I switched back to Olympus with E-M1 Mark III last year. I just got the 7-14 f/2.8 Pro last month and have had one night to actually try some astro with it because of our crazy PA weather (I got a few decent pics though). This video is making me wonder how the 60mm f/2.8 Macro would work..I didn't even think of trying it out as well. I don't have a star tracker yet (hopefully in the next couple months), so I'm currently doing mostly short live composite sessions.
Panasonic introduced "Starlight AF" some years ago with the G7. I was surprised to find it an undocumented feature on the earlier GH4. The function will detect a pinpoint such as a mooring lamp miles away across a scottish loch at night, throw an unusual AF box around it and focus on that. The GH4 on the Star Adventurer immediately grabbed accurate focus on Jupiter, which is not at infinity. Imo Starlight AF or Starry Sky AF is a great addition to any camera (Pentax do something similar), as is the full 1 minute egg timer.
Yes. Very fine optics. I have the Oly EMD-5Mkiii . . . but my Pentax 645z is outperforming it! I have the P645 FA ED IF 150 f2.8 which should give the Zuiko 75 f1.8 a run for the money! My first tracker (the new version of Startracker) arrives on Wednesday. Thanks for the great videos.
@@TheNarrowbandChannel I was a Mamiya C330 shooter since 1971 . . . loved that camera. But the Pentax 645z, even with a pixel pitch of 5.39 to the latest Olympus 3.76 nm, is impressive. I resolved Saturn's rings with the 400mm f5.6 Pentax (don't recall if I had the 2X on it). The Nikon P1000 has a killer zoom. One day, will T-Mount the 645z to a telescope.
@Alis R Lenses make more of a difference it seems. Even with the finer pixel pitch on the Oly, and Zuiko optics, the Pentax lenses resolve better. I got a new 645z for $3000. At that price, I couldn't pass it up. And the legacy 645 lenses are dirt cheap.
Thank you for this video (and the amazing pictures) and I jump late into the party as I have this lens but not a tracker yet and I'd like to try finally after some initial (decent) wide-angle shots with no tracker. Do you think that the portable trackers on the market (MSM or Vixen Polarie) would work well with this lens, if one aims to stack exposures up to 60 seconds? From what I read around they're best used with lenses up to 50mm equivalent, but that's for longer exposures in theory... in practice, I couldn't find a definitive answer :) Thanks in advance and glad to see on recent videos that you're doing better now ❤🩹
I hope you know that you can turn off lens reset on your Olympus cameras. That way you can manually focus your lens on the Olympus camera, remove it, and put on that other camera, and it should stay focused.
You explained that it is possible to use the Olympus Pro MFT lenses with mechanical focus clutch with ZWO astrocameras via adapter. Is it also possible to use a filter wheel for LRGB imaging with this combination with some sort of different adapter or am I limited to ZWO cameras with color sensor in this case (if I do not want pure monochrome pictures as end result)?
Excellent question Hans. So right now you cannot use a filter wheel. However the 1600mm comes with a filter adapter that can be placed over the front window. It allows you to put in a filter to capture say LRGB or SHO narrowband. The only downside to this is you have to remove the lens each time to change filters. This is not a limitation to just MFT though. Other lenses require the same treatment although I have seen some people retrofit EOS adapters to put a filter wheel in between. I have machining skills so I may in the future make a filter wheel of my own that will work with the MFT lenses..
@@TheNarrowbandChannel Are you sure about that? There are bundle sets one the ZWO homepage for the ASI1600MM Pro with two kinds of filter wheels, thus I had the impression that a setup with filters would be possible not only with a telescope but also camera lenses. At least there is a diagram on the product page that shows the necessary parts required for a filter wheel (EFW) setup with Canon EOS lenses. astronomy-imaging-camera.com/wp-content/uploads/20180131_100949_112.png I assumed that this should also be possible with MFT lenses but it would require either a differently designed filter wheel or an adapter to compensate for the difference in flange focal distance. (Basically a modified EOS-MFT adapter like you said or a filter wheel with integrated MFT adapter). Am I missing something? I own all Olympus MFT PRO prime lenses (f1.2 trinity, 8mm fisheye, 300/f4 and a Samyang 135/2.0) as well as a startracker and would like to get further into astrophotography. The obvious choice would be to use my existing lenses with a dedicated astro camera like the ASI1600 as I am not willing to get a telescope atm due to lack of space. Unfortunately I live in (rural) central Europe with medium light pollution everywhere which would require narrowband filters to get at least a chance for good results. The obvious solution would be a filter wheel with a cooled monochrome astrocamera and narrowband filters, and then maybe an upgrade for the mount and some guiding solution. I also looked at the STC clip-in filters but I have read mixed reviews about their impact on image quality. Do you have a final opinion on those? Unfortunately they cannot solve thermal noise on the Olympus bodies, thus we are at the ZWO camera with filter wheel again... MFT lenses that do not have a manual focus clutch mechanism are impossible to focus when paired with a ZWO astrocamera, did I understand that correct? This would mean that my Oly 8mm 1.8 would be incompatible (just like your 75/1.8). Do you have a website or something like an astrobin or Flickr profile with some sample pictures from an Olympus Pro lens + ASI1600 setup or in general some more Olympus / MFT astrophotography?
