Ivar

1 hour ago, TerryJ said:

I got a good second hand EOS450D with a low shutter count from https://www.wexphotovideo.com

Maybe worth a look there.

Terry.

Ok thanks

2 hours ago, happy-kat said:

What mount do you plan to use with your camera?

As I use mine for daylight as well as night I didn't get it modified as I didn't want to faff about with white balance. An articulated screen in handy but read up first on the more newer canons like the 700/750d as I think I'd read that some has caused issues with imaging related to the changes in the focusing.

Explorer 150pds + heq5 

What's the best canon eos for astrophotgraphy (and daylight imaging) under 500?

Any suggestions or advice would be helpful.

Thanks in advance! 

13 hours ago, Fliptopp said:

Ivar, I attach the camera via the T2 to the coma corrector on my 200p then directly into the focuser. This is a very tight fit! The main thing to be aware of

with the Skywatcher coma corrector is that the T2 connector is to 48mm if you already have the standard T2 it doesn't fit

Thanks for the info!

10 minutes ago, wavydavy said:

2 inch to avoid vignetting not 1.25

Also, is the baader mark-III coma corrector something to consider? There's a skywatcher coma corrector on a local store here, but I'm not even sure if it will fit without the need of an extra adapter. "a suitable M48X0.75 adaptor is required". 

2 minutes ago, wavydavy said:

You need a 2 inch adapter piece that screws into the body of your 450D, I will post a link to what I recon you need. The coma corrector goes into the 2 inch focuser on your scope then the 2 inch adapter goes into that.  Hopefully you should be able to reach focus. Dependant on the scope you may not need a coma corrector, especially if you crop the pic post processing.

Thanks!! - and for fast response.

(Not sure where to post this) I've been doing visual for a while with my Explorer 150pds and my HEQ5 pro, but I recently picked up a canon 450d and want to try out imaging. 

My question is: How exactly do I connect the dslr to the telescope. I've searched around, but I'm lost in a sea of adapters and people recommending different stuff, it's really confusing. I really wanna add on a coma corrector as well, but that only seem to add more layers of confusion as to what exactly I need. May sound a bit silly and all, but I'm new to the photography aspect.

Thanks in advance! 😓

(Not really sure where to post this) -- I have been doing visual for a while, but want to try out astrophotography. I have an Explorer 150pds, HEQ5 Pro and an old Canon EOS 450D. Apparently the 450D is pretty decent for astrophotography so I want to try it out.

I'm currently looking for the parts I need to connect the camera to the telescope, but I'm confused as to what exactly I need. I currently have a Canon EOS T2-adapter, Sky-Watcher Coma corrector (2" focuser) and 2" Light Pollution filter in my list. Is that all the parts I need?  -The thing that confuses me the most is the last sentence in the description of the Coma Corrector (picture below) saying I also need to buy an M48x0.75 adaptor, -something they don't even sell on the website. 

I just need some help to figure out what exactly I need. 😓 Thanks in advance! 

15 minutes ago, wimvb said:

You need a T2 ring for your camera and a coma corrector. The Baader mpcc coma corrector will screw directly into the ring and slip into the focuser as a 2" eyepiece. 

Thanks!

I have been doing visual for a while, but want to try out astrophotography. I have an Explorer 150pds, HEQ5 Pro and an old Canon EOS 450D. Apparently the 450D is pretty decent for astrophotography. I was wondering how and what I need to attach the camera to the telescope and hopefully achieving focus. It may sound silly, but I'm new to the photography aspect of it. 

Thanks in advance

I've been doing visual observations for a few years now with an AZ mount. I'm planning on getting more serious about it and want to try astrophotography. Specifically DSO's. 

I have decided on getting the HEQ5 SynScan and the Explorer 150PDS. Most of the accessories are already on the table. A light pollution filter, comma-corrector and the software. I'm also planning on doing autoguiding later on after I've figured out the basics.

Also, I'm 17 so I'm trying to keep it within my budget, but the camera is the only thing I haven't figured out. 

Does someone know of any good astrophotography cameras under $600? I may be able to stretch my budget, but I'll try to keep it under 600 if possible. 

Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Yeah will probably go for the reflector with a Coma-corrector. About £600 for the 150PDS and a Coma-corrector and about £850 for the ED80. 

Yeah, I live in the middle of Oslo so I will probably need a light pollution lens. Have a cabin out in the forrest, that's been my main astronomy point for years now so I guess that's fine. I'll be sure to get a comacorrector as well. Think I'll stick to normal guiding as it sounds way simpler haha. Thanks. 

21 minutes ago, discardedastro said:

If you're going to stick to reflectors (and lots of people do!) then I would strongly suggest going down the off-axis guider route if you need to do guiding. It may require a more sensitive camera than a guidescope but it's a lighter solution and mostly immune to differential flexure, and with modern CMOS cameras it's not a big deal to get sensitive enough.

For DSOs, a reflector will give you more aperture for your money, and it's probably the way to go. On a HEQ5 I'd probably stick to a 150, but well-balanced you might get away with a 200.

