Back in June, we reported about the possibility of a dedicated astrophotography EOS R system camera coming from Canon in late 2019. It turns out such a camera may, in fact, be coming in 2020.
According to the source, they were told that a “Canon EOS Ra” has appeared on an internal Canon roadmap for 2020. The only time the “a” is used in Canon ILC camera models has been for the EOS 20Da and the EOS 60Da, which leads us to believe we will definitely be seeing a dedicated astrophotography camera.
No specifications are known at this time, as only the model name has appeared on the internal document. There is however a chance that the model name is an internal codename for a different camera.
Update: Canon themselves have mentioned the Canon EOS Ra in an EOS R leaflet on one of their official sites. You can download the leaflet here.
The leaflet states:
- The EOS Ra is a version of the EOS R designed for astrophotography. This camera has approximately four times the transmittance of hydrogen-alpha light (656 nm) as the EOS R. Photographs of subjects that reflect a lot of infrared light will therefore appear redder than they actually are. Also, as it may not be possible to obtain an appropriate color balance or uneven colors may result, shooting normal subjects with this camera is not recommended. ..
- Camera operations are essentially the same as for the EOS R. Refer to the included EOS R Getting Started Guide (booklet). Additionally, you can download the EOS R Advanced User Guide (PDF file) from the Canon website.
aka Boring +
Canon News suggests Canon could create an astrophotography variant without much effort.
I'd love to see something like Astro Tracer, auto staking options, and programmable exposure routines. Something like: take 20 30s frames at high ISO with Astro Tracer, close the sensor dust shield and repeat (for darks), then repeat again with a built-in way to get flat frames. Internally store darks and flats for reuse in the future if I'm using the same lens at a similar operating temperature.
I guess I'm more interested in the computational photography possibilities than in the increased sensitivities to red and Ha. Those physical filters can be professionally removed if one insists on strapping a giant DSLR to thier telescope.The most valuable thing Canon can offer me is to make a lot of the tedious post processing go away.
I think you’ll find it more commonly called ”the shutter”.
Thanks, that was "helpful."
indeed. about the only difficulty would be fixing the IR light leak that exists with the EOS R.
the essence is just a hot mirror IR/UV change to the existing camera, and voila, it's an astro camera.
of course they could add different things to the camera such as a longer timer,etc. but it's a pretty easy R&D based camera to come out with.
Ironically if they do come out with an EOS Ra astro edition, it may be the best EOS R to actually convert to IR versus the original EOS R.
I can't find the article but from talking to Kolari Vision, if one is wanting an IR/Astro camera - the EOS RP is the best full frame mirrorless camera out there for that application right now.