Canon Mod Service

[glend]

I am looking at providing a mod service for Canon 450Ds (initially). I had been asked in the past by a few people but now (with the completion of my mono cooled 450D) I seem to have the time to do some work on these for other people.

My plan is to initially offer 450D Full Spectrum mods, meaning the removal of the LP1 and LP2 filters. The owner would need to ship me the just camera body (I have lenses, batteries, and memory cards to test with). I will do the full spectrum mod, test, and return ship the camera to the owner. My fee for this work would be $120, of which $20 is the inclusive return shipping charge.

If your interested then send me a PM here on IIS, and I will provide more information.
Cheers
Glen

[janoskiss]

Please excuse my ignorance. Can you elaborate on what the LP1 and LP2 filters are exactly? I know of infra-red and Bayer-matrix filters in DSLRs. Is that what you mean?

[glend]

The 450D has a double filter assembly ahead of the sensor, the outside one is LP1 and is the anti-aliasing filter plus functions as a uv/ir cut filter with similiar spectrum passage as say a Baader uv/ir cut, plus it has the dust shaker piezo frame. LP2 sits behind LP1 and is the main blue colour filter that provides the 'natural colour' balance you see in stock camera photos. When you remove those filters you open up the camera to much more Hydrogen Alpha light (like five times as much) and hydrogen alpha is the main emission component of many nebula DSO.

The bayer matrix is the colour filter coating over the pixels on the sensor that give you red, green, and blue discrimination.

A full spectrum mod, which removes the filters, does not involve the sensor surface or its colour discrimination. That mod is called debayering and is significantly more involved.

Hope that helps.

[janoskiss]

Thanks Glen for the clear explanation! Sounds great. I'll keep my eye out for a good deal on a 450D on gumtree etc. If I find one, it's going straight to you.

[glend]

It might be useful to read this comparison put together by Gary Honis that shows how removal of the LP1 improves clarity/resolution:

http://dslrmodifications.com/FullSpectrum/FullSpectrum.html

The LP1 anti-aliasing filter produces a smearing or blurring effect of the sensor surface in a non-modified camera. The reason the manufacturers include it was to eliminate the chance of moire pattern artifact appearance in photos, not usually evident in astro photos.

[janoskiss]

I think I understand how the anti-aliasing filter works: basically by blurring the image but physically/optically, which is supposed to be better than doing it digitally post capture. Some of the newer Nikons (and maybe others too, IDK) dispense with the AA filter in favour of more detail. My D3300 is one.

IMO the physical AA filter was a bad idea to begin with; a band-aid solution to what is not really even a problem. The link you provide clearly illustrates why. It'd be much better to optionally de-Moire in software/firmware.

[glend]

I am no longer providing Canon Mon Services. Thanks to those that enquired in the past. Bad eyesight prevent future work inside cameras.

[iborg]

Hi Glen

I can sympaphise about the vision.

With age and without my glasses, I now only have about 1 inch of the world that I can focus on!

And that is so close to my face that I cannot focus on the one object with both eyes!

Makes soldering rather difficult.

Boy do I rely on my glasses.

Philip