Starter set suggestions

[thebossman]

Hi, my apologies as i'm sure this type of question has been asked many many times on here!

I'm a keen landscape photographer who also does a bit of night time stuff, such as star trails, milky way shots etc, all just with the camera.     

I've always fancied having a go at some more detailed astrophotography and wondered if anyone could recomment a reasonable starter type package ?  

You probably need more information from me first, I have no idea, but any help would be very gratefully received!!!

[Zuben Elgenubi]

I'm sure many people will recommend reading 'Making Every Photon Count' by Steve Richards before making any purchasing decisions:

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

It really is very, very helpful as an introduction to deep sky astrophotography. It does not cover planetary/lunar imaging however, so it depends on where your interests lie.

As you say, we probably need more information from you 

Welcome to SGL by the way!

[baggywrinkle]

Welcome to SGL. I second the above.

The problem with astro-photography is that it is a bit of a black hole. You can pour money in. One critical bit is the mount. Has to be EQ for any long timed exposures and should be very stable, so EQ5,6 or even 8 in some form.

Add to that a decent OTA and you are already close to a £1000.

Read the book and then start making lists.

[rowan46]

welcome to sgl I think the book is the first place to start It will tell you what you need,  more importantly why you need it and then of course how to use it. The cost of the book may save you making some costly mistakes

[itmo]

There are also tracking mounts which are designed for dslr's only. Also an EQ5 is great for camera-only astrophotography and you can always buy a scope on top of it.