Astrophotography first telescope

[bendiddley]

Hi all. I have a friend who is interested in astronomy and wants to get a telescope that would enable him to do some astrophotography. He's never been into astronomy before so is coming to this for the first time. Can anyone recommend a telescope set-up that would be suitable to get him started and the sort of prices involved (he already has a camera and he is happy with second hand if needed)? I would offer to help but I don't know enough about astrophotography and the equipment involved. At the moment I think he has about £200-£300 to spend but I think he could up his budget if he knew he was getting worthy equipment. Thanks in advance.

[RikM]

It depends entirely on what he wants to take pictures of. You need different kit for different targets.

Deep sky needs long exposures and a really stable mount, a short focal length fast focal ration scope would be best to start with. Planetary imaging needs hundreds/thousands of short exposures and long focal length to get good image scale.

[VigdisVZ]

The world of AP is an expensive one and there isn't such a thing as a clear beginners setup. Unfortunately you won't get a sturdy enough mount for 2-300£. It's as simple as that. People have been known to work magic with cheaper equipment, but it takes an tremendous amount of skill, dedication and frustration. For that budget you will get a first class visual observation scope like your 200P, but you wont get near the "baseline" AP mounts like the HEQ-5 or NEQ-6.

I think your best be at this moment would be to recommend him the book "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

This book will give him an idea what it's all about and probably save him a lot of money, time and frustration in the end.

[swag72]

Your friend needs to be a little more precise about his AP needs / wants. For example, do they wish to photograph plants and solar system targets or Deep space objects, such as galaxies and nebula? Two very different telescopes and camera's are used for these two choices.

If he is interested in DSO's then the first purchase should absolutely be 'Making every photon count' - Available in the book section of the FLO website. This will explain the types of telescopes and mount that would be best, along with jargon busting amongst other things. It's really a DSO imagers bible.

If DSO's are the requirment, then the absolute most important thing is the mount. You need a solid mount able to track as you will need long exposures. For this, the minimum general mount recommended is an HEQ5. Couple that with an ED80 scope, such as a Skywatcher ED80 and this is the most easy combination you can get. Unfortunately already this is considerably over budget. It can be done with less, but coupled with that people need to be realistic about their expectations for the budget mounts. Also, once the data has been captured it will need to be processed. This can take many hours.

The book will explain it all, including how to guide your mount so that you can get the long exposures needed for DSO photography.

I wish your friend well, but perhaps a more realistic budget needs to be available.

Hope that helps for starters. The book is a must.

[freeflyjay]

i`d love to get into astro photography too but impossable with that budget, excluding the moon of course, i picked up a 10" skywatcher dob inside that budget (just) with some extras which is great for visual, and can get great moon pictures (i may have a go at some planets when i get a suitable web cam, some have had success with dobs) but for deep sky objects the set up described above new will cost well over £1000 (ed80 and heq5 pro). of course if wanting to do wide field i believe you can manage aroun 20-30 seconds with no tracking, take multiple shots then stack in a free program called registack, not tried it myself as only have a compact, but can give good results from what i`ve seen on here.

[bendiddley]

It depends entirely on what he wants to take pictures of. You need different kit for different targets.

Deep sky needs long exposures and a really stable mount, a short focal length fast focal ration scope would be best to start with. Planetary imaging needs hundreds/thousands of short exposures and long focal length to get good image scale.

I'm not sure what he wants to take pictures of, probably everything I would expect at the moment. I think as he hasn't any experience of observing it is uncertain as to which group he will find most appealing.

[Digz]

I would second Carl's recommendation for the book. It will explain all the different facets of AP before any major money is parted from your friends bank account.

It may also help your friend make their mind up about the kind of AP they are interested in and will certainly help with budget considerations.

That aside most people will advise that the mount is what you need to invest in and, say for DSO work, this should be a HEQ5 minimum.....

[Capricorn]

£200-300 isn't going to get them going.

An ED doublet costs more then that, the WO ZS71 is £370 without an equitorial monunt and camera adaptors and flattener. The slightly bigger WO I have the flattener was £135 and the adaptor £30. However prices will be much the same, could be more.

You would need at least an EQ5 mount with that scope with motors to track, the EQ5 is £240 and motors £100 and the polar scope to perform alignment is another £32.

Being a doublet the scope will show a small amount of CA on bright objects such as the Moon and Jupiter.

That set up is most likely the least cost to start AP, if they progressed then each bit would in time need upgrading. In AP £4000-5000 can be considered entry level.

[bendiddley]

Wowsers! That's a lot of money! Is there a way in though that wouldn't be so costly, it doesn't need to be top notch kit, it's just so he can see if it's for him or not? If he likes it then he might be prepared to spend the cash on quality equipment of the likes that have been suggested. I guess he just doesn't know if it's for him yet, so spending big money at this stage is just out of the question.

[swag72]

If he's just thinking of trying it out, why doesn't he try joining his local astro club and see if there's some imagers there, they would be glad to show him the ropes and give him an idea if he'd like it. Also, if he joined the forum and asked around I'm sure that there's someone who would be willing to show him what it's all about.

[usher4566]

I guess its quite dear ive spent 190 on a scope .200 on an eq 5 mount .80 dslr 20 t mount plus adapter and got more bits still needed but doing it bit by bit helps .but pics of mood can be achevied on any scope .and he could buy all second hand .astro mart uk .had a wo66 scope for 155

[r3i]

If he's just thinking of trying it out, why doesn't he try joining his local astro club and see if there's some imagers there, they would be glad to show him the ropes and give him an idea if he'd like it. Also, if he joined the forum and asked around I'm sure that there's someone who would be willing to show him what it's all about.

This is good advice - Ben, based upon your posts, your friend needs to do quite a bit more fact finding so he understands what is involved. There is simply no quick, low cost solution for astrophotography and certainly no single configuration that would suit both planetary/lunar and DSO imaging.

[ollypenrice]

On a budget of £300 and buying second hand you might be able to get off the ground in planetary imaging with webcams.

Deep sky imaging of galaxies and nebulae will go through £1,500 in seconds. (If you get serious it'll get through £15,000 in seconds. If you get as serious as my astronomical neighbour, Marc, it'll run to, erm, six million euros. Yes, I'm serious...)

But if you have a camera and even just a fixed tripod you can do some experimenting. Point at the Pole Star and take an exposure of several minutes.

Olly

[Adamar98]

Maybe your friend could start by doing a bit of AP using just a fixed tripod and his camera? You can achieve some good widefield shots and a few DSO's with this setup. Itll give your friend a chance to learn about exposure times and camera settings. You'll be amazed at what you can get out of a standard kit lens and a few 30 second exposure! You don't need to spend ££££ to do AP. I will warn you though, once you start it becomes very addictive. And it can become expensive. I now use my wallet to keep dust in.

Hope this helps.

Adam

[usher4566]

[usher4566]

Found this link on buget ap please read

[CSM]

Yes - go to a local Star Party, there will be plenty available in January because of Stargazing live. And he should really start with learning to use a telescope and see how he gets on. 'Making every Photon count' is a great book but it is actually quite technical. If his only experience of photography is point and shoot then there is a big learning curve here as well.

[bendiddley]

Thanks everyone for your comments they have been very helpful. Cheers