Beginners set up £1k

[nicks90]

Go for visual - with the option of doing AP.

Get the most popular setup there is, an eq5 goto with a sky watcher 200mm Newtonian on it.

Perfect for looking at the stars and will keep you entertained for years. When you want to do a bit of AP, stick your camera on the mount and do wide field imaging. You can always buy a better lens for the camera with some of the change from the above setup and get some cracking AP images without the need to do guiding and stuff.

If you want professional looking images like ollypenrice on here does.... open your wallet and chuck everything at your local astro shop. Refill the wallet and repeat. And repeat. And repeat...... get the idea?

[Rdl81]

Idea = lots and lots of cash hehe I get it

[cyteen02]

This is pretty close to what I have http://telescopeoutlet.co.uk/index.php/telescopes/sky-watcher-explorer-130p-telescope.html

The mount is nothing special, but i have found it a good scope to start. First proper view of Saturn through it was a real wow moment - did you know the planet actually has rings!

[Naemeth]

Idea = lots and lots of cash hehe I get it

Certainly best not to think that visual can't be a money pit either though, I must've spent 5x your budget on visual by now  .

Personally I think Rowan's advice is the best:

I think its pretty certain that you want go down the imaging route So I don't think its a good idea to get a tracking dob. my guess is that with a 5d you probably have a few lenses.  So I would use the camera on a mount for imaging and a manual dob to satisfy your visual astro cravings and of course the book

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-heq5-pro-synscan.html

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

It doesn't leave you much change but it gives you something to build on or better still just get the book and then decide if imaging is still where you want to go as it is rather expensive. If you know what you are doing and buy second hand you can get a good imaging kit for around 1200- 1500 buying new will cost you 1500 plus. The kit mentioned will give you good wide field shots and adequate deep space shots using just camera and lens. If you want good deep space shots you are going to need to go guided and probably  a fast apochromatic refactor the book will tell you what you need and how you do it. Welcome by the way to sgl

Right on budget and gives you a good start in both aspects of the ever wallet-emptying hobby we all call astronomy .

[Rdl81]

Ok so the book is ordered

[Helite]

If you could push your budget 79 quid over the grand mark you could get http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-200pds-heq5-pro.html that would give good visual and a start at un-guided AP in one package. There will always be other little "bits" to keep buying, like comma corrector's and T-rings etc etc though, its never ending.

That's what I would be looking at if I was in your shoes, but my opinion's are by no means expert! I wouldn't entertain an EQ5 if you are definitely wanting to image, I have one and will be replacing it for a stronger mount. Its workable but far from ideal.  

As always though, have a good read through the book first, it gives the sound advice you will require to make a better educated decision about how to spend your money to suit your needs. 

[Rdl81]

I think its pretty certain that you want go down the imaging route So I don't think its a good idea to get a tracking dob. my guess is that with a 5d you probably have a few lenses. So I would use the camera on a mount for imaging and a manual dob to satisfy your visual astro cravings and of course the book

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-heq5-pro-synscan.html

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

It doesn't leave you much change but it gives you something to build on or better still just get the book and then decide if imaging is still where you want to go as it is rather expensive. If you know what you are doing and buy second hand you can get a good imaging kit for around 1200- 1500 buying new will cost you 1500 plus. The kit mentioned will give you good wide field shots and adequate deep space shots using just camera and lens. If you want good deep space shots you are going to need to go guided and probably a fast apochromatic refactor the book will tell you what you need and how you do it. Welcome by the way to sgl

The kywatcher HEQ5 PRO Synscan seems to get a lot AF recommendations here I assume this is a good mount to go for any alternatives? Also as mentioned universe I can use my dslr and lens with this how would that work exactly?

[LouisJB]

One alternative is the NEQ6 but it's more $$$

You can put your camera straight on the mount, bolt the camera to a dovetail bar and put the bar on the mount. That would give you the ability for astrophotography without a telescope tube.

[dmahon]

The NEQ6 is similar, but larger and can carry a heavier telescope.

To attach a DSLR, connect the camera to a dovetail - eg http://www.modernastronomy.com/accessories.html#accDovetails (scroll down to vixen style photo dovetail) or make one yourself

Another alternative would be the iOptron series or, if you just want to attach a DSLR, the Astrotrac.

[DrRobin]

Hi,

An HEQ5 or EQ6 would be an ideal mount and either would easily carry your camera or a small to medium telescope for imaging. For starting out, don't worry about guiding, with an HEQ5 or EQ6 you should be able to get 30 to 60 second exposures without any real problem, greater than this and you will start to throw away more of the images as the mount fails to track accurately. As you have a 5D, I am sure you will know all about the relationship between F/number and exposure time? It is the same for a telescope as it is for a camera lens.

