SLR Camera's

[Mr Green]

Good evening All!

I am going to purchase an SLR camera this weekend and have a budget of £400 and was hoping you could all help me decide what would be best to go for!

I have been looking at the Nikon D3000 & Olympus E-450 to give an idea of the spec that I can afford.

I am a newb to the whole hobby and have a Dobsonian 200p that is on the standard wooden base! I know that tracking objects and taking long exposure shots will be near on impossible but imagine that I will still get some nice shots!

I will be using the camera for taking detailed shots of my reef aquarium and so won't be wasting the money!

I know you will all probably suggest getting a tracking mount first but the £400 comes in the form of capital bond vouchers meaning that the camera has to come first!

Any way! let me know what your thoughts are and if I will be able to take any decent pics without tracking!

[Beyond_Vision]

You will only be able to take pictures of the Moon. You may also have problems getting the camera to focus as there may not be enough inward travel on the focuser. Someone else who has this model may be able to confirm this. As for the camera I would go for a Canon 1000D or a 450D for imaging as this camera is supported more by the astro community

Regards

Kevin

[barkis]

I guess that Astrophotography is not going to be your prime use of the camera then.

I bought an Olympus E-500, and Im delighted with it, and as well as terrestrial imaging, I have used it for lunar pictures too. I always had a thing for Olympus cameras, and own a couple of the OM range too.

If you were leaning more towards astrophotography, then the Canon range is popular, from the 300D to the 1000D. There are more experienced Camera users on SGL, and they will offer their advice to you shortly.

Ron.

[Mr Green]

I am actually only going for an SLR camera so that I can have a stab at astrophotography but do have other things that I will use it for justifying the £400!

I should probably re-word my question!

I could spend £200 on a half decent camera but wanted to know if it would be worth spending £400 on an SLR camera that I can use with my telescope but want to know if:

a) A £400 camera is capable of decent dso, planetary shots etc

Is it possible to get any worth while shots without a tracking mount! i.e Not just a whole memory card of moon shots!

[pvaz]

Astrophotography with a dob will only work on the moon I guess.

With a webcam you can probably do some planetary shots.

Anyway I would still say: buy the DSLR. I only do "regular" photography and a DSLR get's much more quality then most, if not all, compact cameras.

I would only consider a compact camera if you ware going to take it to the beach or snorkeling. There are quite a few water proof compacts around (Canon D10 is my favorite) and water proof cases for DSLRs cost way too much for me to consider them.

[Mr Green]

Surely I will get good shots of clusters and an ok shot of M42 for example?

Am I being a terrible newb or would it be possible? I know that I wont get the high colour detail shots like what is posted on here but the camera must be able to do some good shots!?

I will eventually get a tracking mount and so would be interested to know if camera's around the £400 mark will take decent long exposure shots!?

[Jupiter Martin]

with your budget New you could get a Canon 1000D if you could stretch another 100 you could get the canon 450d both excellent for astro and normal use. You could eventually mount your OTA on a EQ mount and get good DSO pictures I guess. as the skylinners are just the same optics as the explorers I believe

[Psychobilly]

I'd go for a DSLR and would definitiley add a 1000D or 450D to your list...

I have a thing for DSLR's having the odd one or five of them...and used many differnet brands and styles of digital cameras..

I was (and still am) A nikon man for general photography but drifted towards Canon for Astro work due to the better software support and the fact that the canons could be modified for improved astro use - somethign thats not essential so dont worry about it at this stage...

The newer Nikons are nice cameras and I am avoiding camera shops like the plague at the moment because my D200 is getting long in the tooth and needs an upgrade...

Billy...

[pvaz]

Surely I will get good shots of clusters and an ok shot of M42 for example?

Am I being a terrible newb or would it be possible? I know that I wont get the high colour detail shots like what is posted on here but the camera must be able to do some good shots!?

I will eventually get a tracking mount and so would be interested to know if camera's around the £400 mark will take decent long exposure shots!?

Both the 450d and 1000d do excellent exposure shots. On the dob they will still do, but instead of getting a nice sharp image, you'll get the trails of the path the objects traveled across the FOV while the shutter was open. That assuming the focuser on the scope does have enough inward travel to reach focus.

But still for regular photography buy a DSLR. If later on you get an EQ then you already have a good camera.

[Mr Green]

Surely I will get good shots of clusters and an ok shot of M42 for example?

Am I being a terrible newb or would it be possible? I know that I wont get the high colour detail shots like what is posted on here but the camera must be able to do some good shots!?

I will eventually get a tracking mount and so would be interested to know if camera's around the £400 mark will take decent long exposure shots!?

Can anyone shed light on my above comments?

[Jupiter Martin]

You probably should be able to get a few second exposures with the 2 canons I mentioned earlier.

With a decent mount you could get as long exposures as you like with both cameras

[Mr Green]

Hmm looks like I am going to have to invest in a mount pretty quick and so may sell my nintendo wii to fund it!

Now I just have to work out what mount I need! lol

I would guess that a Skywatcher NEQ3 Deluxe Computerised GoTo mount wouldn't be big enough for my 8" dob!

[arad85]

Astrophotography is a slippery and expensive slope... Having said that, a DSLR takes FAR better daytime pictures than a compact does....

[arad85]

PS.. the mount is the most important thing for astrophotography. Think HEQ5/EQ6 for your telescope.. Sorry

[Bizibilder]

May I suggest you buy (or borrow from the library) two books first:

Digital SLR Astrophotography by Michael A Covington

Making every Photon count by Steve Richards

Both about £20 (the first I got from Amazon, the second from FLO). Read and inwardly digest both and you will know what you can (and can't) do with a DSLR - and other types of camera and mount. Well worth the pennies before you splash out on expensive equipment!!

