Best Astrophotography Cameras Within Budget in 2024
Updated: Dec 19, 2023
Would you love to start imaging the night sky, but have no idea which camera you should buy? There are hundreds and hundreds of options out there, and it can be very confusing for a beginner to find what will become the main tool in their astrophotography journey.
In this post, we will discuss our suggestions as to what camera you should get if you are starting Astrophotography.
Whichever camera you decide to purchase, it will quickly become your best friend under the stars. It will allow you to capture astronomical objects millions of light-years away from where you are standing, even if you do not own a telescope.
That's right, you do not need a telescope to photograph galaxies and nebulae, we have a video that proves it if you'd like to take a look.
Below, we will tell you what we think are the best cameras to buy to start in this hobby. Even though it is very likely that you'll be starting out with a DSLR camera, we'll also quickly go over cooled astrophotography-dedicated cameras just in case you'd like to make the jump straight away or upgrade from your current DSLR camera.
Let's get started!
Best DSLR Cameras for Astrophotography in 2024
DSLR Cameras under $900
Canon EOS T8i (left)
Nikon D7500 (right)
These cameras are both affordable and are nice for beginner astrophotographers on a budget, like us when we started!
When we first got into the hobby, we decided to buy a used Canon t3i, which is one of the older cameras in Canon's "TXi" series.
We bought it for under $400 at the time, and for the price, it was really great! You can see what we got with it from Episodes #1 through #4. If we were to start over today, we would happily get the latest Txi camera -- the T8i as of early 2024.
The Nikon D7500 is similar and will also yield excellent results for the price. Note that both of these cameras have a really nice feature: a tilt-LCD display. This can be very useful when checking your frames while the camera is attached to the telescope.
These two cameras are great options for imaging the night sky without spending too much money.
DSLR Cameras between $900 and $1,500
Canon EOS 80D (left)
Canon R (center)
Canon 7D Mark II (right)
These intermediate-level cameras have a low readout noise and a high dynamic range, which is crucial for Astrophotography.
The Canon EOS 80D, the Canon R, and the Canon 7D Mark II are well-known to amateur astrophotographers and are some of the most popular cameras you'll find attached to telescopes.
You will see a noticeable difference in quality when imaging deep-sky objects between these and the ones from the cheaper group. The Canon R is a full-frame mirrorless camera, it is less bulky and lighter than the DSLR cameras, but being full-frame, it might be a bit trickier to use for beginners. Mirrorless cameras are getting more and more popular in astrophotography thanks to their reduced weight!
DSLR Cameras above $2,000
Nikon D810A (left)
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV (center)
Canon EOS Ra (right - discontinued but can still be found online)
Are you 100% certain that you will fall in love with astrophotography as soon as you take your first shot, and want to go for it and get one of the high-end cameras straight away?
The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV is pricy, but it yields incredible results when doing astrophotography. We have tried this camera once doing Milky Way photography, and the results blew our minds! Even a single, unprocessed frame of our Milky Way band from a Bortle 4 zone was jaw-dropping.
On the other hand… Nikon (followed by Canon with the EOS Ra) came up with a DSLR camera entirely dedicated to Astrophotography, the D810A.
These products were built specifically to image galaxies, nebulae, and other deep-sky objects. Their sensor is optimized to be more sensitive to Hydrogen Alpha gas and should both be excellent for emission nebulae. Each also has its own Astrophotography features as an added extra.
Best Cooled Cameras for Astrophotography in 2024
Would you prefer to start with a cooled astrophotography camera right from the beginning? Or maybe you already own a DSLR camera and feel ready to upgrade?
We have only imaged with cameras from the companies ZWO and QHYCCD, and love their products! We will not pretend like we are familiar with every kind of camera out there from the many companies that produce them, and decided to show you guys the ones we suggest from the two biggest guys out there: ZWO and QHY.
ONE-SHOT COLOR Cameras:
If you want a cooled camera that works in a similar way as a DSLR camera, does not require a filter wheel, and yields data that is easier to process than a monochrome camera, get yourself a One-Shot-Color cooled camera (OSC). Here are what we believe are the best three options as of today:
The ASI 533MC, and the QHY533C from QHY, are great entry-level OSC cameras. They have a resolution of 9 Megapixels, a 3.76 um pixel size, and... a square sensor. The square sensor is what scares some people away from this great camera, as almost all other astronomy / DSLR cameras have a rectangle sensor instead.
The ASI 2600MC was released in 2020, but ZWO then released the ASI 2600MC-DUO, which has a guide sensor included! That's right, this means you do not need any additional guide cam, guide scope, or OAG to do auto-guiding on your rig. We reviewed this and loved it so much that we now never bother with a guide scope anymore!
