SLR imaging camera

Many of the images on this website were taken with a Canon EOS 300D. As is usual for an early adopter a lot more was paid for the camera than it can be had for now.

The camera comes with a Canon EF 18-55mm zoom lens, which is good for wide angle shots of star fields, constellations and comets. In addition a Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens was purchased as an intermediate between the zoom lens and imaging through the telescope.

The camera is used for imaging in two ways. For wide field imaging the camera piggy-backs on the telescope (to make use of the motor driven mount) and uses the camera's own EF lenses. For imaging the sun, moon, planets, star clusters and galaxies the camera is connected without a lens directly to the eye piece tube of the telescope by way of a T ring. In this way the telescope becomes the lens for the camera.

To take photos there is a shutter release cable to keep the camera shutter open for as many minutes as required for long exposures. The cable has the added advantage of negating the need for the user to touch the camera and shake it whilst images are being taken.

Images are stored as raw bit maps on compact flash cards, which are then loaded into the computer for post processing.

Some users have modified their cameras. A major modification is the removal of an infra red (IR) filter from the camera so that it is more sensitive to objects radiating in the IR part of the spectrum.

Another modification is the addition of a peltier cooling device to the camera body. The cooler the camera the less effect heat will have an effect on image quality. Often an image will have red, green or blue dots on it due to anomalies from the image taking process. A similar effect to cooling can be had by taking dark images (images taken with the lens cap on) and subtracting these "darks" from pre-processed images.