Tootstoo

Hello,

I presently use a Canon XSi and want to upgrade but to which Canon is the question. I would like to stay with a camera that uses an SD card and crop sensor. I'm interested in night photography so want a camera capable of higher ISO than 1600 like my present camera. Any advice fellow Canon users can give me will be much appreciated. Thank you!

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Night shooting sounds like a FF job to me. A full frame senor is simply going to pick up more at night than a crop. But if you want to avoid that, then it would help to know what kind of budget you are working in and what you want to shoot at night.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Take a look at the Canon 70D, but its a bit pricey. There are some great deals right now on the Canon 60D which might be a better choice, it will likely be discontinued soon in order to get more buyers to spend the extra bucks for the 70D.

Pentony Loc: Earth Traveller

Your camera comes with a zoom lens of 18 mm to 55 mm with a max aperture of f/3.5. While you may want to increase your ISO, increasing it may produce more noise (grain) in your photos, limiting enlargements.

If Cannon makes a prime lens around 30 mm with a larger aperture like the f/1.2, or f/1.4, or f/1.8, etc., you will get more light for night time photography, and may even be able to use less ISO.

Upgrading glass (lens) is usually a better choice than upgrading a camera body.

If you choose to upgrade camera, just ask if the camera model you're seeking, is a crop sensor model, uses SD cards and how high is its ISO.

Tootstoo

I want to get the best price I can. I thought with Christmas approaching, now might be a time for bargains? As to what I will be shooting at night, hopefully Northern Lights, Star trails, Milky Way, blue hour. I also enjoy getting together with a group of photographers to do some light painting shots.

Tootstoo

Thanks...will do.

Tootstoo

Thank you...something more to consider.

Tootstoo

Thank you...I will give this some thought as well.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Toot, I would like to welcome you to the Hog. Where photographers are in Hog Heaven.
You don't say if you have a budget.
Do you have other equipment that takes SD cards, or just a slough of them?
I would like to add that in night photography, unless you are shooting action, it's usually done at low ISO's, so it's not usually necessary to shoot high ISO unless there is movement you need to stop.
Just saying.
Again, welcome. SS

A. J. Loc: PA. USA

For night photography a person might consider a new lens say a Canon 70-200 f2.8 to let in more light for those nighttime photos.

Wishing you the best of luck. ;)

Tootstoo

Thanks for the nice welcome SS! I don't have an unlimited budget but hope to get the best buy i can if at all possible. I have an XSi so have been using SD cards for awhile. I also have the connector kit to put my photos on my iPad to use with my SD cards. I am hoping to catch some Northern Lights and have discovered my XSi doesn't capture them at all while friends who have cameras in which they can set higher ISOs are getting some beautiful pictures. I hope this helps explain. Thanks for your comments...Tootstoo

Tootstoo

Thanks for your advice....again, another route to consider. I appreciate all the responses I've gotten today! Tootstoo

pappy0352 Loc: Oregon

I upgraded to the 60D a few months ago and love it. I do allot of time laps waterfall work and have no problem with noise.

Pappy

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

I would like to back up Pentonys' comments.
I have recently delved into Milky Way shooting myself.
I want star points, not star trails.
For star points, you are stopping movement, any longer than about 20 secs and you don't have star points, you have star oblongs. (dependant on focal length of course) With 200 mm this might be down to 3 secs.
There is a "600 rule". 600 divided by the focal length is the longest you should shoot at to have the stars remain as points.

I quickly discovered that it is more about the lens than the ISO.
Yes ISO is helpful but a wider aperture lens will make focusing and light gathering easier.
The difference between my Canon 50mm F/1.4 and my Canon 17-40mm F/4 was worlds apart.
A widely recommended affordable lens for this is the Rokinon 14mm F/2.8.
Next up I would recommend the Rokinon 24mm F/1.4 which I have not used.
The good things about these Rokinons is that they have an aspherical lens element that lessens coma in the outer edges of the image (star points going triangle shaped).
My Canon 50mm F/1.4 had very noticeable ugly triangle stars near the edges but collected the light nicely.

The Rokinons appear to have good glass - the images from my 14mm look nice, but apparently I have been told, if you drop it, you might as well buy another.
My plan at this stage is to not drop it :-)

Sigma makes a 20mm F/1.8 but I am not sure of its' coma performance.
Of the ultra-wide zooms my research led me to the Tokina 11-16mm being the best performer for night work.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This might help.

http://digital-photography-school.com/when-is-the-best-time-to-buy-a-digital-camera-3-questions-to-ask