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Hi from me in Kent + newbie scope advice please


scotsmarc

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Hi Folks,

Greetings from Kent :laugh: 

I have just joined the site as i thinking about dipping my toe in the water and getting a scope - I would like to get to know the skies and try out astrophotography using a DSLR . I have set myself a budget of about £200 to start with and any and all recommendations and advice would be appreciated.

Thanks and have a great evening 

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Hi,

Welcome to the forum

I have to be honest £200 ain't gonna go very far, a good DSLR second hand will cost that, so what are you really looking for, for that budget?

If you are hoping to get the whole lot, meanining scope, mount and imaging camera, then you would have to re consider the budget.

I think personally you will be looking more like £700 minimum really

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news

Olly

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Hi Scotsmarc and welcome to the forum. You appear to have two interests, getting to know the sky (observing) and astrophotography. The first one is straight forward and for a budget of £200 I would certainly recommend that you take a look at some dobsonian scopes by Skywatcher as this type of scope will provide the best value for your money. There is this one that is popular among many members and is just within budget but you will also need to purchase a collimator like this to help you ensure that the scope's optical elements are correctly aligned with each other. Bear in mind that items such as an appropriate red torch (that is not too bright) maps or observation guide books such as this one will also help you to learn the sky and to find objects appropriate to your scope's aperture.

It is not for me to spend your money and you did provide a budget, but if you were to put aside a little extra then you might be able to afford this scope, the 200P which in my personal opinion would make a cracking scope for anyone starting out as it has sufficient aperture to make observing really interesting. By that I mean you will own a scope that will be able to collect enough light, (light equals resolution which means detail!) to then observe structure and detail that other smaller scopes will have difficulty in conveying. This scope is the U.K's best selling scope which means that when you come to sell it, be it to upgrade or to change your direction within astronomy (e.g astrophotography) you will be able to obtain a good price thus reducing the cost of your original investment. When it comes to observing, aperture is what you are looking for (or looking through! :grin:) but like everything else in life it all comes at a price.

With regards to your possible interest in astrophotography, I would advise to hold back from that at the start as this area of astronomy is quite different from observing and requires a little bit more research. To that end I would strongly recommend that you take a look at a book by Steve Richards called "Making Every Photon Count". It is a comprehensive guide on what kit you need and why you need it in order that you are then able to take the kind of images you want to whilst also developing a good consistent technique that will help you later when you want to go up to the next level. The first thing that you will notice upon reading the above book is that a scope that is best suited for 'imaging' will not be the same that you might want for observing. There are also many different ways to image be it through video, DSLR or a dedicated CCD camera, all of which require different approaches and possible kit. Video is a good starting point that will generate some good results and can be carried out on most scopes but you will be limited to solar system objects such as the moon and planets. If you are wanting to image galaxies and nebulae (known as Deep Sky Objects or DSO's) then you will require longer exposures in order to collect their faint light but to do so will mean that these objects will need to be tracked in order to counter the earth's own rotation. `This is when things get a little bit more expensive as you will need a very accurate mount to perform that task and to generate good consistent results. The book will provide you with the necessary overview and I would certainly suggest making that your starting point in order that you avoid buying the wrong kit.

I would suggest that you might want to consider posting your question over on the beginners equipment section too as you might get more replies from members there who don't normally visit this welcome section.  :smiley:

In the meantime may I wish you clear skies and hope that you enjoy your stay here.

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Hi Folks,

Greetings from Kent :laugh:

I have just joined the site as i thinking about dipping my toe in the water and getting a scope - I would like to get to know the skies and try out astrophotography using a DSLR . I have set myself a budget of about £200 to start with and any and all recommendations and advice would be appreciated.

Thanks and have a great evening

I am also in kent and would suggest getting a webcam to start not a DSLR. I have been doing astro stuff since the 1960s but only just venturing into imaging

atb

stu

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HI and welcome to SGL from another imager! Glad that you found us and hope that you enjoy your time here.

Good advise so far. I would say have a look around the imaging section and see folks work. There's a massive array of images. The good news is that people generally say what the images have been captured with. Have a look at the ones that you want to aspire to taking and look at their kit .... this will give you a starting point.

With a DSLR and a fixed tripod and a wide lens you can fire off as many exposures (short ones) of a target that you like and when you stack them together in DSS (DeepsSkyStacker - Free software) then you will probably see something! Whether or not it's as good as you want or expect is a different story. That's where the expense starts to creep in.

Look forward to seeing you around :)

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Hi Folks and thank you all so much for the response. Just to clarify. I have a full DSLR set up that i have just purchased - A canon 100D and a selection of lenses and teleconverters so i am all set from the camera side and i may look at setting up webcams etc going forward.

I think my initial outlay on a scope is relatively low however i want to dip my toe in the water and see if it is for me before i splash a load of hard earned cash.  i have started to download the software Stellarium  and i am looking at all the comments and i am delighted you all took the time to assist. What ideally would be suited to me is something that is relatively easy to set up - i can connect me DLR to with minimal fuss and has decent optics (yes i know i want it all for very little outlay! :laugh:

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I have one of these on order from FLO, seems a good jumping of point for astro imaging, and as with all decent astro gear there's always a good demand when you want to sell it and move on.

Dave

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-star-adventurer/skywatcher-star-adventurer-astronomy-bundle.html

Davey - That looks like a cool piece of kit, maybe you can keep me posted on how you get on with it - keen to hear a review

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