Comments and advice on my plan for getting into Astrophotography.

[portedGoblin]

Hello friends

I am currently using my normal photo equipment to do some Astrophotography. I have a Nikon D600 and some lenses. I usually use my 50mm f1.4 as it frames a constellation nicely. I also use a normal tripod and a remote.

I live on the 4th floor in an apartment in a small Swedish town. No elevator.

I can get to really nice and dark skies with 10min in my car. I really enjoy being out in the night and the skies are always blowing my mind.

Things are going pretty well so far. I have so much to learn about processing but I have a lot of time due to starry nights are kind of far between. I have been out for a lot of them so far since I got the D600.

Seeing the images that you guys produce is truly inspiring and of course I am starting to look into what it would take for me to take such images.

I have the money to get into the hobby, just maybe not all at once.

So the plan is to first buy a mount to be able to take longer exposures with my current DSLR gear. Then after a while I can get a 75-90mm ish refractor to use with the D600 and then guiding and maybe finally another camera.

If It wasn't for the 4 flight of stairs I’d get a EQ6 and build from there, but I’m afraid that it will be to much hassle to get out and that I’d end up not going out at all.

And frankly looking at all the gear needed, is it even possible to get a portable setup that is capable of taking good images?

Is anyone here in my situation and what does your setup look like?

PS! Attached the image I captured yesterday. Nikon D600, 50mm f1.4 @ f2.8, 12ish x 6"

[steppenwolf]

Welcome to SGL. You're quite right to be thinking about the mount first and I would not want to carry an EQ6 up and down 4 flights of stairs either.

You are obviously enjoying your widefield deep sky imaging so perhaps this is the route to take for now by buying a really lightweight mount designed for portability and longer exposure images using at least some of your existing photographic equipment. I am thinking here of a tracking device called an Astrotrac.

Alternatively, the next equatorial mount down from the EQ6 is the HEQ5 which is a very capable mount and would comfortably handle a 75 - 90mm refractor and a lightweight autoguiding system (either an Off Axis Guider or perhaps a finder-guider). This mount could also be used for long exposure versions of your existing widefield images.

[sologuitarist61]

That sounds like a good plan - great image by the way

[ronin]

You are going to really need to pick equipment carefully and with some thought, possibly also make sure you do not expect too much. Based on one persons equipment and images (Brandt) perhaps the following.

I believe they have a set up based on the following:

EQ5 and WO Megrez 72.

The equivalent would be the EQ5 and the newer WO 71, the WO 71 has a rack and pinion focuser and is I think bigger.

The mount would need motors and that means power, so a good power tank or run from a car.

Drawbacks are that the scope is a doublet and will still show a small amount of CA, concern here is that it will be more apparent then if used visually. WO are fairly honest and say it is well controlled, not that it is non-existant. Another is that a bigger scope later could mean a bigger mount at the same time.

One strangly good point is that the WO scopes are generally build well and solid, the strange good bit is that they can be a bit heavy. The WO 71 is stated as 2.7Kg. Looking at the TS site they have an Astro Professional 80mm triplet apo in a carbon tube at 2.3Kg. It does cost about twice the WO 71, but is a triplet and uses FPL-53 and lighter.

So based on knowing of someone using the EQ5 and WO 72 scope you should be OK with a WO 71 now and could step up to the TS 80mm apo in the future and not increase the weight on the mount.

The EQ5 if well set up should enable 20-30 second exposures.

If you upgrade, or add, to a guide system then I would expect you would need to upgrade the mount, you are simply adding a fair bit of extra weight to the mount. The mount would also sensibly need to be a goto for the guide camera interface and operation.

That is the lightest arrangement that I can think of and is based on what I believe someone has and has success with.

[rowan46]

If portability is a requirement. besides the heq5 there is a more expensive mount by ioptron called the ie30 it's 3kg lighter than the heq5. I haven't got one but so far the reports I have read on them are good. This is not a recommendation just a suggestion after all the heq5 is cheaper, tried, tested and trusted.

