Budget!!

[veesix]

I've purchased my 600D now, but have only around £300-400 left for scope/mount. What would be the best way forward?

Save up (probably take 3-4 months) for a 200p EQ5 GOTO ?

Or start buying the kit in pieces?

I am also quite tempted to buy a 70-200mm Canon L lens which will allow some interesting shots to be taken as well as being usable day-to-day too...

[Arushin]

Hi,

Nice choice of camera

I am guessing here that you are planning on a bit of astrophotography.

If this is the case then in my opinion the mount is the most important part of the set up, so get the best you can afford.

At least with a good mount you can make a start and add the OTA' later as you progress.

Grab yourself a copy of the excellent 'Making Every Photon Count' from FLO, you won't regret it. This Bible of AP will walk you through what you need and explain why you need it.

I would certainly buy the 70-200mm lens so that you can use the DSLR on the mount that you buy. If your 600D came with the standard 18-55 then you won't get much out of it other than small shots of the moon.

Can't stress enough...buy the book, it's brilliant.

Good luck

[veesix]

Already have the book!

I've got a Giotto Tripod for the 600D too.

It is the toss up between making amazing Terrestrial shots with the 70-200 L and decent Lunar shots, or opening up the possibility of astro shots with the 200p skywatcher (EQ5 Goto).

[Photosbykev]

If you buy a good mount now then you will be able to fit your dslr to it for decent long exposures at reasonable focal lengths. At some point in the future go for the scope

Sent from my phone thingie using my fingers

[E621Keith]

You current kit is 600D, Giottos tripod, and 70-200L

With a budget of £400, a Vixen Polarie star tracker will probably work best for you

[RikM]

For long exposure imaging the mount is the most important piece of hardware. A 200P on an EQ5 is a 'visual' package, for imaging it is way too much scope on too small a mount. You could get some nice beginners shots with it, but it is not a good long term choice of equipment. Read 'Making Every Photon Count' and choose the right equipment for what you want to achieve. A 200P on an EQ5 is really making it hard for yourself.

If you want to get started with something now then the Vixen Polarie and just your camera would be pretty good. Then start saving for an HEQ5 Syntrek / Synscan and an ED80.

[veesix]

You current kit is 600D, Giottos tripod, and 70-200L

With a budget of £400, a Vixen Polarie star tracker will probably work best for you

Sorry for any confusion, but I do not have the 70-200L - that is my decision i'm stewing over now, to go for the 70-200L or the Skywatcher 200p.

[daz395]

If you get the 70-200, you'll want a 70-300 pretty quick. I know it happened to me I thought I would be ok with my 18-200, but its really limiting especially with moon shots. So I bought the best lens Ive ever used, a Tamron SP 70-300 which is a phenomenal lens both for every day shooting and for astro pics and wont break the bank like an L lens. The Tamron I have is every bit as good as a Sony G or Ziess lens. I have a moon pic took with it on my flickr site here http://www.flickr.com/photos/daz395/6969519771/in/set-72157629978398449

I do have more pics to upload to Flickr so will keep you posted if you like, my avatar pic of the 7 sisters was taken using that lens. (which for some reason hasn't worked, will go see why)

[RikM]

I have a Tamron 70-300 as well. Nice lens for ducks but I don't really use it for astrophotography.

[daz395]

but is it the SP 'gold rim' model? there is a MASSIVE and I mean MASSIVE difference between the stock one and the SP one. Yes it takes great shots of ducks too...... I really dont need sarcasm matey especially from a moderator. Im trying to offer advice, we haven't all got massive amounts of equipment like lots have in here for astrophotography. Ive only been a member here a few days, and starting to feel unwelcome already.

[russ.will]

If I read this right, you have a camera, but as of yet no scope at all? If so, do you know what subject matter interests you? DSOs, planetary, etc? It will have an impact on where you go, because no scope will do it all.

FWIW, I'd look at buying an HEQ5 Pro first, even if it means going second hand. They crop up for circa £500-600 and they're a stable, expandable platform on which to build. After that, I'd probably look at a short tube refractor, like a Skywatcher Evostar Pro ED80, as a sensible way to get you beyond where camera lenses will take you.

I promise that you will, in the long run, end up spending double whatever your initial intention. So get the mount right now, because that is the foundation upon which everything else is built.

Russell

[iwatkins]

If your 600D came with the standard 18-55 then you won't get much out of it other than small shots of the moon.

Not true. You can get perfectly great shots with a kit lens if you understand the limitations of the overall system.

Couple or five seconds shots, tripod mounted, will get you a wealth of images to play with over the year.