You will need to collimate so include that in your budgeting. A decent laser (and a Barlow if you've not already got one, so you can do the Barlowed laser trick) and a sight tube are all you need to do a pretty good job of things. Other than that, Newts aren't that hard to care for. If you're in a cold area then a cheap dew shield will eliminate most/all dew issues, but you may need a heater if you add a coma corrector down the line.

This blog post I wrote sums up most of my learnings from being an AP newbie through to being vaguely "sorted": https://www.talkunafraid.co.uk/2019/02/how-to-fail-at-astrophotography/ - I've since "fixed" my flexure issue with some custom guide tube rings and replaced my focuser, but I've not really added anything else and I can make halfway decent images (some of which are at https://www.astrobin.com/users/discardedastro/ but more on this place). The focuser was a huge improvement - I wouldn't say you have to do that at the outset but if you can get a cheap focus motor and a dual-speed focuser to fit it to (the 200PDS and Sesto Senso or ZWO focus motor are good options) it'll change your software control.

Getting the mount into software control is a huge win - this is easily done with an eqmod cable. The open source software stack is these days very good - INDI/KStars will get you a very long way and it'll save you a bunch over things like SGP/SharpCap/etc. Once you get the mount pointing itself and plate solving locally you'll find it much easier to get things framed and focused.

It is a tricky thing to start in but it's an awesome hobby, at least if you ask me - you will be able to achieve great things with any of the scopes listed. The only real limit is to avoid non-APO refractors, at least for DSO work - there's no real fix for chromatic aberration. But awesome astrophotography is done at all scales of cost and scope - don't feel you have to splurge on a huge scope to get fantastic results. I'd absolutely go for a smaller scope (though I'd stick to the Newts) and appoint it well in terms of tools and accessories. Those are all portable, so if you fancy an upgrade, you won't throw it all away!

oh man, thanks a lot!

14 minutes ago, CloudMagnet said:

It will be yes. So if it can be done on an EQ5 with a 200p then there is no reason why you cant do it on the HEQ5. There normally is rule of thumb that your setup should be around half the weight of the total load limit of the mount. I am running near the limit of the EQ5 and it hasnt been too bad so i think you could get away with the 200 as well.

Alright, thanks for your input. It's really tricky to start out, appreciate all the information I can get!

50 minutes ago, CloudMagnet said:

I currently use a Skywatcher 200p with an EQ5 mount. I haven't really run into many issues but it can't really be balanced in declination due to the weight of the camera and guidescope. As a first scope for astrophotography, I would recommed to start of with something with a shorter focal lenght. It gives you more margin for error in any tracking than if you turn up the magnification while you get used to perfecting mount balance, polar alginment and getting the camera set up correctly.

 

I think the tracking will be a lot better with a 150PDS on a HEQ5 mount, (with or without guiding). 

2 hours ago, FaDG said:

IMO, the 200 is a bit the limit for the HEQ5. I use a 150p on mine and it's a great setup. 

But I concur that a reflector is slighly more complex to master than a refractor. Yet, I also have a Skywatcher ED80 I used as a first imaging scope, and there is really no comparison between the two! The frac doesn't get much use, nowadays. 

All the best, 

Fabio

 

Do you use autoguiding? Also, the max recommended weight for astrophotography on the HEQ5 is 10kg I believe. The 200pds is 8kg + camera 0.6kg. I didn't really think it would be an issue as I didn't intend to use autoguiding for at least the first year. The weight of the autoguiding may cause an issue later. I'm not sure how much that stuff weighs tho. So yeah, the 150pds may be a good option, thanks.

I really wanted to have the 200mm though. How much of a difference is it between having a 150mm compared to a 200mm? I'm not expecting you to have any good examples, but just in case you have some insight on that.

1 hour ago, joe aguiar said:

Remember to budget for u may need auto guilder camera focal reducer compater(laptop)software, powertanks etc.

AP is alot more complex and expensive 

Joejaguar 

Yeah, I'm aware. I think I have covered most of these already. I know autoguiding is pretty useful for longer exposures, but is it really needed for the first year or so while I learn the basics? I feel like it's something I can add later on if needed.

I've been doing visual observations for a few years now with an AZ mount. I'm planning on getting more serious about it and want to try astrophotography. 

I'm planning on getting the HEQ5 with SynScan, but I'm still unsure about the telescope. I'm mainly planning on doing DSO.

 I was originally planning on getting the Evostar 120, but as it wasn't the "ED" version, I was told it wasn't great for DSO photography. I later started looking at reflectors as they were a lot cheaper for the same *performance*. Specifically the Explorer 150PDS, 200P and the 200PDS. 

Yet again I was told I shouldn't get any of those as reflectors aren't great for beginners in astrophotography. Hard to maintain and use for photography in general, for a beginner at least. 

I'm currently looking at the Evostar 80ED, but it's a bit over my budget. I'm only 17. I'm still really considering the 200P or the 200PDS and maybe the Evostar 80ED if someone gives me a good reason to go for it. 

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ivar, Norway.