4 ms·
I wonder why not provide a switch to turn off the star eater? Bury it under some menus so people don’t use it unless they go looking.
by gnu8 6y ago
I wonder why not provide a switch to turn off the star eater? Bury it under some menus so people don’t use it unless they go looking.
- kmlx 6y agoconsidering the huge sony camera menu, i am sure it's somewhere in there: https://m.imgur.com/PODOrwY https://m.imgur.com/PODOrwY
- arriu 6y agoI think the issue here is that even with Long Exposure NR and High ISO NR turned off, Sony still does it anyways.
- mikeyouse 6y agoThis is an old article - you're right that's how it used to be handled (silently and without a menu to disable) but it's been fixed in all the firmware shipped since 2018.
- terramex 6y agoIt has not been fixed, only changed to be less destructive on green channel. The article has a second part describing those changes: http://www.markshelley.co.uk/Astronomy/SonyA7S/sonystareater_v2.html http://www.markshelley.co.uk/Astronomy/SonyA7S/sonystareater... Many people do not see that issue or claim that it was 'fixed', because they do not have optics sharp enough to resolve stars to 1x1 or 2x2 pixels.
- sudosysgen 6y agoI don't really think much of anyone has optics sharp enough to resolve a star to one pixel with perfect contrast on an a7R. Maybe the 135 2.8 GM stopped down to f/4 in the middle could do it?
- mikeyouse 6y agoAh, interesting. I've only experienced it on the A7iii, which has it fixed more or less completely (none of the green blobs or any errors showing up in the article you linked). https://petapixel.com/2018/06/08/sonys-star-eater-problem-has-been-defeated-in-the-a7-iii/ https://petapixel.com/2018/06/08/sonys-star-eater-problem-ha...
- terramex 6y agoIt still exists on A7 III: https://blog.kasson.com/a7iii/a7iii-long-exposure-spatial-filtering/ https://blog.kasson.com/a7iii/a7iii-long-exposure-spatial-fi... Those are noise power density graphs that show that signal went through a low-pass filter. On Sony cameras without 'star-eater' and cameras from other manufacturers it is flat. But I admit that this issue is most noticeable on S-series (low resolution/high sensitivity) cameras, as their lower resolution makes it easier to resolve stars down to 3x3 pixel size. Normal and R-series cameras have such high resolution that it is hard to notice and not much of a problem in amateur astrophotography. I have not seen any proper tests of latest A7S III as it was only released last month.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- ksk 6y agoI suppose that makes sense, but literally everything a camera sensor (+ image processing chain) does affects the final output in some way or another. The CFA, the demosaicing algorithm affects color, the optical low-pass filter that's designed to remove aliasing from high-frequency artifacts ends up reducing sharpness in some situations, things like dark-current suppression affect the image, etc, etc, etc. Every camera brand bakes in tons of processing. But those features are designed to be beneficial in most cases, and this article is about the edge cases where some faint stars, in some photographs might look a little different if you examine the image at 1:1. Its an interesting article from a technical standpoint, but I'd say the feature does more good than harm in the vast vast majority of situations. Also, most dedicated astro folks, especially the ones doing deep space imaging (i.e. beyond just capturing the mikly way) are probably using dedicated astro cameras.