Shot below? 3 second exposure, Canon DSLR and the kit lens. And I was a bit drunk (youngest lads 21st).

Take what you have, use it to the best of your ability and push it.

Don't rush into buying gear until you can afford it, otherwise you'll buy gear not up to the job. Take your time, learn loads and practise.

The 70-200L is a good lens. If you'll use it other than for astro, it makes sense. But at 200mm, just tripod mounted, you'll be limited in what you can do astro wise. Earth just spins too quick.

Cheers

Ian

[sgazer]

definitely don't discount the 18-55m kit lens (the IS versions, the optics in the non-IS are total rubbish). It works very well for wide vistas, and is surprisingly sharp to the edge. I actually found it better than the Canon 28mm f2.8 prime. Photozone.de is the place to visit for lenses. It tests, I've found the MTF curves give a clear indication of the lens performance on stars and whether they'll still be dots at the edge or comet shaped or have chromatic aberrations. Also compare the MTF curves for the 55-250mm kit lens with the 70-300L, you'll find the kit lens is surprisingly good, for the price, especially when the L is 900GBP.

[jgs001]

As all you have at the moment, is the camera and kit lens, take a look at

http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?t=73737

Also, invest in Making Every Photon Count (Linked above), before purchasing any more. Whilst an EQ5 is a good mount, if you're serious about AP with a scope, then I'd suggest looking at the HEQ5 (in Syntrek guise as it's cheaper). If more widefield, which is where dSLR's and lenses work so well, then the Polarie seems to be doing a really good job from the images I've seen, or the Astrotrac. See if you can get hold of April's Sky At Night magazine, as Steve (steppenwolf) has carried out testing on a number of camera tracking mounts.

The 70-200 L is a beaut of a lens, I went from a 55-250 to the 70-200, so lost a bit of focal length... I'm not going to worry about getting a 70-300... although I'm keeping my eye out for a 1.4x TC, probably the Kenko Pro 300 version, but I have to say, my real cheap Kenko 2xTC still retains AF with my f/4 70-200 (although it shouldn't, and it's pretty accurate too).

The nifty fifty (50mm f/1.8) is a bit of a gem, if you can ignore the build... there's a reason it's called the plastic fantastic... but it's real cheap. Stopped down a bit, it's actually a very nice astro lens, but you will need tracking.

[E621Keith]

Don't get the cheap Tamron 70-300. I have one and it's a total piece of junk. I get ridiculous amount of CA even at f8 when I used it in day time. Go for 70-200 lens, the optics are usually much better. I have a Tamron 70-210 adapt all, and it's much much better than their 70-300 AF. Sigma 70-200 f2.8 is even better and they are relatively cheap used.

If you need more magnification you can always attach a Tele converter

[RikM]

but is it the SP 'gold rim' model? there is a MASSIVE and I mean MASSIVE difference between the stock one and the SP one. Yes it takes great shots of ducks too...... I really dont need sarcasm matey especially from a moderator. Im trying to offer advice, we haven't all got massive amounts of equipment like lots have in here for astrophotography. Ive only been a member here a few days, and starting to feel unwelcome already.

No sarcasm intended!

I do use the 70 – 300 lens for wildlife shots, where I find it performs very nicely indeed. I couldn’t afford the SP so I only have the standard one but it is good enough for me:

w_IMG_8027 by RikMcRae, on Flickr

w_IMG_7982 by RikMcRae, on Flickr

For lunar shots on a standard camera tripod it is very good but does give big blue halos on bright stars:

Moon and clouds by RikMcRae, on Flickr

What I found though, was that for targets other than the moon, I wanted a longer focal length to get better image scale on deep sky targets and no colour-fringing on bright stars so I bought a standard 150P on a basic EQ3-2 with dual axis drives a t-ring and a remote timer (about £350 new when I bought it). Which with a bit of effort allowed me to get the image scale I wanted:

M42-M43-NGC1977_20110109_mcrae_tweak by RikMcRae, on Flickr

M27_20110724_mcrae by RikMcRae, on Flickr

M81-M82_20110402_mcrae_edit 2 by RikMcRae, on Flickr

[veesix]

Some incredible shots there! I'm guessing you have left the IR filter on the sensor if you're using it for wildlife too? How do you manage to get the reds?

[RikM]

Yes, I use an unmoddified 1000D

It has pretty good Ha sensitivity for an unmodded camera and it is light enough that it doesn't cause focuser flex / slip issues which the bigger DSLR's can. The secret to getting the reds is just time on target. Lots of subs and the longer the better. These unguided ones were all 90sec to 2min. I have some others in my deepsky albumn with up to 8min subs and 4 or 5 hr total exposure using a bigger mount.

