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Good starter for astrophotography

farren272

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farren272

farren272

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Posted

OK, I know this is my second question already... but

Lets just suppose I wanted to get a beginner scope but also wanted to get something that could then be used for astrophotography as/if/when I was ready.. can someone recommend a good choice fior this?

I already have a Canon D60 DSLR, so that's a start but I'm not even sure how it would attach to the scope.

Any tips/advice in this regard?

Cheers

Farren

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Stevp

Stevp

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If you'd rather not fork out a lot initially, maybe look at the 150p (as suggested above) but on a more lightweight mount like the eq3-2.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-150p-eq3-2.html

That mount is Not suitable for the best of the astrophotography world, very far from it, but its a good scope and the mount could be replaced or upgraded in the future if the bug bites.

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farren272

farren272

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I guess my total budget for now is only about £400.

Also, i don't really want to bite off more than I can chew seeing as I have a lot to learn.

I'll take a look at the above options and weigh it up with idea that maybe I should keep things a bit simple for now learn the basic skills before tackling the photography side.

Decisions, decisions...

Thanks for all your advice.

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Bizibilder

Bizibilder

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Buy yourself a copy of "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards (Steppenwolf on SGL) ( http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html ) . It tells you what to do (and what not to do) and will set you on the right path as well as saving you money in the long run by not making mistakes and having to unnecesserily upgrade - which can get very expensive!

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farren272

farren272

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Buy yourself a copy of "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards (Steppenwolf on SGL) ( http://www.firstligh...e-richards.html ) . It tells you what to do (and what not to do) and will set you on the right path as well as saving you money in the long run by not making mistakes and having to unnecesserily upgrade - which can get very expensive!

The book is now on order :-)

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sparkyjon

sparkyjon

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Hi farren

I guess i was in the same position as you mate i wanted to view and image but would have been happy with just viewing at first and i had the same budget

.

But finding a scope and mount that wouldn't need upgrading too much as i got deeper into it was a struggle.

My first choice was skywatcher 200p dob. great price but The mount for AP is not the best. Planetary with webcam and registax or similar would have been the best to hope for, as for dslr it just wouldnt have cut it our to longer exposures needed and tracking.

So i thought id go for a celestron nexstar 127. This has the goto system and auto trak would have been better for dslr but DSO would have been a struggle with the smaller aperture..and the mount isn't that stable.

I thought id have a go at a better set up second hand

After losing a few auctions on ebay. I eventually came across a set up i wanted. Its the skywatcher explorer 200p on an eq5 mount. With a few extras i bought it for £300 which has now left me £100 of my budget to buy extras. I have been buying bits so i might just buy the dual axis auto trak kit. Which is around £90..

So for £400 id have a tidy scope and mount and hopefully a autotrak system to help with AP As long as all is well with the scope and mount. Fingers crossed.

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sparkyjon

sparkyjon

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Hi farren

I guess i was in the same position as you mate i wanted to view and image but would have been happy with just viewing at first and i had the same budget

.

But finding a scope and mount that wouldn't need upgrading too much as i got deeper into it was a struggle.

My first choice was skywatcher 200p dob. great price but The mount for AP is not the best. Planetary with webcam and registax or similar would have been the best to hope for, as for dslr it just wouldnt have cut it our to longer exposures needed and tracking.

So i thought id go for a celestron nexstar 127. This has the goto system and auto trak would have been better for dslr but DSO would have been a struggle with the smaller aperture..and the mount isn't that stable.

I thought id have a go at a better set up second hand

After losing a few auctions on ebay. I eventually came across a set up i wanted. Its the skywatcher explorer 200p on an eq5 mount. With a few extras i bought it for £300 which has now left me £100 of my budget to buy extras. I have been buying bits so i might just buy the dual axis auto trak kit. Which is around £90..

So for £400 id have a tidy scope and mount and hopefully a autotrak system to help with AP As long as all is well with the scope and mount. Fingers crossed.

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farren272

farren272

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Hi farren

I guess i was in the same position as you mate i wanted to view and image but would have been happy with just viewing at first and i had the same budget

.

But finding a scope and mount that wouldn't need upgrading too much as i got deeper into it was a struggle.

My first choice was skywatcher 200p dob. great price but The mount for AP is not the best. Planetary with webcam and registax or similar would have been the best to hope for, as for dslr it just wouldnt have cut it our to longer exposures needed and tracking.

So i thought id go for a celestron nexstar 127. This has the goto system and auto trak would have been better for dslr but DSO would have been a struggle with the smaller aperture..and the mount isn't that stable.

I thought id have a go at a better set up second hand

After losing a few auctions on ebay. I eventually came across a set up i wanted. Its the skywatcher explorer 200p on an eq5 mount. With a few extras i bought it for £300 which has now left me £100 of my budget to buy extras. I have been buying bits so i might just buy the dual axis auto trak kit. Which is around £90..

So for £400 id have a tidy scope and mount and hopefully a autotrak system to help with AP As long as all is well with the scope and mount. Fingers crossed.

Thanks Sparkyjon, very helpful.

Can you send me a link to the relevant dual axis auto trak kit as I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for. Just for info.

Cheers

Farren

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