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camper72

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camper72

camper72

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HI TO EVERYBODY

MY NAME IS STEVE AKA CAMPER 72 I LIVE IN MAIDSTONE KENT AGE 53. BEEN LOOKING AT THE SKY ALL MY LIVE AND ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN THE PLANETS AND ITS FORMATION. MY WIFE HAS SAID THAT FATHER CHRISTMAS MY BE BRINGING ME A SKYWATCHER SKYHAWK 1145P SYNSCAN WOULD THIS BE A GOOD STARTING SCOPE FOR A BEGINNER. I AM AN EXPERIENCED PHOTOGRAPHER AND WOULD LIKE SOME INFO ON USING MY DSLR ON THE SCOPE AND IS THE MAGNIFICATION ON THE SKYWATCHER GOOD ENOUGH FOR DETAILED SHOTS OF THE MOON AND STAR CLUSTERS

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malc-c

malc-c

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Steve, welcome to the forum. Can I suggest that you take your caps lock off, internet etiquette take that as shouting :)

To be honest, your intended scope is not up to the job for astro-imaging with a dslr. You shoud get away with shots of the Moon as the brightness dictates short exposures, but anything else requires longer exposures and the mount isn't really that suitable for this, even with the additional drive motor for the Right Ascension axis. To get half-decent images of clusters and the like you need a stable and sturdy mount. IMO the minimum would be the EQ2-3 for use with a small scope like your intended purchase, but if you are wanting to get some really faint dso's then the minimum will be the HEQ5, around 6x your budget.

Don't get me wrong, your intended purchase is a good scope for a beginner to get to grips with understanding the fundamentals of an EQ mount, and will give fine low power views visually of planets and the moon with the option of using webcams to image planets and the Moon, but for imaging with a dSLR, I don't think so.

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jason.p

jason.p

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Welcome James. Can't help you much with your question but be assured there's plenty on here who can and will do willingly. I haven't been here long myself but I've learnt a heck of a lot in a fairly short time. Good luck and clear skies :smiley:

Jason

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Steve and welcome to the forum. If imaging is going to be a future project in astronomy then may I suggest you get hold of a copy of Steve Richards' "Making Every Photon Count" (FLO £19.95) which is a very comprehensive guide to what kit you need and why you need it to take good consistent images. In fact, it may well save you money by helping you avoid buying the wrong kit and by establishing an overview of all that is involved with imaging to help you decide on far you want to go, be it deep sky (galaxies and nebulae) or solar system objects (moon and planets). Scopes that are designed to provide great views of the night sky are not necessarily appropriate for the requirements of imaging and you will often see that many of us here have more than one scope to cover these possibilities. Imaging doesn't have to be expensive but it is fair to say that you will need to spend your money in certain areas to help ensure that imaging is more fun than frustration and good equipment will certainly help you with consistency. Of course discussions such as these naturally focus on the data collection side of imaging but as a photographer you will appreciate that framing an image is only half the battle, processing the final image can also make a huge difference. There are many software programs out there that are really great and intuitive to use and are also free to access but equally there are one or two others that will come with a decent price tag. Reading the above book and asking questions here before making any imaging purchases will help you establish a realistic overview of the requirements, costs and the problem areas that you will want to avoid. Hope that helps.

Clear skies for now and hope you enjoy the forum.

James

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camper72

camper72

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Hello and a warm welcome to SGL there will be someone on here that will give you all the help you need im just getting used to my scope . when i get my DSLR i will probably pick your brains about that.

Thanx for your welcome let me now when you get your dslr and i help you as much as i can
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camper72

camper72

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Steve, welcome to the forum. Can I suggest that you take your caps lock off, internet etiquette take that as shouting :)

To be honest, your intended scope is not up to the job for astro-imaging with a dslr. You shoud get away with shots of the Moon as the brightness dictates short exposures, but anything else requires longer exposures and the mount isn't really that suitable for this, even with the additional drive motor for the Right Ascension axis. To get half-decent images of clusters and the like you need a stable and sturdy mount. IMO the minimum would be the EQ2-3 for use with a small scope like your intended purchase, but if you are wanting to get some really faint dso's then the minimum will be the HEQ5, around 6x your budget.