@@schbasdy Hans sounds like you are off to a good start. So to use filters with the 1600 without a filter wheel use the T2-1.25 Adapter that comes with each 1600. I will have to do a video on this soon. 1600-294-183冷冻包装清单11.jpg Using the 300f4 would be awesome. the only downside is changing filters. As for clip in filters the dual narrowband filter is probably the best but you need a modified camera too. I do not think modifying is worth it. STC filters are good but stars doe get a little bigger do to halos. I have a video on the STC filter.
Good question. Have both myself. The 75mm f1.8 needs to be stopped down to f2.8 to give you good stars. However the 40-150 needs to be stopped down to f4 at its wider and and probably f3.5 at 75mm. So really it comes down to is it wroth it to gain 50%.
@@TheNarrowbandChannel - Thank you Ben! So I never knew this was possible - so how would you mount this combination? I'd love to use my 300 PRO and Rokinon 135 in a setup like this. Haven't yet purchased a dedicated astro camera, but would this enable me to use my Olympus lenses in place of a telescope?
Hi. Do you modify any of your cameras, removing the AA filter, etc.? I have a "spare" om-d e-m5 II. Would it be possible to start learning astrophoto with it? Would it be advisable to remove the AA filter in it? Or, results would not really be worth it? I am a total novice in astro, thinking of trying it. Or, can I just use my e-m1 II? I certainly would not modify it in any way. But what about e-m5 II?
No, the manual clutch on most PRO and a few 'premium' lenses does not engage mechanical focus, it just bumps the focus in really small increments electronically. Don't believe me? Remove the lens from the camera and see if the elements move. If it was mechanical, they would
I switched back to Olympus with E-M1 Mark III last year. I just got the 7-14 f/2.8 Pro last month and have had one night to actually try some astro with it because of our crazy PA weather (I got a few decent pics though). This video is making me wonder how the 60mm f/2.8 Macro would work..I didn't even think of trying it out as well. I don't have a star tracker yet (hopefully in the next couple months), so I'm currently doing mostly short live composite sessions.
I just got a 7-14 myself. Hope to use it in the morning.
Panasonic introduced "Starlight AF" some years ago with the G7. I was surprised to find it an undocumented feature on the earlier GH4. The function will detect a pinpoint such as a mooring lamp miles away across a scottish loch at night, throw an unusual AF box around it and focus on that. The GH4 on the Star Adventurer immediately grabbed accurate focus on Jupiter, which is not at infinity.
Imo Starlight AF or Starry Sky AF is a great addition to any camera (Pentax do something similar), as is the full 1 minute egg timer.
Here is to hope that more cameras will ad astronomy related features in the future.
Small, but heavy for the size 😊 just got mine today 😊 did you ever try it for andromedia, without tracker? 🤔
Yes I did. The picture did appear in one of my video. You can also see all my photos on instagram. Grimstod is my handle.
Yes. Very fine optics. I have the Oly EMD-5Mkiii . . . but my Pentax 645z is outperforming it! I have the P645 FA ED IF 150 f2.8 which should give the Zuiko 75 f1.8 a run for the money! My first tracker (the new version of Startracker) arrives on Wednesday. Thanks for the great videos.
This 645 lenses have always had great optics. I miss my Mamiya 645
@@TheNarrowbandChannel I was a Mamiya C330 shooter since 1971 . . . loved that camera. But the Pentax 645z, even with a pixel pitch of 5.39 to the latest Olympus 3.76 nm, is impressive. I resolved Saturn's rings with the 400mm f5.6 Pentax (don't recall if I had the 2X on it). The Nikon P1000 has a killer zoom. One day, will T-Mount the 645z to a telescope.
@Alis R Lenses make more of a difference it seems. Even with the finer pixel pitch on the Oly, and Zuiko optics, the Pentax lenses resolve better. I got a new 645z for $3000. At that price, I couldn't pass it up. And the legacy 645 lenses are dirt cheap.
I struggle to use manual focus ring on these lenses. Thats one of reasons I like the Pro series more. Especially for focusing on the stars...
I totally agree. The new Stary Night focusing is a really luxury though. Wish it worked with my ASI 1600MM though.
@@TheNarrowbandChannel Dont get me tempted to swap the mk2 with the mk3...
Thank you for this video (and the amazing pictures) and I jump late into the party as I have this lens but not a tracker yet and I'd like to try finally after some initial (decent) wide-angle shots with no tracker. Do you think that the portable trackers on the market (MSM or Vixen Polarie) would work well with this lens, if one aims to stack exposures up to 60 seconds? From what I read around they're best used with lenses up to 50mm equivalent, but that's for longer exposures in theory... in practice, I couldn't find a definitive answer :) Thanks in advance and glad to see on recent videos that you're doing better now ❤🩹
I hope you know that you can turn off lens reset on your Olympus cameras. That way you can manually focus your lens on the Olympus camera, remove it, and put on that other camera, and it should stay focused.
Yes i covered that in my camera settings videos.
