dslr for astroimaging

[iantobach]

old camera now *****erd. wife happy for new digital slr- but i`m unsure (ok clueless) about what would take nice snaps and also work well with my 10 inch lx90 also- and what sort of budget would get me a nice camera thanks guys??

[Kai]

Canon Dlsr's come highly recomended look for 300D / 350D / or 400D

Yo uwill need to get some adaptors to attach it to the scope but they do not cost the earth.

Have a search on the forum for some canon images to see what can be done.SteveL is doing some nice imaging with it at the moment

[SteveL]

why thank you sir! And its Kai's old 350D

Images are available in my astro blog (link is in my sig below)

[peonic]

If I was buying again, I'd be leaning towards the 350/400d personally - USB 1.1 on the 300d is showing it's age - 2 minutes to download a single RAW image can be a bit restricting. That Canon Outlet EBay store mention on this very forum a couple of days ago seems to have some real bargains, too!

Chris

[jonifive]

Hi Ianto

Both Phil (Gepetto) and I have Nikon D40's. I looked at the canon initially because it is a better astroimager based on the experience of people on here. But, if you mostly take everyday pics then the Nikon is excellent. (Its not too shabby with astropics either.) It is also on offer at Jessops for about £280, a lot cheaper than the canon equivalent.

I went in and tried them both.......but I just prefered the feel of the Nikon, don't know why, but I did. I can really recommend it for the money.

If you do a search on here there are plenty of arguments for both canon and nikon, but purely for astro pics, go for the canon, for an excellent camera that can be used everyday and for astrowork, I chose the D40.

[beamish]

Sorry to jump in here but I'm torn too, tempted by the 350D, 400D, D40 or D40x BUT the canon out let also has the 10D body only. Now If I was to just look at AP then a T mount and the 10D look inviting but so does 289.00 for the Nikon D40 kit !!! And the cash back offer ends 31/08/07 !! aaaagh !!

help

Karlo

we need a "tearing my hair out" smiley.

[iantobach]

are ther any things in paticular u need in a good dslr for astrophotography- ie low f ratios, exposure times, or how many megapixels- i expect the chappies in even a decent camera shop would know about straight forward stuff but not astro-ianto

[jonifive]

People like SteveL can help you with this, but I believe that the majority of software for astrophotos is more compatible with canon, than Nikon, but I could be wrong. I'm sure Steves photos (especially M31) are a good enough argument to buy a Canon for astro pics. But like I said earlier, I just prefered the Nikon.

JV

[Jamie]

Its just MHO here but in the right hands the Nikon and Canon will both take cracking images...

As far as software is concerned i am sure you can just about get all imaging software to work

with both Nikon and Canon cameras..

[beamish]

things just got worse, Daz is flogging his SC3 !

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

But...

DSLR Focus doesn't like Nikon stuff due to the interface (last time I looked) so you would be better with a Canon.

The Nikon RAW mode isn't RAW as in raw, the camera does a clever ( for non-astro stuff ) sweep of the chip to get rid of hot pixels. This unfortunately gets rid of dim stars and the stuff that we want to keep, making it a right nuisance for astro stuff.

This is all "the last ime I looked" so it may be better now.

On the up side, Nikon D50 chips are lower noise than the Canon equivalent if you can tame them, all from what I've read.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[Jamie]

You are most likely right KK.

If i had a choice i would go with the Canon. (but thats just me)

[skysplitter]

Hi iantobach..if you have a local jessops i recommend checking it out because they could have some awesome bargains.The one near me in lancaster is closing with some mega reductions.cameras and lenses are half price and lens filters are 70% off.The web site prices dont seem to be affected.