Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

What shall I do with £1500 its burning a hole in my pocket???

Astronolee

Recommended Posts

Astronolee

Astronolee

Posted
Posted

...and please dont reply "give it to me" lol...Ok so I am pretty sure I wanted a Dobsonian for pure viewing pursposes only and I am looking to spend £1500. This is a one off purchase and wont be able to spend this sort of money again for a while so I want to make sure I am getting the right thing. Just to weigh up the options what sort of equipment could I buy if I wanted to do Astrophotography...I know everyone says the best scope depends on what you want out of this hobby and I have been to various star parties and think I want Dob for viewing only. But what if you start off with a Dob and realise then you want to get into Astrophotography. I do get great pleasure from seeing Jupiter and its moons or Nebula and I said "WOW" when I first saw Jupiter only 1 year ago through a fairly large Telescope. I have not even seen Saturn yet though a scope. So basically what I am asking is should I spend the £1500 on a set up which can later easily be transferred into photography and if so what can you get for £1500 in that case. Would it also be great for viewing and photo's...I am kind of finding getting into this hobby is like buying a car but I want it to look really good with loads of power but I also dont want it to cost too much to run but on the other hand I also want it to be practical, easy and fun to drive without too much hassle and if something went wrong I dont want this costing me loads of money...am i after too much? I may end up buying a 12 inch Dob and forgetting about photography but I wonder how many people started off that way then regretted it and wanted to take the hobby further. I read somewhere that you should maybe forget about Astrophotography until you are more experienced in Astronomy...Love to get some more advice as I am looking to buy this within the next few weeks after months of deliberation. Many Thanks Lee

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nephilim

nephilim

Posted
Posted

If I had that amount of money I'd get a HEQ5 mount, ED80 refractor, ST80 scope as a guide scope, QHY5 as guide camera & eos 450d cannon as the imaging cam,OH, AND DONT FORGET Steve richards 'making every photon count'. With that lot u have a fantastic start in the world of AP & £1500 should just about cover it. :grin:

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites
VigdisVZ

VigdisVZ

Posted
Posted

Hi

First of all dont rush it. You first stop should to be to read Steve Richards "Making Every Photon Count" book. http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html In there you will find a good description on whats needed to do AP.

Also visit your local astro society and ask around and have a look at their equipment during meets.

When you're dead set on what you want your rig to do, just come back and we'll get you on the right starting ground.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
steppenwolf

steppenwolf

Posted
Posted

Hi Lee, if you have any thoughts of taking deep sky images then the Dob will be of no use to you in this regard although it would make for a great observing instrument. You could use a Dob for imaging the Moon and planets with a fast frame-rate camera but other than this, Dobs and imaging are mutually exclusive!

You could mount your reflector on a large equatorial mount at some time in the future but this would still not be an ideal imaging solution.

I think you need to sit down and think very carefully about what you hope to achieve in the mid-term when the initial excitement of telescope ownership has eased off little.

Sent from my iPhone from somewhere dark .....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Catweazel

Catweazel

Posted
Posted

Hi Lee. I would take the money out of your pocket and put it somewhere safe whilst you work out what it is you want to do. It's very easy to spend a lot of money in this hobby, especially on AP. One thing worth thinking about is that many larger aperture imaging scopes also make decent visual scopes (although not always for planetary viewing) so you won't necessarily need more than one scope, and if you are set on AP, then it's probably best to spend all of your budget on it. I would strongly recommend going to an astro society, as Carl suggested, as someone there will probably be able to give you an idea of how much time & work is involved in getting decent pictures. Best of luck! CW

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LDUNN1

LDUNN1

Posted
Posted

Hi Lee, I've only been doing this for 'nearly' two years.

I came into astro with an interest on the photo side. I started by buying an EQ motorised mount (nEQ6) & just mounted my existing DSLR & longest lens on that for 6 months or so while I learnt the basics of using a computerised EQ mount for the first time (or any type of EQ mount come to that).

Practically each session I added extra bits & pieces, went from the skywatcher handset to EQmod & laptop control, then added an ST80 & QHY5 camera for guiding control, then came a main imaging scope, then in 2012 I went for a dedicated mono astro CCD, electronic filter wheel & a set of LRGB & Narrow band filters, then an bigger mount etc etc etc. Once you get into astro imaging, it seems to take over your life & your wallet ;-) ......just a word of caution for you.......but its great!!

I now recognise that there is no one ideal scope & I can see how a big dob would actually be a nice partner to an imaging rig - gives you something to do if/when your imaging rig is behaving nicely & you are waiting for hours+ worth of data to be harvested from the heavens.

Do you already have a DSLR & lenses?

