Astrophotography kit up to about £1500

[erasmus666]

I've been using a second-hand Celestron 70AZ refractor with my Nikon D300 to do some stargazing and have tried using it for astrophotography. Photos of the moon are fine but anything else - NO! I tried to take photos of Jupiter but all I got was a fuzzy white ball. I had the kit checked out by someone at a local astronomical society meeting and he couldn't see anything wrong with it so either it's a) user error on my part (first to admit it if that is in fact the case), or I'm trying to get it to do something which it's not designed to do. If the latter then what kit do I get please? I can go up to about £1500 for both mount and tube. Also, I'm planning to upgrade my D300 to a D800 before the end of the year so the question is " should I keep the D300 for astrophotography as I've read somewhere that cropped sensor cameras are better for astrophotography than full-frame ones such as the D800 as the former are far better coping with chromatic aberration". Your advice as ever would be much appreciated and thank you for taking the time to read this posting. Michael.

[bogdog]

user error

you need to capture jupiter as a video then run it through pip to make up the picture...just a snap will result in a blob

i would invest in best mount you can first

[bogdog]

these 2 together would be a good combo (just my opinion) others will advise also

read reviews on them,this would leave you some cash also and you would have a good setup.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-ota.html

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

[wxsatuser]

these 2 together would be a good combo (just my opinion) others will advise also

read reviews on them,this would leave you some cash also and you would have a good setup.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-ota.html

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

I would second the HEQ5 Pro but for me, and I'm biased, it would be an 80ED Pro for the tube.

[DaveS]

I would go for the cheaper Syntrek version

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

Which would leave funds for a better 'scope, this perhaps

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/william-optics/william-optics-gt-81-triplet-refractor.html

The Syntrek can be controlled through your laptop (WHich you really need for imaging) with EQMOD which will interface with most planetarium programs.

[idigitize]

I have a d300 and d800. (But don't have a scope yet to compare any ca) You most likely have serious lenses too? I have a 300f4 with a 1.7 for wildlife which works out pretty similar to the ed80 with ff. For that reason I'm edging towards the 150pds as better viewing and very capable AP.

The celestron avx mount seems to slightly edge the heq5 pro. I've yet to make the desicion. The heq5 pro is the more tried and tested and Eqmod might yet swing it.

It seems most advise the ed80 due to ease of use, but seems quite a few with the pds too, guess it depends if you have any longish lenses and how they perform.

I don't think the d300 or d800 are gonna be great for planets, but interested to learn more about how full frame is gonna.

Heq5 pro with ed80 or avx with 130/150pds or any combination of those is gonna be a very good setup at rough budget. Not sure there's a bad combo there, hard to judge which might be best.

You'd have enough in the budget for an extra eyepiece or 2, a guiding setup maybe, power and any other bits just about too.

[idigitize]

Edit above***. Full frame is going to compare with cropped. Also how the crop mode in the d800 will work with a scope etc.

[rowan46]

This is the first call for budding astro photographers. Before you buy any kit read this book and get a good grasp of it. It tells you what you need and more importantly why you need it. To my mind the why is more important it also by the way tells you how to do it.

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

It may save you form buying equipment that really isn't suitable and its all pretty digestible. I almost understand it and I am a bit dim

[datman]

The most important first purchase is the mount not the telescope. The finest telescope in the world will not perform well on an unsteady mount.

The suggested HEQ5 Pro is a very good choice, it has  a good load capacity (15kg I think), Goto, PC connectivity and a strong tripod.

It would allow you to do other things at a later date e.g. Astro photography with a bigger telescope + guide scope etc.

In other words you could "upgrade" or add to your telescope collection without being limited by the abilities of the mount.

IMO The SW Explorer 130P-DS OTA is also a very good all round starter, it will do most of the things you might want to try, enabling you to find out what interests you.

Then if you decide you'd like to buy a more expensive telescope, APO, SCT etc all of which are more suitable for different areas of astronomy/photography you will at least

know why you want that particular expensive telescope.

At £165 the SW130 is not a lot of money for what you get. If it turns out that it's not what you want you haven't wasted much money and if you really hate it (which I doubt) you could always

sell it. Collimation is IMO not that difficult and once you know how, doesn't take long to do.

You will soon know if you want a super long focus telescope with narrow FOV e.g. SCT  or a shorter APO with a wide FOV.

