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Hi.

I'm considering getting a DSLR camera, either an Olympus E-xxx or a Canon 1000d or 450d..., but... I was reading some reviews last night about the Canon s90 and s95 cameras. Does anyone own either of these two, I know they are not of SLR quality, but they come damn close!?

Should I consider an s90/s95 or continue along the DSLR route; also, I could connect an SLR to my scope, but I can also do some afocal astronomy with a compact camera can't I?

Many thanks.

Richard.

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The Canon S90 and S95 are good daytime cameras with excellent picture quality but for astro use they will be very limited indeed and not get close to the DSLR's for ability. In a straight choice between the two, it's a no contest, only one winner.

Most folks are going for the 1000D over the 450D.

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If you can stretch to the 450D the screen is bigger and the camera is 14bit (12bit on 100D) giving you more levels of brightness. The noise is also slightly lower on the 450D. The 500 and 550D have followed this trend with even less noise but you are starting to pay a lot more for it :)

Regards

Kevin

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I could get both. :)

Have you got either the s90 or s95 russ?

Dad has the S90 and loves it. I was using it recently and have to say it handles beautifully. And the pictures were knockout. It's really responsive too.

But the max exposure length was only 15secs, not enough to really do anything astro related and will leave it miles short of the DSLR.

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If you want to get into asrophotography to a decent level i think you should go for the 450D if you can, its got low noise charecteristics and the live view is so important when coming to focusing etc. I own the 450D and think its a great camera. I used to own the 350D but sold it as i found it hard to focus accurately through the small viewfinder. Also the 450D has a large screen to give you better resolution when checking the photos you have just taken.

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4/3 chips are generally more noisy than APS-C chips. Standard 4/3 seems to be a dying system (to be replaced by m4/3), so the Canon DSLRs will be better for future proofing.

Also, Canon will be better supported by both astro and non-astro software.

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I would recommend that whatever you get BULB setting is essential (ie you can open the shutter for as long as you wish - astro photos often have exposures of minutes rather than fractions of seconds!) and live view for focussing and framing the image (or you will spend your time taking dozens of "short" exposures just to set up an imaging session) - doesn't cost anything but is darned frustrating to do!

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If you want to get into asrophotography to a decent level i think you should go for the 450D if you can, its got low noise charecteristics and the live view is so important when coming to focusing etc. I own the 450D and think its a great camera. I used to own the 350D but sold it as i found it hard to focus accurately through the small viewfinder. Also the 450D has a large screen to give you better resolution when checking the photos you have just taken.[/quote

OK I'm a CCD imager but wouldn't you really want to be operating via a laptop screen anyway? Grubbing around on the floor to get to what is, in any case, a tiny screen would not be fun and the focussing would be very difficult even with a Bahtinov mask. Focus is soooooo critical in imaging.

Olly

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Hello olly i appreciate your coments, iv only really been imaging for about 9 months. I have to drive to a dark sky site out of the city and find i have enough gear to load the car up with nevermind chucking a laptop in there too. I have done a bit of planetary imaging with a laptop out in a field, but i like the compact nature of a dslr. I suppose one day i might convert to using a laptop but at present am happy using a dslr and am happy enough living with all its inconveniences.

Actually the last time i used a laptop in the field the police stopped their car and questioned me as to what i was doing! (probably thought i was upto some sort of hi-tec terrorism?) May be that put me off abit! Maybe i just havent seen the light yet!

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Hello olly i appreciate your coments, iv only really been imaging for about 9 months. I have to drive to a dark sky site out of the city and find i have enough gear to load the car up with nevermind chucking a laptop in there too. I have done a bit of planetary imaging with a laptop out in a field, but i like the compact nature of a dslr. I suppose one day i might convert to using a laptop but at present am happy using a dslr and am happy enough living with all its inconveniences.

Yes, I can understand that!

Olly

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The new Canon 60D solves the problem of having to view the screen at different angles with it's postionable screen.

Olly I have never bothered tethering my DSLR on my astrotrac to a PC and have managed to focus properly using a 2.5x right angle viewfinder and then checking on the camera screen zoomed in. Although if I am at home I may run in to check the focus on my main PC before doing an imaging run.

Regards

Kevin

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