US$900,000+raised
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Put Andromeda over your landscape.
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NASA APOD ·
Andromeda in Southern Spring · Mullion, New South Wales, Australia
C42 + Canon 70–200mm at 200mm, f/2.8 · Pulsar mount · 101 min total sky exposure
Clear, dark nights are limited, and carrying and setting up multiple pieces of equipment takes valuable time. In the Southern Hemisphere, polar alignment is even harder without a bright, easily identified pole star, making accurate tracking more difficult. Night-sky panoramas add further complexity, requiring a reliable sequence of precisely tracked shots. A single missed frame can make stitching difficult, with little chance to reshoot.
Lucy Yunxi Hu
- From car to first frame
- ~10 min
- Guided single exposures at 200 mm
- 10 min+
- Cooling below ambient
- ΔT 30 °C
- H-alpha nebula red, straight out of camera
- No mod
Where an Ordinary Camera Hits Its Limit.
Slow setup, trailing stars at longer focal lengths, and waiting for noise reduction. Here is what C42 changes.
From Car to First Frame in About Ten Minutes.
Be ready when your target clears the ridge.
Pre-Shoot: From Setup To Start
10min
C42 System Smart Pre-Shooting
Faster, Easier Shooting Prep
1hour
Traditional Deep-Sky Pre-Shooting
Simplify The Workflow. Enjoy The Night Sky.
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Fast Deployment
Assemble in about 3 minutes, with fewer devices, cables and fewer steps.
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Automatic Pointing. Then Your Framing.
Choose a target on the star map and let C42 point to it, refining the position with plate solving. Then set your framing position and angle; HALO rotates the camera to your chosen angle.
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@chasingluminance GWI™ + Mount. Two Layers of Tracking.
The mount’s encoder feedback keeps tracking steady, while GWI™ measures star drift on the imaging sensor and feeds corrections back to the mount. Together, they keep stars sharp without a separate guide scope or guide camera.
Plan the Shot. C42 Shoots It.
Draw the frame you want on the star map: the Milky Way arch, or Andromeda with room for the ridge below.
C42 calculates panel coverage, overlap and exposure count, then points and rotates the camera through the plan. Enable Live Stacking during capture, or select and process frames on the camera afterward, ready to stitch in your editor.
From Capture to Creative Processing
Live or Later
C42 In-Camera Automation
In-Camera Calibration & Stacking
- Dark & flat-field correction
- HDR blending
- Live stacking while shooting
- Select & process frames afterward
Manual Desktop Workflow
Traditional Manual Processing
Built to Track. Ready to Guide.
Harmonic drive
A compact drive system makes the mount easier to pack for a night away from home.
Encoder feedback
Position feedback helps the mount follow its commanded motion throughout the exposure.
Your Lenses, Ready to Shoot.
Four interface options: Sony E, Canon EF, Nikon Z and M68.
For Nights in the Field.
Stay Powered. Stay Shooting.
The counterweight battery balances and powers your setup. Connect a compatible portable power station, or link batteries end to end to charge one another. Adapt your power setup to keep longer shoots going.
- Up to 5 Hours
- Cooling Off
- Approx. 2 Hours
- Full-Power Cooling
Features for Field Use
Aluminum-alloy construction, a built-in anti-dew heater and device alerts support field use. Check operating limits for your conditions.
- -20°C To 40°C
- Anti-Dew Heater
High-Speed SSD Storage
C42 includes 8 GB of eMMC storage for FITS/DNG RAW imaging workflows. Kickstarter includes a complimentary 128 GB SSD, upgradeable to a maximum of 2 TB.
- Up To 2TB
- 128 GB SSD on Kickstarter
- FITS/DNG
- RAW Imaging
Built to Keep You Shooting
Ongoing feature upgrades and long-term software maintenance arrive through OTA updates, adding more ways to shoot, refining the workflow and improving reliability in the field.
- Feature Upgrades
- More Ways to Shoot
- Long-Term Maintenance
- More Reliable Shooting
Reviewed in the Field.
Long-form reviews and real-world tests. Videos in English; click to play.
AbdurAstro — Hands on Review
Naztronomy — Testing Kickstarter’s Most Hyped Smart Astro System
C42 Astrophotography Setup in Under 3 Minutes
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Continue to VIP Reservation →Frequently Asked Questions
Does C42 replace my camera?
C42 is a dedicated astrophotography camera. Compatible lenses attach to C42; your regular camera can still be used for other photography.
Which lenses work?
Choose Sony E, Canon EF or Nikon Z for compatible lenses, or M68 for telescope connections. Autofocus and aperture control depend on the specific lens and adapter; check compatibility before choosing.
Can I still shoot the foreground?
Yes. Capture the sky and foreground separately, then blend them in your editing workflow. This does not promise automatic in-camera sky–foreground blending.
Can I shoot time-lapses?
Yes. C42 can capture time-lapses on a regular tripod without the Pulsar mount.
How heavy is it to carry?
The camera and mount are described as about 3.5 kg in the campaign overview. Lenses, tripod and other accessories add weight; check the component specifications for your chosen setup.
Warranty
- C42 Camera: 2-Year Warranty
- Pulsar Equatorial Mount: 2-Year Warranty
- Counterweight Battery: 1-Year Warranty