love the visual.. now for some imaging

[mindburner]

I have had my 300p flex-tube goto for a year now and it's just great! the views are superb. I have been able to do some lunar and planetary webcam imaging with good enough results.

I would like to take the plunge into DSO imaging. I have been reading lots of posts on the forum about which direction to take.

A huge mount for the 300p that would be good for imaging would be the answer, if I was superman and had a fixed location. But I now realise that 2 scopes are really required. I don't want to sell the 300p as it's just so good.

I want to get a decent setup that will grow and provide good results with my (hopefully) developing competence. My conclusions are below. Please fell free to amend and critique:

1. get a good EQ mount. One that has GOTO and autoguiding port. Need to read up on guiding

2. get a 100mm refractor for actual imaging (nikon 5000 for image capture with Nikon control software)

3 if all goes well, get a QHY5 camera and ST80 scope for guiding (with some free software) Would an ETX90 OTA work as a guide scope?

does this sound like a plan? I know seeing conditions and my own skill, orlack thereof will play a huge part, but I wanted to make sure I was on the right track.

many thanks for any input

[Shibby]

Welcome to the dark side! Sounds like you're definitely on the right track there!

As you say, get as good a mount as you can afford - this will be the platform that is ideally future proof for everything you try to add to it. Lots of people seem to recommend the HEQ5. I bought a second-hand Vixen GP with eqmod which I suppose is similar to an EQ5 but better engineered I am told.

You might find the Nikon a bit of a pain (I struggled with a D70 for a long time before eventually getting a 450d). I don't know if things have improved with the D5000 and its software...

Guiding; I strongly recommend (as you seem to already have concluded) to start your foray into imaging without guiding. This will let you concentrate on getting things like: focus, polar alignment and mount control perfected before introducing the added complication of guiding into the equation (not that I have ever tried this... yet)

Sounds like you've already settled on a winner in the refractor vs reflector dilemma?

Hope this has been of some help. I'm still quite new to imaging and the equipment involved so the input of others is definitely necessary.

[swag72]

If I was getting an imaging setup I would go for the following.

Mount - HEQ5 - Really considered to be the minimum mount for astro imaging.

Scope - ED80 - A really well thought of little scope that is a reasonable speed using a reducer and not so long in focal length that you will struggle with the guiding.

Guiding - QHY5 and ST80 seem to be the prefered guiding options, although I use a 9x50 finder scope.

You'll need all the connections for your camera - As you have a Nikon, don't know anything about those. I'd recommend you also use a reducer / field flattener and if you are guiding and lookig at longer exposures, you may want to seriously think about some type of light polltion filter too.

[Tinker1947]

The camera type Nikon or Canon i doubt there's much to choose between them, but the software Nikon charge £150 for there software, the Canon stuff i am told is free.

[pvaz]

I have similar plans, I'll post them here just as food for thought:

My long term plan it to get a HEQ5, put a ball head on it and start with camera lenses only.

I'm currently upgrading all my photography lenses to f2.8, so the plan is to use that f2.8 to achieve fast results with less exposure time. The wide shots with the smaller exposure time should make it a lot easier to get decent tracking and allow me to dedicate most of my time to the processing part, which seams to me is the most important step. I already kept my 450D when I upgraded the camera. It just needs to be moded and fitted with the Baader filter to get those red light bands.

Eventually I'll move on to an ED scope and guiding.

[JimStan]

I doubt that the ETX-90 can be used as a guide scope. When you start to disassemble the OTA , you will find that the trunions appear to be part of the assembly, and are going to leave you will a lot of excess hardware sticking on the tube, to be concerned with. I also believe the ETX-90 to be somewhat long, optically for guiding, and the FOV would be somewhat limited, making it difficult to pick out a suitable guide star somewhat close to your desired target. Furthermore, that guide star might be somewhat dim as compared to the image from a faster OTA .

Hope that input helps.

Jim S

[mindburner]

Welcome to the dark side! Sounds like you're definitely on the right track there!

As you say, get as good a mount as you can afford - this will be the platform that is ideally future proof for everything you try to add to it. Lots of people seem to recommend the HEQ5. I bought a second-hand Vixen GP with eqmod which I suppose is similar to an EQ5 but better engineered I am told.

You might find the Nikon a bit of a pain (I struggled with a D70 for a long time before eventually getting a 450d). I don't know if things have improved with the D5000 and its software...

