I have been mulling over a new camera since I borrowed the Canon XTi and took some photos at the dark site.  It was a tough decision since this will be the most expensive item I’ve purchase so far for this hobby.  Finally, Amazon dropped their prices on the Canon XSi and I decided it was just time to get one.

Of course it didn’t end there, getting the camera is only the start.  I had to get a good, fast lens to match.  So after yet even more hair pulling, I decided to get the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens.  When I took the picture of the Milky way a couple of months ago, I was using a 17mm F/4 lens.  This means that my new lens is 3 full stops faster than the one I used for the previous photo.  That should make a really big difference in the amount of light I could gather.  I could lower the ISO setting to 400 in order to reduce some of the noise in the old picture.

Next outing for the Hawaii Astronomical Society is in 2 weeks.  Until then, I guess I’m going to use to the camera and just take some pictures.m