EOS 5D - to mod or not to mod??

[Visionoz (Bill)]

Hi All

Was thinking about modding my EOS 5D (which is full-frame) to use for astrophotography as I am about to purchase the latest 7D model - what's the pros & cons of doing this for the 5D?

I also noticed that this camera has a very high amount of "ämp glow" when doing subs of 5mins or more - I know that one could rid of this problem with flats using a lightbox or just doing some darks to use during post-processing the iamges but would like to know from other experienced IISers who are using the 5D to see if it's all worth doing the mod or not

Thanks in advance for any inputs or feedback

Cheers
Bill

[leon]

Ah Bill, yes my friend it is certainly worth doing if your game to do it your self, I did mine, plus one for a mate who is not here on IIS, it really isnt that hard, but it is stressful and time consuming.

Before i get into this, to rid yourself of amp glow always do ICNR, well that is what I do anyway, some will not agree but I find it gives the best results.

To do the job you just have to be a bit handy and carefully follow every instruction to the letter.

Have a look here and it will give you an idea of what to expect.

leon

http://www.lifepixel.com/ir-tutorial...structions.htm

[Octane (Humayun)]

Take dark frames to rid yourself of the amp glow.

Flats won't do a thing.

I'd keep the 5D stock and modify the 7D myself, if I were you. The 7D should produce very clean images at higher ISOs.

Regards,
Humayun

[CometGuy]

I wonder if you wouldn't be better off selling the 5D to finance a more purpose built camera?

I suppose if you are planning to do wide field astrophotography then a modded 5D would be difficult to beat, but for narrow angle imaging I'd be looking at something like a QHY8 or one of the lower price monochrome cameras.

Terry

[Visionoz (Bill)]

Thanks Leon, Humayun & Terry

Not so sure I want the stress again - just modded a 40D last week and enough is enough; rather let someone else take the stress for the 5D mod if I want it done - didn't mind doing the 40D since it was the cheaper of the two cameras I have!

Oh if I really decide to instead mod the 7D then I will probably be divorced when the Finance Minister finds out!! I will be too poor then to indulge in this hobby!!

Well have to mull over this and decide what to do next then - still have an obs to build as well and I did seriously think of getting one of those imaging CCDs like the QHYs, Starlights or SBigs etc - they all look very good specs on paper but I am too new in this hobby so best to play around with DSLRs first to get the feel of whether it worth to sink more money into this - what a money-pit this hobby is!! I thought that photography was bad to start off with as I have 4"x5" camera systems with 5 LF Rodenstock & Schneider lenses BUT astro-gear beats them all, that's a fact!

Cheers
Bill