Don't get me wrong, your intended purchase is a good scope for a beginner to get to grips with understanding the fundamentals of an EQ mount, and will give fine low power views visually of planets and the moon with the option of using webcams to image planets and the Moon, but for imaging with a dSLR, I don't think so.

thanx for your info i have a budget of 300 quid so ill have to be happy of what i can do with the photos
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camper72

camper72

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Welcome James. Can't help you much with your question but be assured there's plenty on here who can and will do willingly. I haven't been here long myself but I've learnt a heck of a lot in a fairly short time. Good luck and clear skies :smiley:

Jason

thanx jason ive got to get used to all the ebbreviations on the telescope info dont understand half of it at the moment regards steve
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camper72

camper72

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Hi Steve and welcome to the forum. If imaging is going to be a future project in astronomy then may I suggest you get hold of a copy of Steve Richards' "Making Every Photon Count" (FLO £19.95) which is a very comprehensive guide to what kit you need and why you need it to take good consistent images. In fact, it may well save you money by helping you avoid buying the wrong kit and by establishing an overview of all that is involved with imaging to help you decide on far you want to go, be it deep sky (galaxies and nebulae) or solar system objects (moon and planets). Scopes that are designed to provide great views of the night sky are not necessarily appropriate for the requirements of imaging and you will often see that many of us here have more than one scope to cover these possibilities. Imaging doesn't have to be expensive but it is fair to say that you will need to spend your money in certain areas to help ensure that imaging is more fun than frustration and good equipment will certainly help you with consistency. Of course discussions such as these naturally focus on the data collection side of imaging but as a photographer you will appreciate that framing an image is only half the battle, processing the final image can also make a huge difference. There are many software programs out there that are really great and intuitive to use and are also free to access but equally there are one or two others that will come with a decent price tag. Reading the above book and asking questions here before making any imaging purchases will help you establish a realistic overview of the requirements, costs and the problem areas that you will want to avoid. Hope that helps.

Clear skies for now and hope you enjoy the forum.

James

thank you james for all the info its a great help when you're new to astronomy to have understanding members regards steve
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VigdisVZ

VigdisVZ

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Hi and welcome!

I'll just chime in and say that you need a motorized scope that tracks the stars to photograph anything dimmer than the moon or maybe jupiter, but I suspect you've learned as much from previous posters.

Looking forward to hearing about your plans.

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Velvet

Velvet

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hi steve

welcome to SGL. If considering Astrophotography you need deep pockets LOL. The most important thing is to get decent mount. Either HEQ5 or if possible NEQ6. Scope and camera come second.

As previously said please read 'make every photon count', do lots of research and ask for advice.

My first scope was fine but bought EQ5 and it was not up to what i wanted, so had to upgrade to NEQ6, it would have saved money in the end if I had done a bit more digging. You can take images with just a DSLR

on a good mount to start with. The secret as data, data, and data.

Hope all the above comments and mine help

Regards

Velvet

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camper72

camper72

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Hi Steve and welcome to the forum. If imaging is going to be a future project in astronomy then may I suggest you get hold of a copy of Steve Richards' "Making Every Photon Count" (FLO £19.95) which is a very comprehensive guide to what kit you need and why you need it to take good consistent images. In fact, it may well save you money by helping you avoid buying the wrong kit and by establishing an overview of all that is involved with imaging to help you decide on far you want to go, be it deep sky (galaxies and nebulae) or solar system objects (moon and planets). Scopes that are designed to provide great views of the night sky are not necessarily appropriate for the requirements of imaging and you will often see that many of us here have more than one scope to cover these possibilities. Imaging doesn't have to be expensive but it is fair to say that you will need to spend your money in certain areas to help ensure that imaging is more fun than frustration and good equipment will certainly help you with consistency. Of course discussions such as these naturally focus on the data collection side of imaging but as a photographer you will appreciate that framing an image is only half the battle, processing the final image can also make a huge difference. There are many software programs out there that are really great and intuitive to use and are also free to access but equally there are one or two others that will come with a decent price tag. Reading the above book and asking questions here before making any imaging purchases will help you establish a realistic overview of the requirements, costs and the problem areas that you will want to avoid. Hope that helps.

Clear skies for now and hope you enjoy the forum.

James

hi james thank you for all that info i will be going to the book shop on tuesday and order that book havnt got my scope yet its for exmas from my wife

explorer 130pm skyscan az goto will that be ok for photos of moon and planets ie saturn and star clusters once again thanx for the help kind regards steve

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