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Martyn_Bannister

Martyn_Bannister

Posted
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Hi all,

Looking at getting A DSLR camera for astrophotography, want to go for a Canon as i have had Canon in the past and like them,can some one recommend a model, budget is about £300-£400,

Regards Nigel.:D

If you need to use wide angle lenses then the 5D mk1 is a full frame camera, so wide angle lenses are really wide angle lenses and high ISO noise is very good. Unfortunately the second hand price of these is still slightly over your budget unless you are truly lucky enough to pick up a bargain. However very good quality manual focus 24/28mm lenses can be picked up relatively cheaply.

Another option is a used 10D. These have a 1.6x crop factor and "only" a 6MP resolution, but are pretty good for high ISO noise and can be had for well under your budget, thus leaving you lots of money for the ultra-wide angle lenses you will need to get a wide angle view :)

Once you have all the lenses you need and are finding the 10D body too limiting, the 1000D, like the others have said :)

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Damnit

Damnit

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Take a look at the table at the bottom of this page for base specs, levels, release dates etc of each camera canon have released over the past 10 or so years ...

Canon EOS 50D - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

EDIT: clicking on the camera model in the table will take you to its specs

Google around for comparisons as to which cameras produce less noise at higher ISOs ... consider the "crop factor" too but maybe not for too long ... ie until you get to a 5D or 1D levels, then most canon cameras have a 1.6x crop factor so basically a 100mm lens becomes a 160mm lens.

EDIT2: Anything above 8 Megapixels is capable of producing as good if not better results than an old school film camera ... modern DSLR's also have much more sensitive CCD's producing results old school film cameras can only dream of. Megapixel chasing is not the answer either ... sometimes more megapixels mean more noise at higher isos ... so check the reviews of each camera you consider and compare with other similar models ... Check DPReview for good comparisons and more info:

http://www.dpreview.com/

A 2nd hand 40d which is a great camera can be had here for £429: T4 Cameras for all your photographic needs with shops in swindon, witney, newbury, devizes, chippenham and cirencester from traditional to digital photography

(can highly recommend these folks too and used them a lot in the past - ring and talk to them if you have questions and they will sort you out a treat ... good honest advice, if you are barking up the wrong tree, they will tell you, even if it means they lose a sale!).

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Martyn_Bannister

Martyn_Bannister

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Thinking of upping the budget a bit, what about a new 550D ? a bit wary of spending a lot of money on secondhand kit,and i can get a lot of use out of it for normal photography.

Regards Nigel.

Don't know whether you want the body solely for use on a scope or if you are going to use it with lenses, but if the latter, IMHO if you want to spend more money, spend it on lenses (or one lens :) like one of the "L" series :D).

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Apologies, but in my ignorance I must ask, how so?

Lifted from the astrophotography section of...

lenses

Most of the refractors will cover a full 35 mm frame. Mostly they only have to cover a half frame or so. But today the CCD cameras are getting to be full frame as well. The latest favorite CCD camera of the top line astrophotographers is the SBIG STL 11000 which is full frame. It is interesting to note that the best refractors are pressed by these large chip cameras. In fact SCTs have an even harder time with the new larger chip cameras.

SCT telescopes do not usually adequately cover a full 35mm frame. Amazingly even the 16" f10 SCT has a useful circle of illumination of only about 26 to 30 mm. This gigantic telescope then does not cover the chip in the 1Ds MarkII or the SBIG STL 11000.

The typical smaller fracs and SCT's struggle to produce a decent flat field image across even an APS-C sized sensor and will usually require an additional field flattener to correct the star shapes atound the edges of the frame and especially in the corners.. flat frames are pretty much essential to reduce the vignetting...

Peter...

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Martyn_Bannister

Martyn_Bannister

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Posted
Lifted from the astrophotography section of...

lenses

Most of the refractors will cover a full 35 mm frame. Mostly they only have to cover a half frame or so. But today the CCD cameras are getting to be full frame as well. The latest favorite CCD camera of the top line astrophotographers is the SBIG STL 11000 which is full frame. It is interesting to note that the best refractors are pressed by these large chip cameras. In fact SCTs have an even harder time with the new larger chip cameras.

