RASC Hamilton Getting a DSLR modified...

[Gary Bennett]

It will be worth the wait!

I did my own modification using the Baader filter about 5 years ago. Saving
money was not my motivation. I just didn't want to wait the 2 week round
trip by sending it to Hap. 

I found a step-by-step guides on how to do it and I followed it carefully.
Everything seemed to be going well but my big fat Anglo-Saxon fingers are
too big to get the zillion or so "ribbon" cables to seat themselves in the
teeny-tiny sockets. These ribbon cables look like a strip of 35mm film with
tiny copper filaments imbedded into the film. There were about a dozen of
these cables on my 40D. Every time I turned the camera on I got a different
error message and after tearing it apart and starting over a dozen times I
finally gave up and took it to a "real" camera repair store in Woodbridge.
They have some Pigmy's on staff with tiny fingers who fixed it the same day.


So between the cost of the filter and the repair shop I was even money with
what Hap charges, but it only took 2 days being out of commission.

Then a few years later we operated on Gary Colwell's XSI and ended up with
exactly the same result. Swapping the filter is easy, but getting the ribbon
cables back in place is a skill that eludes me. I am now a regular at the
Woodbridge Camera Repair shop.

Moral of the story.... just be patient and send it to Hap or... I believe KW
Telescopes also has a local guy who can do the modification now.

  Gary Bennett



-----Original Message-----
From: astronomers-bounces at hamiltonrasc.ca
[mailto:astronomers-bounces at hamiltonrasc.ca] On Behalf Of Roger Hill
Sent: June-28-12 10:35 PM
To: astronomers at hamiltonrasc.ca
Subject: RASC Hamilton Getting a DSLR modified...

A week ago I sent my Canon T1i down to Sumter, South Carolina to be modified
by a fellow called Hap Griffin.  The Canon cameras (with two
exceptions) only allow about 20% of the Hydrogen-alpha line though.  The
camera can be modified to allow much more through, but there is a penalty,
and a cost.  Hap has done hundreds of modification, and offers several
different types.

The first one is the replacement of the Canon Infra-Red blocking filter with
a clear glass filter.  This allows not only visible light through, but also
infra-red.  This makes it useless for regular picture taking unless you use
an external filter to block out the intra-red.

He also offers a choice of two different replacement filters.  One is made
by Baader and the other by Astrodon.  These filters allow you to use the
camera for normal daytime use, as long as you use a custom white balance.
The Astrodon filter is $30 more expensive, but Astrodon has a superb
reputation for producing the highest quality filters for astronomical use.
So, despite my predilection for choosing the less expensive items, I went
with the Astrodon filter.

The camera left Milton last Friday morning, and paid extra to have it
shipped quickly and I got a tracking number.  I enjoyed watching it,
vicariously, as it travelled from Milton, to Mississauga, to New York, to
Columbia in South Carolina and finally to Sumter.  It arrived on Monday!

Hap modified it that night and sent it back on its merry way on Tuesday.
Again, with a tracking number.  It left Sumter in mid afternoon, arrived in
Columbia and then departed at 8pm.  Then, the trail went cold.  I expected
it to arrive in New York, but it did not.

After two days of no updates, and with visions of modified cameras being
lost, this evening, it showed up in Miami!  Apparently, though, it's normal
for the US Postal Service to send things hundreds of miles out of the way.  

Uunfortunately, this means that I won't have it for the weekend.  I had
wondered about the cameras ability to record fireworks better with the
extended red response, but it could be a while before I can test that out.

No matter...there's plenty of celestial fireworks to work on!


Roger Hill
Milton



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