which dslr

[essex sky]

hi guys

i know you are probably fed up with this question by now

but which camera is a good starter, i don't want to do long exp work, just some moon shots and wide field piggyback.

i see the canon 1000d is highly rated.

but a local shop has a 2nd hand 300d for 140quid

what about the nikons, its a bit of a minefield out there:eek:.

look forward to any replies

lance

[Demonperformer]

No expert myself, but have just bought 1000D.

If the 300D is in good condition (=comes with a decent warranty) I would guess you would be onto a bit of a bargain @ £140.

From what I have read, the Canon cameras come with software better suited to astro-pics than Nikon.

[George]

Stick with the Canons if you can as they are the best supported cameras software wise.

The 300D is a very capable imaging camera and a lot of astro DSLR users started out with one inc me

[Psychobilly]

300D is still a decent astro cam... coupel of things to note... its USB 1.1 so slower downloads - not a problem if capturing to a card, Smaller LCD with out liveview... needs a seperate lead to do exposures longer than 30s as it cant do "bulb" over USB... The Cables easy to make or just use a cheap timer remote... Also suffers from ampglow and is "noisier" than the later cams so decent fairly closely matched darks are essential...

Peter...

[essex sky]

thanks for the reply's i can feel another purchase coming on;)

lance

[sgazer]

I've used a mod'd 300d for about a year now with great results. I recently picked up an unmod'd 350d with a decent bag for £140 off ebay. I think the 350d has lower noise and less amp glow than the 300d and also has 8mp vs 6mp. It's also smaller and lighter. I mainly use this as a day to day camera though as it's not modified.

I believe the 1000d has the advantages of liveview for focusing, lower noise still and no amp glow, as it turns off the amp for long exposures.

[EA2007]

The Canon 350D is a good one to go for but the lcd screen on the rear side is tiny, might be quite cheap

I would either go for the Nikon D40x or D60 or the Canon 1000D, I think the Canon has LiveView aswell.

Don't bother with the Canon 400D, its over priced and heavy.