All my gear got stolen... rebuilding good full-frame sensor and lenses for low light

Hey everyone.

It finally happened. After 10+ years of always taking my camera rig whenever and wherever I traveled (and I've been all over including Rome, Paris, NYC, Hungary, England, Vegas etc) and never had anything stolen. I am vigilant and always have my camera bag routines that ensured nothing would get stolen. Without boring anyone, lets just say there was a perfect storm of events that took me out of my routine... I took my eye off my bag... and GONE. In Barcelona. Anyway... I didn't come here to cry... so...

Here is what I lost:

Canon 6D
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L is II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Canon EF 50 f/1.4
Rokinon 14mm Aspherical (manual)
Hoya ND800 neutral density filter
Hoya ND 4 ND filter
Hoya 77mm polarizer
Intervalometer
Memory Cards etc.
Lowepro backpack

So, as you can see... it was a significant loss (the 70-200 hurts!). Since I was happy for years with my 6D, I didn't really look over my shoulder. It was around the time of the Sony A7ii announcement, but I already had Canon glass... and I wasn't that interested in MP. I've found for low-light pictures high-megapixel CCDs result in more ISO noise.

If you did landscapes and Celestial landscape stuff.... what would you consider now? I'd like to consider buying used. Any reputable rental outfits that sell their used gear?

Here is what I tend to shoot (the 6D was great for celestial stuff):
https://andrewkereszte​s.smugmug.com/

Any help, ideas, suggestions would be great. Oh... I'm not a professional.... so I'm not in any major rush either.

Thanks so much.

Cheers,

Andrew K

This is a pretty interesting article... it feels about right... although a lot of other brands are omitted:

https://www.davemorrow​photography.com …raphy-cameras-lenses.html

I'd stick with what I know if I was in your shoes and try to find a used 6D MKii and slowly replace the the lenses with a similar setup as before. Did you have insurance?

Thanks AOD,

I have home insurance.... but not travel insurance. I think this is basically a total loss. There may be a way to get a tax break as stolen items through my corporation, but I need to talk to my accountant... and who actually likes talking to their accountant

Insofar as sticking with what I know, the 6Dii is actually more noisy for low light than the 6D. I'm a little (a lot?) disappointed in Canon's trailing-in-the-CCD-department.

Yesterday I went to a local camera shop that also specializes in astral photography... I told them I may be leaning to Sony A7iii. They said it's known as the "star eater". When it renders the CCD capture to RAW RAM it will mistake some stars as noise and nuke them. So I did a deep dive into the internet about this issue. It's only an issue if you are into real high end (scientifically correct) star data. It's pretty much a non-issue for celestial landscape and there is far less noise than my 6D even with the extra 4mega pixels the Sony has crammed onto the CCD.

Also the Sigma Art series lenses are looking real good. For the price of my old Canon 70-200 f/2.8L ii , I can get a Sigma Art 70-200 AND a 24-70. The Sony menus are notoriously lame, but I read the trick is to customize the buttons to what you want to reach quickly, I can deal with that.

An interesting consideration is the Fujifilm (forget the model) that although is a cropped sensor, it's perhaps also a good option for low light.

I think it's pretty clear I will have to rent whatever I get first... to make sure.

Cheers,

Andrew K

For the first time, Recently attempted to photograph MIlky Way using my Sony A7r iii. So I am not an expert any any means. I know some Sony who roam around in the Sony forum in DPR, are using their cameras for astrophotography. You may want to pose your question regarding star-eater problem on some Sony models.