[zarazabas]

Greetings all. Over the last couple of years I have sporadically played around with connecting a rather old (10 years) Pentax DSLR to my scope and dabbled in a bit of very poor quality astrophotography, and I'm looking at getting more serious and upgrading my very poor quality camera.

I must admit, I am tempted to take advantage of Canon's current cashback offer and grab myself a Canon 6D. The problem is, the offer is only valid until the end of January, which allows precious little research time on my part, and tempts an ill-advised impulse buy.

I would also utilise the camera for other purposes; however I don't particularly need a camera for other purposes - my primary reason for purchasing will be astrophotography. Now, I know a little about DSLR's, but nothing at all about those fancy CCD cameras dedicated for astrophotography.

So.... in a similar price range, (around $1600 - $1700 for the camera body), what do you more experienced folks reckon offers the best bang for my hard earned - easily spent cash?

If it helps to know, my current scope is an ED80 on a HEQ5 pro mount.

Any advice is much appreciated!