Bit of a newbie...

[broony]

Sorry for such a newbie post. I have developed a strong interest in solar photography.

So far I have used a small kiddies telescope and projected onto white paper, the taken a photo of the paper wiht my phone. this is the result (7th May, sunspot 1741).

I now want to get stuck in with my Skywatcher 130mm reflector. It came with a dust cap over the main tube , which has a removable 2 inch cover in it (like the picture below.)

Am I right in thinking I can just use this dust cap, add some Baader film over the 2 inch hole, and this should allow me to SAFELY capture the sun with a DSLR mounted to the eyepiece . Is it worth still projecting onto a bit of nice white smooth card and taking pic of that, or should the dusty mask/Baader film and DSLR be good enough (I presume way down at 1/2000 shutter speed)

[Dawson1]

i dont know about your question but that is a great pic of the sun spot. I havent got a telescope yet but was thinking of a SKYWATCHER 130 how is it.

[GreatAttractor]

I know something of developing this kind of interest it's just unstoppable... I suggest you make a full-aperture filter out of Baader film - using just the small hole decreases your image resolution. The DSLR will be fine, I had taken my first few pictures even before I got mounting ring, just by resting the camera body against the focuser. Prime focus photos will be much better than screen projection or eyepiece projection.

[Starlight 1]

From posts on here Look like the right way to do it Baader film over the 2 inch hole.

[broony]

thanks folks!!

That sunspot was just from a tiny refractor, about a foot long, with 10 mm lens. I can only imagine a bunch of stacked shots with the skywatcher will be great.

Thanks for the advice re: the film. I am glad the DSLR will survive with just the film. Plus I live in Aberdeen...so not much chance of it getting too hot in the tube

Dawson1...not entirely sure yet...not had much viewing since I bought it. This is a few pics of the moon I took with it (below..they have been reduced in resolution a bit for uploading to facebook. Just single images as I haven't worked out how to stack multiple images yet). My main problem is that I thought it would be easier to do the polar mounting....I was wrong. When I think its right, there is enough of a difference, to still make stars move across the field...but I'll get there, its all about learning. For the price, though it seems quite good and general reviews of it are good. So far I've seen a few double stars, had a good look at the moon and got some nice pics of constellations..hasnt been a clear enough light to try any deep space objects......

The mount seems to still move a bit up/down and L/R , even when locked in alt/az planes...not sure if its faulty or not. So far I am pleased with it, but until I get a half decent look at a planet or a DSO, then its hard to say