A tad confused... new to imaging.

[Jason Garrett]

So I got my first scope last Christmas, but I'm confused about imaging, despite not trying anything yet, I have looked up things like T Rings and adapters etc etc.

However it says you replace your eyepiece with the DSLR..? Surely this wouldn't work since you lose your eyepiece which gives you your magnification.

Could someone please shed any light on being new to all of this bare in mind my Fiancee has a DSLR I can use.

My scope is Celestron Astromaster 130eq, 8MM BST Explorer and 25MM coming soon.

[NLO]

With a T ring you are able to place your DSLR in place of your eye piece which then makes the telescope a very large lens for your camera to take an image with.

You can also get system which will allow you to image afocally (think thats the right word) by using the eye piece and putting the camera to view through the eyepiece. Afocally i found my DSLR quite heavy to get it to sit still enough to take a clear image so just stuck to using the T ring

Kate

[JamesF]

Just as Kate says. The telescope becomes your camera lens. There is no magnification to speak of. What you will hear people talking about is "image scale", which is how much of the sky is represented by a single pixel on the camera sensor.

You may have trouble reaching focus with the DSLR attached to the scope. It's not always possible with some reflectors. I can't remember if the 130EQ is one of them though.

James

[BlinneOrlaith]

Hi mate. I also have the 130EQ. Unfortunately I lost all my eyepieces and adapters etc (Long story), but I am sure that you need to use a Barlow lens with it to get an image through the DSLR. (Something to do with distances)

I originally used a T Ring for the Nikon and my Barlow which as far as I remember was a Skywatcher x2 which handily had a threaded end, so this screwed directly into the T Ring (T adapter not required).

So as far as I remember, a T Ring and adapter will not give you an image when plugged into the 130EQ, you will most likely need a Barlow lens.

I can confirm all this in a few days, I have ordered some new parts, this time my setup will consist of an non threaded Barlow, so I will have to use the T Adapter along with the T Ring.

I suck at making sense, but what you (And I) will end up with is :

DSLR - T Ring - T Adapter - Barlow lens - 130EQ - Pictures

Good luck

[c3po]

The need for a Barlow depends on the camera and focal distances. Personally, I've found my Sony A200 not to need a Barlow with my 130eq, but instead I needed an adjustable t-adaptor so I could move the focus point out a tiny bit further than the built in focal tube allowed.

A Barlow would help achieve this also, but you get a magnified view, and the exposures would need to be increased to counter the light lost through the extra glass nite in the focal train.

[BlinneOrlaith]

instead I needed an adjustable t-adaptor so I could move the focus point out a tiny bit further than the built in focal tube allowed.

Ahhh right, that makes sense. I new it was something to do with distances, the adjustable T Adapter looks ideal then if you are having probs with your DSLR and the 130EQ. Although I have a Barlow I think I will order the adjustable Adapter also.

You learn something new everyday, hope the OP gets sorted out

I got some good pic's through the 130EQ and my Nikon D3000

[ollypenrice]

A Barlow would help achieve this also, but you get a magnified view, and the exposures would need to be increased to counter the light lost through the extra glass nite in the focal train.

This is not correct. The extra glass in the Barlow is insignificant. The reason the Barlow increases exposure time is that it increases the focal ratio. Take an F5 scope. Then put in a 2X Barlow so that it works at F10. At F10 the system needs four times the exposure time.

It is true that some Newts will not come to focus without a Barlow but that is a different story and in this case we'd have to say that they are not really suitable for imaging.

Olly

[c3po]

This is not correct. The extra glass in the Barlow is insignificant. The reason the Barlow increases exposure time is that it increases the focal ratio. Take an F5 scope. Then put in a 2X Barlow so that it works at F10. At F10 the system needs four times the exposure time.

Oops, my bad. Learn something new every day! Thanks for the classification Olly!

[ronaldo999]

I found that starting with simple widefield shots was best to get used to camera settings and also the moon is always a good object to start with, if you get into deep sky stuff a focal reducer will help reduce exposure times and of course you will ideally need a guided setup to achieve best results.

[pilkinn]

A reducer's primary goal is to reduce the focal length and hence the image scale. This means that objects appear smaller on the chip. The only way to keep the same image scale but allow you reduce exposure time is to get a telescope with a larger apature.

Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk 2

[dmahon]

Or get a camera with bigger (or more sensitive) pixels.