300D for astrophotography

[nytecam]

I bought a Canon 300D when it first appeared a decade[?] ago but astro results, via lens or SCT, were poor especially DSOs due to my horrendous LP eg bright ginger skies even when apparently 'crystal clear'. Anyone solved this one [without going to a dark site] and maybe link to some sample images under similar conditions as described ? TIA

[swag72]

How about a light pollution filter. I used an Astronomiks clip in filter and it worked a treat.

[garethmob]

i use it with the lens in my sig i find it pretty alright to be honest, most of the LP i remove with darks, and processing but its fairly good thers a pic of m31 in my album i took with it in a village / town not far from where i am now.

need to get a LP filter though but itss ok as is

[sologuitarist61]

Yes, seconded - get yourself a light pollution filter, they help no end.

[nytecam]

Thanks for filter advise Any sample DSO pics under severe LP via it ?

[garethmob]

I think there's a photo in my album. Otherwise have a search for my user name and images. I'm on my phone so I can't link anythin I'm afraid:(

Alternatively have a look at ly flikr. My usernames garethmob.

I also usually search flikr for images taken by any equipment I'm gonna buy might be useful too

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sgazer]

I started out with a 300d and they are great, very low noise due to large pixels, just more difficult to focus due to the lack of liveview. They also have amp glow down one side, which was resolved with the 350d and can be cropped out/dark framed out anyway. I strongly recommend a UHC filter, EOS clip is great, but not compatible with EF-S lenses due to their large rear protrusion. I have fairly bright skies and did a quick 30s shot of the rosette and horsehead nebulas without a filter. Rosette required extreme processing to see something, horsehead was no hope. Slip in the UHC filter, suddenly the sky glow is gone, and both the rosette and hh stand out with no processing. Excellent in my opinion.

[sologuitarist61]

I started out with a 300d and they are great, very low noise due to large pixels, just more difficult to focus due to the lack of liveview. They also have amp glow down one side, which was resolved with the 350d and can be cropped out/dark framed out anyway. I strongly recommend a UHC filter, EOS clip is great, but not compatible with EF-S lenses due to their large rear protrusion. I have fairly bright skies and did a quick 30s shot of the rosette and horsehead nebulas without a filter. Rosette required extreme processing to see something, horsehead was no hope. Slip in the UHC filter, suddenly the sky glow is gone, and both the rosette and hh stand out with no processing. Excellent in my opinion.

Hey, why don't you post them as before and after photo's, so that we can see the difference - that would be great

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

to gain mirror lock you need to install the canon 300D CHDK. i advise reading all posts in the CHDK developer forum. people have bricked cameras trying to use CHDK.

the hack opens up other options in the camera that have not been enabled via the firmware in camera. things like mirror lock, and higher iso are possible.CHDK is more for point and shot cameras, but a few dev's have wrote firmware hacks for the canon DSLR range.

i run the canon 350D (kiss-digital-350d), my camera does not carry the CHDK firmware. but i do run a EF 90-300mm lens ( cheap n cheerful ) and have taken some very nice lunar shots with the lens setup. to combat dead/hot pixels and noise i take a few dark frames and subtract them from my final image.

attachments show moon shots from october-dec 2011. both images had around 30 shots taken and around 5-7 dark frames. stacked with registax and adjusted with G.I.M.P (moon in color). both images snapped using the 350D body sporting the EF 90-300mm glass and taken at 300mm (420mm crop body) wide open @ F5.6. all my images are taken under polluted skys, i live a couple mile from a large city and have a lovely orange glow to the east all the time.

[garethmob]

i find mirror lock isnt really nessarary, i use a hand box (a timer i had on ebay for the 300d for £12) and it seems to work perfectly

heres a few of my pics (im o n my pc now) with very very basic processing

m45 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

capella and triangle | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Andromedia | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

very widefield m57 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

first 2 are taken in very LP skys in newport city center, the other is in my auntys back garden which does have LP around but about half that of newport

[dph1nm]

I bought a Canon 300D when it first appeared a decade[?] ago but astro results, via lens or SCT, were poor especially DSOs due to my horrendous LP eg bright ginger skies even when apparently 'crystal clear'.

LP can look much worse than it is, certainly on my 1000D, because essentially the LCD display shows you a scaled jpg version. So I get bright orange subs in about 1min on the camera, but when you look at the RAW images they are black!

The real problem is not the colour, but the extra noise all that sky introduces, which wrecks your signal-to-noise. LP filters may help a bit with this (I do use a Skywatcher), but there is no real solution other than to exposure longer to compensate (or go to a dark site of course).

NigelM

[nytecam]

Thanks everyone for responding and those sample images a filter seems to be the answer as I don't intend to work other than from the back garden. Solar system stuff is bright and has never been a problem - it's the widefield and DSOs that have been underwhelming:rolleyes: