Cannon 550D for Solar System

[cosmojaydee]

Is using a 550D to capture planets any better or worse than using a web cam

[Keiran]

Ive ever had much luck with either Me and planetary dont get on

I will say that i had better results with a ccd webcam than my 500D, but i have seen people do remarkable things with a DSLR and the moon. Personally I think CCD webcams are better at imaging planets.

[VigdisVZ]

I'm not sure but I think the larger sensor on a DSLR is made redundant by the high magnification. It doesnt matter if you have a large sensor, it's going to be a bit grainy no matter what. So what you want to do is to take as many frames as possible and stack them to wash out the blur. And taking a few thousand frames with a DSLR will get cumbersome pretty quick.

However, with that being said, I thought I'd have a crack at filming jupiter with my DSLR at some point, just beacuse it's possible, and to see how close I can come a real webcame user. Not sure if 750mm focal length is going to be that much help though...

Like Keiran said, the moon is a whole other ballpark. Since you can utilize the whole DSLR sensor easier.

[cosmojaydee]

And taking a few thousand frames with a DSLR will get cumbersome pretty quick.

I was thinking more of filming and stacking with a DSLR

[VigdisVZ]

I was thinking more of filming and stacking with a DSLR

I'll give you a report once the clouds clear over Sweden

In theory it should be possible. Hopefully someone else might be able to chime in on this.

[billhinge]

I used a micro four thirds camera to image Jupiter at the weekend, terrible conditions with very heavy dew but clear nights at the weekend here can be far between so gave it a go

It's not a dslr as such since it doesn't have a mirror but it looks similar with interchangeable lenses etc

One difference being that the sensor (and pixel pitch) is smaller than a typical dslr, in fact the pixel pitch is smaller than a web cam (3.6 microns) and it also has a special video mode which only uses the 1920x1280 pixels at the centre of the sensor so it looks similar to a large webcam

Additionally the firmware can be upgraded to support a very high bit rate (144 mbs)

So I guess the best bet would be for you to use your dslr in video mode

I use a GH2 since I don't have a spare laptop to run a webcam and it's convenient

Here is my second ever Jupiter I took at the weekend (taken with C11 and x2.5 power mate)

I don't claim it to be great but weather was bad and it was difficult to get focus accurate, hopefully I can get better with practise and better weather (still learning)

[Gina]

Great start