Skywatcher 130 and Nikon D7100

[smiddit]

My brother in law has a Skywatcher 130 and I have a Nikon D7100 and was wondering what exactly do I need to connect the camera to the scope for imaging the moon?

It's a bit confusing knowing what to buy considering all the topics on not being able to focus. Will a T ring And T adaptor be enough to get me to focus with this setup?

I'm in the UK and if anyone can point me in the right direction of where to buy these items it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Brian.

[RikM]

It depends which Skywatcher 130 it is as there are several models. As far as I know, with any except the 130P-DS you will need a T ring and 1.25" adaptor and then a barlow lens to reach focus. The Skywatcher deluxe barlow has a T thread built in, so if you had one of those, you would only need the T ring.

[knobby]

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/adaptors/t-rings.html

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/adaptors/flo-125-inch-t-mount-camera-adapter.html

And possibly a Barlow to help achieve focus, or if you have the truss type scope can leave the truss slightly short of full extension

[smiddit]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

I'll need to find out if he has a Barlow lens first before ordering anything and I'm not sure what model of 130 it is. It did come with the electronic tracker but then maybe that all do. As you can probably tell this isn't really my area!! He hasn't touched the scope since he bought it so at this point im the best I've got :-)

[Dave1964]

Hi.

If it's a skywatcher 130p goto, unfortunately you cannot use it for imaging as I found out myself. However it is great scope for tracking and visual use.

Dave

[knobby]

Sweeping statement alert :-) I'm sure you'll manage to image at least the moon...

[Aenima]

Yes, with a 2x barlow and t-adapter you can take single shots of lunar features - the problem with connecting directly to the focuser for prime focuse images is the 130p hasn't got enough Inward travel on the focuser, so using a barlow will bring the point of focus out a little. On mine even with the barlow the point of focus was VERY close to stopping dead against the edge of the focuser tube, this was the stock skywatcher barlow, however, maybe this will be enough (providing the scope has the 2" focuser, the older models don't). 

best of luck with it.

regards

Aenima

[Gohan75]

I am stuck with my 130p until i can invest in an imaging scope. Its a good scope but unfortunately you cant reach focus without a barlow like mentioned above. I have used the barlow lens however, on a heq5 pro tracking mount to image sections of Andromeda galaxy, small clusters, small galaxies ect.

I also imaged a few moon shots with the 130p barlowed which was my very first astro pic here. So it can be done