Choosing a dslr

[Chefgage]

Hello everyone. One thing i want to do this year is get a dslr camera for both telescope and wide angled photography. I like the idea of getting some good wide angled shots just with a tripod.

Anyway, are there any good guides out there for helping me to choose a camera?  Budget wise - there isnt one really. I will choose a camera that suits my needs.  I know sky at night magazine sometimes has reviews but i was wondering if there are any good product guides out there showing new and older cameras?

Thanks.

[RolandKol]

 Sony A7 Mark III would be my choice.... but only if we would have a proper AP software for Sony... 
However, 

if you already have any type of DSLR, - simply start from it... If not, Nikon or Canon brands are very well supported AP software-wise, - you just need to decide about the budget and I am sure it will be easier to make a choise.

[Relpet]

Recently I bought a s/h Canon 500D, body only, from Park Cameras in Burgess Hill.  It was a model launched to rave reviews about 9 years ago but this one had a shutter count of only about 3,000.  It is a model recommended for converting for AP, though I will leave that for a while.  Camera is guaranteed for 6 months and came with a handbook.  I bought the kit lens, also s/h, and a shutter release cable.  It came with a charger and Canon battery but I since bought a Duracell spare battery which works well.  Total cost about £250.  I have used a Nikon before, on long loan from a cousin, so not entirely new to DSLR imaging through a telescope.  Our home in England is about 12 miles west of Gatwick/Crawley so the sky is heavily light-polluted.  I bought the camera principally to use at our second home in France where the skies are much more image friendly.  However, for the OU Orion course which started on Monday students were required to take a picture of the Orion constellation using a DSLR on a tripod.  The best of my pictures is shown.  About 15 seconds at iso400 and about f4 - my first attempt at photographing the night sky just using a standard camera and lens and under very difficult conditions.  Nearly all the stars you can see in the picture were invisible to the naked eye.  Hope this helps.

[Panda Alvin]

I think budget will be very important in this case. There are used APS-C DSLRs that starts from £20, up to £3,000 new for Full Frame format on the market.
For wide angle shooting getting a DSLR is only half the battle as well. You need to consider what lens you want on top of that.
There is no point getting a very good lens with a sub par DSLR and vice versa. Faster lens dedicated for AP can also cost £££, again ranging from £20 - £1,500. 


When I started out the hobby 6 months ago and looking for cameras, I found the best site was the list provided by wikipedia which offered base facts. 
I then picked a few within my reasonable price range, and looked at the reviews individually.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Canon_EOS_digital_cameras
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nikon_DSLR_cameras
It may take a while to get around a bunch of numbers but it becomes more easier to understand the more you research into it.

For deciding where to start, whilst the number of megapixel isn't always the rule of law, I would suggest looking no lower than 15MP if you want quality night photos. You may also want to pick one that can shoot videos if you want to capture planets via a telescope. Articulated screen is optional but its nice to have if you camera ends up pointing at or near zenith (your neck will really thank you for it).

As for camera lens, I found https://www.the-digital-picture.com/ to be a good site to base / start my research.
Its got detailed reviews on most of the lenses out there, and what I love about it is that it sometimes offers a table which shows similar lens out there with brief comparison.


As for what I have, I brought a Canon 550D from https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/, and took a gamble on ebay and brought a Tokina 11mm - 20mm lens.
It costed around £450 in total but I enjoyed every penny spent on it. You can see some of my time laps results below if you want to judge on the quality.
It has also been edited through Lightroom just to bear that in mind.