What Camera?

[warpout]

Thinking about getting into astro photography and would welcome advice on what is a good starter camera for planetary work and DSO's. Need something decent but don't want to pay mega bucks at the moment. I have a Sky Watcher explorer 200P with an EQ 5 mount. Also, what would be a reliable motor drive for said scope. Appreciate any advice.

[wxsatuser]

What do you mean by megabucks?

Best way would most likely be a Canon DSLR, have a look here.

http://cheapastrophotography.vpweb.co.uk/Available-Cameras.html

You can of course still use these for daylight photography, so two in one.

[Aenima]

 

That is the set-up i use. You will likely be advised that the scope is overweight on that mount - and unfortunately its correct - as the tracking will struggle a little under the pressure.

Having said that, there's really no reason to stop making plans to do astro-imaging  - with a little attention to detail there are many fine images waiting in the sky for your set-up.

I would suggest you start with lunar imaging.  The two types of photography - solar system, and deep sky - need different camera types.  Planetary/lunar are done with webcams or similar design cameras to give fast framerate video footage that you stack, and on the other hand deep sky needs a large sensor ( usually a DSLR) which does longer exposures. Thats why the moon is a good starting place. The tracking wont need to be super accurate and it can be done with a reasonably simple pc webcam. All the software is free as well so a good plus there. 

I would also recommend, if you can not stretch the budget to get the 300 buck synscan goto (amazingly useful but not essential) you look into  'Astroeq' a gadget and modification that can transform the basic RA/DEC motor kit into a fully functional goto system which will likely allow for autoguiding in the future should you get hooked and venture into 'deep' deep sky imaging.  :.o

But for now, the most important bit is the tracking (esp for DSO's), if you can afford the 'dual axis motor kit' for the eq5 and adapt it as per ASTROEQ instructions then you'll be able to make good use of a DSLR like the very worthy canon 1100D or 1000D which even unmodified (for nebulas some folks remove the built in IR filter to pick up more wavelengths of light) the canon dslr can catch quite a lot in just a 30sec exposure.  Unless you incorporate autoguiding the exposures will be limited to about 30-40 secs before stars start to trail).

But things like bright galaxies and star clusters as well as the larger planetary nebulae ie ring nebula, dumbell nebula, orion nebula etc.  are all do-able with 30sec exposures, just take 30 of them and stack them in deepskystacker (more brilliant freeware)

If you look at my signature and follow the link to my picz gallery it'll give a idea what the 200P/EQ5 combination will do even in very amateur hands like mine

Also a link to a disscusion on astroeq: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/188877-astroeq-for-eq-mounts/

Clear skies and best of luck.

Regards

Aenima

[wxsatuser]

 

That is the set-up i use. You will likely be advised that the scope is overweight on that mount - and unfortunately its correct - as the tracking will struggle a little under the pressure.

If you look at my signature and follow the link to my picz gallery it'll give a idea what the 200P/EQ5 combination will do even in very amateur hands like mine

Also a link to a disscusion on astroeq: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/188877-astroeq-for-eq-mounts/

Clear skies and best of luck.

Regards

Aenima

You understate your efforts..........you have an excellent gallery of images for your setup.

I think you have given the OP something to think about.

[Aenima]

Thats very nice, thank you for the comment

There are more easier ways and better equipment out there but its a good feeling to get good results in spite of the disadvantages and at the end of the day (night?) if you enjoyed your session and are happy with the images its a win!

This forum is full of useful info and helpful people so before you buy anything do searches and ask more questions.

Anything you think i might be able to help let me know. 

Good luck.

[oldpink]

I have a similar setup to you
I went for the Astro modded 600D as it can be used for planetary  as well as DSO

[warpout]

Thanks aenima, some really useful info. Had my eye on the Canon 1100D anyway. Hadn't considered the weight problem before. Is there a motor drive out there that could alleviate the problem, or is it always going to be something I will have to put up with.

                      Liking the images a lot(you are to modest, by the way) at least I can see what I could acheive. Maybe the ASTROEQ is the way to go.

                                  Many thanks and clear skies.

[Astrosurf]

Aenima, your images are stonking!

Get the book 'Making Every Photon Count' by the most excellent Steve Richards. Read it through before attempting AP. It's a great book. http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

As Aenima said, use a webcam for solar system - you'll need to mod it to remove the filter and put on a nosepiece. Here's a tutorial for the Xbox cam, just so you get an idea. There are other tutorials on the Web for other webcams:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/131246-xbox-livecam-mod-cliff/

You can use a DSLR for taking videos of planets as oldpink said. See my thread here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/208610-planetary-imaging-with-dslr-video-mode/

Many nebulae emit in the infrared so, to image those, you would need to remove/have removed the camera's IR filter. A tricky job and one that should only be done by someone who knows what they're doing!

Good luck!

Alexxx

[Zakalwe]

Thinking about getting into astro photography and would welcome advice on what is a good starter camera for planetary work and DSO's. Need something decent but don't want to pay mega bucks at the moment. I have a Sky Watcher explorer 200P with an EQ 5 mount. Also, what would be a reliable motor drive for said scope. Appreciate any advice.

The highlighted parts are virtually mutually exclusive. Different needs and different equipment.

if you want to do DSO AP then you MUST concentrate on the mount first and foremost.