Robp

You will keep looking at classified adverts until you get a few clear skies. Then when it clouds back over you will go back to looking at all the shiny kit you shouldn't buy whilst you await the next clear night 

Glad to hear you are on the mend.

Your choices make sense and it will be a good, cheap way getting started.

Look forward to seeing some results once you get everything sorted.

Good luck in finding what you need. It may be worth posting a wanted advert for the items, most people will have stuff laying around unused

Rob

Cheers Daz.

I started planning my nights better because I used to setup then search around for targets and waste 30 minutes of imaging time. This way it gives me some goals and direction for my nights.

I'll be taking a break from this blog until the nights start turning darker and hopefully get it finished off.

Thank you very much Sammak127.

I still have a long way to go, astrophotography is definitely a labour of love :)

It's definitely worth a thought as a cheaper way into astrophotography and let you learn the ropes about stacking and processing etc.

There is an older thread on here where someone achieved up to 4Mins for unguided on an EQ3Pro (the goto version of your mount I think) with a 50mm lens:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/119922-eq3-2-as-a-slr-mount/

So Id say 60 seconds is something that may be achievable for you if you work at it and the mount is sound, but even 30 second exposures would get you started on the slippery slope of astrophotography :).

The 400D doesn't have live view as far as I'm aware so it will be harder to achieve a good focus, this doesn't mean you can't, just it will take longer! You can make a simple Y mask out of cardboard for the end of the lens to help focusing.

I'm building a widefield rig at the moment as well with my 450D using old manual M42 Ashahi SMC lens (135mm and 200mm) as they can be had off ebay for around £30. Hoping to give my old EQ5 mount a new lease of life!

The scope part is pretty hard to recommend for. Each person has there own tastes when it comes to that.

I chose a Newtonian as it offered more for my money.

There are lots of pros and cons for a Newt, in my opinion the ones important to me were:

Pros:

More aperture for less money.

Cons:

Have to cool down to ambient temp to get the best out of them (around 30minutes)

Have to be collimated (Once you learn this its easy and SW newts hold it quite well but the collimation tool is extra, around £20).

I''m afraid I can't really comment on Refractors as I have never owned one. I did have a look through a ST80 once but I preferred the Newtonian.

Another thing to think about would be looking for a local astronomy club? They generally do group trips out and I'm sure other astronomers would be more than happy for you to have a look at and through there scopes to get an idea of what would suit you best?

You mention your a keen photographer, do you have a DSLR camera and motors for the EQ3-2?

Hi Nige,

I have a 130pds and HEQ5 and I can vouch for its ability to produce lovely images.

I started off like you and built up my kit over a period of years.

One thing I will say is your considering buying two scopes, an ST80 and a 130pds but if you are tight on money I would just go with the 130pds and use the extra funds on a Cheshire collimator and an upgraded lens or two. You can guide the 130pds quite easily off a 9x50 finder scope and that is months or years down the line of upgrades.

Anyway good luck with your choices!