photography

[ad602000 (Pete)]

is it possible to use an unmodded DSLr. I have a canon 350d, but I am reluctant to modify it, which from what I have read means taking bits out of it. What are the effects to astrophotos if left unmodified and can you overcome any of these?

thanks in advance
pete

[NorthernLight (Max)]

Hey Pete,

it´s perfectly fine to use an unmodded DSLR. Its just that the inbuild infrared cut filter of a stock standard DSLR also cuts some parts of the red spectrum in which emission nebulae glow (namely Hydrogen Alpha emissions-around 650nm wavelenght I believe). However, the spectrum of reflection nebulae and galaxies are largely unaffected.

It is a bit of a personal choice: you certainly get a beautiful horsehead nebula i.e. with an unmodified cam but to have the full beauty of those pinkish curtains behind it you probably need the cam being modified or better get a astro ccd with cooling.

I was thinking of modding my Canon too but decided against it as there are lots of issues afterwards when you want to use the camera for normal daytime use (whitebalance thrown off, focus problems etc).

Hope that helps a bit

[CarlJoseph (Carl)]

As Max has said, you can definitely use an unmodded DSLR. I use one at the moment and it works beautifully.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Unmodded works just fine.
The 350d is a great camera too. You won't be disappointed.

[Poita (Peter)]

It works fine, but you miss a lot of the 'red' colour from many DSOs, but you will still get very impressive shots.

[bartman (Bart)]

Heya Pete!
Welcome to IIS!
I have an unmodded Nikon D90 and i reckon I get some beaut pics from it at my level of expertise. They are not poster material, but in my own ( heheheh) opinion they are close. Processing the pics is another story........

Eventually, when I get round stars via accurate polar alignment, proper processing techniques and proper guiding via PHD........I'll look at maybe Maybe modding my camera ( even though that seems to be a non existent thing for Nikons...) I guess I'll have to step up to the dedicated astro CCD's

Cheers
Bartman

[ad602000 (Pete)]

Thank you all very much for your input and sound advice, much appreciated
Pete