Jump to content

New to site and need advice

mwhitehouseuk

By mwhitehouseuk
in Welcome

Recommended Posts

mwhitehouseuk

mwhitehouseuk

Posted
Posted

Hello, im new to all this so i need advice im looking to buy a telescope that has an handheld computer with GPS on, also a camera. Im looking at taking images of planets, deep space, the moon and the space station, any advice or tips will be a big help. Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites
swag72

swag72

Posted
Posted

First of all you really do need to decide what is going to be more important to image - DSO's or solar system stuff. I say this as the two are not compatible with their requirements and sadly there is not really a jack of all trades out there. 

Whatever you decide, set a budget - Go onto the imaging forum and look at what people are producing. What level do you want to achieve? Normally people say the kit they have used, so you can get an idea of what they use. 

Get to an astro club local to you and see what they are doing to get even more of an idea of the sizes of stuff and the level of complexity involved.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
purdo

purdo

Posted
Posted

Hi & Welcome to SGL.  Post in the Beginners section giving your budget more people will read it there.  I too am keen in imaging, but after taking advice from the folk here decided to get a Dobsonian scope first to learn my way around the night sky and to get used to using a scope. Perhaps in a year or two I will get one with Imaging in mind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ronin

ronin

Posted
Posted

The items stated do not as a rule come as a single off the shelf item.

You would buy the mount, a scope and a camera.

You do not take an image of a planet/nebula in astrophotography as you do in photography. In photography you get one image and that is the "picture", in astrophotography you take (for planetary) say 2000 images in the form of a video, analyse the individual frames, select the best 25% and then stack these to create one image you then process this. Planetary imaging therefore needs a laptop as well. DSO imaging is "similar" where you get say 20 exposures of 3000 seconds each then you stack and process these. So a lot of difference.

Although not stated are you expecting to put a scope down and it to set itself up fully? If so that does not occur. Even withe GPS you will still need to set up the mount and scope, polar align them and then go through the scope alignment procedure. GPS tell the scope where it is and the time - google and a watch will do the same.

To give an answer to the question and give some ewquipment:

Mount, the ones I know of that have GPS are the iOptron mounts the lightest is the ZEQ25 at £850 although I suspect that the iZEQ30 at £999 would be a better mount. The good images use a guide scope and camera so the iZEQ30 is probably the smallest to consider for the exra weight.

Concerning a scope for AP a good refractor is often the item of choice, the William Optics GTF-81 is a small apo and would do the job well. You would probably need to get someoene like Ian King or Widescreen to order one, WO did not sell them in the UK so they need ordering. These have a built in flattener (essential). One of these is £1000 plus or minus a few pounds, the smaller Star71 is a similar scope and a similar price. There is a nice TMB 115 on a used equipment site that would be good, that is £1900 if it is still available.

Camera, you could attach a DSLR but thay are not cooled, usually it is a ccd camera, there is a ZWO ASI120 (1.2Mp)that is a cmos  device for £250-300, it is uncooled. An entry level cooled ccd look at the Atik 420 a 2 Mp camera cooled and is only £900. Atik do  a 6Mp camera the 460 for £2000 if you wanted more pixels.

So there are the mount, scope and camera, each is really the least costly in their class, iOptron mounts which have GPS start with the ones given and go up to £3000 for the better ones (£5,000 on a mount is not uncommon), scopes for a better APO look at the Astro Physics scopes but they start at around £2500 for a good AP scope, camera's a 16Mp Starlight Express is £4500.

When people say AP is expensive it is a very true statement, mainly because it is completel;y different to photography. To an extent other then the names used nothing on an AP rig will look like a "normal" photography setup.

So budget is relevant, you are looking at £3000-4000 for a nice starting setup, add another £1000 for the expansion into a guide scope, guide camera, tube rings, leads and fittings, then the same again for the assorted accessories that are always required not least of which is a laptop.

Forgert the ISS imaging, it moves at a different rate and in a different track, there is nothing I know of that has the facilities to track it. There may be a scope to which you can define the data to drive the motors to track but that means redefining data within a software file. I suppose some of the more costly mounts may offer it as an add on item but as said unaware of any.

Go look for clubs with an imaging section and go along to look at the equipment, if an imager brings their full set up along you will get an idea of the potential methods of lessening your bank balance by £15,000.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
badger111

badger111

Posted
Posted

Greetings mwhitehouseuk - To get started in Astrophotography, I bought a budget scope, made an adapter to attach my "daily use" canon 900ti digi cam to the eyepiece. It's great for taking shots of all the "bright" objects. I now have an expensive wish list of kit to be able to better pics!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
glowjet

glowjet

Posted
Posted

Hi Mwhitehouseuk and welcome to SGL. As a newcomer to the hobby, that could become one expensive wish list you want advice on. You will, indeed, need to give this some thought and ask many questions in the relevant sections of the forum, before formulating a way forward. Ronin`s excellent detailed reply, has already given you something to work on. A search of the imaging sections should give you some idea of what is involved in taking images of local and deep space subjects :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sirius Starwatcher

Sirius Starwatcher

Posted
Posted

Hi and welcome to SGL as you can see there are lots of good advice from experienced members who know what they are doing. Don't be put of my some of the answers but do your homework and be very accurate about what you are trying to achieve. Because of this forum and replies to my questions I believe I have saved a lot of money and not made any big mistakes. . YET. Keep reading reviews and research your subject. You will get to were you want to go eventually. Best of luck and enjoy the Lounge

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JamesM

JamesM

Posted
Posted

Hi and welcome to the forum. In addition to the replies above, you might want to consider posting your question over on the beginner'd equipment section for more suggestions as many members do not visit the welcome section.

Clear skies and hope you enjoy the forum

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.