If you want to start with your camera, set the camera and lens to manual, set the aperture of your camera to maximum and then experiment with exposure times. I would use an ISO setting of no more than 800, less if you can and take multiple images of the same object on the same exposure, once you have found the optimum. Then take images with the same settings, but with the lens cap on, these are your dark shots and used to calibrate out the noise in the sensor. The 5D has a long exposure noise cancellation feature, it takes one picture and then a second without opening the shutter, it does the same as the 'darks', but I would turn this off, a ratio one dark to every 3 lights is adequate.

Download the excellent Deep Sky Stacker (Google it) and it will combine all of your images, subtract the darks and reduce the noise. If you want to automate the actual taking of the photos try APT (Astro Photography Tool) it is only a few quid and is truly excellent. There is a fully functional demo as well.

If you want to try astro photography without buying any new equipment, some of the best shots I have ever seen are of our Milky Way (straight overhead) with a wide angle lens (say around 30mm) just set your camera up on a fixed tripod and try 30 second exposures, adjust the exposure length to suit the amount of light. The results from a dark sky location can be stunning, especially if you combine several pictures in Deep Sky Stacker. If you have light polution at your home, try screening the camera from stray light or use a little more focal length to narrow the field of view. Even in the worst locations, straight up usually has the least amount of light polution.

Like you when I entered astronomy it was mostly with a view of getting some good pictures, a £1,000 is a reasonable budget to get you started and I am willing to bet your first camera wasn't a 5D? Like most things you get hooked and trade up once you reach the limits that the gear will provide. Astrobuysell.com/uk is a very good place to start if you don't mind buying second hand, so is Telescope outlet ( again google it) and the sponsor of this board FLO has special offers in the Sponsors thread, I should know two of my scopes have come from them.

Robin

[Rdl81]

Robin

Thanks for the tips few things to try there I appreciate it. I have a bit of gear not a lot though have a 70-300 lens what sort of focal lengths are people using other than wide angle? I might try that straight up shot using my 24-105 at 24.

Regards

RDL

[LouisJB]

The longer focal length you use the more you'll either need shorter exposures or have to use tracking/guiding... So wide angle is something you can do with a tripod or a simple mount and yet get a few tens of seconds of exposure. At 300mm the exposure time is going to be quite short before star trails show up.

It's worth experimenting a bit, as it's also trade-off with the ISO setting etc. I was able to get a shot of Andromeda with a 100mm F2.8 but I had a simple motor driven EQ mount, I think the exposure time was 45s to a1 minute. I found at 300mm it was very difficult to get anything captured without some blurring. Depending on your patience and skill you can definitely do a lot with a camera and no tracking but ultimately an EQ mount with guiding will get you the longest exposures and allow you to extract the most detail from the dimmest targets.

[willinliv]

On 01/01/2014 at 03:16, DrRobin said:

Hi,

An HEQ5 or EQ6 would be an ideal mount and either would easily carry your camera or a small to medium telescope for imaging. For starting out, don't worry about guiding, with an HEQ5 or EQ6 you should be able to get 30 to 60 second exposures without any real problem, greater than this and you will start to throw away more of the images as the mount fails to track accurately. As you have a 5D, I am sure you will know all about the relationship between F/number and exposure time? It is the same for a telescope as it is for a camera lens.

If you want to start with your camera, set the camera and lens to manual, set the aperture of your camera to maximum and then experiment with exposure times. I would use an ISO setting of no more than 800, less if you can and take multiple images of the same object on the same exposure, once you have found the optimum. Then take images with the same settings, but with the lens cap on, these are your dark shots and used to calibrate out the noise in the sensor. The 5D has a long exposure noise cancellation feature, it takes one picture and then a second without opening the shutter, it does the same as the 'darks', but I would turn this off, a ratio one dark to every 3 lights is adequate.

Download the excellent Deep Sky Stacker (Google it) and it will combine all of your images, subtract the darks and reduce the noise. If you want to automate the actual taking of the photos try APT (Astro Photography Tool) it is only a few quid and is truly excellent. There is a fully functional demo as well.

If you want to try astro photography without buying any new equipment, some of the best shots I have ever seen are of our Milky Way (straight overhead) with a wide angle lens (say around 30mm) just set your camera up on a fixed tripod and try 30 second exposures, adjust the exposure length to suit the amount of light. The results from a dark sky location can be stunning, especially if you combine several pictures in Deep Sky Stacker. If you have light polution at your home, try screening the camera from stray light or use a little more focal length to narrow the field of view. Even in the worst locations, straight up usually has the least amount of light polution.

Like you when I entered astronomy it was mostly with a view of getting some good pictures, a £1,000 is a reasonable budget to get you started and I am willing to bet your first camera wasn't a 5D? Like most things you get hooked and trade up once you reach the limits that the gear will provide. Astrobuysell.com/uk is a very good place to start if you don't mind buying second hand, so is Telescope outlet ( again google it) and the sponsor of this board FLO has special offers in the Sponsors thread, I should know two of my scopes have come from them.

Robin

Still a useful guide for me