Fairly New to Astronomy!

[Briskycat]

as I'm sure you're all aware from my welcome post. I'm currently taking astronomy at college. But I've recently become interested in astrophotography, I've now read several books that explain. "what to do what you need." But obviously I don't have that vital experience in the market... You know the experience in good brands, Rubbish websites to buy of, or if eBay is a good option..ect. SO That's where you come in.

Your task should you choose to accept- Is to tell me the Best telescope and mount I can buy for £550.00

Optional extras that I would like with the telescope are : tracking and extra lenses... I'm not to fussed about anything else + I don't really know many other accessories

Basically all I know ( from reading and other people telling me ) is that the mount is just as important if not MORE important than the actual telescope itself!

I've been shooting weddings..Mostly mutual friends ( still paid though ) since I was 14, but my camera got stolen when i was 15. So This is my new one I just bought!!

I'm hoping this camera will be good for DSOS and weddings alike.

Cannon EOS 5D Mark III SLR Camera... EF - 24-105mm IS Lense

You're help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

-Josh

[rowan46]

welcome If you are serious about the astrophotography The minimum mount to get is a skywatcher heq5 anything smaller or cheaper is a serious compromise you can get away with widefield photography for a while on that. But eventually you will want a skywatcher ed 80, guide scope guide camera some software, connectors, adaptors and so on but of course while you are saving for all those you having nothing to look at the sky with. Bins are ok for a while and they are cheap but you will not be able to get in close. Which brings you to scopes. For visual apparture, is best but 6 inches is enough to keep you occupied. So I would suggest a 6" dobsonion scope http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

and then start saving for the astriphotography The heq5 mount is going for about £500 second hand at the moment

[Astrosurf]

Are you just interested in AP or are you also interested in visual? I've been told for both there's a trade-off. If it's just AP then I've been told the small/medium Apo refractors are good, and they're light so the HEQ5 is fine for them, but they're expensive. You might be able to get one second-hand. I'm sure someone will be along to advise the best scope for your money!

You can see my kit and it does quite well for AP and visual, but the mount is at its carrying capacity when camera and guidescope are on. But I'm not very strong so the HEQ6 mount would be too heavy for me! But it would be better for my kit.

You need a tracking, equatorial mount, not a dobsonian, to take images. The mount needs to track or you'll get star trailing. Even with my mount I can only get max 45 seconds exposures ('subs') unguided. With a guidecam I can get several minutes, if it's guiding OK. I use the popular finder-guider set-up using a QHY5 guidecam. Others use different set-ups. I'm sure they'll be along in a mo!

I've not used an apo so can't advise there.

Alexxx

[sologuitarist61]

Keep and eye on the Classified here and also Astro B&S and see if you can get yourself a secondhand mount. For the amount you have to spend you will then be able to get a better scope than if buying new - but the three that come to mind are CG5GT, HEQ5 and EQ6 - but a lot depends on what scope you will get or whether you are just uding the DSLR for wide field imaging

[Capricorn]

Like everything your budget is the main factor, then comes your asperations.

Sadly budget is often low and asperations are often high.

I think it was Brandt that had a small "budget" astrophotography setup that worked fine.

This was:

William Optics 72mm scope

EQ5 with motors

DSLR.

Assorted bits.

That would get you going and be a start, however be aware that the way forward would be to change and upgrade each bit with the possible exception of the DSLR, although even that could be changed to a cooled ccd.

The WO 72 is not made any longer so perhaps a used one, if you can get one, or a WO 70, WO brought out the 70 to replacement the 72 and they now have a 71 to replace the 70 it would seem. Basically a William Optics seventy something.

Many will have their Canon modified, this is removal of an IR cut off filter, ideally it is replaced with a different one. This will not I guess be something for you as you want the camera for other aspects.

That is probably the smallest system you could put together, ignoring the DSLR I would guess about £1000 maybe £1200.

There is no guiding so exposures will be limited to around 30sec possible a bit more.

Accessories: T-ring, remote timer, focus mask, polar scope.

You might need a flattener as well, these can vary in cost, think Skywatcher do one that is about £60-65 that may be usable, otherwise they go up to £300 depending on whose.

[Briskycat]

Like everything your budget is the main factor, then comes your asperations.

Sadly budget is often low and asperations are often high.

I think it was Brandt that had a small "budget" astrophotography setup that worked fine.

This was:

William Optics 72mm scope

EQ5 with motors

DSLR.

Assorted bits.

That would get you going and be a start, however be aware that the way forward would be to change and upgrade each bit with the possible exception of the DSLR, although even that could be changed to a cooled ccd.

The WO 72 is not made any longer so perhaps a used one, if you can get one, or a WO 70, WO brought out the 70 to replacement the 72 and they now have a 71 to replace the 70 it would seem. Basically a William Optics seventy something.

