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DSLR mod before and after pictures

BillPickle

By BillPickle
in Getting Started With Imaging

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BillPickle

BillPickle

Posted
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So this morning a customer of mine popped into the shop sporting an old camera he said he had. turned out it was a canon 350d in good nic.

So i bought it with the intention of modding it for astro use.

Ive decided to go for it my self as i have a work shop with all the tools necessary to do the job and it seems simple enough.

After the mod i plan on going down the cls filter route to solve the bloated stars thing the 350d suffers from but at 50 quid for a 350d with charger and ef lens i feel its worth a shot as i didnt want to touch my 500d which i like for everyday use.

Just wondering if anyone has any before and after pics of any targets with their cameras pre and post mod.

also... my 500d is a much higher spec and all round better camera but would the modded 350d technically outperform the unmodded 500d for astro use? unless of course i decided to mod the 500d.

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ronin

ronin

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Do not have any but people have posted before and after and the after is a huge amount more RED.

At present 80% Ha is blocked but the software compensates for this

Without the filter you get in effect 4x-5x more Ha and the software is still compensating, so the final is somewhat OTT.

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BillPickle

BillPickle

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Do not have any but people have posted before and after and the after is a huge amount more RED.

At present 80% Ha is blocked but the software compensates for this

Without the filter you get in effect 4x-5x more Ha and the software is still compensating, so the final is somewhat OTT.

Worth doing tho? 

My main reason was that i read that it can decrease exposure times and that more detail in nebula and galaxies can be picked up.

Things like the horse head nebula will now be a target worth going for.

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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My first "Canon" was a 350D which I modded myself... It's a bit more tricky than the later cams as you have to de-solder the shield form around the Sensor assembly... but still ok to do...

Remember you will be limited to 30s exposures over USB alone... So either use a timer remote or you will need to build a Shutter release cable...

I went for filter removal - full spectrum mod on the 350D and used it with a  CLS-CCD or IDAS P2 filter both of which have the Ir/UV cut needed fro a full spectrum modded camera with "fracs" or camera lenses...

Theres a couple of "shallow" images with the modded 350D here... https://picasaweb.google.com/PsychoBillyUK/AstrophotograhyMainlyCPC800AndMegrez72#

Peter...

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sharkmelley

sharkmelley

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I still use a full spectrum 350D as my main "workhorse" camera.  So I need to use an IR/UV filter or IDAS P2 to prevent IR/UV getting to the sensor and bloating the stars.  The 350D has amp glow but this is removed using darks.  For 50 quid you can't go wrong!!

Mark

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BillPickle

BillPickle

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thanks for the replies.

Ive been using my unmodded 500d with backyard eos and loving it. 

I thought if i could mod up the 350d and buy one of those cls clip in filters to cut ir and uv then id be set as im using it with a small refractor for deep sky stuff.

It also seems a touch lighter as well which isn't a bad thing as im about a kg short of my mounts imaging payload so it all adds up.

i think ill have a go over the weekend... hopefully the clouds clear off so i can do a before and after.

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BillPickle

BillPickle

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Thanks for the tips.

Im gonna make a diagram of each part of the camera then put some double sided tape on it to stick the screws in the right location for re assembly.

For a first go im gonna stack up my skywatcher Light pollution filter and order a 30 quid UV/IR filter and stack them up on the end of my barlow.

Results will be limited due to the CA on my st-80... ED-80 and CLS clip in filter are on my shopping list for later in the year.

Looking forward to this :)

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BillPickle

BillPickle

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I used to print out the Gary Honis guides and tick off each stage as I did it then cross tick it as i put it back together...  IIRC there's one "tricky" screw...

Having the right tools certainly helps..

Peter...

Ive seen a couple of guides online and also a video of a russian chap doing it. Ill search around for the gary honis guide as well.

One of the things i like about this new hobby is that there is an endless array of things to research, buy or think about buying.

The technical side of things is also very interesting.

Before buying a telescope i didnt even own a camera... now i have 2 with several lenses and 2 telescopes.

I blame the clouds

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lensman57

lensman57

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So this morning a customer of mine popped into the shop sporting an old camera he said he had. turned out it was a canon 350d in good nic.

So i bought it with the intention of modding it for astro use.

Ive decided to go for it my self as i have a work shop with all the tools necessary to do the job and it seems simple enough.

After the mod i plan on going down the cls filter route to solve the bloated stars thing the 350d suffers from but at 50 quid for a 350d with charger and ef lens i feel its worth a shot as i didnt want to touch my 500d which i like for everyday use.

Just wondering if anyone has any before and after pics of any targets with their cameras pre and post mod.

also... my 500d is a much higher spec and all round better camera but would the modded 350d technically outperform the unmodded 500d for astro use? unless of course i decided to mod the 500d.

There is a lot of none sense been written about the AP mod of the DSLRs, I once read a claim that the removal of the hot filter could result in a 200% increase in the Ha which is total rubbish.. The modification will only alter the recording of the red spectrum beyond 570nm to near infra red. It does not make one iota of difference to the green and blue regions. You want the modded DSLR as quite a lot of DSO targets like nebulae are rich in Ha which the standard camera will record very poorly but so far as galaxies and star clusters and so on are concerned the modding  does not make any difference. It is a desirable and " relatively easy " mod and  I say relatively easy as for every success story there is another of failure so if you want your main camera modded send it to someone who knows what he is doing. If you want any more information have a read of this.http://www.deep-sky.co.uk/imaging/dslr/dslr.htm.

Regards,

A.G

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Uranium235

Uranium235

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Psychobilly, on 12 Feb 2015 - 9:18 PM, said:Psychobilly, on 12 Feb 2015 - 9:18 PM, said:

Also remember  if you remove the filter and don't put a suitable filter or clear glass back in front you will lose infinity focus with most camera lenses wont be a problem on a scope though...

Good luck with the mod... :)

Peter...

I kinda found a way around this one with my full-spectrum mod, I managed to get a fairly decent autofocus without any replacement glass - but that invovles stopping the lens right down to something like f16, changing the ISO, and relying on bright, sunny conditions to make up for the stopping down. Increasing the f-ratio that far has the bonus of increasing the depth of field (for daytime photography), but its not great for anything high-speed.

I also switch to mono for daytime photography with the modded dslr, its easier than trying to fiddle the colour balance with software :)

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StuartJPP

StuartJPP

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I also don't have any specific like-for-like before/after comparison shots, but will highly recommend modifying it.

I do have one shot of Orion before the mod of a Canon 1100D but the one after has much more data, and was processed better so not really comparable.

A lot more Ha is captured after modification and any colour balance shift due to the filter can be corrected during processing.

Good luck, it isn't that difficult to do, just take your time and be methodical.

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sharkmelley

sharkmelley

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There is a lot of none sense been written about the AP mod of the DSLRs, I once read a claim that the removal of the hot filter could result in a 200% increase in the Ha which is total rubbish.

I'm not quite sure what you mean.  The filter removal will typically allow 4x as much H-alpha to reach the sensor and be recorded - an increase of 300%.

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Astrosurf

Astrosurf

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I can't comment on the filter in a mod as I had mine modded by a friend and am not sure what was done! But I've been told on here that an IR/UV filter after modding isn't necessary. I'm still waiting for more replies here: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/236894-iruv-cut-filters-with-modded-camera/#entry2566793

Here's my M33 taken with my modded 600D. The nebulae come out nice and red.

Alexxx

post-1704-0-51687100-1424082972_thumb.jp

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