Nikon Z6II vs. Fuji X-T3 for Milky Way Photography
In this second part of my Milky Way Photography series I will compare recent images taken with a Nikon Z6II with those of the Fuji X-T3. In this comparison I used the 12mm f/2.0 Rokinon on the Fuji X-T3 as I have found it to be a very good lens for astrophotography. Even wide open, it has very good sharpness throughout the frame and maintains low lens aberrations in the the corners. Equivalent to 18mm full-frame it is also a very good focal length for astrophotography. For the Nikon Z6II, I used the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 Z lens set to 18mm at f/2.8. By equivalence both cameras should then have virtually the same field of view and overall light gathering.
All of the images in this evaluation were untracked and taken from a single fixed position on a tripod with a delay to minimize potential of camera shake. The white balance (WB) for both the Z6II and the X-T3 was set to “Daylight” making it the default as-shot setting. All images were exported to jpg files from the original Nikon and Fuji raw files using Capture One. Each image can be enlarged by left-clicking to get a better view. Once enlarged, double clicking zooms in closer.
Below in figures 1 and 2 are shots taken with the Nikon Z6II and the Fuji X-T3. Both images were exposed for 20s at ISO 6400. Interestingly, white balance is quite different between the two images even though both cameras were set at their respective “Daylight” WB settings. Beyond that, though, the overall detail and general look appear to be quite similar.
Figures 3 and 4 below show the same images with some white balance and exposure adjustments to make them look more similar. Some additional work could make them match even better.
Finally, in figures 5 and 6 below are center crops from each of the above images to show better detail of the Milky Way Center. In this case, there is a clear difference. The Nikon Z6II image looks noticeably cleaner, both in terms of sharpness and noise. Clicking in on each image shows this even more clearly.
In conclusion, I would say that the performance of the Nikon Z6II with the 14-24mm f/2.8 Z lens is clearly better than that of the Fuji X-T3 with the 12mm f/2.0 Rokinon. From a system standpoint, Nikon has an additional advantage in that there are other lenses such as the 20mm f/1.8 which is also an excellent, if not even better astrophotography lens. Fuji, on the other hand, does not really have a lot of options in terms of native glass. The Fuji 8-16mm f/2.8 and the Fuji 14mm f/2.8 are a bit slow for their respective focal lengths, which only exacerbates noise by requiring higher ISOs. I have used the Fuji 14mm but found its performance to be noticeably weaker than the Rokinon 12mm f/2.0. There are other third party lenses that I have not evaluated but suspect they would be similar in performance to that of the Rokinon.
Even though the Nikon Z6II (and other Nikon Z cameras – see comparisons in Milky Way Photography – Part 1) does produce cleaner and more detailed results than the Fuji X-T3, it is really only seen at higher magnifications. When viewed at normal sizes such differences become difficult to distinguish and are pretty much irrelevant. For most night sky photography, my preference would surely be the Nikon Z6II. However, I would not feel overly disadvantaged with the Fuji X-T3 and the 20mm f/2.0 Rokinon for producing high quality work.