Another dSLR topic...

[milkyjoe]

Hi all,

I am thinking of buying an SLR camera for daytime use and astro with my 200p dob; is this wise and what camera should I get. I prefer the Canon brand but there are so many variants, including the EOS M.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Many thanks.

[Tinker1947]

I went for a 600D supplied and modded by CheapAstro doing the cheaper Mod allows for moving the blue and green slider in the menu so the camera can be used for normal daylight photo's, Juan at CheapAstro supplied a e-mail explaining what had been modified and how to use the camera for night and daylight photography, there are a shed load of people on SGL that have source there modded Canon's from here, very good service..... 

http://cheapastrophotography.vpweb.co.uk/

[Owmuchonomy]

Hi all,

I am thinking of buying an SLR camera for daytime use and astro with my 200p dob; is this wise and what camera should I get. I prefer the Canon brand but there are so many variants, including the EOS M.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Many thanks.

Aside from the choice of camera how are you intending using it with the Dob, considering the lack of EQ tracking in that design?

[milkyjoe]

That was my thought too Owmuchonomy, my scope has a dslr attachment, but I do not see how that would be possible without a decent tracking mount, anyway, ap is expensive!!

[milkyjoe]

*connection, not attachment! lol

[stoffe]

I think the Canon 6D has the most sensitive sensor of them all, its in Nikon-class of the sensitivity. Avoid Canon 40D, its way unsensitive, I bought a Nikon D600 instead and that was a much better camera in all aspects.

Checkout this site that has some compare between different DSLRs sensors and you want low noise and high sensitivity. A great dynamic range is bonus.

http://www.sensorgen.info/

[ollypenrice]

Don't try deep sky AP with a manual Dob. You'd be wasting your time, really you would.

Olly

[milkyjoe]

Don't worry olly, I know I would need a very good heq5 mount and a decent apo frac, if I win the lottery any time soon I would buy all the necessary kit without hesitation :-D

[milkyjoe]

not to mention the mount with tracking capability!

[stoffe]

You can always build a platform for your dob so you are able to track the sky with motors, maybe you can track for about 15 minutes at the time and how long exposure time you will be able to take, I do not know. I do not think this will be any super duper performance but for planetary photography this will be okay if it tracks good an smoothly. Short exposures is good in this case.

[Vox45]

I bought a Canon 1000D on ebay with a shutter count of 1200-1400 (I forget) for 142£ (w/ shipping)

- affordable

- has live view

- Canon so I can use backyardOES

Pretty happy with it, but I had to wait for the opportunity, so I spent a lot of time on eBay

[stoffe]

That was really cheap, I think it will not be to much cost if you modifiy it yourself with more respons in Ha.

[Shibby]

You can always build a platform for your dob so you are able to track the sky with motors, maybe you can track for about 15 minutes at the time and how long exposure time you will be able to take, I do not know. I do not think this will be any super duper performance but for planetary photography this will be okay if it tracks good an smoothly. Short exposures is good in this case.

This is true, however a DSLR is not the best camera for planetary / lunar imaging. Something high framerate like a QHY5 is much better.

If you do plan to upgrade your setup in the future, you can't go far wrong with a Canon DSLR as an all-purpose, daytime + DSO camera. I used my modified 450D for both - I purchased a grey card to sort out the "custom white balance" for daytime photography,