The ASI 2600MC-DUO costs just about $1,800 and is likely to become one of ZWO's most popular One-Shot Color cameras out there. QHY's version is the QHY268C, but does not have a guiding sensor.
The QHY600C is our favorite one-shot color camera. It is a 16-bit full-frame 60 Megapixel camera, which is huge! It also has very little noise, as we demonstrated in our Galactic Experiment 1 video: Stacking 1 vs 10 vs 25 vs 75 frames and comparing the results. We absolutely love this camera and although expensive, believe that it will stay at the top of its category for years to come. Do know that ZWO released an almost identical version, the ASI 6200MC.
MONOCHROME Cameras:
Monochrome cameras might have a steeper learning curve than their OSC counterparts, but they usually are the ones that allow you to get the highest possible quality in terms of data.
The ASI 533MM and the QHY533M are the monochrome versions of the OSC 533 cameras previously released.
These cameras are the same as their color versions, with a resolution of 9 Megapixels, a pixel size of 3.76, and a tiny square sensor. The small sensor is great if you are on a budget because it allows you to use small affordable filters instead of larger expensive ones.
You'll notice that the QHY version has a small purple mount attached, a great and welcomed addition to the camera!
Read our full written review of the QHY533M.
The QHY268M was released in 2021. The color version of this camera, the QHY268C, has been a fan favorite for months, and QHY customers have been asking for a monochrome version of that camera since its release. The company heard their calls and decided to make the QHY268 Monochrome! With a very low read noise and 26 megapixels, this is one of the best-cropped sensor monochrome cameras available for the price this year. ZWO's version is the 2600MM.
The current flagship full-frame cameras from both ZWO and QHY! With 60+ megapixels, very low noise, and a pixel size of 3.76um, these two cameras are almost identical, and they are absolute monsters! We use the QHY600 and have a full review of both the color and monochrome versions on our website.
Released in 2020, these two are still the best full-frame cameras for amateur astrophotographers as of 2024. They are pretty expensive at $4,000+ especially since you will need to add the cost of the filter wheel and the filters you'll need.
Using a Modified DSLR or Mirrorless Camera for Astrophotography
If you currently own a DSLR or a mirrorless camera, and are still unsure whether or not you should upgrade to a cooled astronomy camera, you might want to modify your current camera instead.
We recommend getting your camera astro-modified if the three following statements apply to you:
You do not want to upgrade to a cooled astronomy camera just yet
You like the simplicity of using DSLR/Mirrorless cameras (buttons, LCD screen, etc...)
Your favorite deep-sky objects are emission nebulae
Below is a picture of Barnard's Loop showing a comparison between a stock Canon 7D Mark II DSLR camera (left) and a modified Canon M200 mirrorless camera (right). The difference is insane!
Astro-modified cameras are great because they keep all the ease-of-use advantages that DSLR/Mirrorless cameras offer while being much more sensitive to certain wavelengths than their stock version.
We recently tried a modified camera for the first time, and we were very impressed with the results.
We have a full guide about astro-converted cameras that you should read if you want to learn more! We also have a video you can watch!
If you are interested in getting a modded camera, we definitely recommend the one we used which is Astrogear. They did a terrific job on the Canon 200M we tried!
Want to learn all aspects of astrophotography in the most efficient way possible?
The Galactic Course includes a LIFETIME membership that gives you unlimited access to all current and upcoming astrophotography content. Step into an ever-growing realm of knowledge and learn at your own pace. Make life-long friends and connections with other members, and get tips from instructors that truly care about your journey and progress under the night sky.
If you are just starting Astrophotography and money is tight, you might be asking yourself if you should buy a full cheap setup or a great camera and get the rest later.
We 100% recommend that you spend money on a great camera, and leave the telescope, mounts, and other accessories for the future. If you are able to, you can also get an affordable sky tracker, which will greatly improve your images and further your learning about long exposure times.
Rho Ophiuchi with ou Canon Ra and 135mm lens while tracking the sky
Click the picture to see it in higher resolution and learn more about the image!
All you need is a camera and a tripod to start astrophotography. If you are new to astronomy, it is actually way better if you don't over-complicate your life and focus on one thing at a time. With just a camera, you can capture several of the most iconic objects in the night sky like the Andromeda Galaxy, the Orion Nebula, or even the planets.
Watch our video about photographing deep sky objects with just a cheap DSLR camera and a tripod to convince yourself! Also, read our tutorial post about the 15 easiest astrophotography targets without a telescope.
We also have a quick post and video about our favorite DSLR camera lenses for wide field astrophotography.
Clear Skies,
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