Mounting a camera to my Skywatcher130

[sorfronastronomy]

After taking many pictures of stars and the northern lights with a NikonD50 mounted on a simple tripod, I would like to take things further. I tried piggy back photography with my Skywatcher last year, but found the EQ mount too wobbly to serve it's purpose. Now, after building a ridgid pier, I would like to take pictures through the eyepiece, prime focus, or afocus. Tried some mounting today in daylight, but after mounting the camera withe a T-mount adapter directly on the focusser (prime focus) I just don't get a sharp image. Tried some afocus and that works allright. However, that means building some kind of bracket to hold the camera with lens in front of the eyepiece. That is an heavy load! Anybody having some experience here? Will try piggyback photography toninght, that is, if the weather holds. Greetings from a dutchman in Norway

[VigdisVZ]

Hi and welcome to the forums. Sometimes you need to add an extra spacer in between the focuser and the camera, because the focues cannot push far enough out for the focal plane to hit the sensor correctly. I have no practice on how to exactly do this the best way, but hopefully someone else will be able to chime in.

[madatter]

Hi and welcome, I have a skywatcher 130p, yours looks like the 130m from the photograph.

I had to move the primary mirror forward to get my Canon 40D to focus. If your Nikon as live view remove the lens, remove the eyepiece from the scope and hold the camara as close as you can to the focuser while you try to focus, if you can get it to focus then its your adaptor that needs changing to achieve the focus, if your focuser is fully in and you cannot quite focus its ether move the mirror or buy a shorter focuser.

hope this helps

[Sunset Observatory]

Hello Brother, as far as your weight issue, a simple fix would be to turn your scope in the mounting rings. Place your camera in the focuser while it is pointing straight up. If you have enough counter weight this should solve your issue. Use your camera in live view mode and a laptop for focusing and viewing. Good luck in your project. Clear skies