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CCD or DSLR Camera?
by: Dave Turner

The majority of modern dslr's are quite capable of producing superb results through a telescope or through its own lenses.

They deliver significantly wider views than ccd cameras, although to take images of nebulae or galaxies does require a good mount and long exposures.

Dedicated ccd cameras can generate fine detail in images much more quickly than dslr's but the majority are likely to be really low resolution and require a highly precise tracking system to avoid star trails.

In general, high-quality ccd cameras are the better of the two but a top quality ccd would likely take most of your budget. For simply taking photos of stars you'd be better off purchasing a dslr and a fast telescope. By this I am talking about a scope with a fast focal ratio, around f5.

The focal ratio is extremely important when working with any kind of camera with a telescope. The larger the "f" number, the more time it takes for the pixels on the chip to saturate and record detail. In relation to astrophotography this is a lot more important than the magnification.

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DSLR Camera A Good Choice
by: Alex

It really depends on how serious you want to get. A good move would be a half decent dslr camera, that way even if you don't continue with astro photography you can still use it in the conventional way.

For straightforward astrophotography, you can purchase an adaptor for the majority of digital cameras. This little device will ensure the camera is held securely over the eyepiece for a good image.

I believe a few cameras can take pictures without the eyepiece, but if you're taking a photo through the eyepiece, then make sure you have a high quality one.

If you set everything up correctly you should get decent pictures of bright objects like the moon and perhaps even larger planets.

The pictures will be a lot clearer as you will not have to contend with vibrations you get when holding the camera.

The telescopes mount too needs to be a good one to prevent any movement there. The tiniest movement makes a large one on the magnified image, so you should set your camera on a time-delay exposure so that you can take the picture "hands off" and you'll eliminate any movement.

Check up on the latest Nikon and Canon digitals, but make sure you have the correct adaptor to go with it. The Canon EOS Digital SLR Cameras are very popular. The most important thing is a removable lens, which is never an option on a low price digital snapshot cameras.

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