Beauties from the sky, which digital camera to capture them?

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 11:59:00 -0000, Richard Ng wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I am looking for a digital camera to capture the beauties from the sky,
> I mean stars and other wonderful celestial objects like nebulas and galaxies
> such as M42.
> I have a 80mm refractor and equatorial drive.
>
> Please recommend some cameras which have very long exposure capabilities
> (longer than 10 seconds)
> preferably B type shutter control and available adaptors to be used with
> telescopes.
>
> Many thanks for you help
>
> Best regards
>
> Richard

I plan to use my D70 for such work. It has a 30 minute exposure capability
which is what is typically used now a days. If you need longer exposures,
you simply make multiple 30 minute exposures and stack the images. One
drawback with the D70 is the lack of a lock-up for the mirror. To overcome
that hold a piece of black cardboard over the lens, or the end of the
telescope (not touching the lens) open the shutter wait a second and remove
the cardboard. You might consider piggy backing the camera on your
telescope and using a good lens on the camera, I have had better luck that
way than taking photos through a telescope.

Jake

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"Richard Ng" <mwrn@kent.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:cvn3u5$513$1@oheron.kent.ac.uk...
> Dear all,
>
> I am looking for a digital camera to capture the beauties from the sky,
> I mean stars and other wonderful celestial objects like nebulas and
> galaxies such as M42.
> I have a 80mm refractor and equatorial drive.
>
> Please recommend some cameras which have very long exposure capabilities
> (longer than 10 seconds)
> preferably B type shutter control and available adaptors to be used with
> telescopes.


Have you looked at http://www.scopetronix.com/?
They offer a lot of advice.

It's something I'd like to get into, but not just yet.
Let us know what you find out.

Martyn

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On 2/25/05 5:59 AM, in article cvn3u5$513$1@oheron.kent.ac.uk, "Richard Ng"
<mwrn@kent.ac.uk> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I am looking for a digital camera to capture the beauties from the sky,
> I mean stars and other wonderful celestial objects like nebulas and galaxies
> such as M42.
> I have a 80mm refractor and equatorial drive.
>
> Please recommend some cameras which have very long exposure capabilities
> (longer than 10 seconds)
> preferably B type shutter control and available adaptors to be used with
> telescopes.
>
> Many thanks for you help
>
> Best regards
>
> Richard
>
>
You would be better off to ask your question in one of the astronomy groups
like 'sci.astro.amateur' - you will get lots of good advice. But, if you
are asking here because you want a camera that can be used both for everyday
photography plus astro imaging then the absolute best choice is the Canon
10D or 20D. That because of its low noise performance on long exposures.
The next step up from there are the cooled CCD cameras, from SBIG and
others, built specifically for astro imaging. Many amateurs are using the
Canons and in fact there are whole web sites dedicated to astro images taken
with these cameras.
Chuck

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"Glenn jacobs" <gjacobs@remove.starband.net> wrote in message
news:1twk1r467md6k.1fsr9zg4bmd8e$.dlg@40tude.net...
> On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 11:59:00 -0000, Richard Ng wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I am looking for a digital camera to capture the beauties from the sky,
>> I mean stars and other wonderful celestial objects like nebulas and
>> galaxies
>> such as M42.
>> I have a 80mm refractor and equatorial drive.
>>
>> Please recommend some cameras which have very long exposure capabilities
>> (longer than 10 seconds)
>> preferably B type shutter control and available adaptors to be used with
>> telescopes.
>>
>> Many thanks for you help
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>> Richard
>
> I plan to use my D70 for such work. It has a 30 minute exposure
> capability
> which is what is typically used now a days. If you need longer exposures,
> you simply make multiple 30 minute exposures and stack the images. One
> drawback with the D70 is the lack of a lock-up for the mirror. To
> overcome
> that hold a piece of black cardboard over the lens, or the end of the
> telescope (not touching the lens) open the shutter wait a second and
> remove
> the cardboard. You might consider piggy backing the camera on your
> telescope and using a good lens on the camera, I have had better luck that
> way than taking photos through a telescope.

Interesting thread. I am just about to move out of the city and into the
country and intend to buy a decent telescope to use with my D70. I'd
appreciate anyone's thoughts on makes and models as I know nothing about
them right now other than I love the night sky....

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"Richard Ng" <mwrn@kent.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:cvn3u5$513$1@oheron.kent.ac.uk...
> Dear all,
>
> I am looking for a digital camera to capture the beauties from the sky,
> I mean stars and other wonderful celestial objects like nebulas and
> galaxies such as M42.
> I have a 80mm refractor and equatorial drive.
>
> Please recommend some cameras which have very long exposure capabilities
> (longer than 10 seconds)
> preferably B type shutter control and available adaptors to be used with
> telescopes.
>
> Many thanks for you help
>
> Best regards
>
> Richard
>
>
take a look at http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/newprod.htm

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

>>
>>
> take a look at http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/newprod.htm
>
or do a search for canon 20da i.e.
http://bobatkins.photo.net/photography/digital/eos20da....