Nikon’s mirrorless Z6
THE MIRRORLESS CAMERA WARS ARE ON. With the recent introduction of Canon’s EOS R and Nikon’s Z series, the two major camera manufacturers finally challenge Sony’s lead in the mirrorless, full-frame camera market. These new models establish the mirrorless design as the future for serious consumer cameras.
Not that DSLRs, cameras that use reflex mirrors for framing and focusing, are going away anytime soon. But the new generation of mirrorless models, with their larger lens mounts and shorter required distance from lens to sensor, allow greater freedom in lens design. The camera bodies are smaller and lighter, in contrast to DSLRs that, in top-end models at least, have become larger and heavier.
But are the upstart mirrorless cameras as good as our tried-and-true DSLRs for the demands of astrophotography? We tested Sony’s much-acclaimed α7 III (AS&T: May/June 2019, p. 66) and found it superb for nightscape, time-lapse and low-light 4K videos, but with deficiencies when used for deep sky imaging.
Almost identical in key specifications and price to the 24-megapixel α7 III is Nikon’s new Z6. Using a unit on loan from Nikon’s marketing firm, I was able to test how well the Z6 performs at high ISO speeds on actual night scenes and deep-sky objects. Such tests can reveal issues
