Sony A100?? What do you think?

[Maplesyrup (Josh)]

Hi all, well I am interested in doing some astrophotography (as well as normal photography), but I don''t have a large budget. I have seen that cannon cameras seem to be the preferred camera, but i have noticed Sony a100's selling online relatively cheap (around $300). Just wondering what your opinions are on this camera . It would be used for a variety of uses, including normal photography, macro and astro.
Thank you
P.s the specs are in the following link
www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydslra100/page2.asp

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

hey mate, im not sure about the sony cam, i think the reason why the canons are used is due to the amp glow that comes out in astro images (long exposures it heats up causing thermal noise). I looked though the specs and it should work, the only thing you need to be 100% sure about is if the camera will accept PC control as this makes life 1000% easier when framing and focusing!

What telescope/mount setup do you have because this can be a big factor in what camera you should pick

[Logieberra (Logan)]

For the last month of so I have been fiddling with my Nikon D40 and a borrowed Sony Alpha 100.

I prefer the D40, despite only being 6.1 MP verus the Alpha 100's 10.2 MP. Taken the other night with the Nikon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/4928648...7624048416365/

The Sony worked ok for wide starfield pics. But it seems to get more noise vs. the D40. I can't provide technical specs on this though

I'm new to this stuff, but would it be safe to say that the Canon 40D is one of the more common SLR's used for AP? I may be wrong...

I'm happy with my little D40, it should give me a year of use before I even sniff a dedicated AP CCD camera. Omaroo (member here) uses one as well, and gets great pics, and there is a D40 users group on Yahoo if that helps. I got her off ebay for a few hundred, and she's one of the smallest SLR's on the market.

Oh, and regarding Brendan's advice on camera control via PC, not sure what the sony comes with, but the D40 has nothing. But I found the best solution, and not too expensive. This program is sooooo cool, and works so well for astro photography: http://www.oxfordeye.co.uk/tetherPro/tetherPro.aspx

Todd, the programmer, answers your emails personally, and will add features if you argue a strong case! Awesome service.

Cheers.

[acropolite (Phil)]

Noise will be the issue, stick with Canon if you're buying, Canon has a good track record with Astrophotography and modification techniques (and components) for increased sensitivity is proven for Canon.

[tonybarry (Tony)]

I have a friend with an A100, nice camera for terrestrial images; but no software to to Live View or tethered shooting. Will do mirror lockup, so you can reduce vibration from this source. Noise at high ISO is a bit of a worry. You will require a good mount to use this camera because the camera will require looong exposures. My advice is to go with a Canon. The software is available, Nebulosity and other packages can talk to them.

YMMV

Regards,
Tony Barry