Hi All, I'm fairly new to imaging and enjoying the journey, however I'm on a budget in a fairly light polluted area and have a dilema as to what upgrade path to persue.
Currently using a Skywatcher 250PDS on a HEQ5 mount with a (unmodified) Canon 650D SLR and would like to move to narrowband imaging, however I'm not sure if I should get autoguiding working by buying a tracking camera and some narrow band filters that I can use with my SLR, or if I should get a new imaging sensor and filters but have it unguided?
I'm fairly confident I've got polar alignment working well and can get exposures up to around 1m without star trails, however at that sort of exposure time I'm saturated with light pollution. Eventually I'll upgrade the entire system, I just don't have the budget to do it all at once. Would 1 min ungided with a more sensive astro camera and narrow band filters give ok results? I'm considering something like a ZWO ASI178 mono.
I do have a secondary question as to filter sizes. I know I'm lazy and eventually will want to get a filter wheel so any filters I get now I'd like to ensure I can get value out of later. From what I can tell 1.25" filters aren't a option for SLRs but are fine for astro cameras?....however 2" filters are expensive. Would 31 or 36mm filters be a good compromise to fit in a filter wheel?
Any advice greatly appreciated. I'm not aiming for Hubble quality photos, but trying to be forward looking and sensible.