Can someone give me a list of 'useful' D-SLR's which have LiveView

[EA2007]

Hello.

Looking to trade in my Olympus E-400 for a D-SLR which can actually expose for longer than 1 minute on Bulb mode.

Would therefore appreciate if someone could list some astrophotographically good D-SLR's, preferably with LiveView.

Needs to be suitable for a NexStar 4SE, with a slow f/12 value

I would be happy to use an Olympus again, providing that it can expose for an infinite amount of time (unlike the E-400) but preferably swaying towards the Canon D-40, its sooo expensive though.

Thanks and clear skies!!

[beamer3.6m]

The new Nikon D300 has live view but I am not sure how good this would be for astrophotography.

Can I ask though why live view would be of need to you. I personally prefer the view finder approach and if you need to you can always hook up the DSLR, such as the Canon 400d, to a laptop for a stream of constantly updated photos.

[Tinkerbell]

Lo EA2007

I only know the Canon range and only two have live view the new 40D and the 20Da. You can get the 20Da second hand but they go for around £900 to £1050 body only. I think You can also get the 40D modded but the only persons I know of are Hap Griffin < http://www.hapg.org/dslrmods.html > and Hutech < http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/canon/index.htm >

Hope this helps

[EA2007]

Thanks for the replies,

Well I would prefer to have the LiveView feature because.........I use a metal (non-threaded) t-adaptor to connect the D-SLR to the scope, the camera just sits in the eyepiece holder, however if I am swapping between eyepiece and camera then the focus changes and it annoying to have to look through the small viewfinder on the camera to re-focus the camera. This is especially difficult on low light DSO's.

If I were to attach the D-DLR to the plastic threaded area at the bk of the NexStar 4SE scope, then the camera would bash against the mount as it was tracking / slewing, hence me using the eyepiece rather than the provided camera entry point. Another reason I use the eyepiece is because the t-adaptor will not attach to the plastic camera entry point.

If there is a way to get a live preview on a laptop then I would appreciate some more info on that. But, personally I hate looking through a small viewfinder.

The Nikon D-300 is too pricey @ >1000, the Canon D40 looks good @ around £600-800. Would ideally like the Canon D20a but can't find any.

Any help would be great on how to modify things.

All the Olympus D-SLR's I have looked at are exactly the same as the one I have.

[Cloudwatcher]

All the Olympus D-SLR's I have looked at are exactly the same as the one I have.

Does that include the E-410 and E-510?

Both of the Olympus models mentioned above have a live view facility. The E-410 does not have image stabilisation but it is less expensive and lighter. Which could prove advantageous in the astro field. Additionally any Olympus lens you already have should be compatable.

CW

[EA2007]

They may have LiveView, but they are of no use to astrophotographers.

The reason is due to the Olympus models not being able to expose for a long enough time. To clarify further......

A digital and film SLR in 'BULB' mode should ineffect expose for an infinite amount of time, providing you hold the shutter release down. The Olympus range however will only expose for a certain amount of time and even then it depends on what ISO you are using.

The exposure time for an Olympus (E-Series) camera at ISO 100 will be 8 minutes, at ISO 400 it will be 4 minutes, at 800 it should be 2 minutes and at 1600 it should be 1 minute. However with my Olympus E-400 the exposure times are less than those above. I get 8 minutes at ISO 100, 2 minutes for upto 400 ISO and only 1 minute thereafter upto 1600 ISO.

You may argue that this could be long enough for some astroimaging (if you have a scope of f/4), but when (like me) you have a slow telescope then exposure times are not long enough to gather enough light, hence no good images at all, smothered in noise

[iancandler]

The canon EOS 40D is the hands down winner in my books..it also has the added benefit that most propriatry astro software works with canons, there is a cheap version of the timer remote available for it and you can also get a modified IR filter for the chip to enhance its hydrogen line response.

[Keagle]

The new Canon 1Ds Mark III has liveview aswell, but that's a bit...too much for Astrophotography. And it's about £6000. The Canon 40D has Live View, and as has been mentioned has many benefits. The 40D seems to match your requirements hand in hand.

[Beyond_Vision]

You could use a right angled view finder with 2x magnification to aid in focusing a DSLR and use a small TFT display driven from the video out of camera to check focus and framing on images after capture. The TFT display is also a great way of avoiding difficult viewing angle os the DSLR display when refractor or SCT/Mak scope is towards the zenith.

Regards

Kevin