Guiding; I strongly recommend (as you seem to already have concluded) to start your foray into imaging without guiding. This will let you concentrate on getting things like: focus, polar alignment and mount control perfected before introducing the added complication of guiding into the equation (not that I have ever tried this... yet)

Sounds like you've already settled on a winner in the refractor vs reflector dilemma?

Hope this has been of some help. I'm still quite new to imaging and the equipment involved so the input of others is definitely necessary.

this has been of enormous help. As for the refractor VS reflector. I as going for refractor mainly as I already have a reflector, not very scientific reasoning I know. I just noticed the Quattro newtonians, which seem to be very nice, so I will check them out too.

[Luke]

If budget allows I'd second something along the lines of HEQ5/EQ6, ED80 plus a fast telescope like the ST80 for guiding and something like the QHY5 guidecam.

I wouldn't have thought the ETX-90 would be that suitable for guiding. It's got a long focal length and is slow at F13.8, which to me in general is the opposite of what makes a great guide scope: short focal length and fast.

Short, fast guide scopes give you a wider field (more stars to choose from for guiding) and the stars are brighter, which means it's easier to find a star that's bright enough for guiding.

I don't know for sure that you wouldn't be able to use the ETX, but personally I think the ST80 or similar is brilliant for the job.

[mindburner]

I doubt that the ETX-90 can be used as a guide scope. When you start to disassemble the OTA , you will find that the trunions appear to be part of the assembly, and are going to leave you will a lot of excess hardware sticking on the tube, to be concerned with. I also believe the ETX-90 to be somewhat long, optically for guiding, and the FOV would be somewhat limited, making it difficult to pick out a suitable guide star somewhat close to your desired target. Furthermore, that guide star might be somewhat dim as compared to the image from a faster OTA .

Hope that input helps.

Jim S

many thanks Jim. I think I was grasping at straws as I have an ETX OTA here which is doing nothing and seemed like a good way to shave off a few ££. I think I will concentrate on a good mount and scope. The Skywatcher Evostar 100ED DS-Pro Outfit looks tempting.

[RikM]

The 100ED is bit slow even with the reducer. The 80ED plus a flattener-reducer would allow you to get away with shorter exposures. For imaging, low f-ratio is more important than aperture.

[mindburner]

The 100ED is bit slow even with the reducer. The 80ED plus a flattener-reducer would allow you to get away with shorter exposures. For imaging, low f-ratio is more important than aperture.

Ah right, I was in aperture mode. The 80 seems a very popular scope.

If I could maybe ask one more question. I want GOTO but am I right in thinking I can get this by using EQMOD (which I have just read about) with say the HEQ5?

[RikM]

You can use EQMOD via an extra adaptor box to control an HEQ5 Syntrek (not the base model HEQ5).

I don't know all the ins and outs as I bought the Pro Synscan version, so I could use it without the laptop for visual use as well.

[ollypenrice]

I think you're getting good advice here. Guidescopes need to be fast and need to be refractors (mirror movement would muck up a guide.) In fact they need to be ST80s!!!

You don't need aperture for imaging so the ED80 is a great choice. Refractors make imaging much, much easier (some find it hard enough as it is! I certainly do...)

The F4 of the Quattro is very attractive but F4 brings difficulties as well as benefits. Very shallow depth of field, so orthogonality and focus have to be tickety-boo. Collimation has to be spot on. I personally would hesitate because getting everything right on the night can already take all night! I go for refractors up to such apertures as oblige me to look elsewhere.

Olly

[x6gas]

All good advice, but I would suggest that you get into guiding sooner rather than later.

With my DSO imaging set-up (C6N f/5) I use an ST80 and a Synguider. I got the ST80 secondhand from here with guiderings and so the guiding set-up cost around £300 all in. The Synguider is dead easy to use, auto calibrates, is standalone and fully portable; I've been really pleased with it.

[mindburner]

superb advice and a lot of future potential questions answered as well. Ollypenrice, I was well impressed with the astro photos you have taken, technically excellent and beautiful. I think the ED80 and a HEQ6 syntrek will be ordered shortly. I had the dob out last night trying to web cam M42. That finally persuaded me to take the plunge with a decent mount.

The auto guiding will shortly follow as I want to get decent gear going ASAP. Like he idea of the synguider being stand alone too. Will check it out thanks

[ianaiken]

Why not use a qhy5 on a finder scope? I do and guide without issue with my sw 100ed, I just have the finder attached to the scope in the usual place and it doesn't add any a massive amount of weight. That means with my dual mount I can image with two devices and guide quite easily on the HEQ5.

