Camera advice

[arnie30uk]

Hi guys this is my first post here so im hoping im posting this in the right place.

First of all im very new to astronomy and astrophotography. I've always wanted to get started into it but am unsure about camera equipment to use.

The first time i had a go at taking pictures i just modified a £10 cmos webcam and used it in a cheap 4" celestron starter scope and was quite surprised by the results. The moon actually came out fairly good, that was about it though. Saturn or jupiter wouldnt come out at all. Now i've decided to upgrade my equipment, starting with my scope. I now have a skywatcher 200p with goto mount, problem is though is that after spending a fair bit on the scope i now have limited budget for a camera. Could anybody help at all and suggest what they would possibly buy on a budget of around £80-£120?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, many thanks in advance all.

[Ags]

Hi, welcome! Before suggesting a camera, what kind of objects do you aim to image? For planets and the moon, a cheap £30 webcam will work well, but for fainter fuzzy deepsky objects you need to spend more and get at least a DSLR. If you look on MPB Photographic, you may find a used DSLR near your budget.

[Steve Ward]

Welcome to SGL .

[arnie30uk]

Thanks for the welcome and replies guys. My main objective is going to be imaging planets but i now have a new problem to try and fathom out first. I tried my new scope out for the first time tonight and i left it out for about 20 mins to climatize yet when i tried to view the moon i coudnt get it to focus in no matter how slowly i moved the focus wheel. Was hoping that seeings as it's a new scope it wouldnt need colminating but is this the likely cause you think?. If so, am not looking forward to trying that as i have no clue what to do

[arnie30uk]

p.s thanks for the camera advice white dwarf, is very helpful

[earth titan]

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

I don't think it will be collimation. If you cant get the eyepiece to focus, check and see if the focuser is going up and down when you turn the focus knob. If not, then you may need to undo the focuser locking knob. If that doesn't work it may need the tensioners to be adjusted but as I don't know this scope, I'll leave that to someone else to explain.

[nephilim]

Hi guys this is my first post here so im hoping im posting this in the right place.

First of all im very new to astronomy and astrophotography. I've always wanted to get started into it but am unsure about camera equipment to use.

The first time i had a go at taking pictures i just modified a £10 cmos webcam and used it in a cheap 4" celestron starter scope and was quite surprised by the results. The moon actually came out fairly good, that was about it though. Saturn or jupiter wouldnt come out at all. Now i've decided to upgrade my equipment, starting with my scope. I now have a skywatcher 200p with goto mount, problem is though is that after spending a fair bit on the scope i now have limited budget for a camera. Could anybody help at all and suggest what they would possibly buy on a budget of around £80-£120?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, many thanks in advance all.

This is quite a reputable site & you should get something for ur budget http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/used-equipment/used-digital-slr-cameras/used-canon-digital-slr-cameras/?viewall=1

Steve

[astrosathya]

Hello Arnie,

I have the 200PDS. One thing common with your scope and mine is that the focuser comes included with two adapters One that can take 1.25" eyepieces, the other to take 2" eyepieces. You need to use one or the other adapter depending on what eyepiece you use. If these aren't used, then the eyepieces do not come into focus, more so with the 2" because even without the adapter the eyepiece will fit into the focuser.

Try the telescope out during the day. Point it manually at some object preferably some 200 meters away, say an antenna or a church steeple. Being large objects they should be relatively easy to point and should they come into focus with the supplied 25mm eyepiece, then the scope is fine. We can then rule out the scope and rule in your alignment mistakes.

You see, the goto mount needs to be preferably aligned to three stars in the sky, at least two for visual use. Before that you need to polar align the mount. Do you see the pole star from your home? If yes, use the polar scope at the rear end of the mount to align. Alignment is critical. Also, The mount will go close to the alignment star, but not always bang on to it. Look into the finder and the brightest star in the FoV should be the alignment star. In case you take the scope to the incorrect star, then the alignment goes right out of the window.

Let us know how you fare this time. Finally, trying on the full moon is also a good idea, because you wont miss it.

Regards,

[Tinker1947]

Your focal point could well be further out than you focusor will travel, Revelation Extenders offer good value for money......i get by with these......