Quote:
Originally Posted by SFlySnuka
Hi Steve
I don't do astrophotography. Can this camera still be used as normal ie portraits, landscape, wildlife?
Do u have any pics?
Would u need special lens for AP?
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Hi Snuka,
Yes it can.
Digital camera sensors can detect infra-red light and this does not work well for normal photography - it would mean that warm objects, like people's faces, would appear too red because of the heat. To stop this from happening manufacturers put a filter in their cameras to prevent the infra-red light from reaching the sensor. All good for portraits, but not good for astrophotography, because the pesky filter also blocks a lot of the red light in the hydrogen emission spectrum, i.e. the colour of emission nebulae. When Hutech modify cameras they remove the filter so that the emission nebulae show up better in photographs (see my examples).
If you use a modified camera to do normal photography everything takes on a very slight reddish-pink tinge, because the camera is expecting more red light to filtered out. It's easy to mitigate for this though - you just use the Custom White Balance function on the camera. You take a photo of a white object and the camera adjusts the colour balance automatically.
I've attached thumbnails of a couple of normal photographs I've taken with the camera, the bird using a portrait lens and the bee using a macro lens. I won a prize for the bee
The originals are quite large but I can email them to you if you give me your address.
For AP you have a choice. You can either attach the camera to the prime focus of a telescope using a tele-extender and a T-ring, or you can piggyback the camera onto the side of a telescope (for tracking purposes) and use a normal camera lens. The AP shots I linked to were both taken using the piggyback method, one with a macro lens (very sharp) and one with a 200mm zoom.
I hope that answers your questions.
Steve
Hutech-modified Canon 40D DSLR camera body, immaculate used condition, $850 shipped
