Best Second Hand Canon DSLR - £250 budget

[Grierson]

mpb currently have a 600D with a shutter count of less than 8k for £214. I use one. The tilt screen is a godsend. Not sure how much the cost of modding would be but as has been said (jimbo747) it appears to be a DIY opportunity.  

[Stub Mandrel]

6 hours ago, Spaced Out said:

Hi all

Just thought I’d update you in case anyone else is in the same boat and considering jumping up to a modded DSLR.

I took the advice of Adam (tooth_dr) on here and diverted my money towards building an autoguiding rig instead of going for the camera. Adam made the very good point that a modded camera probably won’t improve my images by much if I am still only achieving short exposures. He also very kindly helped me with lots of advice to build my own autoguider and early results are encouraging. I’ve jumped from 30-40 second subs to 10 minute subs !   

The image below is my first ever attempt at using long long exposures, it was created by stacking 7x 10 minute subs in DSS. OK it is far from perfect but I’m a complete beginner with astrophotography, DSS and processing etc ! I’m just delighted to be getting long exposures like this, I now appreciate that this was definitely a step in the right direction, it encourages me to learn more and save up for a modded camera next.

A big thank you to Adam who not only very kindly sent me a free webcam to use but also walked me through the process of building the autoguider, answering all of my stupid questions along the way !  

Out of curiosity, what webcam and guidescope did you use?

I have made a 50mm x 186mm guidescope and I was wondering about using a webcam until I can afford a guide/planetary camera.

BTW I have modded a Canon 10D and a 450D. I did mess up a sensor for the 10D getting the glued on glass off but a second hand one was pretty cheap (about £17) and that was the only cost. The results have been very rewarding. But i want to use modding + guiding for max results. I may even invest in a 7nm Ha filter eventually.

[tooth_dr]

@Stub Mandrel

Spaced_out is using a Phillips SPC880NC flashed to a 900, with PHD2, and an ST80 guidescope piggybacked. I had the brand new 880, I thought if I sent it to him it with a few links for 1.25" nosepieces etc for him to get, it would encourage him to get it all setup. I tell you what, the results are fantastic!

 

 

[newbie alert]

7 hours ago, Spaced Out said:

Hi all

Just thought I’d update you in case anyone else is in the same boat and considering jumping up to a modded DSLR.

I took the advice of Adam (tooth_dr) on here and diverted my money towards building an autoguiding rig instead of going for the camera. Adam made the very good point that a modded camera probably won’t improve my images by much if I am still only achieving short exposures. He also very kindly helped me with lots of advice to build my own autoguider and early results are encouraging. I’ve jumped from 30-40 second subs to 10 minute subs !   

The image below is my first ever attempt at using long long exposures, it was created by stacking 7x 10 minute subs in DSS. OK it is far from perfect but I’m a complete beginner with astrophotography, DSS and processing etc ! I’m just delighted to be getting long exposures like this, I now appreciate that this was definitely a step in the right direction, it encourages me to learn more and save up for a modded camera next.

A big thank you to Adam who not only very kindly sent me a free webcam to use but also walked me through the process of building the autoguider, answering all of my stupid questions along the way !  

Very nice..to be honest I thought  you was mad jumping in on a guiding rig before getting a missed camera. But as you're  on galaxies there's not much point trying to collect the HA regions..

So was your rig setup ...as in guide scope etc? Are you using phd2?

[tooth_dr]

2 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

Very nice..to be honest I thought  you was mad jumping in on a guiding rig before getting a missed camera. But as you're  on galaxies there's not much point trying to collect the HA regions..

So was your rig setup ...as in guide scope etc? Are you using phd2?

Info in post above 

[Spaced Out]

18 hours ago, John78 said:

Most people would be envious of that effort and even more that you can actually do 10 minute subs without being light polluted out! 

Thanks. Yeah I'm very lucky to live in an area with quite low light pollution, there is a blaze of orange to the south coming from Newcastle upon Tyne (30 odd miles away) but other than that it is fairly dark here.

[Spaced Out]

18 hours ago, Adam J said:

Seriously just take a look at the instructional videos on you tube and save a tone of money by modding a camera your self the 450D and 1100D in particular are very easy cameras to modify. 

Thanks, I'll check them out, if it doesn't look too scary I may have a bash.

[Spaced Out]

15 hours ago, Grierson said:

mpb currently have a 600D with a shutter count of less than 8k for £214. I use one. The tilt screen is a godsend. Not sure how much the cost of modding would be but as has been said (jimbo747) it appears to be a DIY opportunity.  

Thanks. I am certainly feeling drawn towards the 600D, there's a couple on ebay for £179 buy it now at the moment. Sadly after recent autoguiding and coma corrector purchases it could be a while before I can afford a camera now, I'll still be monitoring the prices tho while I save up again.

[Stub Mandrel]

18 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

@Stub Mandrel

Spaced_out is using a Phillips SPC880NC flashed to a 900, with PHD2, and an ST80 guidescope piggybacked. I had the brand new 880, I thought if I sent it to him it with a few links for 1.25" nosepieces etc for him to get, it would encourage him to get it all setup. I tell you what, the results are fantastic!

 

 

Thanks, has it got the LX mod?

[tooth_dr]

26 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Thanks, has it got the LX mod?

 

It doesnt, it's just a standard one.

[Stub Mandrel]

Excellent. can't wait for a clear night to try my new setup then!

[laser_jock99]

On 11/04/2017 at 19:03, jimbo747 said:

Modding a 1100d was incredibly easy - just make sure you follow the tutorials properly. I didn't and therefore ended up with a full spectrum mod instead of just the IR glass, so cost me another £40 on top for an IR UV filter!

There's a seller on eBay who often sells faulty dSLRs, mine had a faulty autofocus so only cost £70. There's bargains around if you can spot them!

A DIY mod is fairly straightforward- did my 40D in about half an hour. A full spectrum mod is not an issue for all mirror scopes.