证/实验地用到无敌水 vs D800。但该文的确用事实说明了“Canon的Raw更raw”。说白了(老乡懂的)就是:Canon的raw原汁原味,Nikon的raw在写到CF卡上前已经掺了水(有兴趣可细读引文1 for details,就不赘述了)。而且据Jerry Lodriguss(文2),D70是唯一Nikon机里还可以得到原汁原味raw image的机型(此乃pre-D800说法,D800是否改变,我还没看到有关资料),但要做到这一点也得通过一个unofficiall的操作(竟然是要shutdown DSLR for a fraction of second?!)。
Well,Raw Purity, Big deal. So what?
的确对天文深空摄影,这是一个big deal。请看并对比下面的图例(取自文1):
D70非raw Raw (怎么这么拗口?)
D70 raw Raw (obtained thru an ”illegal" operation, see details in the source above)
比较这两幅图,我们可以看到Nikon的“掺水”Raw会把星星当噪点洗掉 (至少D800的前辈们如此)。
下面是同一星域Canon 10D所摄:
这篇文章接下去还有更多的关于noise control的比较,我就不再多言,大家有空去看看。
但最后,还是如Jerry Lodriguss所说:
I recommend Canon EOS DSLR cameras for long-exposure astrophotography because of their proven performance, low noise and ease of use in working with true raw files.
However, it is possible to take excellent astrophotos with Nikon equipment as well as the Canons. The final result will come down more to the technique and expertise of the photographer, and how much work he is willing to do, than to the particular camera model he uses, provided he uses a camera with low-noise characteristics.
If you are interested in red emission nebulae, both the Nikons and Canons can have their long-pass filters removed or replaced to make them good for astrophotography of hydrogen-alpha nebulosity.