Hope this helps.

[Psychobilly]

May I suggest you buy (or borrow from the library) two books first:

Digital SLR Astrophotography by Michael A Covington

Making every Photon count by Steve Richards

Both about £20 (the first I got from Amazon, the second from FLO). Read and inwardly digest both and you will know what you can (and can't) do with a DSLR - and other types of camera and mount. Well worth the pennies before you splash out on expensive equipment!!

Hope this helps.

Both well worth the pennies even after you have splashed out on the expensive equipment...

Read up front they will give you a very good idea of what possible with what kit... If you were only going to buy one - get Making Every Photon Count... and borrow the other...

Billy...

[Mr Green]

It looks as though I may take a step back for a while as I am unsure on being able to splash out £700 minimum on a mount that will manage the scope that I have!

I was a little nieve thinking that £400 would cover the mount!

Thanks all for the advice!

[Jupiter Martin]

good advice on the books from bizibilder.

You will need at least a HEQ5 with your scope

[LukeSkywatcher]

With most (all) DSLRs mounted on a fixed tripod you will be able to take short exposures 10 seconds or less........(depending on your level of light pollution) of stars,planets,moon,clusters, constellations etc. They will be OK but really not too good (depending on your expectations). However if you take multiple exposures of the same object and stack them together using a free program such as Registax or DSS...........the results will be better.

You will get some result with a Dob (im thinking similar to an unguided EQ scope?). Short exposures and lots of them stacked to produce a final image.

I dont know anything about the cameras you mentioned but if you can afford it.......either the Canon 450D or 1000D is well worth a look.

[Jupiter Martin]

you can get this stuff second hand

[Mr Green]

With most (all) DSLRs mounted on a fixed tripod you will be able to take short exposures 10 seconds or less........(depending on your level of light pollution) of stars,planets,moon,clusters, constellations etc. They will be OK but really not too good (depending on your expectations). However if you take multiple exposures of the same object and stack them together using a free program such as Registax or DSS...........the results will be better.

You will get some result with a Dob (im thinking similar to an unguided EQ scope?). Short exposures and lots of them stacked to produce a final image.

I dont know anything about the cameras you mentioned but if you can afford it.......either the Canon 450D or 1000D is well worth a look.

Light at the end of the tunnel! Thanks very much! I think I could quite easily work with some software to stack pictures and so might give it a go! Thanks v much!

[Beyond_Vision]

You will get very limted results without tracking for example with a fixed tripod and wideangle lens of 10-20mm you will start to get trailing above 25-30 seconds. With the high magnification of your scope this will be less than 1 or 2 seconds at best. It really is not going to work for DSO's.

Regards

Kevin

[Sparrow]

I'd certainly recommend the Canon EOS1000D for astrophotography and nornal photography. The newer 500d is better but heaqvier and of course, more expensive. I got the 1000D in September for astro and normal work and am absolutely delighted with it. Totally controllable on the laptop with one single USB cable - data and shutter work. There are some good deals about at the moment for this model and you should jusrt about be able to get one with the standard 18-55mm lense for about £400.

I would however reierate other comments on here, that for DSO work you really need a good mount for the longer eposures needed.

Regards

John

[LukeSkywatcher]

Light at the end of the tunnel! Thanks very much! I think I could quite easily work with some software to stack pictures and so might give it a go! Thanks v much!

I have a 90mm EQ scope, a 130mm Dob scope and a Canon 450D SLR. I really have no immediate plans to hook my SLR upto either of my scopes. I am getting some pretty good images (in MY opinion) of the night sky with just my 450D mounted on a camera/binocular tripod. I am so new to astro imaging that i really have not tried stacking multiple images YET. It DOES work though. The MORE images you stack......the more light "data" is added to the image. I've seen some damn fine images of M42 that were taken with a SLR camera on a fixed tripod and stacked ontop of each other to produce the final image.

Registax will work well with images of the moon. DSS (Deep Sky Stacker) will work well with deep sky objects such as M42,M45 etc.

There is so much you can do with DSLR's (both astronomically and terrestrially) that they really are worth investing in rather then the simple point and shoot compact digital cameras (of which i own 2). I'm not saying simple P&S cameras are bad.................but SLR's open up a whole new experience. You have COMPLETE control of the situation or if you are feeling lazy you can set the camera to do ALL the work. Best of both worlds.

I'd imagine with an SLR that you would get FANTASTIC images of your fish............................just remember to NOT use the flash if imaging them through the glass.

P.S.~~~Nikon make blumming good cameras. I know MANY professional photographers that use Nikon. My best P&S compact is also a Nikon.

[LukeSkywatcher]

You will get very limted results without tracking for example with a fixed tripod and wideangle lens of 10-20mm you will start to get trailing above 25-30 seconds. With the high magnification of your scope this will be less than 1 or 2 seconds at best. It really is not going to work for DSO's.

Regards

Kevin

Absoluteley agree. Totally forget imaging DSO's with a scope and SLR unless the scope is capable of tracking (but as i said if you stack images you will get some results).

Question: How well does an "astrotrac" work for DSO's with a SLR mounted on a fixed tripod (as they were invented to work with)?

I have been looking at them lately and the basic model is not too expensive. It might be nice at some near future date to start using one with my 450D.

The thing with me is that on ANY given night i really dont want too much gear outside with me cuz of my mobility issues. some nights i use just my BIG (20X90) bins and tripod, other nights i use my 130P Dob. Other nights i use my 450D/tripod to image what is up there.

I ALWAYS have my trusty 10X50 bins with me.

I'm seriously thinking that an astrotrac for my 450D will be my next (and i hope to God) last purchase.