Information Overload

[oldlancseng]

Hi All

New to SGL

I'm Seeking advice on what Telescope to start my voyage into the unknown!

I already have an interest in photography and would like to venture into astro-photography.  I've been looking and researching telescopes till I reached the point were I seem to be going in circles, no doubt many of you have been in this position.  

I've had a lot of good advice and it's much appreciated, however, I find it just keeps drawing me to the various types of Telescope. 

I had a long discussion at the recent Astrofest exhibition about the advantages of a Refractor Telescope whilst someone else gave me advice on the advantages of the  Celestron/Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain Goto Telescopes for convenience and ease.

I believe my main problem is that I don't want to buy a telescope that I will soon become bored with, I want one that will give me long term enjoyment and gets plenty of use, so that I can build on and grow with experience, if that makes sense.

My initial budget would be around £800.

Any advice would be welcome to get me past the impasse.

Thanks 

[Kirscovitch]

For AP use a fast frac is what I've been told to get. Lots of guys around here like the SW ED80.

[steppenwolf]

Astro-photography is not just the telescope (or the camera), it starts with the mount assuming that deep sky imaging is what you are interested in.

However here's a +1 for the Sky-Watcher ED 80 plus field flattener/focal reducer.

Can you let us know which aspect of astro-photography you are interested in as this will help with the advice we give?

[ollypenrice]

I'll be brutally honest. £800 is not a deep sky astrophotograhy budget. That is not to say that, with that budget, you couldn't get anythng at all but you said,  I believe my main problem is that I don't want to buy a telescope that I will soon become bored with, I want one that will give me long term enjoyment and gets plenty of use, so that I can build on and grow with experience, if that makes sense.

It makes perfect sense.

Deep sky astrophotography involves long exposures and long exposures require phenomenal tracking precision. The manufacturers' websites are full of stuff about Periodic Error Correction etc but ignore this. If you don't want to get bored with your deep sky imaging kit very quickly you need a decent mount and autoguider. The working minimum (respecting your 'not getting bored' rule) is the HEQ5 with autoguider.

The mount is evrerything. The telescope comes last in the priority list which I would put as mount-camera-optics.

Astrophotography is quite counter intuitive, indeed very counter intuitive. I'd start by reading Making Every Photon Count by Steve Richards to begin to confront these ideas before spending a single penny.

If you want to start in deep sky astrophotography don't go within a million miles of an SCT. If you are interested in doing planetary then that's a different story.

Olly

[Astro Imp]

The advice from those that know about such things is to read and re-read Steve Richards book before you do anything else:- http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

[red dwalf]

£800 is going to be swallowed up by the mount alone i`m afraid, a second hand heq5 is going to be around £500, which leaves little for a camera and a fast apo scope not to mention a guide scope and camera, build your kit up from the second hand market slowly, it`s taken me a few years to get to a point where i feel i can do good astro photograpy shots and i haven`t got the best ccd cameras or a expensive apo scope.

its a long slippery slope

[Charic]

oldlancseng........Hi, welcome to SGL. ( I seem to be going in circles? ) Lol. we've all been there.

Thread #3 above has a link to the book, that tells all, with regards to astro-photography. Everyone recommends it, Steve wrote it, I have it, and can vouch for its easy reading on the subject. I'd just wished I'd read it before. And I`m not into astro-photography at present, because of the telescope in my signature, but I already know what I'll be buying next should I further get involved with a camera/telescope set-up.

You've already stated your photographic interest, but if you were going purely as a visual astronomer, then 8" or higher Dobsonian will be your choice. There will be members here to help you on the Astro side.

Believe me, the tripod/mount is often more important than the telescope and cameras?. Thats where the money is spent, on getting a firm stable support system. Without that, everything else could be wasted.

Enjoy the hurt of more study and learning?

[oldlancseng]

Hi All

Thank You, for your feedback much appreciated.

Many of you have confirmed my thoughts, I realise that to get into astro-photography, will require some serious investment over period of time, however,  I am leaning towards a SKY-WATCHER EVOSTAR-150 (EQ6 PRO Syn Scan) as a starting point.

Please don't hesitate to comment if you feel this may be the wrong direction!

[ronin]

Agree with Olly, £800 is not going to go anywhere in AP.

I have a scope suitable for AP, scope is over £800 and then there is the flattener which was another £150.

