canon 6dmk2 - necessary to remove IR filter?

[b16707]

I was reading around just to see if remove the IR filter in canon cameras are really necessary and came across this site: http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/do_you_need_a_modified_camera_for_astrophotography/. Looks like the 7D and 6D can perform well without being modified. Now I was wondering if the latest 6d mark 2 would have "good sensitivity, including hydrogen-alpha, and amazingly low dark current"? Not sure where to check up these sort of specs. I have 6dmk2s for work and obviously dont want to mod them as well i still need them for work.

[sharkmelley]

The answer depends on what your goals are.   You can do excellent astrophotography without removing the internal filter and the colour response will be very similar to what the (daylight) human eye sees.  The ClarkVision site has the goal of "natural colour" astrophotography (although I disagree with some of the processing techniques used there - they lead to unnaturally saturated colours).

As soon as you replace/remove the camera's internal filter you will have enhanced H-alpha sensitivity (which is good for H-alpha emission nebulae) but it does unbalance the colour.  It becomes impossible to achieve "natural colour" in the emission nebulae simultaneously with "natural colour" in the stars - no single setting of white balance will achieve this.   This is why ClarkVision does not recommend modification.  That being said, the colours coming from a modified camera are still very beautiful and I think that very few people make "natural colour" their ultimate goal.

Ultimately the question boils down to whether or not an enhanced H-alpha response is a priority for the type of imaging you want to do.  For many people, the answer is no.  But for those who want to image very faint emission nebulae the answer is likely to be yes.

Mark

[b16707]

very helpful @sharkmelley! Thanks! 

For now ive planned to not mod or get a modded camera since I am still learning the ropes. Maybe in the future.

[Alien 13]

I personally would never mod a camera just dont like the star colours and star bloat they produce when using lenses, you can of course add in filters (if there is space) but that kind of defeats the object. I would also add that some Canon cameras have more than enough Ha response.

Alan

[RichM63]

I'm with Alan, I would not mod' a reasonably high end DSLR in order to achieve a compromise.

If I was so inclined, I'd look at dedicated astro cameras that do what I want. (I'm not that inclined)

[michael8554]

I have a 6D mark 1 and rumour has it that its Ha response is good, but I found it lacking compared to previous modded cameras on the same target.

So I modded it and this improved matters.

Sensitivity and low noise are as good as the rumours say.

I tried a 4/3rds format  ccd OSC for a while but results were disappointing and hard work compared to a dslr.

Michael 

[Stub Mandrel]

17 hours ago, b16707 said:

I was reading around just to see if remove the IR filter in canon cameras are really necessary and came across this site: http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/do_you_need_a_modified_camera_for_astrophotography/. Looks like the 7D and 6D can perform well without being modified. Now I was wondering if the latest 6d mark 2 would have "good sensitivity, including hydrogen-alpha, and amazingly low dark current"? Not sure where to check up these sort of specs. I have 6dmk2s for work and obviously dont want to mod them as well i still need them for work.

I mistrust anything (especially websites and image processing software) that claims to be the 'One True Way' and denigrates everything else. Astrophotography processing is ultimately a matter of taste not science (ref. the Hubble palette which looks like a psychedelic pizza to me...)

[b16707]

3 hours ago, RichM63 said:

I'm with Alan, I would not mod' a reasonably high end DSLR in order to achieve a compromise.

If I was so inclined, I'd look at dedicated astro cameras that do what I want. (I'm not that inclined)

good point. I would probably follow this general rule too.