[Phil Hart]

After a false start last year, I am ready to sell my dearly loved Hutech 20D (I now have more astro cameras than is reasonable for one man).

Hutech modified Canon 20D DSLR - $900

http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/canon/index.htm

The camera is still in good condition (original box and all the bits) and has been used to take the vast majority of the images in my gallery (including a few winners of David Malin awards):

http://www.philhart.com/gallery/Astrophotography

The camera has a clear filter in the rear position (replacing the original Canon UV-IR filter) so it can also be used for infrared photography.

My own tests show that the 20D is still a remarkable camera, holding its own very well even against a modified 40D. The larger pixels of the older 20D give it better signal to noise performance than many of the more recent higher megapixel DSLR cameras (eg 30D/400D and even 50D/500D),:

http://philhart.com/canon_test

For an extra $250 I’ll include:

Hutech LPS-P2 Front Filter: Light Pollution Suppression/Nebula Enhancement used for 90% of my astrophotography (Cost from Hutech is US$259).
Two additional Canon BP-511 Batteries

Note that if you have a refractor, you'll probably need to use either the LPS-P2 above, or buy the UIBAR (UV/Infrared blocking) front filter from Hutech, otherwise you may get bloated stars. With reflecting optical systems, the installed clear filter works great as is, although the LPS-P2 increases contrast on emission objects.

Cheers
Phil