DSLR and a Dob?

[Manok101]

I wanted to start fiddling with astrophotography and was wondering if I should get some sort of mount for the camera or use a tripod or what?

[cantab]

The tube can be mounted equatorially. Unless you have a seriously big budget I think it will have to be the 4.5 inch one, and even then it's good to get the most robust mount you can afford.

[sgazer]

you can do short exposures (5-10s) or star trails on a camera tripod, longer exposures (15-120s) on a motorised ALT/AZ mount and even longer with a motorised EQ mount. Focal length will determine how well you need to track and hence how good the mount will need to be. eg, with a 100mm camera lens, tracking is not so critical, but with a 1000mm scope, it becomes more so. If you don't get an EQ mount, exposure times will also be limted by field rotation, which is where the stars rotate around the center of the image. This is independant of focal length and is determined by the position in the sky. It varies from about 15s to 2mins.

[dav1d]

Hmmm. Have you tried with a webcam yet? You can get some fabulous results with a comparatively small investment and figure out whether you need a tripod or 'proper camera' at all.

[Capricorn]

Dobsonians and Astrophotography do not go together.

So if you intend to put a DSLR on a manual dobsonian mounted scope you will be disappointed.

If the dobsonian has motors then you are in the realm of Alt/Az and a webcam. Get an .avi and stack the good frames, normally planetary imaging.

If you are looking at DSO's and long exposures then you need a driven equitorial mount.

[pvaz]

Best you can hope for, is to get very basic video with your DSLR. Photos won't be an option.

This are a couple of tests I did with my Canon 60D and my dob:

https://vimeo.com/user7191637

[JamesM]

Agree with Capricorn above that a webcam is the way to go. Some cameras have the capacity to take video but the webcam is still preferred as it lighter and so aviods balancing issues. If imaging represents a direction that you want to explore, can I recommend that you get hold of a copy of Stever Richards' "Making Every Photon Count" (FLO £19.95) which you can view here. It will tell you what kit you need and why you need it to take good consistent images that will meet your expectations. Modestly priced, it might even save you some money by helping you to formulate a proper budget from the outset so you know what you getting yourself into. Imaging doesn't have to be really expensive but to take good consistent images of deep sky objects cannot be done on the cheap either. If you want a brief overview of the kit that you need, you can always take a glance at some of the kit signatures of members over on the imaging sections and you will see a lot of similarity which will also help inform you of a realistic budget.

Using a webcam to image solar system objects (planets & moon) is relatively inexpensive to set up and much of the required software to help you create your image from the collected data is also free and includes such programs as Sharpcap, Wx Astrocapture, Craterlet and for stacking the best of your AVI webcam frames that will help you construct a final composite image 'Registax' which is also free. Webcaming is the way to go for you dobsonian and is also a good way to introduce you into the world of astrophotgraphy or as we sometimes like to call it the 'dark art'.

Clear skies

James