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Yes, the D5s are the 'official' Handheld Universal Lunar Cameras (HULCs), but (a?) Z9 also got on-board at the 'last minute' (which means two years ago): * htt

Yes, the D5s are the 'official' Handheld Universal Lunar Cameras (HULCs), but (a?) Z9 also got on-board at the 'last minute' (which means two years ago): * https://petapixel.com/2026/04/02/a-nikon-z9-made-it-aboard-the-artemis-ii-moon-mission-at-the-last-minute/ https://petapixel.com/2026/04/02/a-nikon-z9-made-it-aboard-t... They have a thermal blanket for exterior work: * https://petapixel.com/2026/02/24/artemis-ii-astronauts-will-bring-10-year-old-dslrs-with-them-to-the-moon/ https://petapixel.com/2026/02/24/artemis-ii-astronauts-will-... * https://petapixel.com/2025/01/10/the-custom-nikon-z9-and-thermal-blanket-headed-to-the-moon/ https://petapixel.com/2025/01/10/the-custom-nikon-z9-and-the... * Various stories with the "Artemis" tag: https://petapixel.com/tag/artemis/ https://petapixel.com/tag/artemis/ The D5 has been used on the ISS, including EVAs, since 2017, so they're a known quantity: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cameras_on_the_International_Space_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cameras_on_the_Interna... The Mercury and Apollo missions used Hasselblad 500-series-based cameras (modified): * https://www.hasselblad.com/about/history/hasselblad-in-space/ https://www.hasselblad.com/about/history/hasselblad-in-space...

keyle 6mo ago
as a Hassie lover it made me a bit sad that they went with a D5 but hey, who cares about the camera, the picture was worth a billion bucks and it delivered. It's so refreshing to be mesmorised by a picture in the age of shorts and reels.
- retroformat 6mo ago
  Not only that, but you couldn't have gotten this image on film with a Hasselblad. (pushing film to 25,600 ASA maybe... not likely) I still shoot MF film and love it for what it does, but I think this extremely cool image of the night-side Earth is not something wet-process film could ever have captured.
nate 6mo ago
the morning after the launch i just randomly went onto their livestream and one of the astronauts was asking mission control for help on also using the gopros and iPhone cameras. i guess they have some. and he was struggling at getting a properly exposed photo with those. he said they were coming out super over exposed. but the D5 was working nominally. mission control said they'd get back to them about ideas on adjusting the gopros and iPhones. but it was funny to hear they're trying "new" tech and struggling with it up in space, and that 2005 D5 is still the champ :)
- throw0101c 6mo ago
  The SLR-like cameras have a bunch of manual modes so you can 'force' them to get something captured, and you can then perhaps 'fix it in post'. Modern tech allows more people to capture more things more easily, but when the automation fails there aren't really many manual modes to fall back on.
  - sdfjkhdfjkdhs 6mo ago
    None of this is relevant, as the scene was rendered in Blender. It's fake.
- PeterStuer 6mo ago
  You have to wonder how unserious this can get. Given the unimaginable cost of this mission, they are faffing around as your typical aunt with Windows Home laptops and iPhones? Seriously?
  - B1FF_PSUVM 6mo ago
    > faffing around Sheesh, let the lab mice have a breather. Want them to solve physics during the trip?
  - jjulius 6mo ago
    I'll echo that "sheesh" in the other comment, too. They're so unserious compared to those super serious Apollo guys[1], right? After all, the Apollo folk never would've smuggled contraband for fun on the Moon[2]! [1] https://youtu.be/8V9quPcNWZE?si=WBYqsQ1LitRC33rb https://youtu.be/8V9quPcNWZE?si=WBYqsQ1LitRC33rb [2] https://youtu.be/t_jYOubJmfM?si=QWMhqrwJm2LL14sC https://youtu.be/t_jYOubJmfM?si=QWMhqrwJm2LL14sC
- CWuestefeld 6mo ago
  he was struggling at getting a properly exposed photo with those. he said they were coming out super over exposed. This is exactly what newbies experience when trying to photograph the moon from Earth. It's not intuitively obvious, but the light coming off the moon is essentially full-daylight bright. But the moon is small against a very black background, and depending on how the auto-exposure is operating, this often leads to guessing that the scene as a whole needs a lot more exposure. I imagine that trying to photograph the Earth when a significant part of what's in view is experiencing daytime, is very much the same thing.

keyle 6mo ago

as a Hassie lover it made me a bit sad that they went with a D5 but hey, who cares about the camera, the picture was worth a billion bucks and it delivered. It's so refreshing to be mesmorised by a picture in the age of shorts and reels.

retroformat 6mo ago
Not only that, but you couldn't have gotten this image on film with a Hasselblad. (pushing film to 25,600 ASA maybe... not likely) I still shoot MF film and love it for what it does, but I think this extremely cool image of the night-side Earth is not something wet-process film could ever have captured.

nate 6mo ago

the morning after the launch i just randomly went onto their livestream and one of the astronauts was asking mission control for help on also using the gopros and iPhone cameras. i guess they have some. and he was struggling at getting a properly exposed photo with those. he said they were coming out super over exposed. but the D5 was working nominally. mission control said they'd get back to them about ideas on adjusting the gopros and iPhones. but it was funny to hear they're trying "new" tech and struggling with it up in space, and that 2005 D5 is still the champ :)

throw0101c 6mo ago
The SLR-like cameras have a bunch of manual modes so you can 'force' them to get something captured, and you can then perhaps 'fix it in post'. Modern tech allows more people to capture more things more easily, but when the automation fails there aren't really many manual modes to fall back on.
- sdfjkhdfjkdhs 6mo ago
  None of this is relevant, as the scene was rendered in Blender. It's fake.
PeterStuer 6mo ago
You have to wonder how unserious this can get. Given the unimaginable cost of this mission, they are faffing around as your typical aunt with Windows Home laptops and iPhones? Seriously?
- B1FF_PSUVM 6mo ago
  > faffing around Sheesh, let the lab mice have a breather. Want them to solve physics during the trip?
- jjulius 6mo ago
  I'll echo that "sheesh" in the other comment, too. They're so unserious compared to those super serious Apollo guys[1], right? After all, the Apollo folk never would've smuggled contraband for fun on the Moon[2]! [1] https://youtu.be/8V9quPcNWZE?si=WBYqsQ1LitRC33rb https://youtu.be/8V9quPcNWZE?si=WBYqsQ1LitRC33rb [2] https://youtu.be/t_jYOubJmfM?si=QWMhqrwJm2LL14sC https://youtu.be/t_jYOubJmfM?si=QWMhqrwJm2LL14sC
CWuestefeld 6mo ago
he was struggling at getting a properly exposed photo with those. he said they were coming out super over exposed. This is exactly what newbies experience when trying to photograph the moon from Earth. It's not intuitively obvious, but the light coming off the moon is essentially full-daylight bright. But the moon is small against a very black background, and depending on how the auto-exposure is operating, this often leads to guessing that the scene as a whole needs a lot more exposure. I imagine that trying to photograph the Earth when a significant part of what's in view is experiencing daytime, is very much the same thing.