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Artemis II crew take “spectacular” image of Earth

bbc.com

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Re: Artemis II crew take “spectacular” image of Earth

#341

Post by throw0101c »

nate wrote: post #317
throw0101d wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-t... They have a thermal blanket for exterior work: * https://petapixel.com/2026/02/24/artemis-ii-astronauts-will-... * https://petapixel.com/2025/01/10/the-custom-nikon-z9-and-the... * Various stories wit…

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 adju…

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.

Re: Artemis II crew take “spectacular” image of Earth

#342

Post by pants2 »

jeffreygoesto wrote: post #280
porphyra wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did bring the Z9: https://petapixel.com/2026/04/02/a-nikon-z9-made-it-aboard-t... But yeah the grainy photo of the Earth with the D5 at ISO 51200 shows the shortcomings of the ancient DSLR. Still, great shot.

How does the age of the camera influence physics? The only thing that really helps would be increasing the aperture.

Lower noise sensors and better image stabilization for longer exposures

Re: Artemis II crew take “spectacular” image of Earth

#343

Post by throw0101c »

porphyra wrote: post #174
throw0101d wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd have probably shot it wide open at f/2.8 rather than cranking the ISO up to 51200. One of the reasons the D5 supposedly was chosen was because of its high dynamic and good low light performance. It can go up to ISO 3,280,000: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_D5 The D5 has been used on the ISS, including EVAs, since 2017, so is a known quantity: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cameras_on_the_Interna…

The good low light performance was amazing for its time (10 years ago), and it still holds up decently today. But let's not kid ourselves -- it has been clearly surpassed by modern backside illuminated CMOS sensors like the one on the Z9. EDIT: sorry, it seems I'm wrong. I just checked https://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm and while the Z9 has the clear edge with 2 more stops of dynamic range at low ISO, the…

Sure, but D5s were also doing EVAs for many years and much more of a know quantity in space.

Re: Artemis II crew take “spectacular” image of Earth

#344

Post by generj »

isoprophlex wrote: post #300

https://www.reddit.com/r/3DS/comments/1sakb3v/artemis_ii_lau... The launch, shot on a Nintendo 3DS. For those with a gen z-like retro tech streak.

What a mad idea.

The aesthetic ended up pretty cool but I can’t imagine the thought process that lead to capturing the launch on a 3DS.

Re: Artemis II crew take “spectacular” image of Earth

#345

Post by kingforaday »

hannesfur wrote: post #73

Looking at the EXIF (with exiftool) for the image uploaded by NASA ( https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/art002e00019... ), apparently this was taken by a Nikon D5 with an AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED and developed with Lightroom. It also seems like very little was done in Lightroom. Amazing... I dumped the whole EXIF here: https://gist.github.com/umgefahren/a6f555e6588a98adb74eed79d...

It's fun to think about tile dilation per the exif captured Create Date: "2026:04:03 00:27:39.26". I know it's negligible over the trip, but when they took it, was their time really "2026:04:03 00:27:39.25"?

Re: Artemis II crew take “spectacular” image of Earth

#346

Post by seba_dos1 »

harrall wrote: post #257
deathanatos wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good grief, that video suffers the YouTube-ism of "ramble on about how you don't understand X" for way too long. Video alleges people think ISO makes the sensor "more sensitive or less sensitive". (I … don't think this is common? But IDK, maybe this is my feldspar.) (The video also quibbles that it is "ISO setting" not "ISO" … while showing shots of cameras which call it "ISO", seemingly believing that some of us bel…

ISO changes the analog gain and in a way yes, it does make it more sensitive to a certain range of brightness . This is because the ADC (analog to digital converter) right after can only handle so many bits of data (like 12-16ish in consumer cameras). You want to “center” the data “spread” so when the “ends” get cut off, it’s not so bad. Adjusting the ISO moves this spread around. In addition, even if you had an infi…

> your goal is to change the environment

...or integration time.

Re: Artemis II crew take “spectacular” image of Earth

#347

Post by exegete »

mr_toad wrote: post #289
rationalist wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically correct, the best kind of correct. After all, the moon is in Earth's orbit.

One would hope they’re still in Earth’s orbit - if they’ve achieved escape velocity they’re not coming back.

So if we’re being technical I think they did achieve escape velocity? But the moon’s gravity and some timed burns will slingshot them back.

Re: Artemis II crew take “spectacular” image of Earth

#348

Post by PeterStuer »

nate wrote: post #317
throw0101d wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-t... They have a thermal blanket for exterior work: * https://petapixel.com/2026/02/24/artemis-ii-astronauts-will-... * https://petapixel.com/2025/01/10/the-custom-nikon-z9-and-the... * Various stories wit…

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 adju…

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?

Re: Artemis II crew take “spectacular” image of Earth

#350

Post by CWuestefeld »

nate wrote: post #317
throw0101d wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-t... They have a thermal blanket for exterior work: * https://petapixel.com/2026/02/24/artemis-ii-astronauts-will-... * https://petapixel.com/2025/01/10/the-custom-nikon-z9-and-the... * Various stories wit…

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 adju…

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.

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