On Sun, 26 Mar 2006 14:22:14 -0800, "Doink" wrote:

So---is there a DSLR that would achieve this without costing over $1,000 and
not needing to be modified? Minolta would be great as I have a TON of
Minolta stuff---all film.

The Canon DSLRs seem to do the best in terms of S/N. You can get a new
300D for around $500 these days. No DLSR does a very good job with
color, but since you want to do B&W that shouldn't be a problem. You can
get the camera modified to increase its QE in the red, although if you
convert to B&W that is less of an issue. The modification does make the
camera a little less friendly for ordinary use, assuming you had that in
mind.

I've used my 300D for some limited astroimaging, and I generally convert
to B&W. While it doesn't compare with a proper cooled camera, it still
does a pretty good job. I don't think you'd be disappointed. And for
that matter, it is a super camera for ordinary imaging, too, if you
don't mind swapping your Minolta glass for Canon.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com