After spending a year and a half fighting with the software (Astrovideo) for the SAC 8, I changed directions. I purchased a used Canon 10D off of Ebay. With the introduction of the Canon 20D, it appeared that a number of photographers were upgrading to the new camera and disposing of their perfectly good 10D's at about half price.


The Canon is capable of some absolutely stunning deep-sky shots, and is supported by a very active Yahoo news group. Best of all, in a pinch, I really don't even have to use a computer to be able to image with the Canon 10D. I just need a couple of large CF memory cards and an extra camera battery, just in case.


The above was written several years ago. Since then, I have also picked up a "modified" Canon 1000xs from James Champagne in Lousiana. With the modified Canon, I have managed to capture some objects that I never thought would be possible (the Horsehead Nebula, for instance) from the middle of a major metropolis (Phoenix). I am using very short sub frames (max 30 seconds), and stacking a large number of frames in Nebulosity 2. Processing is done in Nebulosity, Photoshop Elements, Neat Image, Photoshop 7, and Paint Shop Pro. I still know very little about processing, I am just trying to make pretty pictures, but my pictures do seem to be getting prettier...


The majority of these shots are still taken in Alt/Az mode. The best of these shots were taken with my new Hyperstar 3 Lens with the modified Canon XS. Hope you like them.

Click thumbnail to see full size image

M2	M3	M4
M5	M8	M9
M10	M11	M12
M13	M15	M16
M17	M20	M21 & M21
M22	M24	M27
M29	Empty	M31, M32, M110
M42	M44	M45
M51	M53	M57
M63	M64	M65 & M66
M67	M71	Empty
M78	Empty	M80
M81	M82	M88
M89	M90	M92
M97	M100	M101
M104	Empty	Empty
Caldwell 4	Caldwell 9	Caldwell 11
Caldwell 19	Caldwell 20	Caldwell 27
Caldwell 33	Caldwell 34	Caldwell 38
Caldwell 63	IC 1318	NGC 6871
Flame & Horsehead	Empty	Milky Way
Empty	M42 & Running Man	Empty
Sharpless 2-9	Sharpless 2-142	Sharpless 2-279