Hello all,
I'm an amateur astronomer primarily, but have an interest in eventually doing some astrophotography using a DSLR rather than any of the dedicated astro CCDs.
Since that is likely to be my focus, it struck me that astrophotography is a fairly highly specialised niche of photography, so it would make sense for me to get some grounding in the broader scheme rather than hurling myself into a narrow field with no real foundation other than the film photography course I did for a year in high school 25 years ago.
In addition to all that, astronomy is fairly seasonal, especially in northern England, where u live at the moment. Happily, I'm in a reasonably rural area, so have the chance at macro photography, landscapes and daytime/dusk skies, filled with the abundant and varied clouds the UK has to offer an ex-pat Australian such as myself.
At the moment, I don't have a camera, however in the next couple of weeks I'm expecting to buy either a Canon 450D, a Canon 1000D or a Canon 1100D. In all cases, I will be looking for the option with the IS variant of lens kit.
The bias towards the Canon brand is from the amateur astronomy community rather than mine - I'm following the advice of people I have spoken with in regards to camera choice. I believe it has a lot to do with sensor size as well as pixel size, shape and apparant sensitivity to low light.
Looking forward to learning a lot from you guys,
Alan
I'm an amateur astronomer primarily, but have an interest in eventually doing some astrophotography using a DSLR rather than any of the dedicated astro CCDs.
Since that is likely to be my focus, it struck me that astrophotography is a fairly highly specialised niche of photography, so it would make sense for me to get some grounding in the broader scheme rather than hurling myself into a narrow field with no real foundation other than the film photography course I did for a year in high school 25 years ago.
In addition to all that, astronomy is fairly seasonal, especially in northern England, where u live at the moment. Happily, I'm in a reasonably rural area, so have the chance at macro photography, landscapes and daytime/dusk skies, filled with the abundant and varied clouds the UK has to offer an ex-pat Australian such as myself.
At the moment, I don't have a camera, however in the next couple of weeks I'm expecting to buy either a Canon 450D, a Canon 1000D or a Canon 1100D. In all cases, I will be looking for the option with the IS variant of lens kit.
The bias towards the Canon brand is from the amateur astronomy community rather than mine - I'm following the advice of people I have spoken with in regards to camera choice. I believe it has a lot to do with sensor size as well as pixel size, shape and apparant sensitivity to low light.
Looking forward to learning a lot from you guys,
Alan
I dont shoot that type of photography myself, however: Im sure someone on here will be able to answer any questions you may have 
