Camera with £500 budget

[arnie30uk]

Hi all would appreciate if someone could offer some advice at all please.

I got started in astononmy about a year ago now and love it, I then went down the modifying of a webcam ( non ccd ) for astrophotography route to get myself started. I've had some pretty good results considering I was only using a bog standard cmos webcam but I now feel I need a camera more dedicated for astrophotography.

I was wondering if someone could give their opinion on a camera that would be a good all rounder for planetary and dso with a budget of around £500. My scope is an 8" skywatcher with synscan goto mount. Any help would be much appreciated peeps, many thanks in advance

[Tinker1947]

Go for a Canon 1100D, refurbished there on E-Bay plenty of people on here have gone this route.....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Canon-EOS-1100D-Digital-SLR-Camera-12MP-With-18-55mm-DC-III-Lens-Included-/290950633190?pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_DigitalCameras_DigitalCameras_JN&hash=item43be0256e6

[arnie30uk]

Hey tinker thanks for the reply, I'll look into one of those. Price seems very good too. Thanks for your help buddy

[JamesF]

I think you'll struggle to find a single camera that is good for both planetary imaging and DSO imaging, to be honest. They're two different types of imaging making different demands of the camera.

Plenty of people start DSO imaging with a DSLR and it is perhaps the easiest way to get into it on a moderate budget. I think I'd be tempted to do that and then try to pick up a dedicated planetary camera second hand. I imagine that would be quite possible within your budget.

James

[Bizibilder]

You may just do it! You coud get a Canon 1100d body for £225 http://www.camerapri...-EOS-1100D-Body and a planetary camera (colour to get you started, rather than using filters, which are an additional cost) for £274 http://www.firstligh...4as-colour.html totalling £499 !!! (You might find a Philips SPC900 webcam but beware the silly prices especially on ebay - these are regarded as the "best" webcams for planetary if you don't want to go for a full astro camera).

You will need adapters for the DSLR adding around £40 to the bill and a laptop would be needed to control the movie camera (and the DSLR - far easier with the lappy). A cheap lappy could be found here: http://www.morgancom...ptops-Netbooks/ as you don't need the latest gizmo's, just something that can handle the camera and has enough disc space for your movies. All the software you need for image stacking and processing is available free on the web. Deep Sky Stacker, Registax and GIMP will see you started. (usual disclaimers all round)

[arnie30uk]

Wow thanks for all the feedback so quickly is most appreciated all. I shall look into all that you have all provided and go from there, I did just lose out on an spc900 this morning. It went for £60. I would have gone more but didn't get my bid in on time. But thanks for all the info guys its been a big help

[Bizibilder]

£60 is top price for an SPC900 - anything more is silly

Forgot to say - first spend £20 on "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards - worth every penny and will save you pounds in the long run! http://www.firstligh...e-richards.html (usual Disclaimer).