Canon announces the 60Da for astrophotography

[neuroanatomist]

As some of you will have noticed, Canon just announced the 60Da for astrophotography, following on from the previous 20Da.

Anyone interested? In particular, Daniel, Jon, and Ben - what do you guys think of this?

[Photog82]

I thought that this was a late April Fool's joke, as I had never heard for the 20Da. Does this camera actually make that much of a difference over a non "a" camera?

[Dave Johnston]

I thought that this was a late April Fool's joke, as I had never heard for the 20Da. Does this camera actually make that much of a difference over a non "a" camera?

I have to imagine so.... There must have been a big outcry for it that we just didn't know about.

[Daniel Browning]

Officially, I'm very happy and wish Canon all the best. The more attention they give to astrophotographers and the things that are important to them, the better.

Unofficially, I predict another big flop. I find it amazing that Canon didn't learn their lesson last time and that they are actually repeating the same mistake. It would be hard enough to sell a camera that is targeted directly at astrophotographers. We are very few. But to target only that portion of astrophotographers who shoot Hα?

Why wont they sell one that targets *all* astrophotographers? My guess is that it's because they are sore afraid of the Nanny State Brigade. With real astro cameras (no IR filter), the boogie man is able to see underneath swimsuits at the beach. "Wont somebody think of the children!?" (A quote that is used to justify taking freedom *every* time.) Another possibility is that they only did their market research in Japan, where light pollution is pretty universally severe. If so, it's no wonder if they think there is no interest in infrared.

You can buy a vanilla 60D, send it in to one of four third party service centers, have the IR filtration *completely* removed, and still have more cash left over than buying this 60Da brand new. Not only do you get the entire astrophotography market, but you add in daytime IR photographers (it makes beautiful scenics) as well.

[HDNitehawk]

With real astro cameras (no IR filter), the boogie man is able to see underneath swimsuits at the beach.

With those kind of spec's you would need to pre-order early. The camera would be hard to get.

[Jon Ruyle]

My gut reaction is that I'm not interested. One of the big advantages of the 20a was live view, but we have that now anyway. Plus, so far I haven't spent money on astro-photography specific equipment. I just glue my astro hobby to my photography one and hope for the best. (Though, to be fair, I did buy a 9.25" Edge HD)

If I was to buy an astro-specific camera, I'd probably look in to a "real" one. Or else do as Daniel said and have an ordinary DSLR modified.

[Jayson]

And now Daniel is considering switching back to Canon. It looks like a pretty cool camera. I heard about the 20Da being all it was cracked up to be and they are very hard to come by.

[btaylor]

Doesn't interest me in the slightest to be honest. If I were an astronomer the sure I'd probably be interested. However I'm similar to Jon in that I take all kinds of photos and if the starry night sky happens to be in the background so be it, it's certainly not my primary focus though.