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[starbux]

After months of deciding what camera to get, having felt limited by the 15 second maximum of the Canon A510, I purchased a Nikon Coolpix 5000. This camera is discontinued, having come out in 2001. Nonetheless, no current cameras other than dSLRs (which I have eliminated as a choice over weight concerns for the time being -- my mounts are unlikely to handle them very well) had the qualities I've been looking for, including bulb to 5 minutes. I will be getting a proper remote for holding the bulb exposure down, but temporarily I was able to use a tiny plastic measuring scoop (from my Stevia sugar subsitute jar) and a rubber band over the shutter button --- similar to the configuration shown here (halfway down page) www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=101

So without further ado, here are my first pics taken with the Nikon. Exposures were taken at 800 ISO for 1 minute. Baader Moon & Skyglow filter used. Some adjustments in Photoshop.

Double Cluster


NGC 457


M35

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I have been contimplating getting a Digital SLR camera, and probably should look into it, but not until after X-mas.

I don' think that the technology is up there yet, but it's getting closer and closer for astrophotography usage. The pics you have shared with us look good and surprised at the field contents. Very good. I have often been dissapointed in the lack of ability of most digital cameras to keep the shutter open for time exposures.

It encourages me to upgrade!...

[starbux]

I've seen a lot of really fine astro images taken with digital SLRs over at Cloudy Nights, definitely approaching the quality of dedicated CCDs. If you have a beefy enough mount I would say go for it. The Canon Digital Rebel XT in particular has gotten good marks for astroimaging. I chose the Nikon Coolpix 5000 (not an SLR) which is of a vanishing breed of digicams dubbed "pro-sumer" (this model came out in 2001), with features more advanced than most digital cameras -- approaching dSLR in sophistication, but smaller and less expensive.

Now that dSLRs are coming down in price, the fact that the camera I got is still about half the weight of a typical dSLR was my main motivation in not getting an actual dSLR. There have been quite a few astrophotos taken with the Coolpix 5000 which was encouraging for me. I think I made a good choice.