Canon eos rebel T3 camera

[Redbird48oo]

Am looking at this cannon camera sold by walmart http://www.walmart.com/ip/Canon-12.2-MP-5157B076/29390242 wondering if it will work okay to get started in astrophotography. Any help or ideas would really be greatful. Thing am not sure of does it have long exposure settings, mirror lock, etc.

[JamesF]

The Rebel T3 is known as the 1100D in Europe as far as I know.  It is a common choice of DSLR for astrophotography.

James

[Leveye]

Personally if you go this route i would get the T3i. It's 18 mp compared to the T3 being 12mp and has an articulating screen. Sure helps me when focusing using liveview. What you really want is a 60D body. I am seeing them for about 500 dollars now used. You can always mod it later for IR photography.

[lensman57]

Am looking at this cannon camera sold by walmart http://www.walmart.com/ip/Canon-12.2-MP-5157B076/29390242 wondering if it will work okay to get started in astrophotography. Any help or ideas would really be greatful. Thing am not sure of does it have long exposure settings, mirror lock, etc.

Is this for AP only or you want to use it for terrestrial photography too?

A.G

[Redbird48oo]

hope to use for both.... astrophotograpy is just one thing I like to try..... this one comes with zoom lens up to 300mm, thought would be good to just piggy back on scope at first.......so much to learn. Than get adaptor to attach to scope, little at time. older you get seems the harder to learn. But am still kickin.

[lensman57]

hope to use for both.... astrophotograpy is just one thing I like to try..... this one comes with zoom lens up to 300mm, thought would be good to just piggy back on scope at first.......so much to learn. Than get adaptor to attach to scope, little at time. older you get seems the harder to learn. But am still kickin.

If you want to use it for both then the 1100d plus the lens is a fine dual purpose camera, if it was only for AP then pixel count is rather unimportant so you do not need to spend a lot of money on high pixel count cameras.  Enjoy your new purchase once you have got it.

Regards,

A.G

[Leveye]

Pixel count is very important sorry but there i'd have to disagree!

[Spookylight]

FWIW I just purchased the very same camera (1100D canon) T3 for both AP and regular photography. If I remember correctly it has a very good noise performance too, even compared to higher models.

[lensman57]

Pixel count is very important sorry but there i'd have to disagree!

Why is that? Most CCDs that cost 5 times the price of the high pixel  ordinary cameras are between 3~8 Mpixels, the quality of the pixel is paramount here not the quantity.  What is important is the  abillty to have long exposures with minimal noise and very high QE  to use the long exposure for faint detail. One of the best sensors for AP at the moment is the Sony ICX 674 series which is 2.9 Mpixel and about 74~80% QE. (the DSLR sensors are on average about 40~44% of QE) its bigger brother the ICX 694 series is only 5 Mpixels.

Regards,

A.G

[Leveye]

Detail. You just answered your own question. I have imaged with a G11, T3,T3i, a 60D and a eventually a 5Dmkiii and have spent weeks looking at the pictures zoomed in at 100% while editing them. The proof was there trust me. The T3 while very capable simply does not take as detailed a picture with it's sensor and pixel count.

[JamesF]

Detail. You just answered your own question. I have imaged with a G11, T3,T3i, a 60D and a eventually a 5Dmkiii and have spent weeks looking at the pictures zoomed in at 100% while editing them. The proof was there trust me. The T3 while very capable simply does not take as detailed a picture with it's sensor and pixel count.

It's not that simple, really.  Pixel count is meaningless without reference to other factors such as pixel size, telescope resolution and focal length.

For the same pixel size, increased pixel count just gives a larger frame without increasing resolution and therefore detail.  Reduce the pixel size and you may get better resolution/detail, but not beyond the limit of resolution of the optical system.  You may be able to reduce the pixel size to a point where you have, say, one arcsecond per pixel, but if you're imaging with an optical train that can't resolve better than ten or even fifteen arcseconds, where's the benefit over having pixels 50% larger?

And ultimately of course seeing places a limit on what can be achieved too.

James

[JamesF]

And of course if you do use pixels far smaller than the limit of resolution of the optical train you may well be giving up sensitivity in return for no other tangible benefit.

I'd suggest that what you might really want is the largest pixel size that still allows you to make full use of the resolution of the optics, although quality of seeing should probably still be factored into that as well.

James

[Redbird48oo]

Boy I sure got things going with pixel count and size.......I did look at the T3i it looks better all around. Still don't under stand a lot of this. Just don't wish to waste money trying and looking back with reqret.......Thanks for all the Help.

[lensman57]

Boy I sure got things going with pixel count and size.......I did look at the T3i it looks better all around. Still don't under stand a lot of this. Just don't wish to waste money trying and looking back with reqret.......Thanks for all the Help.

Hi,

This debate will go on as long as a distinction is not made between AP and terrestrial photography. I have been a photographer for over 30 years now, almost 20 years as a pro doing landscape and fine art, since the introduction  of the Digital into mainstream photography the debate for megapixels have been going on more so by marketing people than photographers themselves. AP has very little to do with normal photography, I had to throw a lot of misconceptions out just to start to tget o grips with this.  If you wish to use your DSLR as a dual purpose tool then get the one that helps you to do your normal photography easily and more efficiently, you will enjoy it more. If this means that you get a Nikon with over 36 Mpixels on the chip then so be it, if however you just want to do AP then there are quite a few other factors to consider and pixelcount does not feature anywhere here. Have a look at the imaging section here and you will notice that some breathtaking captures were taken by cameras such as ATIK 314+, a mono camera with 1.3 Mpixel sensor,  but imagers still go on about how clean and efficient  and noise free the sensor  inside that camera is. You have two good choices infront of you  either way you will not be disappointed.

Regards,

A.G