wanted: digital camera suggestion

[mordantmonkey]

what cheap($100-$200) digital cameras would you recommend for taking shots of the nightsky. Assuming you're far away from any cities and light pollution.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Are you trying to get pictures of the stars or star trails? With that price range you're going to be limited to P&S cameras, and I'm pretty sure that none of them have the capability to open up there shutter for the lengths of time required for astrophotography. We're talking about shutter speeds of 30 minutes to hours here.

 

[mordantmonkey]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Are you trying to get pictures of the stars or star trails? With that price range you're going to be limited to P&S cameras, and I'm pretty sure that none of them have the capability to open up there shutter for the lengths of time required for astrophotography. We're talking about shutter speeds of 30 minutes to hours here.

thanks for the reply. i figured the answer might be something like that, but the only information i could find was outdated, and i wondered if anything had changed lately. I would prefer a a still shot of the stars, but even with a device to correct apparent rotation i'm guessing a digital of that price still wouldn't be up to snuff, right?

 

[GTaudiophile]

Well, a DSLR would be best...

All you can afford with that is a simple P&S digicam, preferably one with fewer megapixels (less noise), but still, P&S digicams don't excel at long exposures. But they definitely don't excel at high ISO photography. You'll also want a good tripod. Just head over to newegg and see what you can get for $200 in the form of a Canon or Nikon. They will all offer similar (mediocre) performance for your application.

 

[mordantmonkey]

well, i may be able to double that amount. which would put me into DSLR territory, no?

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: mordantmonkey
well, i may be able to double that amount. which would put me into DSLR territory, no?

Not quite for new. I think the Nikon D50 costs $500-600. Maybe you can go used?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: mordantmonkey

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Are you trying to get pictures of the stars or star trails? With that price range you're going to be limited to P&S cameras, and I'm pretty sure that none of them have the capability to open up there shutter for the lengths of time required for astrophotography. We're talking about shutter speeds of 30 minutes to hours here.

thanks for the reply. i figured the answer might be something like that, but the only information i could find was outdated, and i wondered if anything had changed lately. I would prefer a a still shot of the stars, but even with a device to correct apparent rotation i'm guessing a digital of that price still wouldn't be up to snuff, right?

Yeah, there's not really anything you can do for that price. Astrophotography is pretty difficult even for a DSLR. For a P&S it's pretty much impossible.

1. The longest shutter speed that I've seen a P&S have is 30 seconds. This is not long enough to gather enough light to resolve the stars. With DSLRs you can manually open and close the shutter (open the shutter, go to sleep for a couple of hours, wake up, come back and close the shutter).

2. If you're trying to get pictures of constellations, you need to zoom into them, and that means you'd need a camera with a long zoom, and when you're zoomed in the rotation of the earth is magnified and the constellations may move, leaving star trails.

 

[mobiblu]

FUJI F-10 FTW! if you want a good point/shoot camera for that price.