DSLR cameras

[DannyLee]

If you want to save money, buy second hand, there is a big market out there for second hand Cannons. I bought an EOS 1000D  body for £95 from Wex with a guarantee. Virtually perfect condition when it arrived. I then bought three m42 screw lenses off ebay, 24mm Pentax and  300mm Pentacon and a 70-210 zoom, I think the most I paid for the lenses was £28  Adaptors to cannon around £6 each.

I have found in my very limited ( cloud limited) use, that the fully manual lenses are easier to focus and use with manual exposure than Cannons 50mm prime ( beautiful daylight lens) or their 18-55 zoom. Mainly cos they have an infinity setting and the M42 and Cannon will hit infinity focus.

The sample below is a 30 sec exposure on Altair f8 300mm pentacon

I am still getting to grips with it but it seems a cheap and effective way to go

Dan

 

[happy-kat]

If going for second hand then the Canon 550d had crop video capability great for planets.

I also use vintage lenses a great way to expand what you can use cheaply and for astro fully manual is what you want anyway.

[Grierson]

20 hours ago, happy-kat said:

In the android play store there is an app by chainfire called remote release, if after installing and connecting your camera to your phone using the usb cable plus an OTG cable that application, which is free, fires your camera shutter then the full app by chainfire called dslr controller should work.

Thanks.

 

[Bonnylad]

I'm also considering a second-hand body (a bit like me...) and put the money into decent third-party lenses.

Slowly narrowing down the bewildering options...

[cjdawson]

Time for me to chip in.

Nikon V Cannon - don't worry about that,  long ago it was a thing, looks like both cameras are good for the task.  That said...

In the past, Canon have bought out models for astrophotography.   20Da, 40Da and 60Da.   This is something to bear in mind.  Canon as a company are aware and engaged with the astro market.  The firmware in their cameras is sympathetic to our needs.   If course, the bonus is that everyone benefits from being about to do the long exposure low light level stuff.  Nikon, when I looked into and made my DSLR Choice (30D at the time) didn't have Astro in their toolbag and I'd read things about the Nikon firmware removing stars from a photo thinking they were camera noise.   This combined with using an old Canon PowerShot A80 as my snappy camera meant that I was happy with their kit, knew it and trusted it.

For me, it's Canon all the way but that's because I now have some Canon stuff, so want to keep the compatibility going (I don't have a huge amount of stuff and I don't have a huge budget for new lenses, so it's a consideration)

I've seen some great results with the more up to date Nikons.

These days it's a matter of personal preference.   Just remember that once you decide which you are going with, stick to that brand to keep the compatibility.

[alacant]

Astro: Canon. Everything else: Nikon. Just try and get a nikon dslr modified;) You can buy a modified Canon off the shelf. HTH.

[Moonshed]

I have only just started taking digital  images but opted for the Canon EOS 1100D following asking which camera to buy on this forum. All I can say is so far so good, I really like this camera and its ease of use. My budget was a serious concern and I purchased a used camera from Wex Photographic for a modest £136 and it looks hardly used. It also only cost around £20 for an adapter lens so I can use my Nikon lenses on it, very handy for taking piggy back images and for regular photography. My only Nikon is a film camera so I am afraid I can't help you there. Good luck, I am sure either camera will do a great job.

[Galactic Wanderer]

8 hours ago, alacant said:

Astro: Canon. Everything else: Nikon. Just try and get a nikon dslr modified;) You can buy a modified Canon off the shelf. HTH.

Nikon have come out with the D810A. Which has been modded for astro stuff.

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/microsite/astrophotography/getstarted/camera/index.html

[alacant]

7 hours ago, Galatic Wanderer said:

Nikon have come out with the D810A.

I'm sure it's very good, but it costs over €3000. I'm guessing the OP was looking for something a little more affordable. My post was more about modifying. No one modifies Nikon. HTH.

[Galactic Wanderer]

9 hours ago, alacant said:

I'm sure it's very good, but it costs over €3000. I'm guessing the OP was looking for something a little more affordable. My post was more about modifying. No one modifies Nikon. HTH.

Wow! €3000! I should have checked before posting but I was just trying to make a point that Nikon have started come out with astrophotgraphy...

[Alien 13]

Not the cheapest but I do believe a used Canon 600D series camera is probably the best cost effective start you could make, add a kit lens and your ready to go.

Alan

[alacant]

4 hours ago, Galatic Wanderer said:

Wow! €3000!

NP. I thinks it's important to present all the possibilities, but yeah. I don't know. Wouldn't one get a mono ccd with a freezer attached for that outlay?!