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Old 22-07-2010, 05:46 PM
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sejanus (Gavin)
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Canon 5D mark2 - where to get modded

Hey guys

Is there anywhere else that modifies Canon 5D mark2's other than Hutech or are they the guys for it?

Also do many people cool their 5D mark2's or just run them at ambient?

I have dslr's already, but can't modify them as I use them nearly every day for land stuff.

cheers

Gav
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Old 22-07-2010, 05:52 PM
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Gav,

Message Eric (EzyStyles) on this forum. He does them for a reasonable cost.

I bought my modified 40D off him.

As for cooling, it will likely need a trip overseas to CentralDS or Hutech.

H
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Old 22-07-2010, 06:35 PM
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Gavin, if you like i can sell you a replacement filter, I have two as we speak, it is a little bit fiddly and stressful but you can do it yourself. I have done three, check this out

Leon

http://www.lifepixel.com/ir-tutorial...structions.htm
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Old 22-07-2010, 06:45 PM
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centralDS
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Old 22-07-2010, 06:52 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by leon View Post
Gavin, if you like i can sell you a replacement filter, I have two as we speak, it is a little bit fiddly and stressful but you can do it yourself. I have done three, check this out

Leon

http://www.lifepixel.com/ir-tutorial...structions.htm
god almighty - no chance I'm not that brave!
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Old 22-07-2010, 06:53 PM
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I notice on centralds that they have a peltier strapped onto a 50D but not the 5dmk2 - does the 5d mk2 not need additional cooling does anyone know?
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Old 22-07-2010, 07:04 PM
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Gav,

For optimum performance, all DSLRs will need cooling.

It's a bit of a half-way fix, though; you may as well spend the dosh on a nice CCD and make life easier for yourself.

The 5D Mark II is just incredible, even 10-minute exposures at ISO-1600 leave very little (visible) noise (I'm sure it's there, but, on bright objects, it just canes).

Summer time will be a completely different story. It is almost unbearable the amount of noise you'll pick up without a cooling mod.

H
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Old 22-07-2010, 07:06 PM
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The reason I'm not so keen on a dedicated ccd is because I wanted to do a lot of super wide stuff using my lenses - as well as through the 106n.

Though maybe I'll need to do both slr & ccd eventually.
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Old 22-07-2010, 07:10 PM
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You can always attach your lenses to a CCD. : )

See how you go, though. If you can get up and running in the next few weeks, you will be very impressed with what you can do.

Summertime is a time for pain and sorrow. Not just for the heat that wreaks havok on our images, but, also the short, short nights. : (

H
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Old 22-07-2010, 07:16 PM
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i don't understand why they offer cooling kits for darn nearly every camera but the 5d mk2. are they 5d racist or something?

I'd get a cooled 50d but hate the 1.6x crop
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Old 22-07-2010, 07:20 PM
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Send them an email. I'm sure they do it.

The 5D series, remember, has a much bigger body than its XX-/XXX-/XXXX-D siblings. There may be a parts issue, or a lack of demand, or what have you.

You could always build your own cooling box -- speak to Leon or Bert about that.

H
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Old 22-07-2010, 07:26 PM
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Yeah was just reading up on cooling boxes then when you posted

I think I'll buy the 5dmk2 with the basic mods done, then I'll worry about the cooling when I see how good/bad it is.

Another plus for getting a 5dmk2 is that I can buy it with the business, as I can use it for really crazy high iso stuff at wedding receptions where the 1 series fall a little short.
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Old 22-07-2010, 07:50 PM
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It won't fail you at receptions.

I've used it up to ISO-3200 for wider shots. It's divine. : )

I've seen others push it to ISO-6400, with heavy noise reduction and converted to monochrome. Still looks like magic as the grain works in your favour.

H
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Old 22-07-2010, 08:21 PM
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CentralDS are still developing the cooling mod for the 5DmkII.. expected to be available in a couple of months..

Phil
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Old 22-07-2010, 09:13 PM
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Be a devil Gavin, you can do it.
Leon
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Old 23-07-2010, 07:39 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sejanus View Post
The reason I'm not so keen on a dedicated ccd is because I wanted to do a lot of super wide stuff using my lenses - as well as through the 106n.

Though maybe I'll need to do both slr & ccd eventually.
I am about to do some super wide shots with my dedicated CCD.
Its just a matter of adapters. The advantage would be -

cooling and lower noise

much much higher QE

higher resolution - one shot colour cameras have quite low resolution as it takes 4 pixels to make one colour dot in the image. That is the same as binning an Astro CCD 2x2. So astroCCD in mono then has superior resolution. The gain is not 16X due to clever firmware estimations of the neighbouring pixel values but it is there.

you can shoot narrowband which is much harder and noisier with a DSLR for the above reason.

SBIGs can self guide making it even more convenient

16bit A/D instead of 12 or 14bit in DSLRs (not sure how important this is)

Having said that there are many many super DSLR widefield images around and dedicated CCD imagers don't do lens imaging that often.

However if they do - check out Stephane Guisard's ridiculously good Milky Way image which is a 200 panel mosaic.

Phil Harts Rho Ophiuchi is a spectacular DSLR widefield. I'll see if I can post some links to it and a comparison image from a massive Proline 39 megapixel camera and a Pentax 67 300 F4 ED lens.

Here are some 45mm and 300mm F4 ED images from Richard Crisp and a Proline 39 megapixel CCD cam:

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ima...4x15min_hd.jpg


http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ant...r_rgb_page.htm


http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m8_...3_rgb_page.htm

And here are 3 images I took with my FSQ106ED and reducer and either Proline 16803 or SBIG STL11:

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/99385463

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/124811617

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/124761790

The FSQ being a telescope gives a finer resolution and to me means camera lenses ultimately cannot compete
with specialised high end telescopes due to higher quality, way less lenses (a 300mm lens may have 9 pieces of glass
each one adds aberrations and scatter and dispersion). But of course telescopes don't go down to 45mm focal length!

Also the conclusion is a DSLR would be hard pressed to match a dedicated astro camera of comparable chip size
(not many match or better a 5D in size) with a decent lens. But skies, processing skills, framing of object, length
of exposure, light pollution may all be senior factors to gear in the final result.


Greg.

Last edited by gregbradley; 23-07-2010 at 08:23 AM.
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  #17  
Old 23-07-2010, 08:52 AM
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Great photos Greg. Are the dedicated CCD cameras in the same chip size as the 5Dmk2+modded a lot more $$$ or about the same? I'm not sure which models have what sized sensors etc.
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Old 23-07-2010, 10:06 AM
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Gav,

35mm CCD cameras start from around $6K. You typically don't want to get a one shot colour camera as they have low quantum efficiency compared to their monochrome counterparts.

Factor into this, also, that you will need to get 2" unmounted filter sets as well.

H
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Old 23-07-2010, 10:10 AM
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So with the monochrome ones, you take separate exposures with a different coloured filter over the top each time to end up with your colour version?
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Old 23-07-2010, 10:29 AM
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Correct.

Luminance for detail, and then red, green, blue, for colour, and you can add hydrogen alpha in there, too for some extra detail (typically mixed with the luminance or red channels at varying opacities).

So, it takes you 4 or 5 times longer to make an image. : )

Then, there's narrowband imaging with sulphur II, hydrogen alpha/beta and oxygen III to create images in the Hubble palette.

H
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