HEQ5 without telescope........

[tommo b]

Any opinions greatly appreciated.

Would it be worth attaching a DSLR directly to an HEQ5 mount for wide field AP? The importance of the mount in AP has well & truly been ingrained (thanks to Steve Richards!) and I'm considering buying one as soon as I can & using with the DSLR on its own.

Or is it a complete waste of time without a decent scope? Are the images going to be worthwhile? (Lens permitting.)

(Another option would be a Vixen photo guider or Astrotrac (for which there are plenty of topics) but will eventually be getting a scope for AP anyway - seems a waste of money.)

The HEQ5 seems to be the best choice with regards to portability/sturdiness. (I'll be adding an 80ED as soon as I can - as well as the DSLR.)

Appreciate it's very much a personal choice. Just thought a few of you may have already went down this road at some point!

Cheers

[Andymac79]

If you are getting a scope later then for sure the HEQ5. Its a great mount and will do great stuff with a camera only. The Astrotrac is amazing but as you say, you would have to sell it to me when you get the scope.

The HEQ5 and ED80 combo is a no argument great pairing. Just budget in for a reducer for the tube.

[johnrt]

If you're serious about imaging deep sky objects build you rig from the ground up. This means starting with the mount - I would say yes, go and buy the HEQ5 and put just your camera on it to begin with, then add the scope later. The mount will accommodate the extra equipment you add. If you go for a cheaper mount now, you'll just end up spending more by replacing it the future when the mount you bought won't handle the payload.

[Bizibilder]

You will certainly get some good images with just the camera on the mount. A 50mm lens will give "whole constellations" in one frame and you should be able to get quite long exposures. If you have a lens around 200mm or a bit more then there are some good wide field targets you could go for (Orion being a good one at the moment - with huge areas of nebulosity to try and capture).

[butlermike]

I had the same idea and now have a HEQ5 mount with the camera attached directly. I too have to save now for a decent scope and will put some images up of just the camera and mount as soon as weather and time allows which might help you decide.

Good luck!

[jackrussell0232]

Tommo,

Go for it. The alternatives are ok, but it's hard to consider them good value for money against an eq5. The astrotrac is a great concept, but unless I was travelling a lot and only ever using a DSLR with a wide-ish lens, there's no way I'd pay what they're asking.

The eq5 can grow with you, and it's still pretty portable.

I have used just an slr with 85mm lens on my eq6 and got some pretty decent results. The eq5 would be expected to do just as well..

My other pics are here

[tommo b]

This is all great advice guys. My mind was pretty much made up but there's always that element of doubt!

Decision made. Time to shift some of my lesser used DSLR equipment!

Thanks to all.

[jammo]

Tommo,

Go for it. The alternatives are ok, but it's hard to consider them good value for money against an eq5. The astrotrac is a great concept, but unless I was travelling a lot and only ever using a DSLR with a wide-ish lens, there's no way I'd pay what they're asking.

The eq5 can grow with you, and it's still pretty portable.

I have used just an slr with 85mm lens on my eq6 and got some pretty decent results. The eq5 would be expected to do just as well..

My other pics are here

That is an impressive set of shots there!!

Very impressive in fact