Do I Have A Modified DSLR?

[itsob]

Hi All

I'm new to Astronomy/Astro Photography and a long time user of Canon DSLR's - particularly the 600d so I know it very well.

I recently bought another 600d from ebay and its got an amber tint to all White Balance presets - no problem for me in general use as I use a custom WB anyway and can easily get rid of the amber tint thusly. Of course I contacted the seller who offered a price reduction for the 'fault' which was satisfactory to us both. Issue resolved, everyone happy, end of story.

Now on the the 'good' bit - possibly...

During our negotiations he told me he had not tried the camera and had bought it cheaply from an astronomy enthusiast who had used it for Astro Photography and maybe he had modified it in some way - I had not told the fellow that I was planning to use it for the same purpose so I doubt that he was tailoring a suitable excuse to me. No matter anyway.

So my question is this: How can I find out definitively if this Canon 600d has had an AP modification applied to it sensor? I am a complete newcomer to the field and would not know what to expect - and I don't want to partially dismantle it to find out!

It is my intention to develop this new hobby once Spring arrives/nights are clear & dry.

Meanwhile what can I try out to see if I have had the good fortune to have landed a great tool by accident - or simply a slightly faulty sensor (that can easily be rectified with manual WB) on an otherwise pristine and low use camera.

 

Having used a number of Canon cameras extensively over the years the odd tint is not something I have come across previously so it does have me guessing & hoping....

[wimvb]

My advice: just try it. Check which emission nebs are visible from where you are, and check the imaging sections here or astrobin, for suitable settings. Then take subs, stack and check the result. All cameras will pick up Ha to some extent, but modded cameras do it better.

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

One quick way is to hold down a remote control with IR bulb in front of both cameras. The astro mod one will be brighter. 

Gerry

[Merlin66]

Don't use the OWB setting and take a "normal" image - you should seen the image is much more red with a modded camera.

 

 

 

 

[itsob]

Have to say the top picture looks very similar in tint to my camera. I will produce and post a Camera 1 and Camera 2 image tomorrow. If I do have an AP modified sensor what advantages will it give me over an unmodified? (that cannot be achieved by WB adjustment/post processing the color etc)

How does the extra amber tint actually help?  - especially since I already have a good deal of amber street light pollution locally.

Newbie questions eh?

[Merlin66]

Itsob,

The mod greatly increases the sensitivity of the chip to the red region of the spectrum and therefore allows the faster recording of Ha detail in nebula.

playing with the colour balance in a standard camera will still be restricted in the red channel to the “normal” response.

 

[LightBucket]

It is not really an amber tint, it’s more red, it is because the camera is now much more sensitive to Red... and this is good as many Astro objects such as Nebula have a lot of the Hydrogen Alpha light wavelengths (reds) so now your camera will pick that up, around 60% more than before the mod, most people who use these cameras for astro will at some point end up doing the mod, so you got a bargain there by the sounds of it...