Imaging DSO's

[Spoon]

Hi everyone,

I have a 130eq Celestron and i would love to take pictures of some bright DSO's, but whenever i try, i can never get even CLOSE to a decent picture. i use a nikon d60 mounted to the scope with t-ring and adapter. the image always turns out blurry and in no colour whatsoever, even with M31 Andromeda i cant get the slightest bit of colour when i take many many pictures at 5 second exposure

Please help, also i have an infared blocking filter, will this help in my quest?

Thanks,

Cam

[Gina]

I'm afraid you will need a far better mount than the supplied one to take DSOs. You need one with proper tracking. Even the supplied RA motor is not accurate enough to track for more than a few seconds. That was the first scope I got and apart from a few snudgy images of Saturn I didn't get anywhere until I put it on a decent mount. The mount is by far the most important part of a DSO imaging set up.

[VigdisVZ]

5 seconds is too little to get any decent data on M31 without extremely high ISO.

Does your camera have Live view? That is best used for focusing.

How is your balance? Does your motordrive track smoothly? The less expensive mounts are usually very unstable and will prove a challenge to get longer subs.

Colors wont come out until you either process the images in DSS or Maxim DL or stretch them in a photo editing program, unless your're shooting a really colorful object like M42 (pink) or M45 (blue).

If youre dead serious of breaking into the elusive DSO imaging hobby, you should check out Steve's book Making Every Photo Count. With that book you get a very good and comprehensive guide.

Otherwise just ask away and we'll try to guide you.

Best of luck!

Edit: And just like Gina said, the mount is very important, and it might be too much of a struggle to get results out of your kit. If you're up to it, try, but don't bash your head against a wall, because it's going to be a tough challenge.

[RikM]

As said above, the mount is the most important thing with deep sky AP. Other than star colour, the colour in DSO's only really comes out when you can collect enough signal to play with. That depends mainly on exposure time, which depends on the mount. Can you get your image into focus without using a barlow lens as an adaptor? If you have to use a barlow, you will be further reducing the image brightness and magnifying tracking errors.

You might find that if you mount your camera piggybacked on top of your telescope, and use a camera lens, the shorter focal length will mean you can use longer exposures before star trailing starts to become a problem.

[Spoon]

It has a pretty sturdy mount to be honest, I can take up to ISO 1600. Is this ok?

[Spoon]

Colors wont come out until you either process the images in DSS or Maxim DL or stretch them in a photo editing program, unless your're shooting a really colorful object like M42 (pink) or M45 (blue).

i suppose I could try M42/45 as they are both relatively high in the early hours. How would I go about doing this?

[Stargazer Jack]

It has a pretty sturdy mount to be honest, I can take up to ISO 1600. Is this ok?

Do you still have the original mount that comes with the telescope because even though you think it is sturdy, it is a poor mount for imaging.

[Spoon]

Yes I do but after Christmas I am getting a Skyliner 200p, will this be better?

[JamesF]

You really need longer exposures to start with. Can you do a single exposure for, say, three minutes, for example?

James

[Spoon]

I don't have auto tracking like goto, I just have manual

[Stargazer Jack]

Yes I do but after Christmas I am getting a Skyliner 200p, will this be better?

The Skyliner is a Dobsonian which cannot be used for imaging. For DSO imaging, you normally need at least a EQ5 but I am no imaging expert.

[Spoon]

Oh ok

[Stargazer Jack]

Have you thought about planetary imaging? I use the SW equivalent of your telescope and have got some very good images. You can see the images on my website

[Spoon]

I was just looking at goto scopes 200mm aperture. FAR too expensive. I might get an 8" celestron nexstar one day

[Spoon]

Have you thought about planetary imaging? I use the SW equivalent of your telescope and have got some very good images. You can see the images on my website

The thing is with getting the same aperture is that I will just be changing focal length. I don't see much point to be honest

[Stargazer Jack]

The thing is with getting the same aperture is that I will just be changing focal length. I don't see much point to be honest

I mean doing planetary imaging with your current telescope. Sorry if I have misread it but it seems as though you think I said you should get another scope

[VigdisVZ]

i suppose I could try M42/45 as they are both relatively high in the early hours. How would I go about doing this?

You could try, but since I think the current mount you have is too poor and flimsy in the drives, i think you should focus on lunar and jupiter imaging for now. You should be able to hook up a barlow to your curret camera setup and thus get better magnification on those targets.

If you're serious about deep space photography I would recommend looking at atleast the HEQ5 in the future.

I'd also like to point out that the 200p dobsonian is an excellent visual scope, but has the same drawbacks as your current scope, ie not being able to take real DSO photos. Your current scope, while not being able to take these photos is a very fine little scope for visual use.

[Spoon]

You could try, but since I think the current mount you have is too poor and flimsy in the drives, i think you should focus on lunar and jupiter imaging for now. You should be able to hook up a barlow to your curret camera setup and thus get better magnification on those targets.

If you're serious about deep space photography I would recommend looking at atleast the HEQ5 in the future.

I'd also like to point out that the 200p dobsonian is an excellent visual scope, but has the same drawbacks as your current scope, ie not being able to take real DSO photos. Your current scope, while not being able to take these photos is a very fine little scope for visual use.

Ok, the only problem with using my dslr and Barlow is that I can't get it to focus, do you know why that could be?

[VigdisVZ]

Ok, the only problem with using my dslr and Barlow is that I can't get it to focus, do you know why that could be?

This is a common problem. The focuser usually doesnt travel outwards long enough, so you might need to add a small extension tube. I have not done this myself, but there are lots of people here that know how to.

When you try to focus it, does it run out of extension when going inwards or outwards?

[g0ibi]

Keep the scope, buy an EQ5 Pro then update the scope in the future when funds permit!!

[Spoon]

It runs out of extension outwards.

Keep the scope, buy an EQ5 Pro then update the scope in the future when funds permit!!

That is too expensive at the moment

[VigdisVZ]

It runs out of extension outwards.

In that case it should just be a matter of finding a sturdy extension tube. Can't recommend any however, never used one, and be careful, since it will be supporting the weight of your DSLR.

[Gina]

Make that an HEQ5 Pro. That;s the version that has the drive motors essential for imaging.

Later if you want to do DSO imaging get a small refractor. But prior to all that get Steve Richard's book "Making Every Photon Count". It's the "Bible" for DSO imaging.

[Spoon]

The HEQ5 is too expensive for me.

[Spoon]

would this scope be sufficient for astrophotography??

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-flextube-goto.html