Canon 20Da - any one used this?

[badgerchap]

I have a chance to get a 20Da for basically nothing. At the moment I have a 10D. Anyone have any advice about the 20Da? From what I know it has an increased sensitivity to Ha so modding is less necessary, plus it has better resolution than mine. As its coming for so little money ( <£50) I'll almost certainly get it, but I'd really like to know if it will suffice, or whether I should also get a 450D/1100D also.

Cheers!

[billhinge]

For £50 I'm sure you could buy it and try it, I'd probably give you £50 for it if you didn't like it afterwards

(actually just checked ebay completed sales - there was one sold in US for £80+ so perhaps I was thinking of the 60Da which I saw a s/h one a few weeks ago)

Doh, just checked it was wrongly listed as a 20Da, it was actually just a 20D

[badgerchap]

Lol never mind - the whole point is the 'a'! But yes, for fifty quid I'm almost certainly going to take it. The only issue is that the screen on it is knackered, hence the pprice, but with DSLRfocus I can get around this I think. Again, fifty quid! And my mate says "If it doesn't work you can have it for free". Anyone reckon I can demonstarte that:

No LiveView = No workee?

[Auntystatic]

the 20Da is pre live view so that ploy won't work I think you will need an extra cable to operate the shutter remotely too for exposures in excess of 30"

[badgerchap]

can I not use something like DSLRForcus of Backyard eos to get images fairly rapidly onto the laptop and then tinker with the focus?

[ollypenrice]

While it was a remarkable camera in its day it has been totally outlclassed by later Canons. It's very noisy by modern standards and not all that sensitive to Ha despite the in-house modifications. Even a couple of years ago it had retained enough of its original kudos to see optimistic asking prices posted on the net but these days I'd have thought fifty quid was plenty!

Olly

[badgerchap]

Cheers Olly! Can't be much worse than my 10D though, so I still might give it a go in the spirit of enquiry!

It's only £50 so not worth worrying about!

[peem]

Hi The 20da has a rather primative live view . Go to bulb setting and after that there are 2 settings F C 1 and F C 2 .which are x5 and x10 mag If you google canon 20da instructions you should find how to us it. dosnt work for daylight only on stars. Hope this helps .

[ollypenrice]

Cheers Olly! Can't be much worse than my 10D though, so I still might give it a go in the spirit of enquiry!

It's only £50 so not worth worrying about!

No indeed, worth a punt. It helps to keep these cameras cool. Guests used to use chilled physio packs around them.

Olly

[badgerchap]

Well if anything then it's an opportunity to experiment with various cooling mods. I know Gina and others have had some success with Peltiers, so maybe I'll give that a try.