By now, we have seen dozens of unbelievable and provoking Artemis II mission photos, all taken with a spread of cameras, together with one thing much like the iPhone you might have in your pocket. Among the finest, although, had been captured with pro-level, mirrorless cameras just like the Nikon Z9, a robust, behemoth of a forty five.7MP shooter geared up with a 400mm lens.
For the previous few weeks, I have been taking pictures with that exact same equipment, although, in my case, Nikon loaned me an enormous 180 mm to 600 mm lens (Nikon informed me it is just like the newer model of the 400mm lens the astronauts used) and added a 2x teleconverter for good measure. It is inarguably probably the most digital camera I’ve ever used.
art002e015231 (April 6, 2026) – The Artemis II crew captures a faint view of a crescent Earth above the horizon on the Moon’s far aspect (captured with the Nikon Z9) (Picture credit score: NASA)
The Nikon Z9 is a strong (and at $4,996.95 costly) digital camera that NASA selected as a result of it may work in some fairly excessive environments. Along with its most up-to-date work on the Artemis II mission, it is presently on the Worldwide Area Station and is scheduled to affix the Artemis III mission, which ought to land astronauts on the floor of the moon in 2027. The digital camera ought to, with a particular enclosure, be a part of the astronauts for house and moon walks.
Article continues under
You could like
Once we reviewed the Nikon Z9 in 2022, we referred to as it Nikon’s “strongest digital camera” but, and I’ve to say it may be each highly effective and complicated. There are auto taking pictures modes, together with practically 500 factors of auto focus capabilities, however the extra I shot with the digital camera, the extra I took management of the aperture, shutter, velocity, and ISO, all in an effort to take the perfect moon photographs of my life.
I principally succeeded whereas additionally failing, largely due to my very own fault.
(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
The load of the second
When the total equipment arrived, I spotted how a lot I would underestimated the scale and scale of this tools. With out a lens, the Nikon Z9 weighs nearly three kilos. A part of that’s to accommodate one of many largest batteries I’ve ever encountered in a DSLR (it lasts for days). Even the storage media is bigger: the digital camera makes use of a pair (one is for immediate backup) of expensive Compact Flash Specific playing cards (barely smaller than basic compact flash).
Though the Nikkor 180 mm to 600 mm lens ($2,095.96) options an inner zoom mechanism, it is nonetheless 2 toes lengthy. Add the TC-2.0x teleconverter ($280), and it stands out nearly two extra inches. The general weight needed to be near 10 kilos, and I used to be glad I had a sturdy unipod, which got here in useful throughout my first few days of attempting to shoot the moon and numerous birds.
(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
Let me begin with a warning: if you do not have a pro-level, industry-grade tripod, hold strolling. The Nikon Nikkor lens arrives with a collar that allows you to connect the digital camera to your tripod with the load correctly balanced between the lens and the digital camera. That was an enormous assist for my unipod, however my tripod, which had been greater than efficient for my Sony Alpha a6000 and 200MM lens, was completely overmatched by this equipment. It was barely sturdy sufficient to carry the factor nonetheless for lengthy exposures.
A variety of my star or astrophotography was ruined by imperceptible vibrations. The opposite problem, I do blame on Nikon: Irrespective of how exhausting I attempted, I couldn’t join the digital camera through Bluetooth or WiFi to the SnapBridge app on my iPhone 17 Professional Max. With it, I may’ve used a distant shutter. At the least I found out find out how to gently contact the show to set off a photograph. Once I did that, the digital camera would pause for a second after which snap the shot.
Whereas the digital camera doesn’t default to this setting, I selected to take each photograph in each the very best decision RAW and JPEG compressed. The previous meant I may take all the knowledge the sensor captured for each photograph and pour it into Adobe Lightroom, the place I’d apply most changes to excellent every picture.
What to learn subsequent
Getting hooked
Sure, the Nikon Z9 with that huge lens is dear and a bit overwhelming, however all it takes is one nice photograph to hook you, and let me inform you, I bought hooked.
My first few days had been spent taking some yard chook images. I had put in the 2X teleconverter, which primarily doubles your zoom but additionally amplifies any lens points and removes a few decrease f-stops (greater aperture for extra mild), that means you both want to extend the ISO or decelerate the shutter.
