Modded 550D - The Results

[Jasp05 (Aaron)]

Hi guys,

I have recently modded my Canon 550D and thought I would post here with some images of before and after.

With my mod I only removed the LP2 filter and left the LP1 intact. This has resulted in some UV/IR bloat but it's not too bothersome in my opinion. The ED72 produced some blue halos on the brighter stars before the mod anyway.

Down the track I may get a filter for this but I can deal with this for now.


All images taken through my Skywatcher ED72 (Brilliant scope for the price IMO) on a HEQ5Pro.

Note the difference in exposure times between the images also. Taken from light polluted skies in my backyard. Only 5 darks applied to images after the mod. Battery died at the end of the session. I think 20 or so dark's applied to before Mod images. No flats applied to either of the before or after images.

M42 - Before Mod - 317 x 60 sec @ 800 ISO
M42 - After Mod - 41 x 60 sec @ 800 ISO

Eta Carinae - Before Mod - 56 x 60sec @ 800 ISO
Eta Carinae - After Mod - 33 x 60 sec @ 800 ISO

[Ukastronomer (Jeremy)]

I bought the 72mm for solar work with my Ha Daystar, I now also use it for birding, it is amazing for the price

[RyanJones]

Hi Aaron,

What a big difference that has made, more detail and contrast in far less time.

The only thing that's slightly discouraging me from modding my camera now is how the extra Ha washes out the O3. I do like my blues in my images. I wonder if anyone can shed light on how to have your cake and eat it ? ( apart from nb filters and creating your own composition )

Great comparison. Thanks for sharing

[Jasp05 (Aaron)]

I believe the blues can be rescued in post processing Ryan. I'm still learning how to get around photoshop so not the best at that yet.

I was surprised after stacking how much blue did come back into the Orion image. A single sub showed basically red & pink colours.

[RyanJones]

Originally Posted by Jasp05

I believe the blues can be rescued in post processing Ryan. I'm still learning how to get around photoshop so not the best at that yet.

I was surprised after stacking how much blue did come back into the Orion image. A single sub showed basically red & pink colours.

I guess that's the key point there Aaron. The camera part of it is the data collector. What we do with it afterwards is up to us. A simple toning down of the Ha once it's there is much easier to do than trying to bring out Ha that isn't there because it's been filtered out by the un-modified camera. Certainly food for thought

[ChrisV (Chris)]

That's a stunning difference

[Outcast (Carlton)]

How easy (or hard) was the mod to do Aaron?

Do you consider yourself a technical / nerdy electronics type guy or just average joe?

I've seen the instructions... doesn't look incredibly hard but..... I'd just be an average joe when it comes to things technical..

[Jasp05 (Aaron)]

Originally Posted by Outcast

How easy (or hard) was the mod to do Aaron?

Do you consider yourself a technical / nerdy electronics type guy or just average joe?

I've seen the instructions... doesn't look incredibly hard but..... I'd just be an average joe when it comes to things technical..

Yeah it was pretty simple in the end Carlton. Just make sure you keep track of where every screw comes from.

Removing the ribbon cables was probably the most difficult part for me. They were seated in there quite firmly and because of their position you cant easily just pull them out. (Get yourself a pair of plastic tweezers. I only had metal ones but plastic ones will stop you shorting something out and less chance of damaging the cable).

My sensor and filter module weren't glued together. Only held on with 3 screws. So that made my mod simpler.

Keeping things clean and dust free is imperative.

And reassembly was literally the easiest part. Just make sure to seat the ribbon cables properly.

Took me a few hours to do, but if i had to do it again I reckon it would take an hour tops.

I think the average person could easily mod a camera with Gary Honis's instructions.

Main things to worry about are damaging a ribbon cable locking mechanism. The are quite flimsy. Found it easier to use a finger nail to pop it up.

Watch the flash capacitor. I discharged mine once i got to it. It had 200volts in it. So trust me you don't want to ride that wave if you touch it. Used a high wattage resistor soldered to multimeter probes so my hands were miles away.

The sensor module needs to be put back in as accurately as possible. It was hard to measure the screw turns with mine, but use a few methods mentioned in the guide you should be fine. Im pretty sure mine was no where near where it was meant to be and mine worked out though. So take that as you will.

And just make sure the ribbon cables are seated properly on reassembly. Check and then double check. This is where most of the issues upon reassembly are apparently. Take photos of the connector before you unplug it. Then you can check the depth of insertion etc upon reassembly.


My advice would be to go for it. I think the mod is within reach of the average "joe". What model camera do you have?

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Cheers Aaron,

I have a Canon 1100d but, I'm on the hunt for either another 1100d or 550d (preferably) that's cheap...

Thought I'd found a cheap 550d yesterday ($100, body) but, I missed out.

Thanks for the advice on the mod & particularly the capacitor...

