First Look: Canon 40D

If there has ever been a true revolution in astrophotography, it has been the rise of Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras (DSLR’s) as a viable alternative to film and expensive CCD cameras. Chemical emulsion based photography has pretty much died a slow death over the past decade with good astronomical films becoming rare. Specialized CCD cameras with their cooled sensors are optimal for astro work, but are very expensive compared to DSLR’s and require a high level of technical expertise to operate successfully. Being designed and manufactured for a huge worldwide market, the powers of mass production have brought us astrophotographers an affordable single-shot color camera with every bit of the sensitivity and resolution of film but with the all-digital ready-to-process output of CCD’s.