Help please re. scope and mount for beginners astrophotography...

[chrisbuck10765]

Hi

I'd really like to get into astrophotography - I've had a skywatcher 130 for a while and time now for an upgrade, ideally to something that I can do some photography on.

Plan A ; skywatcher 200p and HEQ5 pro (synscan)

Plan B ; skywatcher 200p and NEQ6

Plan C ; any better suggestions !!

Any help/info very gratefully received as pretty sure of plan A but not 100% - budget just over £1000.

My camera by the way is a nikon d50 slr and just won't work with the 130p - will it be ok with the 200p ?

Thanks for any info.

[damnut]

Hi There,

Not an imager but there is a great book called 'making every photon count' this will certainly help point you in the right direction and save you cash in the long term.

Good luck with your choice

[midnight_sky_watcher]

hi Chris,

Are you having problems focusing with your camera and 130?.

Grant.....

[chrisbuck10765]

" Are you having problems focusing with your camera and 130?."

Yes - apparently it's something to do with the focal length of the camera and the construction of the 130p ??

[badgerchap]

Either mount should be fine for the 200P, but if you want to add guide scopes etc in the future, it might be a good idea to go for the EQ6 if you can afford it. I'm saving for the latter too at the moment and it's quite hard to resist the urge to get the heq5, but I want some futureproofing!

[nephilim]

If you've any spare cash left over I'd recommend you buy a Canon EOS (the liveview versions, 450D onwards are preferable) as altho theres nothing wrong with Nikons, Canon's have MUCH more astro software (capture,focus, full control etc) written for them than any other camera. Also +1 for Making every photon count, everyone on here that knows of it will recommend it and IMO more important than the actual kit to start with

Steve

[chrisbuck10765]

Thanks very much for the replies - have 'invested' in the book this very morning.

In the meantime does anyone have any experience of the larger skywatchers - I see there's a new skywatcher 300pds !! (with associated cost increase of course...)

Also ... how do the Meade Cassegrain type scopes stack up for astrophotography ?

[rowan46]

The urge is to get one scope to do it all it's why there are so many questions about how big to get on the mount. The thing with photography is it's all about the mount. I have seen it said that your order of priority for imaging is .Mount,camera ,scope. the idea is to take a mount's limit to 1/2 to 2/3 max as after that it becomes unreliable and reliability is key for imaging. The longer and bigger the scope you put on, the more torque you put on the mount and counter intuitively the less weight you can put on the mount. If you want to run nearer the 2/3 limit you are better off with smaller tubes. Longer tubes bring you closer to the 1/2 mount limit. The 300 weight is 22.5 kg which is well above the recommended weight for imaging with an neq6 although it will take it for visual.

Cassegrains have their own issues for imaging they are not plug and play unless you have a very accurate and expensive mount the neq6 isn't one of this class. it's the long focal length and slow focal ratio that is the problem here. This can be mitigated with focal reducers and certainly I have seen good images taken with an sct but by all accounts they are not the easiest things to learn imaging on. Having said all this it's only what I have read I have never done any more than rudimentary imaging as I don't have the equipment so like all internet advice get more before making a decision

[M L W]

Hi, im also hoping to get into astrophotography and I have also being thinking of a large tube such as 250-300p with a evostar 80-100ed pro on the same mount. But concerned that the neq6 won't be sturdy enough so thought maybe limit the tube to a 200p as not to overload the mount / tripod! Lots of decisions to make before committing to the big spend. I want to make a good future proof initial pay out!

Maz

[nephilim]

Hi, im also hoping to get into astrophotography and I have also being thinking of a large tube such as 250-300p with a evostar 80-100ed pro on the same mount. But concerned that the neq6 won't be sturdy enough so thought maybe limit the tube to a 200p as not to overload the mount / tripod! Lots of decisions to make before committing to the big spend. I want to make a good future proof initial pay out!

Maz

Dont want to confuse you more but the ED80 is preferable to the ED100, the 100 is a much slower scope (f9 ithink) & as such IMO not that great for AP.

Steve

[M L W]

Thanks for your comment fella, it's certainly helped me to make a final decision on which way to go. I suppose it will also help to keep the weight down on the mount. I have had some advice that an evostar 80ed pro would be a good place to start. Maybe I'm being greedy wanting agood piece of both worlds looking to buy a big newt and a decent refractor but I would like to know that I could gaze at planets, DS and take good photos of eithier if desired.

[nephilim]

Thanks for your comment fella, it's certainly helped me to make a final decision on which way to go. I suppose it will also help to keep the weight down on the mount. I have had some advice that an evostar 80ed pro would be a good place to start. Maybe I'm being greedy wanting agood piece of both worlds looking to buy a big newt and a decent refractor but I would like to know that I could gaze at planets, DS and take good photos of eithier if desired.

Good choice mate

[mareprah]

I wouldn't go with the 300+NEQ6 if I were you. At least not for AP, visual should work fine. I must say my route is quite similar to yours, I began with a 130p. For starters, try to get longer collimation screws, to bring the primary mirror up the tube 1/2 " or so. Or, like me, just shorten the tube, although doing this with longer coll. screws is user friendly becouse you can allways reverse it if it doesn't do the job as you would like it to. But in most cases this gets that inward focus you need.

You can allways begin with this mod on your current tube + a new NEQ6. Works fine for me. Ofcourse, later on, when your budget regains its strenght, you go for a new OTA as well. I'll be going for a 10" in a couple of months and was told that NEQ6 should take it with ease.

CS, M