[Startrek (Martin)]

Very impressive comparison Aaron to say the least
Although modding tends to expose a bit to much Ha etc...
I was considering modding my 600D at one stage but decide against it as I’m happy with amount of nebulosity detail and colour etc in my Images before processing
I guess it’s based on each ones expectations , taste and being comfortable with your results at the end of the day
Looking forward to seeing more of your “modded” images
A processed image of my M42 taken last month with my stock unmodded 600D
Cheers

[Jasp05 (Aaron)]

Originally Posted by Startrek

Very impressive comparison Aaron to say the least
Although modding tends to expose a bit to much Ha etc...
I was considering modding my 600D at one stage but decide against it as I’m happy with amount of nebulosity detail and colour etc in my Images before processing
I guess it’s based on each ones expectations , taste and being comfortable with your results at the end of the day
Looking forward to seeing more of your “modded” images
A processed image of my M42 taken last month with my stock unmodded 600D
Cheers

What scope was that through Martin? And what's the integration time on that image? Quite impressive. I've never been able to capture that kind of detail in my subs.

I do agree that the mod has changed the colour cast of the image to a bit too red, but hoping I can tone that back through processing.

Are you shooting from dark skies also?

My reason for modding was my images always lacked the "colour" you see in other peoples image's. Whether that's due to my processing skills or the equipment I use I couldn't be sure (probably a bit of both). And this was the cheapest option between buying software(Pixinsight) and trying to eek out that extra detail, versus a dedicated astro ccd.

And a modded dslr was never going to hurt my chances of getting a nice image anyway.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Aaron,
Image taken from south coast nsw at my holiday house , so nice dark skies
Scope - Bintel GSO 6” f6 newt ( cost me $299 new)
Mount - Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro
Guide scope - Orion 50mm Guide Scope with helical focuser
Guide camera - ZWO ASI120 MM USB3 camera
PHD2 guiding ( total error around 1.5 ars sec )
Goto - EQMOD , StellariumScope, Stellarium
Frame, focus and capture BYEOS
Canon 600D at prime focus ( no adapters, just straight into 2” dual speed focuser )
Canon 600D sensor temperature was reading 25 deg C
Capture plan
ISO 1600
35 x 2 minute subs
15 x darks
No flats
No bias
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools

Attached is another image of M42 taken at my home in the southern suburbs of Sydney ( Bortle 8 skies )
1st Image is a single frame showing all the light pollution
2nd image is the final processed image

Capture plan
ISO 800
40 x 2 minute subs
20 x 1 minute subs
15 x darks
No flats
No bias
PHD2 guiding
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools

My little 6” f6 newt is a winner , no coma, no vignetteing , focal length is 900mm, light weight only 6.5 kg. It’s also a great visual scope for DSO’s, Planets and moon

I’m upgrading in April to an 8” f5 newt with an EQ6- R mount to leave down at my holiday house dark site ( I will need a Baader MK 111 coma corrector though for the F5 ) more aperture and longer focal length will enable me to shoot deeper objects

Newts give clean crisp images but you need to keep mirrors clean and collimate them correctly ( no issue for me )

Hope the above information is helpful

Cheers
Martin

[Jasp05 (Aaron)]

Wow your Sensor temps are way lower than mine.

My sensor was reading 35-40 degrees throughout the imaging session.

I'm imaging from Bortle 5 skies in my backyard.

But I do think those sensor temps are holding me back a bit. introduces alot of noise to my images. Our ambient temps here are 20-25 degrees at night if I'm lucky. Currently 26 degrees tonight.

You also used double my exposure length and twice my ISO. I might need to try some other ranges. (pretty sure 800 ISO was the sweet spot for this camera though).

I am tossing around the idea of cooling my 550d using a cold box, but not sure if its worth risking condensation killing my camera..



And how do you find star tools for processing. Never really looked into it tbh.

[Startrek (Martin)]

The night I took the image of M42 down at my dark site the ambient temperature outside was 18 deg quite cool , plus seeing conditions were very good that’s how I was able to shoot at ISO 1600

I imaged the Rosette Nebula last week at ISO 800 with 50 x 3 minute subs and my sensor temperature was 35 deg ( outside air was 22 deg ) so plenty of read noise etc

My 600D has a sweet spot at ISO800 according to Jerry Lodriguss at astropix

I wouldn’t bother with trying to cool your DSLR as they were never designed to be cooled , in fact they were never designed for astrophotography

Just be patient and wait for cooler nights when it’s clear

As you can see DSLR’s do a great job when conditions are good and your imaging rig is set up right

Startools is a great program for beginners like me ( no histogram or curve settings to tweak ) and it won’t let you clip your data either

Use the free trial and see if you like it

It has a lot of features

Cheers

[Jasp05 (Aaron)]

After honing my editing skills some more this is the result.

1hr 42 min exposure - 60sec subs @ 800 ISO - Bortle 5 skies


I am pretty happy with how this has turned out. (Much better than the first 2 I linked anyway).

[Startrek (Martin)]

Looks good Aaron 👍