Thinking about getting into imaging

[Rob]

So.. I'm going to finally cross to the other side I here you all say!. Well this true, the interest has always been there to be honest.

Now. Digital SLR or some other CCD camera?. I'm going to concentrate on DSO & widefield.

Thoughts.. as always budget is going to be up to £300 (paying off the credit card to make some space)... I'll mostly use the 90mm Refractor as is producing nice results visually and I've put a Crayford on the back of it already.

Advice please people.. I'm open to both CCD and SLR

Cheers

Rob

[Kai]

£300 ........

I would go for a 350D second hand Rob.(you may even get all the cables you need as well )

It will give you good widefield through the frac and through the C8 you should be able to get some nice Dso's.

Imho if you went for a CCD then £300 would be only the start of a slippery slope.

[Rob]

DSLR is looking like a possible route.. Not sure if there are other less fancy cameras I could start with (to get a feel for it if you like)

[Beyond_Vision]

I agree with Steve DSLR would be a nice flexible start but try to pick up a second hand modded DSLR (filter mod to enhance Ha response) if you can.

Regards

Kevin

[Rob]

Yep!.. Is there any other digi camera range I could look at to dabble. i.e something that could give me a 30sec exposure time for some widefield. I dont want to spend loads and end up selling the lot in anger!. Did that with a film SLR around a year ago. Costly and frustrating

[Cloudwatcher]

£300 ........

I would go for a 350D second hand Rob.(you may even get all the cables you need as well )

It will give you good widefield through the frac and through the C8 you should be able to get some nice Dso's.

Imho if you went for a CCD then £300 would be only the start of a slippery slope.

I can't improve on the sound advise above.

I'm only an occasional imager and the DSLR is a handy and simple tool to use that can produce wonderful results. Just have a look at BeyondVision's EOS 400 recent post in the Widefield & Special Events section.

Cheers

CW

[Roy Batty]

Picked up my Rebel XT new of an e-bay supplier for just a tad over £300, plus that included a 4GB card.

Andy at Astronomiser might have some pre-modded Canon's for sale also?

RB

[Rob]

May hunt around for 300D if I can... did not really know if other lesser cameras could offer me something while saving?. I could could pick up a cheapie and use as a dabble widefield & family camera while saving for a DSLR!!!

[CELESCOPE]

Rob . hold fire , i may have the Atik 2hs , it is a very good little camera , all my first images were done with this ,also ita darn good lunar imager,

True it is a mono ccd , but to be honest if you are starting out ,its a good way , to learn DSO imaging and processing .

i think they cost about £346 when they were in production , would sell this for £60 , just waiting for some info from Bern for my next purchase, then it will be up for sale .

Rog

[Rob]

Rob . hold fire , i may have the Atik 2hs , it is a very good little camera , all my first images were done with this ,also ita darn good lunar imager,

True it is a mono ccd , but to be honest if you are starting out ,its a good way , to learn DSO imaging and processing .

i think they cost about £346 when they were in production , would sell this for £60 , just waiting for some info from Bern for my next purchase, then it will be up for sale .

Rog

First offer please Rog!!!...great thanks for that Rob

[Whippy]

I was in that same place a short while back Rob, which way to get into imaging? My thoughts were always heading in the DSLR direction until I realised that I'm not really into photography so buying a DSLR on the premise that I would use it for 'normal' use (ie:taking pics of the kids etc etc) would be like buying a Ferrari to go shopping down at Tesco's. So I went down the CCD route, the credit card has been given a royal spanking but fingers crossed this could be the start of a long love affair .

Either way mate, I'm sure you'll get great results!

Tony..

[George]

My thinking was simple, imaging is not just about snapping away and expecting good results. 75% of the art in my thinking anyway is actually the processing of the image which IMHO is a far steeper learning curve than actually taking the picture.

So I went the DSLR route which I think is the best option for me to learn the art and maybe in a year or 2 I'll be ready to spend a couple of k for a really good one shot colour.