1st DSO - telescope or DSLR?

[jjqpr]

Hi guys I finally intend to use the NEQ6 for the first time tonight (weather allowing!)

I fancy trying to get the orion nebula which I think is a good starting object to go for? My question is am I better off putting the telescope (250px) on the NEQ6 and then using prime focus with a dslr through it (i guess this would be 1200mm), or would I be better leaving the telescope inside and putting the dslr straight on the NEQ6? And if the latter what lens would be best I have a range from about 10mm to 400mm.

Is there any objects where there would be an advantage to use the 1200mm of the telescope with prime focus?

Any advice is much appreciated thank you

[Alien 13]

If its your 1st go i would choose tha camera and lens, for orion you will want something in the range of 300-400mm and you should get some decent results with subs of 20 -120 seconds.

I dont know about your area but its blowing a gale here so another reason to go for the camera/lens option.

Alan

[malc-c]

The two field of views would be totally different.  Placing the camera on the mount would give a fairly wide angle shot, so you could get in some of the constellation as well.  With the camera body attached to the telescope you will get just the nebula in the field of view, but it will fill the frame and contain a lot of detail.  The downside is that you need good polar alignment, or guiding for some objects, and ideally still conditions so the scope don't move.

This is a crude un-guided 30s snap of the nebular I took last night with a modded Canon 400D (the camera is still a WIP as I need the correct IR filter) - but it should give you some idea as to what to expect.

As for objects, well again, for close up images most galaxies, clusters and nebula will benefit from being taken through the scope.  For nice wide-field images the camera and lens is the way forward

[Owmuchonomy]

Camera and lens.  Your scope is too long for M42.  My first venture into astrophotography was with my 600D and a 300mm lens (which is equiv to 480mm on that camera).  With this I got great first time shots of M31 and M45.  This is more than enough of a learning curve before attaching any scope/mount/guider combo.  Good luck!