[Viv]

The nifty fifty (50mm f/1.8) is a bit of a gem, if you can ignore the build... there's a reason it's called the plastic fantastic... but it's real cheap. Stopped down a bit, it's actually a very nice astro lens, but you will need tracking.

Completely - it's a lovely lens. I've not used it yet (for astro)

The what to get first, really is a tricky one.

I have rings on the way. So hopefully, use an ST80 for guiding, with the camera fixed on top. So if your budget would stretch to a mount & guiding bits - widefield could be a nice way to start.

As soon as your point your lens, to the sky, the to buy list grows (constantly). But well worth it ......

[veesix]

Completely - it's a lovely lens. I've not used it yet (for astro)

The what to get first, really is a tricky one.

I have rings on the way. So hopefully, use an ST80 for guiding, with the camera fixed on top. So if your budget would stretch to a mount & guiding bits - widefield could be a nice way to start.

As soon as your point your lens, to the sky, the to buy list grows (constantly). But well worth it ......

I know - first night of my 600D I was out there, saw 3 shooting stars, Venus, Jupiter, Mars and the Moon. Still learning the camera (do you ever stop learning?!), but was doing 25-30sec exposures.

Haven't yet analysed the photos, but undoubtedly will not be perfect as Jupiter was moving with a blur on 30secs exposure.

I've just had my T-Ring and remote shutter delivered, which is a small portion of the kit!

[jgs001]

I'm gonna guess you were using a longer focal length than 18mm... at 18mm you should be good for 25-30 second exposures. They'll stack in DSS. The 50mm, you'll be looking at 8 to 12 seconds max. Thus you need it tracked... if you want pinpoint stars that is. Then again, at f/1.8, whilst the outer edges of the starfields will look rather poor, the sheer amount of light let in is quite amazing... I've had black skies (they sure looked it to me) come out blue.

[Viv]

Still learning the camera (do you ever stop learning?!), but was doing 25-30sec exposures.

Haven't yet analysed the photos, but undoubtedly will not be perfect as Jupiter was moving with a blur on 30secs exposure.

I've just had my T-Ring and remote shutter delivered, which is a small portion of the kit!

No - I really don't think we'll ever stop learning, but it's part the enjoyment.

Start looking & processing, I've found that bit so much more challenging, than the actual imaging capturing. Of course post up as well, it's always great to review your own progress & of course nice for us all to see.

That remote will really help. Just one note if your lens has IS, you need to turn it off, when using on a tripod / fixed surface.

[Arushin]

iwatkins,

I stand corrected

Great shot you've taken there, which gives me hope.

Tony

[ollypenrice]

As already said, the mount is number one, the camera number two and the scope number three. I wouldn't be in a rush because there are not many imaging nights coming up if you are in the UK owing to the sun. Save up for an HEQ5 or NEQ6 first. The HEQ5 has finer stepper motors so autoguides significantly better than the basic one. Then you could start with widefield lens shots. This was with a modertaely priced Samyang 85. (6 panel mosaic)

And this with a Canon 200L (primes beat zooms on stars.)

Note that there are no diffraction artefacts in the Pleiades stars because I used a simple home made aperture mask in front of the lens rather than stopping it down with the iris.

Olly

http://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/Other/Best-of-Les-Granges/22435624_WLMPTM#!i=1793644788&k=r8HTK72

[daz395]

Hiya Rick, sorry matey Im still getting over a 3.5 hr operations to fuse my right foot just over a week ago so stuffed with pain killers at the mo. Prob a bit over sensitive and not reading things as they are meant.

Regarding the SP lens, its a huge step up and Id advise anyone to go for that over the stock 70-300 £99 model.

Ive not yet worked out how to post pics in here so Ive posted a few in the gallery section, I usually use my Minolta 50mm F1.7 prime for astro shots but I was amazed at how good the Tamron was too, even at 300mm with a boost in the ISO sensitivity to keep the shots short and stacked in DSS came out pretty well. My problem is living too close to Chester and Liverpool the sky comes out bright red or pink at anything more than 10 seconds.

Im hoping to get a motor drive for my 150P/EQ3-2 as soon as I can. I keep getting sniped in Ebay all the time and cant yet afford a new one.

Ive seen some (as above and your own) incredible photo's of the night sky taken with a piggy backed dslr on a tracked Eq.

veesix, as has been said, think carefully before parting with money at what you REALLY want to do, if you cant afford what you want then save up as you wont be happy with just settling for second best. As with everything, get the best you can afford that you know will do the job. Ive learn't that in the past by being too hasty.