What Would You Do?

[Mav359]

Hi Guys i'd like your opinions

I have just begun down the road of astrophotography using a 1000d when stupily i stood on the USB cable connecting the DSLR to the laptop. The camera's USB port was damaged as a result which means i cant use it via the computer anymore.

Everything else works perfectly however the price of fixing it is £180, its unmodded and never will be as i use day to day so now i'm thinking maybe not repairing it and using a webcam instead.

Can a webcam do the same job? which would you use? or would you repair the camera?

I'm saving for a Atik 383L anyway but im not rushing that purchase and i don't want to do without in the mweantime.

Thoughts?

[perfrej]

Take it apart and fix the USB connector. It sits on a small board and is fairly easy to fix. Also, while you're inside the thing, tear out the IR block filter... Voila!

/per

[reddoss]

It's not the end of the world! You can buy a clone remote timer on the web for about £25 or so which has a small jack plug that fits into the camera. They perform all the functions that the timer in ESO utilities. I know quite a few people who use them for imaging, even though they have a laptop controlling the autoguiding. The thinking being that it's one less thing for the lap top to be doing and that if your power/lap top dies on you, and still set up a whole series of shots (all be it unguided) without having to be next to the scope all the time.