[portedGoblin]

Thanks for the answers. I have been looking at the heq5 and I will look some more now. Perhaps I can also keep the mount in the car if I can secure it properly and I'll just have to lug the rest of the stuff.

What would I need to mount my DSLR directly on a heq5? Are there some adaptors I can get?

[Helen]

I was going to suggest leaving the mount in the car. I would have thought the risk of someone stealing from your car boot was low, and so the rewards of dark skies would make it a risk worth taking :-)

You can get dovetails designed to take cameras which then just slot into the mount head - easy.

Have fun

Helen

[swag72]

You could do a lot worse than buying the book 'Making Every Photon Count' by Steve Richards (Steppenwolf in his post in this thread) - It really is something of a DSO imagers bible and will help you so much along the way. A worth while read.

[StarRaver]

You could do a lot worse than buying the book 'Making Every Photon Count' by Steve Richards (Steppenwolf in his post in this thread) - It really is something of a DSO imagers bible and will help you so much along the way. A worth while read.

second that, couldnt live without steve's book. As im very new to imaging it has helped me with what equiptment to buy, ( saved me thousands ) and helps with every little thing you need to know about DSO work, setups, camera equiptment, quiding etc.

[ollypenrice]

An HEQ5 is what I'd go for unless spending a lot more on a Takahashi EM200 (which, though I have one, I consider crazily expensive.) I'd autoguide a small apo refractor and at short focal lengths there is no reason why this should not make world class imaging possible - provided you eventually move into CCD. My order of priority would be mount, camera, optics. HEQ5, Atik 460 and whatever is left spend on the optics. However, I don't agree that William Optics are always well made. They are always pretty but WO have made some of the worst focusers in the history of astronomy, along with other mistakes. The giant killer is this one; http://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-ds-pro-ota.html I'd also look at the small Borgs on the FLO website.

As Helen says, you could leave the mount in the car. You wouldn't want to be unable to start it in the dead of a Swedish winter so maybe wiring in a caravan/boat battery might be an idea if running dew heaters.

Olly

http://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/Other/Best-of-Les-Granges/22435624_WLMPTM#!i=1793797527&k=WMbNhhG

[portedGoblin]

Thanks for all the advice. It has helped me out.

[portedGoblin]

Hi, a small update.

I got the "Making every photon count" book, thanks for that tip. Its great! I will be picking up a HEQ5 in the week I think and perhaps a Borg 77ED-II later on, although its a jungle of "triplets" and "ED" and its hard to get hard facts on what's good or not. Not sure whats up with the pound but I seem to get good prices from FLO.

In the meantime, since it was so foggy today I could hardly see the ground, let alone the sky, I got a copy of PixInsight and have been fiddling with that. I'm happy with this one even though something weird has happened with the colours. There was a pretty bad gradient in the stacked images.

Nikon D600

50mm f/1.4 @ f/2.8

4 x 6s ISO 3200

15 x 6s ISO 800

[starman1969]

Cracking images btw. If you are more into wide field astrophotography you may want to look at a Vixen Polarie tracker. It is one of the least expensive tracking units.

Other than that you could get an Astrotrac like myself, although this would be a fair bit more expense. I'm envious of your D600. I want one of those. It would be interesting to see how it can perform at this work. Looks good so far.

[JamesM]

Great images by the way - I wish I could see a clear skies like that! I'm glad that you decided to get the book as that is a great investment and congratulations on getting the HEQ5, its seems you are heading in the right direction and the autoguiding facility certainly makes a difference to your tracking when your setup is mobile. Look forward to some more great images - no pressure then !!! :grin:

Clear skies

James

[Caelus]

PortedGoblin, welcome to SGL. I can't contribute meaningfully to answering your question but I love that first image you posted. It's the first time I've seen an image with the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies in the same field of view!

[portedGoblin]

PortedGoblin, welcome to SGL. I can't contribute meaningfully to answering your question but I love that first image you posted. It's the first time I've seen an image with the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies in the same field of view!

I'm glad you liked it, but here is a better image made with the same data after discovering PixInsight.

[portedGoblin]

Can I edit my posts here?

I dont know what butchered the quality but here is the same image on flickr: http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream