George Gearless

42 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

That's a nice mount you have to get started with and toe wet experience, it can work in EQ mode with a camera and lens, what did your nikon come with lens wise? I've seen that mount also being guided on posts.

For imaging planets or Moon your 127mm can be used in altaz tracking mode as you would take video rather than individual frames,

Indeed I am very happy with my mount. Granted, it's not quite up to snuff for AP. But I am encouraged even with the meager results I've achieved so far on my few nights out. My exposure time limit is somewhere between 20 and 30 secs. After that, I start to get trails. Still, I should be able to get some half decent results once the #"¤#&#¤¤% weather clears up. I saw in the alt-az challenge contest thread, that quite beautiful results can be achieved. Although I'll reluctantly agree that the results can be more readily achieved with 'better' equipment. 

The camera is only one of many things in my set up I will be upgrading, some time down the line. I think a decent equatorial go-to mount will be at the top of the to-do list before anything else. I have my eye on this equatorial mount from Skywatcher. It is within my budget (or, it will be soon) and should offer quite the step up from my current, wouldn't you say?

The camera article I referred to is by no means exhaustive. But since it delves into assessing the cameras from a pure AP point of view, I do believe it gives me some inclination as to the price range. From new, that is. No doubt, bargains on the second-hand-market may be struck. I suspect that is where my search will begin, once it is relevant.

The camera I bought came with a 18-55 mm lens. I have not used it for anything else than AP through my Mak since my needs for normal photography is easily covered by the Canon Powershot. Unfortunately, the Nikon DX40 is incapable of recording video. So it will all be single-shot with this camera, I'm afraid. No matter. I have found that even though the planets and especially the moon are impressive to watch with my long focal length telescope, it is deep sky objects that truly leave me in awe. I've grown to find it 'my favorite thing' in the past year or so.

But I did print out a particularly good photo of a section of the moon which was quite sharp and had beautiful shadowy craters. I am a humble man and don't like to toot my own horn, so I framed it and hung it up on the door in my office ?.

Thanks all for the very good responses. I think all the bases have been covered as far as I can tell.

I have to say that the portability issue did not occur to me. So thanks for bringing that up. Generally, I will be moving my setup 10m into the garden. 90% of my viewing/photographing will be undertaken here and so I won't be far from an electrical outlet. That solves the power issue. But I will need to think about where to place a laptop.

I already have a DSLR. In fact, I have two. I have a Canon Powershot SX50HS, which I still use for regular photography. It is a very fine camera for that purpose. Alas, it is unusable for AP since it does not have a removable lens. I then bought a Nikon DX40 second hand for around €50, for the specific purpose of AP. I have not modified it since the intent is to use it as an 'entry level' camera. As also suggested in this thread. I did need to purchase extra fixings to make the whole thing work for its purpose. T2 rings, a remote, and some distance rings. I think those extra things cost more than the camera itself :). But it enables me to learn the same lessons that I would also need to learn if I bought a brand new EOS(X). Albeit the results may not be as good.

Due to several lengthy periods of bad weather, I have not been able to test the setup on more than a couple of nights. I have yet to take a picture that I dare post here as a 'show and tell' on my progress. Or the lack of it, as it were.

So, I am not on the verge of making a large purchase at my local camera dealer. I am just using the 'downtime' for some investigative research and picking the brains of those who have already been where I am now. It is a great help!

According to Telescope Observer these cameras are the best that money can buy today (for AP). But with prices starting at £800, it just got me thinking that a camera that was produced with one purpose in mind, ought to be cheaper than a camera that is designed to perform multiple tasks. Extrapolating on that premise, it was logical to assume that you would get a much better single-purpose camera with the same budget. Anyway, it made sense in my mind .

Somewhere down the line, if/when my AP enthusiasm evolves into something more than a passing fancy and I feel that a camera upgrade is needed, I will definitely be picking your brains once again. I must say that the multitude of choices out there, is very confusing to someone at my level. If having a Nikon DX40, Alt-Az goto GTI mount and a 127mm Mak grants me any level at all ?.

Thank you all for your helpful advice and deliberations.

Edit: Corrected a few spelling mistakes.

I've been checking out prices on various recommended dslr's. On top of the purchase price, I'll need to add a modificaton cost. The dslr (unmodified) has the advantage of being usable for other than AP, and so it would be reasonable to assume that I am paying for features and capabilities that are irrelevant for my purpose.

So, if I had, say, £600 in my budget for a purchase. Would I not be able to get a 'much better' CCD camera for the same money? Or a 'equaly' good CCD for much less?

I guess what I'm asking: Is there an advantage to DSLR's that I am overlooking?

Can't praise this enough. 

Having capacaties such as yourself, only entrenches my belief that I've found the right forum to be a member of.

Not only an enlightening read but also a pleasant one. Not easy to achieve.