Prime-Focus Astrophotography Camera

[slim80]

Hi Lounger's:icon_salut:

Can anybody recommend a camera other than a DSLR to take up some Astrophotography?????

Cheers:D

[steppenwolf]

Deep Sky or Lunar/Planetary? Rough idea of budget?

[slim80]

Hi

A bit of both really....ive looked on ebay and other places and seen entry-level DSLR camera bodies for £200-£300.....

Any ideas???????????????

Cheers:D

[steppenwolf]

A DSLR camera is a really good place to start but I assumed that you had discounted them in your first post.

After DSLR cameras, there is a 'great divide' Lunar/Planetary imaging (requiring many short exposures, perhaps 30 to 60 frames per second) and Deep Sky (requiring MUCH longer exposures of, say, 2 to 10 minutes in length each).

As you can imagine, the two types of camera used to achieve these exposures are very different from one another.

A DSLR Camera will take excellent images of the Moon but doesn't really make the grade for planetary use. A DSLR will also take great images of Deep Sky Objects but is hampered on many objects by its rather savage Infra Red filter which cuts out a lot of the red nebulosity from these objects.

This is a big subject, hence the need to narrow down your requirements.

[slim80]

Hi

Yes i agree its a massive suject,and being new to astronomy i suppose the moon and planets will be a good place to start.

whats your take on Celestron's Neximage or a Phillips SPC880NC....

I belive to Neximage uses the same CCD as the phillips so would be cheaper to go with the Phillips with some free Registax software???

Cheers:D

[steppenwolf]

i suppose the moon and planets will be a good place to start.

Certainly makes the choice of camera a little simpler and the Philips webcam is an amazingly powerful tool. If you really get into Lunar/Planetary there is an upgrade path to follow as you gain experience too.

Many users on here have the Philips webcam so hopefully one will come along shortly and tell you more.

[nightfisher]

the philips cam is superb for lunar and planet work, a dslr might be better for dso work

[malc-c]

If you opt for a DSLR body, make sure you do some further research, possibly on a DSLR forum as some chips are better than others. I found this out by trying some basic astrophotography using my Olympus E-500 and standard 17mm - 45mm lens. Sometimes even short exposures of 6 seconds at 800ISO resulted in lots of random noise on the image. It seems that in my camera the CCD gets hot quite quickly resulting in random pixels firing. Now I've yet to try this body with a scope to see what images I can get of the Moon and planets, so I've opted for a web cam approach with the scope I've purchased.

I beleive that some of the Canon bodies are far more suited to astro-photography but then you could be looking at £400 - £600 for the body alone

[Bizibilder]

Maybe not! The best entry level (my opinion only!!) DSLR body for astro use is the Canon 1000D at about £280. The t-ring and adaptor you need to put it on your scope is around another £30.

Why the 1000D? Its got all the functions you need (Bulb exposure, can be operated by remote shutter release, which can be programmable for a series of long exposures, (or by computer for the same reason) and has "live view" which is almost essential for focussing unless you spend money on a laptop or similar

[malc-c]

Maybe not! The best entry level (my opinion only!!) DSLR body for astro use is the Canon 1000D at about £280.

I stand corrected...

[Steve 1962]

I've got a modded 1000d and I'm delighted with it.....