which canon dslr

[amyscott]

hi there , ive been advised by a few here to buy a 1000d or 1100d canon camera for my astro photography , but ive seen a few 350d.400d,450d canons for sale , will they be just as good?

many thanks

amy

x

[Psychobilly]

Unless they are really cheap I personaly wouldnt go back before the 450D...

The 350D was my first Cannon DSLR compared to the later models it has a lot more noise and suffers from ampglow so really needs well matched darks...

It also doesn't support Bulb exposures over the USB connection or have liveview and its LCD is small making reviewing images on the camera a bit of a pain...

Peter..

[jasperuk]

I had great fun with both the 300D and 400D (just sold) and if its a starting camera you are after they are, second hand quite cheap.

I just got a Ti2 reconditioned of ebay from DIgigood for £319, basically the 550D as sold in the US

[Merlin66]

Yes,

Models newer than the 450D have USB control of long exposure....better than the previous ones...much easier.

[Gina]

£319 for a reconditioned 550D sounds pretty reasonable - a better camera (I believe) than the 1100D body I bought new for £308. I'm still delighted with my 1100D

[osbourne one-nil]

Yes,

Models newer than the 450D have USB control of long exposure....better than the previous ones...much easier.

Does that mean you don't necessarily need a shutter release cable? I know they're not expensive, but I'm just curious as to how they all work. My Olympus has an 8min maximum bulb setting at ISO100 you see.

[amyscott]

would a 400d canon be just as good?

x

[dark knight]

I heard the non European models (Ti and Kiss 550d) that are sold on ebay are not carrying any form of warranty or guarantee , by that I mean no European dealer will provide any after sales service for these cameras. The reason being they were not intended for sale in Europe, from memory the Ti branded cameras were for the USA market and the Kiss branded cameras were for sale to the Japanese market.

Not trying to scare monger, merely want you to know some pitfalls.

[nmoushon]

I have a 450D and though you can't control the BULB setting with a USB theres cheap shutter releases out there that you can pick up. I don't know what the max BULB exposure is on it but I'm sure you can at least get 5min. I'm sure more just not sure how much more.

[rocketandroll]

I had a 350D, modded, and that was a great camera.... I now have a 500D (also modded), for about £450 or so you really can't go wrong with a 450D or 500D pre-modded for astro use.

I absolutely love my 500D and have got some really nice quality results from it... just had some of my deep sky pics professionally printed at A3 size and they still look good close up :-)

Ben

[amyscott]

well i would prefer a camera with good bulb control.x

[Merlin66]

Via only a USB on a laptop using the Canon Utility software you can select any exposure length you want with the 450D and newer models.

[iamzoso60]

I've just entered the realm of Astrophotography and bought a Canon 1100D. Only used it a couple of times yet but impressed with the results. The software package that comes with it will allow you full control via a laptop including "live view". Paid £420 for it from Currys which included an 18-55mm and 75-300mm lens. I wont be getting it modded, as I shall use it for normal photography, but will (when funds allow) buy a clip on filter.

[Wilsmaboy]

I have an unmodded 450D running Backyard EOS via USB on laptop which lets you have any Bulb exposure you want - and adding the Astronomik CLS filter was the best thing I ever did ( short of doing a mod).

[Stardust]

I have an old 300D which can have any length exposure you like when hooked up to the laptop. really should upgrade and do more.

[dishmop]

I use an unmodded 1000D, bought second hand off ebay. Works pretty well, I use the USB cable into a laptop running APT which controls the exposure times and ISO etc etc.

[RikM]

All my deep sky stuff has been done with an unmodded 1000D. I think it's a great camera.