Astrophotography Cameras

[JamesF]

I think it's fair to say that a non-tracking dob is not the ideal for imaging, but as others have said, imaging solar system objects is certainly feasible and a few others are possible with some work. If you're handy at making things then a "wedge" can make life somewhat easier as it means you only have to move the scope in one direction to track the target. They can be bought, but they're not exactly cheap. Either way, if you accept that it's going to be tricky, will require a bit of practice and that you can't expect to get good results straight away then I'd certainly encourage you to give it a go. You're not going to turn out planetary images as good as some of the posters on SGL do, but I've seen some very creditable images from people using manual dobs so don't get disheartened if you find it tough going at first.

James

[ollypenrice]

A little harsh don't you think?

AP can be achievable with the OPs setup, its just that their expectations may need to be adjusted. If they are wanting DSO work then sure a dob isn't going to cut it, but lunar and planetary are workable.

Matt, I'm not into planetary, so hopefully others will chime in, but essentially a webcam is what you need together with some stacking software for the avi's. What dob do you have?

Not so harsh, I don't think. You can, just about, do some fast frame imaging with a Dob but in general I'd be inclined to say that this was 'only just, if at all.' The key thing is, I thnk, How long would it be before you wanted an upgrade? and the answer might be 'Not long.' I'm just trying to give the discussion a context. Some fast frame work can be done with a Dob.

Olly

[JamesF]

With the exception of tracking dobs, of course. There are some stunning images in the planetary section posted by people using tracking dobs. I don't think that's what Olly had in mind though, and reading between the lines I don't think that's what the OP has.

James

[Polar Bear]

Additionally have a look in the Lunar and Planetary Imaging forums. There are many images of varying quality (mine included) that will show you what is possible with different cameras / scopes / techniques. Most of us in there are happy to share what we have learnt.

Paul

[rowan46]

I remember giving advice a while ago that decent planetary images could be achieved with a dob, But when i tried to find a good one to link to as an example. I found one that wasn't made by a tracking dob. The good ones do appear to be made by tracking dobs non tracking dobs are noticably inferior in the quality of their pictures. Having said that jupiter is easily recognisable as jupiter saturn is recognisable as Saturn and i have seen some very decent lunar pics taken by non tracking dobs. The fact that there are any good pics with a non tracking dob shows that it can be done the fact that there are so few quality pics shows that it is hard. Good luck