I refuse to MOD my DSLR but.....

[Mav359]

Hi guys

I have a canon 1000d which i don't want to mod becasue i use it as a day-to-day camera and once i get a bit better im going to invest in CCD anyway.

Can i compensate for this in processing?

[Psychobilly]

Not really.. if you don't capture the lovely red stuff inthe first place then theres not a lot you can do...

Saying that even un-modded the 1000D is better than the earlier cams so its worth persevering.... at the end of the day theres no substitute for exposure ....

[Revs]

If you do a filter replacement to keep the autofocus, can't you just use an IR filter on the front of the lens?

[lukebl]

Hey, you can still capture some lovely stuff with an unmodded camera, you know. Like this.

[smeech]

Hey, you can still capture some lovely stuff with an unmodded camera, you know. Like this.

How?

[lukebl]

How?

This is how: http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-deep-sky/132992-heart-rosette-nebula-unmodded-canon-450d.html

[Earl]

also on a 450D is this i took earlier in the year

[smeech]

Again, how?

Thanks for replies.

[Earl]

That was 20 2 min subs with darks and lights with a 450D guided.

[smeech]

Both incredibly good pictures.

[steppenwolf]

I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how much you can capture with an unmodified camera. I won Astronomy Now's Image of the Month Award with a North America Nebula image taken with an old Canon 300d and your 1000D has a better red response then that so just start collecting those photons and take lots of subframes. To my current tastes, five years on, my original NA nebula looks overcooked but it does show what can be done:-

[smeech]

That's superb. Do you have a link on how you did it? Astrotrac?

[Psychobilly]

Piggy-backed I guess as it probably predates the Astrotrac...

[smeech]

Fair point, well made!

[steppenwolf]

These are the notes I made at the time:-

Canon EOS 300d piggy-backed on top of my Skywatcher 80 ED Refractor on EQ6 mount autoguided. ISO 800, 200mm, F2.8, 4 X 300secs. stacked in Registax and processed in PS 4.0

Average seeing, average transparency

20/08/06

Those were the days, petrol well under a quid a litre and my company still making a profit ....

[Psychobilly]

Those were the days indeed....

[Sparrow]

Going back to your original question, as already said, you can't compensate for what isn't there in the data by processing.

You CAN however compensate to a certain extent by more subs. I'm using an unmodded 1000D and I know that if I get 4 hours data on a target it is far easier to process with more red signal than with only two hours of data. The main benefit of a modded DSLR is that it will catch the same amount of red signal (or more) in a shorter time - an obvious benefit where clear nights are at a premium.

I'd dearly love to get my cvamera modded but at £200 I just can't afford it at the moment and I really haven't got the confidence to do it myself so I'm persevering with it as is.