SingAstro

hi, guys.
i am new in this astrophotog thing. i own a canon 7D and recently purchase a nikon D600
but i have read a lot online regarding OTA and mount. so i roughly know some of the terms
but i couldnt find much info about SLR model/brand suitability for astrophotog

my question is nikon good for astrophotog? or canon?
cos later on all the narrow band filter, modification, adapter, and remote, pc connection, and photo result will be affected in choice or usage. and maybe the whole camera cant be use for daily life photography any more.

i feel like theres so much noise and easily hotpixel (even manual sensor cleaning) in my 7D until i went to get myself a fullframe D600.
i already have a vixen polarie but the sky has been cruel lately. cloudy and a lot of low cloud
wish to get a atlas mount later on


please advice, thank u

Hi liquidice. Welcome to the forum. You may find this article useful in your research if you have not come across it by now: http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/NIK_CAN.HTM

Can also consider the new Pentax K30.

http://www.pixiq.com/article/pentax-k-30

Hello!
Generally you'll find canon is the more popular brand because it returns a true RAW image while the Nikon RAW has been edited slightly, with the effect that dim points of light (i.e. stars) tend to be filtered out.
Having said that, the Nikon is no slouch either.
DSLRs are fine for imaging although a DSLR is best modified to remove the low-pass filter which tends to filter out H-Alpha light, the red color predominant in most nebula. This will affect your imaging should you choose, in future, to use narrowband filters.
As you rightly pointed out, noise is an issue with long-exposure photography. In this respect the astro CCDs have a much greater advantage as they are cooled, resulting in much less thermal noise. (They also do not have the H-Alpha cutoff issue). There are, however, aftermarket mods to cool the DSLRs.
Still, DSLRs are a great way to do photography. Have fun!

Hi,
Welcome to SIngAstro!

liquidice wrote:hi, guys.
i am new in this astrophotog thing. i own a canon 7D and recently purchase a nikon D600
but i have read a lot online regarding OTA and mount. so i roughly know some of the terms
but i couldnt find much info about SLR model/brand suitability for astrophotog

my question is nikon good for astrophotog? or canon?
cos later on all the narrow band filter, modification, adapter, and remote, pc connection, and photo result will be affected in choice or usage. and maybe the whole camera cant be use for daily life photography any more.

i feel like theres so much noise and easily hotpixel (even manual sensor cleaning) in my 7D until i went to get myself a fullframe D600.
i already have a vixen polarie but the sky has been cruel lately. cloudy and a lot of low cloud
wish to get a atlas mount later on


please advice, thank u

For non scientific work, both Nikon and Canon will do, but most will prefer Canon as it give a "rawer" RAW files, so that your post noise reduction will perform better and more accurate. If you plan to do scientific work using the image produce by the DSLR, use Canon DSLR... Nikon is out due to it's "not so RAW" RAW files.

Just my S$0.02.

Have a nice day.

thank you for your precious advice, weixing, cloudcover, Airconvent, Gary
your words have further confirm that canon are more popular and convenient in astrophotog than nikon
if i were to stick with canon, i think i should be having my camera modded.
where can i get them mod for astro in sing/malaysia?

you also pointed out that noise issue, better off use ccd camera.
my bugdet on this hobby is up to a certain amount only.

so, [ccd imaging] route spending or [slr canon imaging] spending is less?
i wan to do something like orion nebulae and some bright deep sky object

thank you

liquidice wrote:thank you for your precious advice, weixing, cloudcover, Airconvent, Gary
your words have further confirm that canon are more popular and convenient in astrophotog than nikon
if i were to stick with canon, i think i should be having my camera modded.
where can i get them mod for astro in sing/malaysia?

you also pointed out that noise issue, better off use ccd camera.
my bugdet on this hobby is up to a certain amount only.

so, [ccd imaging] route spending or [slr canon imaging] spending is less?
i wan to do something like orion nebulae and some bright deep sky object

thank you

Hi liquidice. If you do not mind, can you share with us your experience in amateur astronomy so far? E.g. roughly how long you have been into the hobby, what kind of telescopes you have looked through before, ...etc.

My main concern is that *IF* you are totally new to this hobby, then jumping straight into deep sky astrophotography in a very short time might not be advisable. There might be more things to "worry" about instead of just which DSLR is better for astrophotography.

Hihi, glad to know the imaging bug is getting to more people haha.
There are basically a few types of astrophotography,
Planetary, wide field, Deep space

Of the 3, wide field is the most easiest but some necessary gears are required in order to achieve a clean image with no star trails and correct focus.

For a start if you just wanna try out AP, short for Astrophotography,
you can get a camera lens with a longer focal length like 200 to 300mm to take some images of the moon. Its a fun target and results are always satisfying. My first target was the moon.

Canon has been the trusted cam as for the reasons the members previously mentioned, and thats why some programs was created for Canon EOS as a AP capture program, alot of renowned AP experts uses canon too. You can check this program out
Backyard EOS, you can't pirate it as it requires a license to use it.

Hope this info helps you in making your decision. We are going to Mersing next month, if you are keen, Kelvin (catalysm) and me will be using our modified EOS.
Its best to look around, ask people for advices and find out what you need when you proceed further. The best way to learn is to engage lots of imaging sessions with a imaging group as the guys can provide you with tips, guides and lessons that you will find easier to understand than reading from the internet.

Ask Remus about the trip and he will be most delighted to share with you the details.

Regards

shirox wrote:Hihi, glad to know the imaging bug is getting to more people haha.
There are basically a few types of astrophotography,
Planetary, wide field, Deep space

Of the 3, wide field is the most easiest but some necessary gears are required in order to achieve a clean image with no star trails and correct focus.

For a start if you just wanna try out AP, short for Astrophotography,
you can get a camera lens with a longer focal length like 200 to 300mm to take some images of the moon. Its a fun target and results are always satisfying. My first target was the moon.

Canon has been the trusted cam as for the reasons the members previously mentioned, and thats why some programs was created for Canon EOS as a AP capture program, alot of renowned AP experts uses canon too. You can check this program out
Backyard EOS, you can't pirate it as it requires a license to use it.

Hope this info helps you in making your decision. We are going to Mersing next month, if you are keen, Kelvin (catalysm) and me will be using our modified EOS.
Its best to look around, ask people for advices and find out what you need when you proceed further. The best way to learn is to engage lots of imaging sessions with a imaging group as the guys can provide you with tips, guides and lessons that you will find easier to understand than reading from the internet.

Ask Remus about the trip and he will be most delighted to share with you the details.

Regards

my route is dso
i owned a polarie. but the sky and timing has been cruel
havent got chance to get clear sky for milky way or stars to use the polaire

well, i wish i am in sg. the fact that i am from east malaysia...i would have to fly over to sg if i were to join u ppl for mersing trip

i am still waiting for a chance to use polarie to shoot a few sets of stacking photo, at the mercy of the cloud

then only i will move to modify the camera

Hi liquidice,

Welcome to Singastro, and thanks for sharing with us your interest in Astrophotography.

Just a thought, since you already have some nice equipment, why not get started on wide field Astrophotography first. I believe your current setup is more then enough to do wide field.

For a start get to learn basic Astrophotography techniques as they are still a fundamental for all types of astrophotography (E.g. Planetary, wide field, Deep space).

We all learn as we go long in this hobby. So no worries and no rush on what camera you use. So shoot first and have fun when the skies are clear!


Regards,
Dave Ng