Many will have their Canon modified, this is removal of an IR cut off filter, ideally it is replaced with a different one. This will not I guess be something for you as you want the camera for other aspects.

That is probably the smallest system you could put together, ignoring the DSLR I would guess about £1000 maybe £1200.

There is no guiding so exposures will be limited to around 30sec possible a bit more.

Accessories: T-ring, remote timer, focus mask, polar scope.

You might need a flattener as well, these can vary in cost, think Skywatcher do one that is about £60-65 that may be usable, otherwise they go up to £300 depending on whose.

Really helpful post thanks. The main thing is, I don't need synscan unless there is more to it than I've understood. From what I've heard it automatically finds a star/nebula/galaxy for you. But i don't need that because 1 that would be cheating and secondly i have tools to help me find the DSOS. So going back to the HEQ5 <<--- what is better with this scope than say the EQ5/6??

thanks for all contribution to this post thus far.

[Briskycat]

Really helpful post thanks. The main thing is, I don't need synscan unless there is more to it than I've understood. From what I've heard it automatically finds a star/nebula/galaxy for you. But i don't need that because 1 that would be cheating and secondly i have tools to help me find the DSOS. So going back to the HEQ5 <<--- what is better with this scope than say the EQ5/6??

thanks for all contribution to this post thus far.

Mount rather

[rowan46]

The heq5 tracks better than the eq5, some say better than the eq6 although it doesn't carry the same load. As to scopes usually a small apo refractor is chosen, There is a new reflector out called the 130p ds by skywatcher which on paper looks like a useful scope for entry level imaging but I haven't seen any images from it yet or anybody who has bought one yet, Have you got http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

It tells you what you need and more importantly why it will give you a useful grounding in deep space photograhy

[Keiran]

Hi Josh,

That camera/lens combination is brilliant for astrophotography (AP). If i was in your shoes, I would consider trying AP with just your camera and lens. Have you considered buying a Mount, like the EQ3 pro Sycan (goto) http://www.firstligh...nscan-goto.html, and mouting your camera to that. Add a dew strap/heater(http://www.firstligh...controller.html), to stop you lens dewing up, and giving that a go.

You can get some really good results with just your camera... take a look at baz's examples, the first couple are with just a dslr... http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/164405-astrophotography-yes-you-can/

You can also buy a cheap scope to add to that if you wish to do some observing. I wouldnt suggest imaging with a scope when you start. At longer focal lengths it gets much harder, and more complicated.

Using just a DSLR is great to get you started and learn the basics...

I hope that helps,

Keiran

[Keiran]

Just read one of your other posts, The HEQ5 is great, but expensive. It is much better than the EQ5, but is much lighter (in weight than the EQ6 and its cheaper). If you are thinking of imaging, then i would recommend GOTO (synscan), it does find thing for you, which you may think is cheating, but it also tracks the object much better. It is a great starter mount if you can afford it.

[Briskycat]

Thanks for both of your help, I think I will save up just a little more for the HEQ5. Then buy a skywatcher 200p to go with it, along with my dslr I should be able to get some SWEEET pictures with all my kit combined. I mean precision tracking is definitely a MUST for AP, especially for dsos. No point buying everything twice so I may as well just save up another £500.00 !!

[Briskycat]

Are you just interested in AP or are you also interested in visual? I've been told for both there's a trade-off. If it's just AP then I've been told the small/medium Apo refractors are good, and they're light so the HEQ5 is fine for them, but they're expensive. You might be able to get one second-hand. I'm sure someone will be along to advise the best scope for your money!

You can see my kit and it does quite well for AP and visual, but the mount is at its carrying capacity when camera and guidescope are on. But I'm not very strong so the HEQ6 mount would be too heavy for me! But it would be better for my kit.

You need a tracking, equatorial mount, not a dobsonian, to take images. The mount needs to track or you'll get star trailing. Even with my mount I can only get max 45 seconds exposures ('subs') unguided. With a guidecam I can get several minutes, if it's guiding OK. I use the popular finder-guider set-up using a QHY5 guidecam. Others use different set-ups. I'm sure they'll be along in a mo!

I've not used an apo so can't advise there.

Alexxx

Could i possibly be a little rude and ask how much all of your kit combined cost? I think i'm getting quite a similar setup and Need ot know the overall price. Thanks!

[Astrosurf]

Blimey, it was ages ago! A good few hundred. Have a look on FLO for what it's selling for new. I think the mount is going for around £500 or more second-hand. The Hyperions were about £70-80 each a few years ago. It's an expensive, but very rewarding, set-up. It's not without its problems though. Imaging is hard as the long focal length of the scope means it's sensitive to wind and vibration, and there are other problems. It depends on what you want. I wish I could be more precise!