If so, you might want to consider buying say a second hand HEQ5 & mounting your camera & lens on that for a while, lots you can do with that once you can track the heavens pretty well, & the HEQ5 is recognised as one of the best 'entry level' mounts for astro imaging. You can pick up a second hand HEQ5 for around the £500 mark, maybe a bit less, but then you'll need to add in a battery to power it & mounting plates etc. (I'd recommend using Losmandy plates from the outset if you can as they are wider & more stable than a vixen doetail plate when you put them on a flat & have camera & lens mounted on them). You could get the basics up & running for around £500 for imaging which would give you a taster for it at least, & you would then be able to tell if the experience was worth it for you.

This would leave £1000 for a nice Dob, I think you could get a good 12" dob secondhand for alot less than that, lets say £750 (but maybe even less), that would leave you with £250 should you decide to progress the imaging side later & move to eqmod/laptop control (do you have a laptop you could use?) & with a guidng setup so you can get longer subs with your camera & lens (ST80 second hand £70ish, you might even try a webcam for the guide camera).

BUT what I've suggest first, is go along to some astro group observation sessions & try & get some visuals through large dobs & then through some 80mm-100mm (approx) refractors - this will give you a good idea of what you'd be losing out on visually if youy put all your money into an imaging setup only. You'd probably be looking at an 80-100mm refractor for imaging with I suspect, & if you can look through an 80-100mm refractor you'd be able to compare it for visual use to a big dob maybe. But join a local astro group & get a better feel for things first hand before spending any money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
rowan46

rowan46

Posted
Posted

You don't have to get a huge dob and you do'nt have to get the best imaging rig a 6or 8 inch dob will work fine and an heq5 and any small fast colour free scope will work for imaging. Get the book that's been recommended. if you understand the principles of imaging it will enable you to buy wisely on the second hand market with that budget and some knowedge there's no reason why you can't have an adequate visual and imaging rig

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

and if you buy it through amazon.co.uk you get another 10% off. killer deal.

Doesn't the discount only apply to things amazon sell direct, whereas these are still supplied via Telescope House?

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LDUNN1

LDUNN1

Posted
Posted

How easy are those 16" Dobs to transport?

I only have expereince with one 16" dob, & that was really a two man job to lift in & out of a car (pick up truck actually!) & move more than about 1 meter.

Still that 12" LB dob looks pretty good too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jessun

Jessun

Posted
Posted

If I had that amount of money I'd get a HEQ5 mount, ED80 refractor, ST80 scope as a guide scope, QHY5 as guide camera & eos 450d cannon as the imaging cam

Advice on hold your guns aside, the question about what is the best to get for that budget with AP in mind will sooner or later probably boil down to just the above, which sounds like a great startup kit, that is future even proof to a certain degree.

/Jesper

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Naemeth

Naemeth

Posted
Posted

How easy are those 16" Dobs to transport?

I only have expereince with one 16" dob, & that was really a two man job to lift in & out of a car (pick up truck actually!) & move more than about 1 meter.

Still that 12" LB dob looks pretty good too.

Well, a standard 16" Skywatcher Dob is 48kg for the base and 65kg for the tube and mirror I believe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LDUNN1

LDUNN1

Posted
Posted

48kg for tube & 65kg for base: mmmmmmm, that explains why it was a two man job ;-)

Lee (original poster), you might want to factor in the weight / storage / portability into your equation. None of us know if you are observing from a permanent setup from home or are planning travelling out to a dark site to observe (assuming you don't live at a dark site?). With a 16" beast, it would be a crime to NOT treat it (& yourself) to a dark site once in a while I think!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LDUNN1

LDUNN1

Posted
Posted

Lee, where in Essex do you live? (I knew Essex pretty well, grew up there, lived & worked there up until 1996, parents live there & I still go back to Essex due to work from time to time......will probably be in Essex for 3+ days every week from Aug 2013 onwards too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LDUNN1

LDUNN1

Posted
Posted

ahh yes, Braintree. I used to live in a small village called [removed word] Clarks the other side of Danbury from the A12. I also spent much of my time on Mersea Island when I lived in the area.

There are worse areas in Essex that you could have been located for light poollution, although I have not been to Braintree in quite some time, so I guess it has its fair share.

It is not the size of the dob that I think will be such an issue, but the weight & the relatively bulky size for that weight which makes it harder to gt hold of & lift, that would be my concern. The heaviest part of my imaging rig is probably the Leisure battery which is around 25kg, the Dec & RA axis of my mount separate so each is only around 12kg (guess) & my scope is around 14kg. That is all quite lighter than the 65kg posted earlier here for the tube & mirror assembly..............but I've just checked, & it looks like that 'might' be incorrect - the following says 74ibs, which is around 33kg - still going to be a bit of a struggle though.:-

http://www.meade.com/lightbridge/specifications

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.