EOS M3 as an astrocam

[Fspp369]

Hi everyone

The only bit of gazing I've done in the last few months is the conjunction of Jupiter Venus recently.

Tempos Fugit.

Does anyone have any experience of using a Canon EOS M3 as an astocamera?

I like the look of its wide throat and large sensitive sensor and also the very short distance between the mount and the sensor itself.

Have an old 5D which is a good camera but is very,heavy.

[Psychobilly]

I haven't looked at the spec of the M3 - but the older M's didn't allow tethered shooting  and bulb exposures were only available via an IR remote -   I have the original EOS-M (which I carry as a lightweight "emergency spare" body)   I used an app on my smartphone  - Samsung Galaxy S4 which has IR output to get programmable  intervalometer functionality over IR...

Peter...

[Psychobilly]

Looks like it's got Wi-Fi remote control and image download... hmmmmm.... I had tried to avoid reading anything about it (until now) ...

Peter...

[Steve Ward]

Seems to connect to Utilities for download apart from RAWs , manual's a little confusing though ... doesn't actually state whether you can shoot straight to PC from what I could make out , nice looking toy though .... 

[Psychobilly]

Must be "social media" type downloads then.. but as long as you can control it and have prober "b-mode" over wi-fi... hmmm....

AF is a huge improvement over the original which let's be honest was pretty dire...  Even landscape photographers had to allow for continental drift with it...

IQ was decent though... The control dials are also a useful upgrade - touch screen controls great unless your using a loupe to see the screen in daylight!!

Peter...

[Fspp369]

So I guess from the posts no one has any experience using a canon M3 as an astrocam.!

I guess I'll just have to find out by using my friends camera if I can get him to part with it for a time....here goes.

[Rommel]

Theres still no connection to the EOS M3 for controlling the shutter.

Not even ML supports it yet.

The image quality is roughly the same as M. So why not use that one instead? Alot cheaper and ML installed.

[Fspp369]

Thanks to everyone who replied.

Just found this link which may prove useful to others.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flange_focal_distance

Now that I know the distance for an m3 I can proceed to make an adaptor for the scopes.

I'll let all know how I get on in due course.

[Rommel]

Why bother? There are already adapters for the scope for apsc. Just buy an inexpensive M to apsc adapter from eBay., cost £21 incl shipping.

[Psychobilly]

You can also get EF-M to T2 adaptors that will give the standard T2 spacing... The t-thread is commonly found on most pieces of astro kit...  Unless you use one that has an AF confirmation chip fitted , You will probably have to set the custom function that allows shutter release with out a lens attached...

Peter...