The primary chook photographs I took on a cloudy day had been grainy, even with some work in Lightroom; I did not love them. So I opted to take away the teleconverter. In spite of everything, the birds weren’t that far-off (nearer than the moon, not less than), and with 45MP of sensor to work with, I may crop in fairly a bit.
I noticed instantaneous enchancment, and actually respect the readability and velocity of the lens. The extent of element I used to be capturing, say, of native cardinals was gorgeous.
Picture 1 of seven
(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)
The large second
(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)
Standing outdoors with the Nikon Z9 resting on my unipod, I scanned the sky for distant objects. The day was clear, and I seen a fast-moving jet hundreds of toes overhead. Principally, I may see it is chemtrails, however I pointed the lengthy lens at it and, for this shot, let auto settings (and autofocus do its work).
Within the preview on the touch-screen viewfinder, I may see the airplane, however I additionally thought I seen a faint crescent close by. Rapidly, I opened Lightroom on my MacBook Professional and used the Nikon-supplied card reader and a USB-3-to-USB-C adapter to import the NEF file. That is after I noticed it.
Not solely had I captured the airplane, however the skinny crescent moon; to have them each in body like that was an extremely fortunate shot. In Lightroom, I did some changes to right the sky coloration and assist convey the moon and jet airplane into twin focus.
You possibly can see the photograph above.
The moon and stars
Picture 1 of 4
(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)
I must make one thing clear. The Artemis II astronaut’s moon photographs with the Nikon Z9 and different cameras are much more wonderful whenever you understand that they captured these detailed views with comparatively modest lenses. The Nikon Z9 they’d was geared up with a 400mm lens. Nothing to sneeze at, however you have a look at what I captured with the Nikkor 600mm lens after which with the doubling 2x converter (akin to 1,200mm) and understand that my view remains to be not even remotely as shut and clear as NASA’s Integrity spaceship astronauts had been.
It is humbling, actually.
Even so, I did my stage finest to seize sharp, clear photos of the moon and stars. As I famous above, the astrophotography was one thing of a bust. To do it nicely, you needn’t solely to alter all of your settings to guide (together with focus), but additionally to make use of the Nikon Z9’s nifty Starlight setting on the massive show viewfinder. It is an ultra-low-light view that helps immensely whenever you wish to view the celebs in your body throughout what generally is a difficult state of affairs: outdoors, at night time, at midnight.
I additionally needed to modify my ISO far increased to seize extra mild (I attempted every thing from 400 to 1250) and decelerate the shutter velocity, anyplace from 1 second to 30. My downside was the tripod, which, after I tried pointing the digital camera nearly vertically on the stars, couldn’t maintain nonetheless. Most of my star photographs have some starlight squiggles (not the tech time period). Finally, I captured a few semi-usable photos of Jupiter and its moons. One is tremendous tight, and you may simply make out some moons very close by.
Picture 1 of two
(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)(Picture credit score: Lance Ulanoff)
Fly me to the moon
I had higher luck with the moon. It is loads nearer than constellations and planets, and much brighter, which meant I may decrease my ISO (for much less grainy photographs), shut down my aperture a bit, and use sooner shutter speeds (often a hundred and twenty fifth of a second).
I didn’t benefit from a full moon throughout most of my taking pictures window, however the 3/4 moon I noticed the opposite night time was nonetheless spectacular. As earlier than, I put the photographs in Lightroom and did some changes to scale back the publicity and enhance the distinction. I did not modify sharpness, and due to this fact the extent of element I can present you right here (sure, I did crop the picture) remains to be spectacular. Since I did not journey with the Artemis II crew, my photographs nonetheless solely characterize the aspect of the moon all of us see. They used the Nikon Z9 to indicate us the darkish aspect in methods we had by no means seen earlier than (and to seize views of our dwelling looming within the distance).
There is no frustration that I couldn’t absolutely match Group Artemis II’s photographic accomplishments. As an alternative, holding that digital camera in my hand, I imagined what it should have felt wish to look via the viewfinder and see the weathered face of our Moon in such spectacular, nearly touchable element.
For the briefest second, I felt a kinship with these astronauts, and whereas I am conscious that the onboard iPhone 17 Professional Max additionally captured some inspiring photos, I do know there isn’t any substitute for a professional digital camera and large lens in the case of capturing unforgettable, fortunate, and generally historic astro and nature photos.
Observe TechRadar on Google Information and add us as a most well-liked supply to get our knowledgeable information, critiques, and opinion in your feeds.
