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Comment by gadders | Hacker News Reader

>> "I did it, so it can be done," Legault replied. "Anyway, will a million dollar racket will (sic) make you defeat Federer or Nadal?"

My wife is a not-bad-for-an-amateur photographer of family events etc and any time she takes a good photo people ask "What camera did you use?"

I wonder if people used to go up to Shakespeare and say "Great play. What quill did you use?" Not that I'm comparing my wife to Shakespeare, but I could thrash around with an expensive DSLR for ages and not get a photo as good as a pro with an iphone 7. It's not the camera that makes a good photo.

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I would like to know the camera too, because he takes the shot at 1/6000. What kind of camera lets in enough light at that shutter speed in the night sky to get that kind of photo at an apparently-low ISO (not a lot of grain apparent in the photo)?

Moon is bright, and the telescope has a much larger aperture than your typical camera lens.

The moon is bright. It's directly lit by the sun.

Probably using a ZWO ASI camera. He has used the 183 pro in the past I know.

No grain; he's using a digital sensor, not silver nitrate emulsion.

I had the reverse experience... I borrowed a friends super fancy camera, and used it on all the 'auto' modes, and it gave amazing results, despite me having no real photography skill.

The camera will make the picture bright, in focus etc but it won't help you with composition and capturing the right moment.

Oh but it does... The 'burst' ability lets me take 50 photos in a few seconds and choose the best. And the high res sensor lets me crop afterwards to get much improved composition. No skill required.

And knowing how to crop the shot for the best composition?

In terms of technical difficulty and required equipment, there is a significant difference between "family events" and astrophotography.

Well yes, but you could give me his cameras and I would still fuck it up.

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