Canon EOS 300D / Digital Rebel 6.3 MP Digital SLR Camera - Silver (Body Only)

So after some research I had found out that Canon EOS DSLRs are pretty good at astrophotography. The reason for this is that the imaging device has lower "noise" than other DSLRs an as such a lot of astronomical software support them. This is important as noise can swamp faint images. There are specialist cameras but for the same size images (6M pixels) you would have to pay hundreds if not thousands of pounds.
There are various differences between the EOS models. The newer ones have more computer control options but sell for more. Anyway I eventually won a 300D with the original lens for less than £100.
The Ebay listing mentioned that autofocus doesn't work. Apparently this is fairly common. Anyway telescopes don't do auto focus and personally I hate autofocus so it didn't bother me.
On receiving the camera I was able to shoot with it within minutes. It was was easy. No stupid shutter lag which makes you miss action shots. Easy to focus and zoom. I think it would make an excellent everyday camera if you want something better than point and shoot. Although being a DSLR it is a bit bulky. It certainly is better then a fairly sophisticated Kodak digital camera I have.
Canon provide a lot of support software for it's cameras. The software is described a upgrade but a few moments Googleing came up with an easy way of adding entries to the Windows registry that allow the upgrades to be installed.
There doesn't appear to be much support for MAC or Linux but there are plenty of third party programs that support these cameras.
The software is really high quality. I was particularly impressed with the plugin to allow RAW images to be viewed like any other images in Windows explorer and Digital Photo Professional is really useful.
For a few pounds I got an adapter to attach it to my telescope. And was easily able to control the camera via USB. There is a limitation to the exposure time of 30 seconds but there are alternatives. A remote controller can be purchased for a few pounds. If you want to use it with a telescope do not get a wireless one as the infrared sensor is on the front of the camera obscured by the telescope.
With the camera attached to the telescope there is good news and bad news about the viewfinder. The good news is that it can be used without powering the camera. The bad news is it is quite hard to see through it in the dark. You need a bright star to focus and then check using a computer controlled exposure.
Anyway I took dark frame to subtract noise from the exposed images and then took several image at various exposures of the Orion nebula.
As soon as I saw the first unprocessed images I knew it had worked. Working with Digital Photo Professional and BlackFrame NR (third party software) my first deep sky image was revealed. It is stunning. Not quite as good as the Hubble Space Telescope but unbelievable for my back garden :)

Having already acquired some excellent Canon ef lenses, via Ebay for my Canon EOS 'film camera' body, it gave me a 'quality inexpensive slow build' route into digital photography. Brilliantly simple point and shoot option, feels great to handle and work with.

I decided to buy it (this way through Ebay) because I never could have justified buying a full camera Canon EOS digital kit all in one go, on cost grounds alone. Canon's interchangeable lenses (film to their digital range of cameras) are super to upgrade to digital with. Best of both worlds! Great too for Ebaying photography, as a good picture really can be a thousand words, when it comes to selling at a distance!

I now also have a super economical instant digital camera/lenses set up, for birding/wildlife photography, in my retirement. All safely purchased using Paypal! I'm loving it and would recommend this route and camera to anyone, especially 'retirees', looking to get into quality but affordable digital photography. No more film, processing and waiting for prints costs etc! A great little 'thoroughbred' camera! Den.

Having purchased this camera secondhand, i was dubious of its condition, and what it could do, but i took a chance anyway. When it appeared i found it was quite badly marked, but on taking it outside, i was really pleased how easy it was to use. It takes amazing fotos, with very little knowledge, as i am a total amateur. Its light weight, easy to hold, and all the functions are easy to understand, each picture i took came out brilliantly, (i print my own), from macro, to distant landscapes, all were of terrific quality. What really surprised me is the feature in the viewfinder, where you get flashing lights etc telling you when your in, or out of focus, its just so simple, a child could use it.
I bought it principly because i was on a budget, secondly, i had read a lot of reviews on different cameras prior to buying, and found that the Canon eos range seemed to beat the competition in many areas.
I am far from disappointed, and would definately recommend this camera to anyone, especially those like myself with limited knowledge of digital cameras, just go and get one, and almost straight out of the box you can be like a pro' in no time!!

Canon EOS 300D is perfect when it comes to image quality, however, it is very slow and antique when compared to recent amateur DSLRs. If you are not in a hurry when you are photographing, this camera may be perfect for you. I found its size much better compared to newer EOS 3-digit series, it is larger and more comfortable for bigger hands.

PROs:
- Perfect image quality (shares sensor with EOS 10D)
- Small manageable file sizes - 6MP
- Very reliable
- Perfectly sized for people with large hands
- Viewfinder is pretty good compared to other newer compact DSLRs

CONs:
- Painfully slow to start (3 seconds!)
- Painfully slow to buffer RAW
- Mirror mechanism has a design fault and fails after time (beware ebay buyers)

Hope this helps!

K.

This is one of the best value Digital SLRs on the market.
It is a good lightweight camera, and the 18-55mm kit lens matches it well (allow £50 for a replacement kit lens if you're considering a body only kit).
If the USA it's known as the Digital Rebel, but otherwise is identical.

Because the sensors in digital SLRs are so much bigger than those in point and shoot or SLR-style cameras, they have much lower pixel noise. This gives the pictures much better contrast and sharpness.

Although it's only 6.3Mpixels, that's only 15% lower resolution in width and height, than a 8.2Mpixel, so don't be put off by what looks like a much lower figure.

It is compatible with Canon EF and EF-S lenses, so is an excellent place to start. If you get the bug and start building up a lens collection, then you can take them with you to any other Canon digital body (EF-S lenses only fit EF-S bodies, EF lenses fit all bodies).

Summary: For little more that a new point and shoot, you can enter the world of high quality digital photography.