AstroNebulee

Hi That's what I do and use the focus wheels to pull into focus, I also use a bahtinov mask to help me get sharp focus. If I'm right it's called prime focus.

Hi I didn't realise I had, I was quite tired last night zzz haha

I have the same camera and can acheive focus on my skywatcher explorer 150p. I had to unscrew my ep holder and then screw the t ring onto that fitting to achieve focus also set the dslr to manual on the dial as autofocus won't work. I'm not sure what the fittings are called on my 150p but had same issues as you at first.

Hi Thank you for that, I had to wait until this eve to convert it to jpg and edit my post to include the new jpg image. I did it so quickly on my phone last night as was tired and meant to put a jpg file in. Thank you for you work and comments. Clear skies

Hi My image of the moon, captured on my skymax 127, with canon 450d in prime focus, captured with eos backyard planetary, pipp, as3, regi and ps, bit dark but first go with my new to me canon and very quick processing work (will sort a version of the image that can be seen on here)

That's an amazing image, well done. I'd be proud of that. With rough polar aligning like that it's brilliant, can't see any startrails and I'm a complete newbie as well. Love looking at and imaging Orion so much to see, I want to have a go at the horsehead nebula next. I like the look of your minitrak lx3, with its mechanism, does it just fit onto a standard tripod, could be a potential purchase for me. 😉

Hi and welcome to SGL, there's so many helpful members here and a great community, great photo of the milky way, I have the skywatcher explorer 150p eq3-2 as well and love it along with my skymax 127, you'll have great fun with your scope, clear skies

Yes a modded dslr would be better for DSOs as can pick out more of the red range I think but will be useless for daytime photography then, I'm going to keep mine unmodded for now as I learn how to use it for astrophotography and the basics, then maybe mod it later, but I'm happy with the image of M42 & M43 I got through my skywatcher explorer 150p prime focus the other night (it won't let me add my image for some reason and below the mb threshold but check my other posts to see image) https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/363035-m42-m43-north-cornwall-uk/

Thank you, the very very basics I think, but it's a start.

Hi, no I don't mind atall, that looks great thank you, my image was the first I've tried doing properly with my new to me dslr and scope then editing so any help is much appreciated, my image was 5 normal shots (flats I think) and 5 ones with the cap on (darks I think), the whole process of deep sky imaging is new to me my dslr is unmodded as want to learn how to use it first.

Thank you, definitely got the bug now, it's, whether my wallet can keep up with it 😁, clear skies

Thank you, I've been waiting for Orion to come into view for ages now and like you will be spending lots of time on it, learning the ropes of astrophotography, clear skies

I connected my unmodded canon 450d to my skywatcher explorer 150p eq3-2 on Sunday night forvthe first time, so forgive the shoddy image, I managed to gain focus well sort of focus and took some flats and darks I think that's right, stacked them in deep sky stacker and then in photoshop for this final image, only a very quick go at stacking as so tired, I've got a copy of 'making every photon count' now and it's such a great book that will help me in my astrophotography as a total newbie and I know my set up isn't the best for astrophotography.

I connected my canon 450d to my skywatcher explorer 150p eq3-2 on Sunday night forvthe first time, so forgive the shoddy image, I managed to gain focus well sort of focus and took some flats and darks I think that's right, stacked them in deep sky stacker and then in photoshop for this final image, only a very quick go at stacking as so tired, I've got a copy of 'making every photon count' now and it's such a great book that will help me in my astrophotography as a total newbie and I know my set up isn't the best for astrophotography.

These two were delivered today to further help my quest of astrophotography and loving reading the book, thank you to everyone recommending this Bible of astrophotography, clear skies

Looking great, love your photos and videos of the build

Fantastic images, well done

I downloaded APT astrophotography software https://www.astrophotography.app/ to use with my 450d and when I connect the camera it showed my the shutter count on the information box, though I expect there's a canon software utility to download that will do the shutter count for you. This seems to be useful after a quick search http://astrojargon.net/EOSInfo.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Hi Got first light with my 450d last night as had clear skies and will sort this images later after work as only had about 3 hours sleep in between practising night shots of Jupiter and Saturn, then onto my skywatcher explorer 150p to image Pleiades and Mars couldn't achieve focus at first but took off the 1.25 ep holder on the scope and attached the Canon t ring to the scope and achieved focus then, the stars weren't to pin sharp but will keep practicing and learning it, with various settings, got a bahtinov mask on order do hopefully will help with the focus and a copy if making every photon count, then onto Orion and M42, then night scape shots of Orion this morning, the shutter count on my canon 450d was 3600 so not bad I thought, clear skies

Yes this is the way I'd of gone, I have a ra finderscope so no issues with the blocking, clear skies

Hi Thank you thought id ask first. I was going to make a plate to attach the phone holder to but I can attach the holder straight to to camera screw on the scope rings to try that first then when i want to put my dslr on just unscrew the phone holder I thought, when the clouds disappear I'll let you know the results of this, I'm looking forward to using this to easily find the objects in the sky rather than guesswork and star hopping which I'm still learning.

Hi John Sorry I couldn't see her signature as i was looking on my phone and doesn't show up, I agree and think it would look better on the 8 inch newt.

Hi What scope do you have, as when I've been viewing Mars with my skywatcher explorer 150p for a change I stop sown the scope by placing the cap back on and removing the small cap on the front to dim Mars down a bit and gave good viewing, I generally use my skymax 127 for planets but fancied using my other scope.

Flo are an amazing retailer and I'm not just saying that because they sponsor this forum, I've had perfect service answers to all my questions, very fast service as I only live in North Cornwall so not to far away from them, very well packaged, very accurate stock numbers when browsing, I can't fault them. As for your choice if scope I agree with the other members you should really go for a sct or maksutov scope to give you the focal range needed for the planets and lunar imaging, I have a skymax 127 to compliment my skywatcher 150p so you can have best of both worlds, so if you csn afford it change to a sct or maksutov scope.

This lovely item was delivered yesterday, so the clouds rolled in last night of course, but been perusing various posts on here and websites about learning to use it, I've got a copy of making every photon count on order to compliment it, looking forward to some nice images of Dso's and nightscapes with it, well hopefully. Clear skies