- NASA has released new photos of Artemis II taken during its flyby of the Moon
- The “Earthset” image was again taken with a Nikon D5
- The D5, released in 2015, is NASA’s choice for the most important photographs of Artemis II.
NASA has released stunning new photos taken by the Artemis II during its flyby of the Moon – and the key shots were once again taken with Nikon’s decade-old DSLR.
The series of incredible photos (scroll down to see them) show unique views, including a solar eclipse on the far side of the Moon. And the signature “Earthset” photo, described as “generational” by one observer in NASA’s Flickr gallery, was taken with the Nikon D5 (settings were f/8 at 1/1000s, ISO 400, in case you were wondering).
It kind of became a theme. When the first stunning images from NASA’s Artemis II mission began to trickle out last week, online photographers did what they always do: They looked at the EXIF data. And what they found raised a few eyebrows.
Earth. The Artemis II crew captured this view of an Earth sunset on April 6, 2026, while flying over the Moon. The image recalls the iconic image of Earthrise taken by astronaut Bill Anders 58 years earlier as the Apollo 8 crew flew past the Moon. pic.twitter.com/ag72r97wzbApril 7, 2026
These stunning photos were captured with the Nikon D5, a DSLR that launched over a decade ago and, frankly, didn’t exactly find universal adoration at the time. Shouldn’t the astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft use something a little more space-y than that? Was it really the best camera to capture these historic photographs?
But NASA’s choice makes perfect sense when you look closely, and it says something interesting about what “best camera” means when the stakes are so high.
An unlikely hero?
Hello, Moon. It’s great to be back. Here’s a taste of what the Artemis II astronauts photographed during their flight around the Moon. Check out more photos from the mission: pic.twitter.com/6jWINHkDLhApril 7, 2026
The four photos above were taken with the Nikon D5. This DSLR arrived in 2016 with a spec sheet designed to make noise – due to how little noise the camera’s photos actually exhibited.
The standout spec was the camera’s maximum ISO of 3,280,000 – a figure so high that it immediately drew skepticism from camera experts, most of whom concluded that the upper limits of this range were essentially unusable. They turned out to be right, but they still didn’t get the point.
While no one shoots at ISO 3,280,000 and expects sharp results, the engineering effort put into pushing this sensor so high on the sensitivity scale had a knock-on effect when shooting at more “normal” settings. The D5 remains, even today, the best digital camera ever designed by Nikon in terms of high ISO performance. The Nikon Z9, the company’s current flagship, achieves an ISO sensitivity of 102,400.
This low-light performance is essential for a mission traveling in the darkness of deep space. The snapshot of Earth already widely shared by astronaut Reid Wiseman – the planet mostly in shadow, with only a thin crescent of sunlight passing through its edge – was captured at ISO 51,200 with a shutter speed of 1/4 sec.
Interestingly, Wiseman reportedly asked NASA control to adjust the Orion’s angle slightly, so that he could press the front of the lens up to the window in an attempt to gain additional stability. These are parameters guaranteed to show the limits of a weak sensor.
Analysis: Tested in the most difficult conditions
However, there’s more to the D5 than just high ISO performance. The “Earth” photo taken during NASA’s recent flyby of the Moon, and many others, were taken at ISO 400.
The D5’s low-light performance alone wouldn’t be enough to earn a spot on one of the most prestigious space missions of a generation. He also has enviable experience in extreme environments. The camera has been an integral part of conflict journalism and professional sports photography for years – in other words, the kind of work where reliability is essential. As a professional, you simply cannot afford for your camera to break.
Beyond its general robustness, the D5 has also demonstrated strong resistance to radiation, which becomes a serious problem once one goes beyond low Earth orbit. The Artemis II crew – Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen – operate at distances that expose their equipment to radiation levels higher than those faced by the ISS. The D5 has undergone appropriate qualification testing to confirm that it can handle this environment. A newer camera, no matter how impressive its spec sheet is, should earn the same level of trust.
NASA has confirmed that future Artemis missions will use next-generation camera systems currently undergoing qualification, with Nikon’s Z9 platform expected to support the upcoming Portable Universal Lunar Camera (HULC) for Artemis III. The Nikon Z9 was also used for some Artemis II photos, such as “Artemis II in Eclipse” (f/2.0 at two seconds, ISO 1600). But for this mission, the proven option won out more often than not.
Incredibly, you can pick up a used Nikon D5 from MPB for just $874 / £654 (around $1,250) at the time of writing. This is a ‘well-used’ model with a high shutter count (actually miles on the odometer, in camera terms), but even those in ‘good’ condition can be found for just $1,079 / £824 (around AU$1,570).
The mirrorless era has brought major advancements in autofocus, speed, and video capability. What it didn’t necessarily do was improve the quality of high ISO images across the board. The D5’s particular strength – its ability to extract sharp detail in near darkness – has never been surpassed in a subsequent Nikon body.
As the swan songs go, being the main camera on a mission that has already set a new record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth (252,760 miles) isn’t a bad way to bow out. The D5 may not be the most glamorous camera on the market, but up there in the dark it’s the perfect tool for the job.
Two D5s made the trip aboard the Orion, accompanied by a Nikon Z9. There’s also a 30-year-old Nikkor 35mm f/2 AF-D prime lens in the bag, a detail that will delight a certain type of photography enthusiast. GoPros are also on board, courtesy of Disney, for a National Geographic documentary. There would be 17 portable cameras in total inside the spacecraft for crew use, and 15 installed outside.
To see more images from the Artemis II mission, be sure to check out NASA’s Flickr photostream.
The best cheap camera
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.
