astro photography with A55

Is the Sony A55 suitable for astro-photography? For this the camera needs to be able to stay open for 15, 30 minutes or more. On my old Miranda that I had as young (one-one remembers that?) I used a special cable that was fitted to the shutter release button that allowed me to lock the shutter in open bulb mode for as long as I wanted. Is this possible today, especially with the A55 which I'm really keen on? If not, what alternatives are there?

what is a astro photography with A55?

luckywish1 wrote: what is a astro photography with A55?

astro photography with A55

I have seen equipment that plugs into A55 (I have just purchased this camera) which allows you to program the camera including keeping the lens open for as long as you like.....I have no details at the moment...Search Google for controller A55

A problem with looong exposures with digital cameras is the battery power consumption, the charge really gets used up quickly. However this des not mean you cannot use a DSLR, you just have to be aware of the limitation.

So far I have mixxed feelings and feel I should of went with cannon. I bought an A55 because of the great reviews. It dosent fail for astrophotography but I have an issue with the IR filter and I want to get it removed but no one has done this and perhaps I'll hold off.

www.flickr.com/photos/joejoe909/sets/72157627172722020/

You can see my images that I've taken with my Sony A55 hooked up to a Celestron C8. Anything in the visible spectrum comes out nice. You wont be shooting something like the Rossete Nebula or horse head until that IR is removed. I also cant see any gas on M45. My picture of M45 was with a 75mm - 300mm piggy backed on my C8. The bad thing about that lens is it produces a purple halo effect that I had to process and it's still visible. I've also had some what mixxed results when useing it with a Meade F6.3 focal reducer on my C8 as I think light bounces around and causes an odd ghosting effect. People say this is due to the translucent mirror but I've thus proven the mirror dose not cause the ghosting issue because I've recently discovered you can shoot with the mirror in the up position with a T-adapter on and have even shot with the mirror in the up position useing my standard sony lens. The ghosting definately comes out useing the focal reducer. I would really like to see how this camera performs with the IR filter removed. I think the images I have can be better even with the IR filter on there.

I wish I could get instructions on how to remove the filter because the only place i see that will remove it for a hefty price of $350 USD is www.spencerscamera.com/ .

Hope this helps and I hope someone can help me more!