And guess what? The SW130 will sit nicely in between!

I have no experience of the Nikon D300 so I can't comment. If it's anything like a Canon 1000D it will produce very good images. ditto D800

Most if not all of the eyepices you buy for the SW130 will work with different telescopes. Their magnification factor will vary that's all. E.g. A 5mm EP might not be very useful in a very long focus scope.

Hope this all helps

Good luck

[66mikeg]

As a first step I'd invest about 50 quid on a webcam and practice taking videos of planets and processing them, the HEQ5 go to and an ED80 seemto be the minimum for deep sky, Nikon cameras seem to be a poor second to Canon as the latter have purpose designed software for astro photography. 

[carastro]

Webcams are best for planetary imaging, planets are too small with a DSLR and it's difficult to get the right amount of exposure.  I have managed to do the Moon with a series of very short images and stacked them.

If you are going to be buying yourself another DSLR why don't you consider buying yourself a Canon as there is plenty of software and support for Canons.  Also get one with the IR filter removed as this increases sensitivity in the Ha regions.  There is a trader who sells ready modified Canons on UKABS (sorry mods if I am not allowed to post that here).

As stated above you need a good solid equatorial mount capable of guiding (with a guide port) like the HEQ5 stated above, or if you think you might want a fairly heavy scope you need to go for the NEQ6.  

Imaging with refractors is a lot more straight forward for the beginner, but you need to get an APO or you'll get chromatic abberation.  

Meanwhile buy yourself a webcam with telescope adapter for imaging Jupiter.

HTH

Carole

[oldpink]

the canon 600 and 1100 can both be used for planetary work as well as being good for DSO
and you can buy modded ones for under £500 or even cheaper second hand

[Owmuchonomy]

As you can see from above you need to read up first and then decide what you want to photo.  The requirements for solar system objects vs. deep sky objects are very different.  There is no 'one system for all' option I know about.

Regarding Jupiter and the use of DSLRs then here are a few personal experiences as I have just taken my first photo  :

Canon rather than Nikon (better software for astro etc).  I use a 600D.

Focussing is very difficult and very important.  Many use a Bahtinov mask but I get away with the live screen on the 600D on 5x zoom.

For planets I use an SCT scope.  MAKs are also suitable.

You must use video then use free software to process (PIPP and Registax are my choices)

I use Video Crop mode to get the right image size.

I'll post my first Jupiter shot later where I used the above method.

Good luck!

[Owmuchonomy]

As you can see from above you need to read up first and then decide what you want to photo. The requirements for solar system objects vs. deep sky objects are very different. There is no 'one system for all' option I know about.

Regarding Jupiter and the use of DSLRs then here are a few personal experiences as I have just taken my first photo :

Canon rather than Nikon (better software for astro etc). I use a 600D.

Focussing is very difficult and very important. Many use a Bahtinov mask but I get away with the live screen on the 600D on 5x zoom.

For planets I use an SCT scope. MAKs are also suitable.

You must use video then use free software to process (PIPP and Registax are my choices)

I use Video Crop mode to get the right image size.

I'll post my first Jupiter shot later where I used the above method.

Good luck!

My first Jupiter, taken on Sunday.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[erasmus666]

Thanks for all the advice. I've bought a Skywatcher 130P with non-HEQ5 motorised mount (I'll upgrade to the HEQ5 when finances permit). The learning curve is quite steep I suspect and if I'm honest I was expecting just to put the kit together and that was it! WRONG!!! I'll stick with the kit I've bought and see how I get on before doing any more. I read the book about deep space photography and it was very good at not on ly what to do but what a lot of the jargon means.

I have one further question: the kit I've bought is large and bulky and so is hardly transportable with any ease. I could do with something which I can leave in the car so if I'm out and want to do some stargazing I've something to hand which doesn't require a lot of setting up and which leaves some space in the car! I've already got a pair of15 x 70 Revelation binoculars which I use on my Manfrotto tripod but wanted to get a 'scope to go with it. I saw in the Sky at Night magazine reference to an Orion Starblaster 62 which I'd like but can't afford at present. However, I've seen on Amazon for £50 an small Celestron Travelscope 70. Is it worth buying or should I make do with my binoculars and save up for the Starblaster?

Kind regards

Michael