I recommend like most others to get into guiding straight away. I've been into astrophotography for less than a year and had only a few sessions imaging and I find guiding no issue. Damn cloud.

I went for the 100ed as I wanted to use it for visual too. It was my first scope and I hadn't done either. Should I need faster imaging I can use my canon camera lenses which will go from 22mm to 600mm at f2.8 to f5.6 so for me an ed80 didn't make sense as I could do that with my camera. The 120 was out of my budget unfortunately.

I am very happy with the 100 for visual and for imaging. It is easy to set up and tear down easch session, easy to keep dew off, easy to transport and store in its case.

Hope this helps.

[mindburner]

That’s great. My main issue is to get a decent mount first. After using a dob which is amazing for the apeture but the mount is too much push and pull for decent imaging. I am new to EQ mounts and the setup seems to be a bit intimidating. The NEQ6 gets great feedback and has a big fan and support base. I like the look of the Celestron mounts as they have easy alignment, but motors seem a little loud from posts I have read. Something high quality very sold and simple to use.

So I think a decent mount, then Ed80 maybe with the finder guider as you say. Then get a St80 possibly. I did like the idea of doing a bit of visual too, hence my desire for a 100mm. The 120ED is faster at 7.5 but more costly

I am prepared to spend a few ££ on it. Is there a scope that is both excellent for imaging and visual? Perhaps the cost is prohibitive though.

[brantuk]

Check out the Altair Astro 115mm EDT - it's great for observing and I've seen snashing results for imaging too - plus they're a bargain at the moment as a complete package with finder, flight case, and 3" flatener. Mines on an EQ6 Pro which is a pretty perfect combination.

Altair Astro 115mm f805 EDT APO with 3" Field Flattener*::*Refractor telescopes*::*Telescopes*::*Altair Astro

[mindburner]

Check out the Altair Astro 115mm EDT - it's great for observing and I've seen snashing results for imaging too - plus they're a bargain at the moment as a complete package with finder, flight case, and 3" flatener. Mines on an EQ6 Pro which is a pretty perfect combination.

Altair Astro 115mm f805 EDT APO with 3" Field Flattener*::*Refractor telescopes*::*Telescopes*::*Altair Astro

Thats great I didn't think of looking at this scope, looks very impressive. I was just reading a review of the Skywatcher Equinox 120ED which looks very nice on a NEQ6

[redfox1971]

Don't forget to add nice clear sky's to that list lol,think only been about 10 totally clear sky's since jan 1st this year,uk weather along with so much light pollution don't help our hobbie 1 bit.

[mindburner]

Don't forget to add nice clear sky's to that list lol,think only been about 10 totally clear sky's since jan 1st this year,uk weather along with so much light pollution don't help our hobbie 1 bit.

I know, I think That is why I have been online so much looking at new gear. :)The dob is so big to get outside. Last night there was about 10 minutes of seeing before orange cloud moved in BAH

[pvaz]

The dob is so big to get outside. Last night there was about 10 minutes of seeing before orange cloud moved in BAH

Good EQ mounts such as the HEQ5 or NEQ6 are quite heavy and take longer to setup.

[JamesM]

As well as receiving excellent advice from above, I would also take a moment to read Steve Richards "Making Every Photon Count" (FLO £19.95) It will tell you what you will need and why you need it to achieve the level of imaging that will best meet your expectations. I certainly agree with Ian above that guiding is the way to go and sooner the better. Imaging yields a great deal of satisfaction which is paid for out of frustration and guiding from the start will certainly ease that burden. The HEQ5 with its auto guiding port is the mount to have, with a good payload capacity, a proven track record in imaging and given its price represents great value for money.

As I said at the start, take some time out and do a little extra reading up so that you can formulate a realistic budget in order to make your imaging a reality. Please don't forget that the collection of the data is only half the battle, the remaining half being the processing of that data and thankfully there is a lot of free software out there. Equally, there are also some good programs that will need to be paid for later on.

James

[LukeSkywatcher]

I must get a copy of making every photon count. It seems to be a "bible" for astro imaging.

[mindburner]

I must get a copy of making every photon count. It seems to be a "bible" for astro imaging.

yes it's on my Christmas list

I think I have decided on a Altair astro 115 and a celestion CGEM goto. I like the idea of the allstar setup and the quality seems good. Just need to get the pennies together