telescope for beginner astrophotography

[roncam]

Hi,

Can You please Suggest me a telescope of about 400 euros so that i can connect my dslr to the telescope and take pictures of nebulas. I would also like to have the tracking in the telescope mount.

thanks

ronald

[Fogboundturtle]

You are asking the wrong question. You should be asking. What mount should I buy for astrophotography. its all about the mount and if you want to take picture of nebulas, you will need a lot more money than 400 euros.

[damnut]

Hi Ronald,

Before investing in kit get a copy of 'making every photon count'. This will save you money in the long run and guide your start in the dark arts!. As above the right mount is critical.

[ronin]

If you do not have tracking then imaging nebulas is not possible. You need exposures of around 30 seconds then stack these, in 30 seconds the nebula will have moved too much so you will have a blurred image that is not stackable.

You need an equitorial mount, not Alt/Az, with motors to track, then look at a scope along the lines of an ED 80 or 70, short focal length so around f/6 or faster.

[sgazer]

On that budget, personally, I would recommend using your camera lenses instead of a scope as that would eat up most of your budget. The Canon 18-55mm (MKII) and 55-250mm work well (assuming you have them, I'm sure Nikon kit lenses are fine too). To stay within your budget, I'd recommend this;

http://www.firstligh...nscan-goto.html

or if you can save a bit more this;

http://www.firstligh...nscan-goto.html

or a HEQ5 pro if you can find one second hand.

These will allow 2-3min exposures which will reveal neabulas very nicely. You obviously can't expect the same images as 5k's worth of equipment can capture, but you'll get something reasonable.

Although I've had a HEQ5, I was still amazed with what I could capture with 30s exposures on a ALT/AZ SLT mount and 250mm lens.