Erskine1980

And welcome from just up the road in Weston super mare! I've joined recently too, with an interest in AP. Such a great site and community. 🙂

Thanks all, I have received and read the book - thanks for the pointer. I'm thinking of changing tack and going for a AVX mount instead. At least that way I can keep using my camera, current tube and star sense as a starting platform for the future.

Thankyou for this - being limited to 20sec or so exposures presumably would mean better off with a tracking mount for the D3300 instead of a CMOS then?

I'm sure this kind of question has been asked a thousand times but... Having wanted a telescope for a long time, and being a bit of of a gimmick/tech geek, I went for a used AstroFi 102 thinking the smartphone control would be ideal. After hitting the usual issues with alignment and droppouts I added a star sense to my kit to make it usable. Now we had access to the sky it wasn't long before I wanted to capture what I could see and share it with my young children who showed wide eyed wonder at just the moon! I understand I will be limited by aperture and focal length but I want to be able to capture some of the bigger/brighter DSO's as well as the solar system. I've read so many articles and reviews but have only confused myself further. I already have a Nikon DSLR with a fairly fast 1.8f 50mm lens and a decent tripod to match but no other suitable lenses , so am wondering if a tracking mount (Skytracker maybe?) for this may be better than a CMOS for the scope? However, portability isn't an issue as mostly will be in the garden (with light pollution sadly ☹️) and this way I can use my USB3 capable laptop to show the kids a live view too. I was thinking of a CMOS, with a max budget of around £3-400 what would be a realistic piece of kit? I like the look of the ZWO's and the GPCAM290C but not sure if suitable or just wasting money given limitations of my equipment. With the Star Sense and hand controller also being attached to the 2 ports would this cause an issue too? Any advice gratefully received! Clear skies to all