If you do photography then look at the cost of a good 500mm f/2.8 lens.

That is the area you re in for a scope, not including a mount or camera.

[red dwalf]

eq6 is a great start, excellent mount, but i`d go for a faster scope than the evostar 150 for imaging, maybe the evostar 80 with a reducer and flatner or a good faster f ratio second hand scope, faster the better for deep sky astro imaging 

[swag72]

It's all in the mount and if you are thinking of an EQ6, then that is a good mount.

Are you talking about this scope? http://www.firstlightoptics.com/evostar/skywatcher-evostar-150-ota.html I ask as you are far better off with an ED doublet for astro imaging, such as this one http://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-ds-pro-outfit.html - You get much better colour correction with an ED scope.

What camera are you looking at using?

 

 

 

[carastro]

 I am leaning towards a SKY-WATCHER EVOSTAR-150 (EQ6 PRO Syn Scan) as a starting point.

The NEQ6 is a great mount.  I have no experience of the SW Evostar 150, but the focal ratio is F8 and the price is over £500.  I honestly think you'd be better off with something smaller like the WOZS71 APO which I have, or  the ED80.  The NEQ6 will future proof you should you want to get a heavier scope later on, but if you're thinking of sticking with an ED80 then an HEQ5 would be sufficient.

If you're thinking of using the scope for observation as well you can always use a Barlow.

Some the objects you will want to image will be too big to fit in the 150 such as the Heart Nebula, M31. 

What camera were you thinking of?

Carole

[oldlancseng]

At present I use a Canon EOS 1100d for my photography.  

[swag72]

Thanks for the camera information.

If you are already set on the EQ6 - Which is an excellent mount - then I'd couple that with an ED80 scope http://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-ds-pro-ota.html and the reducer that goes with it http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reducersflatteners/skywatcher-85x-reducer-flattener-for-ed80.html - This really is the basis for many peoples kit and it gets recommended almost ad nauseam for good reason - It works and it works well.

You many also want to consider a light pollution filter for your DSLR - Many people again use the Astronomiks clip in filter http://www.astronomik.com/en/clip-filter-system.html to good effect. Give Bern at Modern Astronomy a ring, he's your guy for these filters in the UK.

Then at a later date you may want to consider getting a guiding setup to go with all of this so that you can get the longer exposures that DSO benefits from.

Hope that helps.

[ollypenrice]

The Evostar 150 would be an absolute disaster for DS imaging on almost all counts. The main thing is that it's an achromat, not an apochromat. This means that it doesn't bring all colours to the same focus, so you can only have small part of the spectrum in focus at any one time. The other colours will spray out into wide haloes. I have one of these and rather like it as a visual scope (they go for nothing second hand which is why I haven't sold it) but for imaging, no. Also the focuser is very rustic. Adequate for visual but not for holding a camera still and square on to the light path - which is very important. Cameras 'see' deeper into the violet that the eye, and often deeper into the reds, so the colour correction problem is vastly more serious than in visual observing. 6 inch refractors suitable for imaging cost thousands, not hundreds.

As others have said, a small ED doublet offers the most. They would be perfectly happy on an HEQ5 but the 6 is more future proofed. Its only advantage is handling more weight. It isn't more accurate.

A short focal length has advantages, too. Guiding errors (which can take a bit of tinkering to prevent, even using an autoguider) are far more harmful at long focal lengths than at short.

If you were dead set on a scope that could do visual and AP then a 6 or 8 inch Newt on an an NEQ6 would do it. However, I'd be more tempted by an HEQ5 and small ED doublet for the imaging and a basic Dob for the visual. The total outlay isn't all that different.

Olly

[Dave1964]

Hi oldlancseng,

Like you. I am a very much a newbie compared to the guys and girls on here for astrophotography. It is a very sharp learning curve and can be expensive too. In my case I had to and still learning settings and how to use a dslr, locating stars, planets etc.which I really enjoy. That in itself is very rewarding and enjoyable. I've managed to take a couple of decent pics too

I also recommend reading making every photon count

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

Plus find a local club so you can chat to other members and gain first hand experience of looking through members scopes so you can see the difference. Most members when asked are really happy to share their experiences. Also you might be able to feel how heavy mounts are to carry around to remote sites etc.

I have to agree mount choice is the most important thing.

What influenced my set up so that I have have to be as portable as I can be

I hope my limited input may help .

Dave