Most of the out-of-this-world photos being beamed home from Artemis II were taken with an old-model Nikon camera that can be bought for about $1,000.
NASA traded in the legendary Hasselblad model it used on Apollo missions years ago for the Nikon D5 DSLR — a classic digital single-lens-reflex camera first released in 2016.
The Nikon was carefully selected for its proven track record as a workhorse space camera, as well as its extraordinary ability to pick up detail even in extreme darkness, Nikon’s top NASA consultant told The Post on Tuesday.
He said the Nikon D5 has been used successfully in space since 2017 — and “is still producing amazing images for them.”
One of the camera’s top-selling points for Artemis II was its incredible low-light capabilities, Corrado said.
The camera is able to shoot at an ISO — or light-sensitivity rating — of up to 3.2 million. //
“After this mission, it should be Z9. They won’t go back to the D5 after this,” he said. “Once they fully test and continue to test, the Z9 will be the camera going to the moon.”
Artemis II brought a total 32 cameras onboard for their 10-day mission.
Fifteen were mounted on the spacecraft, and 17 were handheld cameras the crew operated while peering out the cabin windows during their historic flyby of the lunar far side.