Canon G2?

I have a Canon G2, is this anygood for doing astro photos? I have an 11" SCT on a Losmandy G-11 mount, so I think I am OK on that end.

The Canon G2 can work but it's limitation is the 15 second maximum exposure length. Thus, deep sky shooting will be limited to brighter objects and you will have to stack several frames to increase the S/N ratio. Lunar, planets, and brighter globular clusters/nebula/galaxies should be no problem when using the Scopetronix adaptors and eyepiece projection. The Sony PlayStation One 5" LCD monitor definitely helps with focusing; the G2 screen is too small. The LCD monitor costs ~ $130 new at Toys'R'Us and requires a stereo AV patch cord from Radio Shack (~ $5) to connect to the camera. You will need a 120V powersource to run the LCD monitor.

I have just started dabbling in this with the G2 + Scopetronix 40 mm Plossl/Adaptors on a TMB 100/800. Weather has been too crappy to spend serious time on this but I was able to bring-out some of the outer nebula details in M42 with 7 stacked frames shot at ISO 200. A flat field light box will be needed because full resolution photos have some vignetting. I also have 8" and 9.25" SCTs and a 12.5" Portaball to play with so I will try to give updates when weather permits, i.e., What will increased aperture bring with the 15 second exposure limitation?

Dave Keller