You explained that it is possible to use the Olympus Pro MFT lenses with mechanical focus clutch with ZWO astrocameras via adapter. Is it also possible to use a filter wheel for LRGB imaging with this combination with some sort of different adapter or am I limited to ZWO cameras with color sensor in this case (if I do not want pure monochrome pictures as end result)?
Excellent question Hans. So right now you cannot use a filter wheel. However the 1600mm comes with a filter adapter that can be placed over the front window. It allows you to put in a filter to capture say LRGB or SHO narrowband. The only downside to this is you have to remove the lens each time to change filters. This is not a limitation to just MFT though. Other lenses require the same treatment although I have seen some people retrofit EOS adapters to put a filter wheel in between. I have machining skills so I may in the future make a filter wheel of my own that will work with the MFT lenses..
@@TheNarrowbandChannel Are you sure about that? There are bundle sets one the ZWO homepage for the ASI1600MM Pro with two kinds of filter wheels, thus I had the impression that a setup with filters would be possible not only with a telescope but also camera lenses. At least there is a diagram on the product page that shows the necessary parts required for a filter wheel (EFW) setup with Canon EOS lenses. astronomy-imaging-camera.com/wp-content/uploads/20180131_100949_112.png
I assumed that this should also be possible with MFT lenses but it would require either a differently designed filter wheel or an adapter to compensate for the difference in flange focal distance. (Basically a modified EOS-MFT adapter like you said or a filter wheel with integrated MFT adapter).
Am I missing something?
I own all Olympus MFT PRO prime lenses (f1.2 trinity, 8mm fisheye, 300/f4 and a Samyang 135/2.0) as well as a startracker and would like to get further into astrophotography. The obvious choice would be to use my existing lenses with a dedicated astro camera like the ASI1600 as I am not willing to get a telescope atm due to lack of space. Unfortunately I live in (rural) central Europe with medium light pollution everywhere which would require narrowband filters to get at least a chance for good results. The obvious solution would be a filter wheel with a cooled monochrome astrocamera and narrowband filters, and then maybe an upgrade for the mount and some guiding solution.
I also looked at the STC clip-in filters but I have read mixed reviews about their impact on image quality. Do you have a final opinion on those? Unfortunately they cannot solve thermal noise on the Olympus bodies, thus we are at the ZWO camera with filter wheel again...
MFT lenses that do not have a manual focus clutch mechanism are impossible to focus when paired with a ZWO astrocamera, did I understand that correct?
This would mean that my Oly 8mm 1.8 would be incompatible (just like your 75/1.8).
Do you have a website or something like an astrobin or Flickr profile with some sample pictures from an Olympus Pro lens + ASI1600 setup or in general some more Olympus / MFT astrophotography?
@@schbasdy Hans sounds like you are off to a good start. So to use filters with the 1600 without a filter wheel use the T2-1.25 Adapter that comes with each 1600. I will have to do a video on this soon.
1600-294-183冷冻包装清单11.jpg
Using the 300f4 would be awesome. the only downside is changing filters.
As for clip in filters the dual narrowband filter is probably the best but you need a modified camera too. I do not think modifying is worth it. STC filters are good but stars doe get a little bigger do to halos. I have a video on the STC filter.
Is it worth me getting this lens for astro if I already own the 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro ?
Good question. Have both myself. The 75mm f1.8 needs to be stopped down to f2.8 to give you good stars. However the 40-150 needs to be stopped down to f4 at its wider and and probably f3.5 at 75mm. So really it comes down to is it wroth it to gain 50%.
Ben - @ 3:04 you are attaching the dedicated Astro camera to your 12-40 lens - what kind of adapter are you using to do that?
Here you go.
astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/m43-adapter-for-asi1600
@@TheNarrowbandChannel - Thank you Ben! So I never knew this was possible - so how would you mount this combination? I'd love to use my 300 PRO and Rokinon 135 in a setup like this. Haven't yet purchased a dedicated astro camera, but would this enable me to use my Olympus lenses in place of a telescope?
@@blackice5649 They make a tripod ring sorta like what goes on a lot of larger telephoto lenses that fits around the round body of Zwo cameras.
What tracker are you using?
I use the skywatcher adventurer pro. You can see the full setup in this video. ruclips.net/video/sVTtMGl9Yb8/видео.html
Hi. Do you modify any of your cameras, removing the AA filter, etc.? I have a "spare" om-d e-m5 II. Would it be possible to start learning astrophoto with it? Would it be advisable to remove the AA filter in it? Or, results would not really be worth it? I am a total novice in astro, thinking of trying it. Or, can I just use my e-m1 II? I certainly would not modify it in any way. But what about e-m5 II?
You know i have never modified one. Simply because i have dedicated mono ones so there is really little to no point.
No, the manual clutch on most PRO and a few 'premium' lenses does not engage mechanical focus, it just bumps the focus in really small increments electronically. Don't believe me? Remove the lens from the camera and see if the elements move. If it was mechanical, they would
I believe you. With the old 43rds lenses this was true but with the MFT lenses just about all are electrical.
They’re made like a piece of jewelry.