Wait till mid March. Canon is announcing a new version of the 5D, so the price on the MkII will drop. As it is you can find them in good condition used for around $2,000 or less right now.

I don't doubt that it's been edited. If it was shot in RAW it would have to be at least converted to JPEG for the video, however almost every photo you see, regardless of whether it was shot on digital or on film, goes through some sort of processing. Either to adjust exposure levels, doge and burn, or fuss with the tone curves.

But in all reality, if you know what you're doing and are in an area with little to no light pollution, these shots are easy to pull off.

It's a solid body, minus the auto focus issues. But if you're not shooting events or fast paced action all the time, it won't ever matter to you. I may buy one myself soon.

Nope, not mine. Although I am a photographer, I don't do much time lapse or astrophotography, although that's something I plan on changing in the near future as it's always interested me.

Not sure what you mean by that. Care to elaborate?

You don't need anything special for this. Just a half decent camera body and a reasonably wide lens depending on your sensor size. Beyond that, a good, sturdy tripod (in this case, however, the photographer used a camera slider/dolly), and a remote with an intervalometer function so you can take images repeatedly without having to press any buttons.