- NASA has released new Artemis II images taken on its lunar flyby
- The ‘Earthset’ image was again taken on a Nikon D5
- D5, released in 2015, is NASA’s choice for Artemis II’s key photographs
NASA has released some stunning new images taken by Artemis II during its lunar flyby – and the key images were once again taken on the ten-year-old Nikon DSLR.
The series of incredible images (scroll down to see them) show some unique sights, including a solar eclipse from the other side of the Moon. And the signature ‘Earthset’ image, described as “generational” by an observer on NASA’s Flickr gallery, was taken on the Nikon D5 (settings were f/8 at 1/1000s, ISO 400, in case you were wondering).
This has become something of a theme. When the eye-popping first images from NASA’s Artemis II mission began beaming back last week, photographers online did what they always do: they looked at the EXIF data. And what they found raised a few eyebrows.
Ground set. The Artemis II crew captured this image of an Earth set on April 6, 2026, as they orbited the Moon. The image is reminiscent of the iconic Earthrise photo taken by astronaut Bill Anders 58 years earlier when the Apollo 8 crew flew around the Moon. pic.twitter.com/ag72r97wzb7 April 2026
These amazing photos were taken on the Nikon D5, a DSLR that was launched over ten years ago and frankly wasn’t exactly met with universal adoration at the time. Shouldn’t the astronauts aboard the Orion craft use something a little more, well, space-age than that? Was this really the best camera for the job of taking these historic photographs?
But NASA’s choice makes a lot of sense when you look at it, and it says something interesting about what “the best camera” means when the stakes are so high.
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Hi Moon. It’s great to be back. Here’s a taste of what the Artemis II astronauts photographed during their flight around the Moon. See more photos from the mission: pic.twitter.com/6jWINHkDLh7 April 2026
All four photos above were taken on the Nikon D5. That DSLR arrived in 2016 with a spec sheet designed to make noise – because of how little noise the camera’s images actually produced.
The standout spec was the camera’s maximum ISO of 3,280,000 – a number so high that it drew immediate skepticism from camera experts, most of whom concluded that the upper reaches of that range were largely useless. They turned out to be right, but they still missed the point.
While no one shoots at ISO 3,280,000 expecting clean results, the engineering effort that went into pushing the sensor so far up the sensitivity scale had a knock-on effect when shooting at more “normal” settings. The D5 is, even today, Nikon’s best digital camera ever for high ISO performance. The Nikon Z9, the company’s current mirrorless flagship, tops out at ISO 102,400.
This low-light performance is essential for a mission that travels through the darkness of deep space. Astronaut Reid Wiseman’s already widely circulated snapshot of Earth—the planet mostly in shadow, with only a thin crescent of sunlight catching its edge—was taken at ISO 51,200 with a shutter speed of 1/4s.
Interestingly, Wiseman reportedly asked NASA control to slightly adjust Orion’s angle so he could push the front of the lens all the way up to the window in an attempt for extra stability. These are settings that are guaranteed to show the limitations of a weak sensor.
Analysis: Tested under the harshest conditions
However, the D5 is not all about high ISO performance. The ‘Earthset’ image from NASA’s latest Moon fly-by set and many others were shot at ISO 400.
The D5’s low-light performance alone wouldn’t be enough to earn it a spot on one of the most high-profile space missions in a generation. It also has an enviable track record in extreme environments. The camera has been a fixture in 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 to have your camera fail you.
In addition to its general robustness, the D5 has also shown strong resistance to radiation, which becomes a serious concern when you move beyond low Earth orbit. The crew of Artemis II – Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen – work at distances that expose their equipment to radiation levels beyond what the ISS can handle. The D5 has been subjected to the relevant qualification test to confirm that it can handle that environment. A newer camera, no matter how impressive its spec sheet, would have to 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 understood to underpin the upcoming Handheld Universal Lunar Camera (HULC) for Artemis III. The Nikon Z9 has also been used for some Artemis II images, 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.
Amazingly, you can pick up a used Nikon D5 from MPB for just $874 / £654 (around $1,250) at the time of writing. That’s for a “well-used” model with a high shutter count (effectively miles on the clock, in camera terms), but even those in “good” condition can be found for just $1,079 / £824 (about AU$1,570).
The mirrorless era has delivered great advances in autofocus, speed and video capability. What it hasn’t necessarily done is improve high ISO image quality across the board. The D5’s particular strength – its ability to extract pure detail from near-darkness – has never been surpassed in a subsequent Nikon body.
As swan songs go, it’s not a bad way to lean in to be the primary camera on a mission that has already set a new record for the longest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth (252,760 miles). The D5 might not be the most glamorous camera, but up there, in the dark, it’s the perfect tool for the job.
Two D5s made the trip aboard 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 please a certain kind of photo geek. GoPros are also on board, courtesy of Disney, for a National Geographic documentary. There are reportedly 17 hand-held cameras in total inside the spacecraft for use by the crew, and 15 installed on its exterior.
To see more images from the Artemis II mission, be sure to check out NASA’s Flickr photo stream.
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