Would this work?

[stonemonkeylives]

Hi I was wondering if I could get some quick advice, and I apologize in advance if this has already been asked. I currently have This mount; http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-supatrak-mount-and-tripod.html and having just bought a second hand DSLR camera to start AP, unfortunately I'm really not in a position to buy a new mount, especially an EQ mount as recommended in 'Making every photon count', so I wondered if I could use a dovetail L-bracket like this; http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dovetail-bars/skywatcher-l-bracket-dovetail.html and use the tracking feature to do some small scale deep sky imaging. I'm not expecting anything spectacular, I'm rather realistic in that front but for some of the larger DSO's such as the Orion nebula and the Plaedies, would this set up work?

I honestly don't think the mount could take the with of the camera attached to the telescope, so I think this might be my best option until I can purchase an EQ mount of sufficient ability. Any and all advice on this would be greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance for any advice given.

Jeremy

[toilandtrouble123]

Firstly, what scope do you have? xx

[The Sailor]

Jeremy, if I understand it you want to mount the camera instead of the OTA on the mount and take photos. I piggyback a Canon 10D on top of my scope and it works fine to a degree. I am attaching a photo I took of the Orion Nebula and half of the sky

It was a 90 sec shot at ISO-3200 and then lens was the stock that comes with the camera, sorry can't remember at the moment. As AP is a big subject here there will be people who will give better results

Hope this is of some help.

Jim

[Catweazel]

The mount will take 4.4kg, my Canon 1000D weighs 2kg, so unless your scope weighs (roughly) less than 2.4kg, you may have a problem. Or, are you asking if you can just attach a camera straight to the mount? If so, I would say that you could, but it may be better to use a dovetail plate for stability. You won't get amazing pictures as you will probably only get 30 sec subs, but it should be possible.

[Andymac79]

Your Canon 1000d is 2kg?! I take it thats with a lens on?

[Digz]

The short answer is to try it.

What you'll find is your exposure time will be limited due to the mount so will be best suited to bright objects I.e. the moon or planets, maybe M42 and M45 at a push. Outside of that you are limited by the quality if the motors and gear inside.

If you want to try planets you will be better off with a scope and webcam rather than DSLR, but you should get something with this mount as the requirements for planetary imaging are different to DSOs I.e. fast frame rate capture vs long exposure times (simply speaking)

[usher4566]

Why not sell that mount and use money fot an eq3-2 to mount camara

[stonemonkeylives]

@toilandtrouble I have a sky watcher 130p reflector, which I bought with the mount. I will have to Google it and see if I can find the weight of the scope.

In regards to the weight of my scope I honestly don't know what it is. Given the advice, I think the prudent thing to do is concentrate on wide field imaging for the time being, at least until I can afford a better mount. Thank you all for your advice.