Leonard Abu-Saa

Thanks Malcolm So first step is learn to align properly My first attempt on Orion Nebula and Orion's Belt with Sony a6600 + Samyang 135mm + Start Adventurer. 30x15" lights f4, iso 1000; 100 bias; 40 darks. Stacked in DSS and processed in LR + PS. I live in bortle 6 area, between flats so I can't see Polaris and align properly. I used an app 'PS Align Pro', but with more than 15 seconds exposure I already got trails which tells me that my alignment was extremely poor. Also my editing skills are not that good but I want to improve. If anyone wants to try and get more out of the .tiff file, I can provide a link

Thanks Rick, this is my intent too. But first, I want to understand HOW it works and the necessary bits and pieces for the 'simple' work :D. With AP, it's never easy :)) As I mentioned, I am complete beginner in AP, and a bit confused. Thank you and everyone for your suggestions, it really helped me a lot to make an idea of what's going on.

Thanks Olly. It may be counter intuitive if you come from the photography field, but what you said makes sense. For starters I want to reach 1-2 minutes exposures so auto guided camera I guess can wait a few more months.

Thank you for the detailed explanation. Yes indeed, my omegon has 1,25” focuser and tbh, not very smooth. I also read a lot from the thread you mentioned, seems the right approach for the moment. Many thnaks

Yes, I do have a T ring for my camera and the focuser is with with red dot. If I get 30 seconds exposures for now I will be more than happy. Being a complet newbie I tend to compensate tha lack of knowledge with better equipment

Thanks again for the input. I would very much like first to get to those few minutes of tracking :). So I guess that heq5 for the start will get me started at least.

Thank you Malcolm for your suggestions. If I stick with my current 130/650 and upgrade my mount to heq5, do I need also an auto cam guider and focuser?

Thanks for the suggestion Grant. I could get the HEQ-5 mount, but I’m not sure about the scope. However, I am unwilling to tweak my current 130/650 because I just don’t know how and what amount of tuning would be ‘enough’. Also, I didn’t find any images posted with this scope compared to the SW 130/150. Assuming I stick with this scope, what focuser and auto guider would you recommend? Thanks a lot for your input.

Hi guys, I’m Leo, I’m new to astrophotography and I am looking for advice since I have a lot of questions and a big dilema. I want to build an AP kit and I’m not sure which combination to choose or should I upgrade my existing one? My current setup consists of: DSLR: Sony a6600 (APSC) + Samyang 135mm f2 + Star Adeveturer Pro Telescope: Omegon 130/650 with EQ-320 (https://www.omegon.eu/telescopes/omegon-advanced-telescope-130-650-eq-320/p,61022#tab_bar_3_select). I bought this telescope just to figure out if I would like it without spending too much money, but is not suited for AP. My interest is in photography of DSO, so I did some research on scopes that would get some nice results and I have a budget of 2000 euro (all accessories should be included). My options so far: SW 130PDS https://www.astroshop.eu/telescopes/skywatcher-telescope-n-130-650-explorer-130pds-ota/p,25455 + HEQ5 mount (or even 150PDS?) Omegon pro astrograph 154/600 https://www.astroshop.eu/telescopes/omegon-telescope-pro-astrograph-154-600-ota/p,54739 + HEQ5 mount. I also don’t know what other accessories like cam guider and filters should be included in the kit for either of the scopes. 🙈 OR I should buy a longer focal length lens for my camera and stick with that? I am completly lost and your advice would be greatly appreciated. How would you build your kit in that budget? Thank you very much, Leo.