Thanks for the feedback. I have been reading Covington's book and although the performance differences between unmodified and modified DSLR's are apparent, they aren't as severe as I had thought. I've come to the conclusion that I'd rather have optimal daylight performance and good astrophotography sensitivity than to have good daylight performance and optimal AP response.

I'm going to cancel my modified 500D order and replace with a stock 500D (t1-i) instead. I'll still try to post once I get the hang of it on the deep sky.

Thanks again.