[MJB DIGITAL]

well...?

message lengthened

[dantuyhoa]

Pentax users are too much in love with their cameras to alter it . On the other hand , I read in here some post about K100D ( ? ) IR conversion not too long ago . A search might pop up something .

[LeoTaylor]

I have a K110D without an internal filter. It was removed for Astrophotography because many nebulas emit at 656 nanometers, a deep visible red that the internal filters reduce substantially. As a side benefit the IR response with a Hoya R72 filter was greatly improved. For example, a sunlit scene that requires 1/10 second with my K100D is equal to 1/3000 second on my K110D. My wife's istD is comparable to the K100D, I hear the K10D is slower at IR than the other Pentax models.

Though there are many vendors catering to the Astronomy crowd who will modify Canon or Nikon cameras, I couldn't find any one who modifies Pentax. I did it myself, broke the main board, and sent it to Pentax Colorado for repair. Still, the price I paid for camera and repair is less than the cost of a modified "Big Two". Note: the camera is now unusable for normal photography, the red is too strong to White Balance. That's why I have my first DSLR, the K100D.

[Jonson PL]

I have a K110D without an internal filter. It was removed for Astrophotography because many nebulas emit at 656 nanometers, a deep visible red that the internal filters reduce substantially. As a side benefit the IR response with a Hoya R72 filter was greatly improved. For example, a sunlit scene that requires 1/10 second with my K100D is equal to 1/3000 second on my K110D. My wife's istD is comparable to the K100D, I hear the K10D is slower at IR than the other Pentax models.

Though there are many vendors catering to the Astronomy crowd who will modify Canon or Nikon cameras, I couldn't find any one who modifies Pentax. I did it myself, broke the main board, and sent it to Pentax Colorado for repair. Still, the price I paid for camera and repair is less than the cost of a modified "Big Two". Note: the camera is now unusable for normal photography, the red is too strong to White Balance. That's why I have my first DSLR, the K100D.

Hi Leo, sounds interesting. Do you have a link to your Astrophotography ? or could you put in some samples ?
Thanks

[LeoTaylor]

You're welcome to look at my web site, but I'm not that good at imaging. I'm limited by location (1/4 mile from New Haven) and equipment (0.39 Megapixel SBIG) but there are some Pentax photos there as well. I've just started to get some non-trivial nebulas like NGC 7000 with the K110D this month. I'm hoping winter will cool the Pentax enough to compete with the SBIG's summer performance.

AstroLeo's CCD Pictures

Note the red font lists recent objects by camera: SBIG, Pentax, ToUcam.

[JCSullivan]

Certainly impressive for me Leo. Of course I know not what equipment you're talking about.

Well done, amazing.

[LeoTaylor]

Certainly impressive for me Leo. Of course I know not what equipment you're talking about.

Well done, amazing.

Thank You. I did not want to hijack this IR thread.

One last note: My wife photographs flowers from 12 inches. I photograph galaxies from perhaps 120 Quadrillion miles (20 LY). We both fill the frame equally...