Re: Film SLR or Digital Camera?


"Sam" <sampath.vanimisetti@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1143816790.776342.222850@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Everyone:

I have had a wonderful time over the last 2 years exploring the wonders
of our fascianting and vast universe. I started of with bino, then
graduated to a small 6" scope, and offlate have tried my hands on the
8-10" scopes. Taking advice from a lot of online articles, and inspired
by the work of some ingenious amateur astronomers, I decided to dirty
my hands with some astrophotog.

In the last couple of years, the consumer electronics market has
witnessed a plethora of affordable digital cameras (even some of the
with CCDs), which some amateur astrophotographers have put use to take
some amazing pictures. Further, I have noticed in many articles that
cheap webcams can also be used to get some handy work done.

Now coming over to my question, I was wondering if some experienced
people out there can tell me what the best strategy should be. Should I
explore film based camera first and then move on to the digital
counterparts. I am aware that there are troubles on both sides. For
example, some digital cams donot provide infinite shutter times,
rendering them useless for deep space astrophotog and film based
astrophotog might be expensive and time consuming!

If anyone of you, who is experienced enough with both aspects of
astrophotog, kindly share your thoughts on the pros and cons of each
method.

Would appreciate a detailed and justifying response.
Thanks in advance
Sampath


For what it's worth -- which is not much -- I am an old-fashioned throwback.
I still write with a fountain pen, still own a typewriter, and my favorite
car is the old VW Beetle. My favorite camera is still a Leica M3 with a
Weston light meter.

HOWEVER -- I own two Canons -- EOS Rebel X and EOS 630 (an oldy but goody)
and a camera bag full of Canon USM lenses. I have been talking with my
local photo shop about digital cameras. I want to stick with the Canon
because the lenses for my film cameras will work with the Canon digital
SLRs. Prices are still a bit steep for me -- $600.00 for entry-level,
$1,000 or more for near-pro grade digital SLRs and $2,000 for professional
cameras. The guys at my local shop have told me to sit tight, prices are
coming down. They anticipate a Canon digital SLR -- probably the digital
Rebel -- to come in under $500.00 (before discounts) and they are looking
for these price drops to show up around the end of the year in time for
Christmas gifts -- prices of other digital SLRs should follow, though the
professional models may stay up there.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Oh, yes, to address your original question: digital is the way to go.


.

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