wxsatuser

You can record 5x liveview on the 600D and 1100D this gets quite close to 1x1.

Canon 70 and 80D is 1x1 with 5x liveview.
 

13 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

If you are looking to image the Moon or planets then video crop mode will be useful but that is not on all cameras, for example it is on 550d, 60d and possibly 600d. Good to read you are looking at canon it makes things so much easier when starting as so much software supports canon. A flip screen is useful too.

No centre 1x1 crop mode on the 600D

The so called crop just interpolates the whole frame and that makes the image fuzzy.

1 minute ago, Toaster05 said:

I was thinking of spending around £350-400. I'm not 100% locked into that camera but it seems like a decent choice for someone that knows more about baking bread than f ratios.

It's a baby step so I don't want to break the bank.

750D excellent 379 tops lowish count
750D like new 399 low count

60D excellent lowish count 300 tops
60D good camera for planets and normal AP

haggle a bit you never know

MPB will give you an idea about prices.

1 hour ago, Chefgage said:

Read through this thread but did not see it but when you are taking your images on your DSLR can you not set it to take raw (.cr2) and jpg's at the the same time. That's what I do as I sometimes just want one the the raw images as a jpg (saves having to convert it). Also to view the raw files before stacking them (so you can throw out the bad ones) use Adobe bridge. It's a free download and quite handy for viewing the raw files as it has a handy magnifying glass that can be positioned on the raw image. Then when you click on the other raw images the magnifying glass stays in position so you can compare star shapes between images.

You can easily do this with the Canon DPP, it comes free with the camera.

You can see the RAW unedited, one click as a jpg or all as jpgs.

49 minutes ago, Newforestgimp said:

My current scope for imaging is a WO Zenithstar 61, would that change the advice ? thanks for the reassurance on the sensor front.

Not sure, does it cover full frame?

It appears with a flatner it does 43mm which is close if that is correct.

Full frame means you need a scope or lenses that can cover the sensor

APS-C is most likely the best way to go.

Long exposures as such will not hurt the sensors but be careful when it's really hot outside.
Obviously you don't want the sensor temperature going to high.

My Canon 60Da has done hundreds of exposures of 10minutes with no problems.

31 minutes ago, Ande said:

CS2. Is Camera Raw a plug-in?  I am completely new to any form of PS, and am currently swimming in a sea of total bewilderment 😂

Yes.

Photoshop on it's own afaik does not read RAW files.

Adobe Camera RAW is the bit that does the decoding.
There are other programs that can read them as well, Canon software for one.

Most RAW decoders rely on dcraw which I believe is now not updated apart from what libraw do with it.

13 hours ago, Ande said:

Thanks each. I’ll try and post a light frame if I can work out how to get one that displays. Apart from DSS, I don’t seem to have anything that wants to look at a RAW file. I think the Canon spits them out as .CR2 or something like that. I’m currently away from the camera and PC and am not sure about that, but it rings a bell. I did try to feed one into PS, but it rejected it.

Regarding the ISO being low, I do get that as it seems low to me too. I was just going by this article: http://dslr-astrophotography.com/iso-values-canon-cameras/ which suggests that the 80D performs best at ISO 200. I guess I was clutching at straws with such a small exposure as 20 seconds.

What version of PS do you have?

If it's not up to date Camera Raw will most likely not open the file.
To open 80D files you will need version 9.5 of Camera Raw as a minimum.

Should do the trick, still have my two 60Da, nice cameras.

Congratulations on getting your licence.

Being an amateur does'nt restrict you to just listening to GRAVES.
You can actually contact other amateurs by the mode almost anytime.
Obviously the showers are the best times but sporadic meteors do offer many chances.

Most of my MS contacts back in the 90s were via very high speed CW and sporadic meteors.
Spent many a early morning listening for those short pings to piece together a QSO and occasionally
a couple of short bursts it would be over quickly.

If you ever hear me on the bands give me a call, I have a page on QRZ which shows my set up.
My main activities are FT8/FT4 all HF bands except 160metres, same for VHF, 4metres, 2metres, 70cms and 23cms.
I'm also QRV Es’hail-2 QO-100 satellite all the time I'm in the shack.

73 Mike G1HWY

The Canon 200mm f2.8 is a nice lens.

If you get a really good one f2.8 is achievable.

A few more

A few Quadrantids from last night  through to today.

There was almost continuous activity from around 8.00 t0 9.00am this morning.

Pick the best screen shots of the ones that I looked at.

If you want to do planets and Moon go for a 60D or 550D as these have true 1 to 1 crop mode.

Both bodies would be in your budget take a look at MPB, always bargains on there.

For broadband targets you don't need it modded.

I have an old GODOX one that works just fine.

As long as it's for Canon you should be ok whatever you chose.

Btw I have the expensive Canon one but it does no more than a cheap one.

A lot of detail in there, the Tak doing the business.

36 minutes ago, nfotis said:

These prices for NB filters are almost obscene.

An amateur astrophotographer must be quite rich and be ready to pay the price of a whole dedicated camera for a single filter(!).

Compare the price of a cooled IMX492 camera with these filters, it's crazy.

As you can imagine, I am not keen on entering this particular hobby at such exorbitant prices, so ZWO/QHY lose at least one DSO camera sale from me.

 

N.F.

 

Plenty of cloud with every filter. 😉

Looks mighty good to me, I would be well pleased with that once your fixed outside.

My view towards GRAVES is restricted by the South Downs so I do not always see everything.

I do get a direct signal on and off but it must be the back lobes as they would need to be close
for me to hear them.
I do get the odd satellite but I'm sure that must be off the back lobe as again I believe I cannot hear
the main beam from here.

11 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

The Canon 80D is very nice, welcome to the club.

I am going to a bit out on a limb here but having owned the 50mm f/1.8 STM and the 17-55mm kit lens I would say that the 17-55mm is actually better for AP, the 50mm prime is a nice lens but mine realy needs stopping down to f/4 or f/8 to get decent stars however the kit lens seems OK wide open.

There are lots of old M42 lenses around that will work with an adapter on the Canon, look for 135/200mm takumars but others are worth a punt if the price is right.

Alan

 

Yes, that's the main problem.
Most lenses will not be good wide open, there are exceptions like the Samyang 135mm and most of the others are very expensive.

48 minutes ago, Ande said:

Apart from software, am I missing anything else that will prevent me from getting started? 

a clear sky might help 🤔

Would think most FM stations would run a fair bit of power, more the better.

How about an FM radio station.

Chose one you cannot hear direct and that is up to 1000km away.

Change the desiccant.

Mine used to ice all down one side, after doing the desiccant it was ok.

Last night was very active.
After midnight most captures had two or more pings, I gave up counting as there were over 1500 screen shots.

Here are the ones that stood out.