SCT telescopes do not usually adequately cover a full 35mm frame. Amazingly even the 16" f10 SCT has a useful circle of illumination of only about 26 to 30 mm. This gigantic telescope then does not cover the chip in the 1Ds MarkII or the SBIG STL 11000.

The typical smaller fracs and SCT's struggle to produce a decent flat field image across even an APS-C sized sensor and will usually require an additional field flattener to correct the star shapes atound the edges of the frame and especially in the corners.. flat frames are pretty much essential to reduce the vignetting...

Peter...

Excellent, thanks for that Peter, I'm with you now. I'm still unclear whether OP wants to use the DSLR with the scope or to piggy back, or both. But I understand what you are saying now re scope covering Full Frame sensor. My fault, a bit of brain fade there. Thanks again.

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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If its going to live on a scope most of the time then i would still be inclined to go for a 1000D.. 10MP is more than enough for astro ...the later multi-megapixel monsters really eat up processing power especially if your takign lots of shorter frames...

I Currently have 6 different DSLR's and have had a few others in my hands for a while... and my primary astro cam is still the 1000D.... The 500D was bought for dual use but I find its "soft" with the cheaper canon EF lenses and I cant see me spending on L's as utlimately nearly all my non astro work is with Nikons.....

Peter...

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Damnit

Damnit

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A single Canon L lens on its own will set you back more than double the cost of a 550D with kit lens ... you WILL see a difference in your photography though (I have a couple and they are amazing bits of kit).

Also as Billy hints at, I find the more you spend on the camera body, the more it tends to highlight the shortfalls of the lenses or tubes you bolt it on to ...

Quality advice seen around many forums is ... spend more on the glass as it will serve you much better, and you tend to change bodies more frequently, whereas glass you keep.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Dangerous-Dave

Dangerous-Dave

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If you need to use wide angle lenses then the 5D mk1 is a full frame camera, so wide angle lenses are really wide angle lenses and high ISO noise is very good. Unfortunately the second hand price of these is still slightly over your budget unless you are truly lucky enough to pick up a bargain. However very good quality manual focus 24/28mm lenses can be picked up relatively cheaply.

Another option is a used 10D. These have a 1.6x crop factor and "only" a 6MP resolution, but are pretty good for high ISO noise and can be had for well under your budget, thus leaving you lots of money for the ultra-wide angle lenses you will need to get a wide angle view :)

Once you have all the lenses you need and are finding the 10D body too limiting, the 1000D, like the others have said ;)

Have to disagree there. I bought a used 10D for my wife, when she showed a passing interest in photography, and have been unimpressed with its performance at higher ISOs.

20D:

June Star trails, Manoir de Tréblavet | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

10D:

June star trails with active astronomer | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

(both at ISO800)

Note all the hot pixels and cheque effect in the 10D shot. IIRC the 10D is practically the same as the 300D, but with a more solid frame and more bells and whistles in the options menu.

The 10D won't take a clip filter or EF-S lenses either, nor the ubiquitous Zenitar 16mm fisheye. (neither will the 1D or 5D IIRC)

They can be had for ~£100 on ebay though, which is good value.

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Photosbykev

Photosbykev

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If you want the camera specifically for Astro work then High iso/low noise is important, you will also need to allow funds to buy the adaptors, maybe remove the sensor filter and then maybe buy the EOS Clip system filters if you choose one of the APS-C bodies, don't forget extra cards and batteries and possibly a dew control system

As a general statement the newer the camera the better the noise control.

Glassware is the most important part of the system, whether it is a photo lens or a scope and a good fast wide angle lens, like a 24mm f1.4L MkII, can set you back £1300 just for the glass. The faster aperture lenses will allow you to capture more stars.

If I was starting out purely down the astro road I would probably go with the 1000D or the 20D/20Da (if you can find one). As my main photography is wildlife related I use the 1D Mk4 and 5D MkII bodies with fast prime lens and 7D and 40D bodies as playthings.

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