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recommended budget camera

prbaxter

By prbaxter
in Imaging - Discussion

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prbaxter

prbaxter

Posted
Posted

I currently use a FujiFilm S5800 bridge camera, but it only has a maximum exposure setting of 4 seconds which kind of limits my astrophotography to planets and the moon.

Can anyone recommend any other sort of camera with longer exposure settings that would be suitable for astrophotography for less than £100?

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

Posted
Posted

Camera aside what scope and mount are you using?

The 1000D is an excellent DSLR for Astrophotography the previous generation 300D and 350D area also capable performers and can be purchased more cheaply although they have several disadvantages for astrophotography and no support in the later windows operating systems...

Billy...

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angusb1

angusb1

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Posted
I wish you hadn't posted that ... it will drag me back to the Bay of E...

If it makes you feel better I just read the details on the one that went for £53 and it says "on one occasion turned camera on and loud bang came from camera...and it hasn't turned on since".

The one that went for £126 was fully working though.

I too have a terrible problem with ebay, astrobuysell and the devil that is astroboot :eek: I just love a bargain...

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prbaxter

prbaxter

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I'm a 20x80 binocular astronomer on tripod at the moment so camera and optics combination isn't something I'm yet in to. There is a mount I can get which I can rig up the camera to the bins but it looks a bit faffy.

so I'm basically just using a naked camera and photo stacking to gain detail.

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Photosbykev

Photosbykev

Posted
Posted

My debit/credit cards were hacked over Christmas to the tune of £5,500, luckily the fraudulant attempts were immediately refunded by the bank after I contacted them. It does mean that I'm currently waiting for replacement cards so can't and haven't been able to spend anything so December will be a surprising cheap month for me and ebay will be sad to have lost me for a couple of weeks lol.

back on topic: the 1000D would be the minimum I would consider for reasonable astrophotography. By reasonable I mean you won't want to immediately want to upgrade again :)

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russ

russ

Posted
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I'm going to fly in the face of the advice offered and say the 300D and 350D are still very capable astro performers and would offer a massive step up on your current camera and tick the budget box.

I picked up my 300D for £70 and it's 'as new'.

And today Rob picked up his new camera. A 300D with Canon EF 35-105 zoom, plus 3 batteries, 4 CF cards and remote for £98.

There are some spectacular images around the web taken with those cameras and i've had results that i'm perfectly happy with.

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russ

russ

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You're right Olly. The 1.8" screens are puny now (actually they were when new). And make focus a bit of a chore. But hey ho, if budgets dictate.

But i do agree, save up for the 1000D if possible. If not, get the 300D/350D/400D and you still won't be disappointed by comparison to the Fuji.

Oh you could try your luck with these cameras too:

Canon 10D

Canon 20D

Canon 30D

They were much more expensive enthusiast cameras when new but now budget cannon fodder.

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russ

russ

Posted
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Just a thought, but wouldn't using a focusing mask make life a lot easier when using the older DSLR's without live-view?

Tony..

yes, i need to get round to ordering one for the 150. And i suppose one for each lens....:)

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angusb1

angusb1

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What Russ said is true. I paid £200 for my 20D with a 50mm f1.8. I could have sold the lens for £70. Only problem with 10d 20d and 30d from an astrophotography perspective is that they are heavier than the 300d 350d and 400d but that is because of their mag alloy bodies which makes them more durable. That said they don't have liveview and are harder to modify than the 1000d.

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johnnychaos

johnnychaos

Posted
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I use a Canon 300D and am so far really pleased with it. Like was send before you can pick them up pretty cheap. Being new to DSLR I was initially concerned about it only having 6mp, but it's proved to be more than enough with images much higher quality than any of the higher MP compact digital cameras we've got.

Although I don't think it's supported in Vista or Win7. I have the remote capture software running on an XP netbook and it works well.

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Photosbykev

Photosbykev

Posted
Posted

the downside of the 300D is lack of current support. If you want to automate the use of the camera using software then you will need to use older operating systems. Personally I would consider the 1000D to be the current basic budget model which will function with all the current operating systems and software.

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