Photographing space as it may be

[Giants]

Hi I'm new here

I was wondering if there is anyway that I can make a telescope for a basic dslr camera that will enable me to take detailed pictures of the moon and constellations. I don't have a lot of money and really want to get in to the hobby any suggestions for a diy telescope lens?

[rowan46]

Welome to SGL  detailed lunar photography  is best done with a webcam which can be relatively cheap. wide field photograpy can be done relatively cheaply with a lens of about 50mm and a tripod  an exposure of about 20 secs and stacked. After that you are starting to look at not so cheap. The problem isn't so much the scope as the mount to put the scope on.  what sort of budget are you talking about? its best not be shy about this sort of thing. It stops us suggesting things which may be  inappropriate for you. it used to be the case that grinding your own mirrors and making a scope was the cheapest way to get a scope now unless you are making a big scope its cheaper to buy  one.

[Giants]

Welome to SGL  detailed lunar photography  is best done with a webcam which can be relatively cheap. wide field photograpy can be done relatively cheaply with a lens of about 50mm and a tripod  an exposure of about 20 secs and stacked. After that you are starting to look at not so cheap. The problem isn't so much the scope as the mount to put the scope on.  what sort of budget are you talking about? its best not be shy about this sort of thing. It stops us suggesting things which may be  inappropriate for you. it used to be the case that grinding your own mirrors and making a scope was the cheapest way to get a scope now unless you are making a big scope its cheaper to buy  one.

Hi thanks for the reply I'm looking at about 200-300 at the moment but hopefully I'll be able to get some more money towards it within the next few months

[cosmojaydee]

Hi , if your looking to get into AP using a DSLR you can start pretty much right away, if you have a tripod try taking a few 20 sec frames of the night sky , you will amazed of what you capture, secondly I would suggest reading http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

Hope this helps   

[rowan46]

In that case can I suggest that you get this book and read it before you buy anything. It tells you what sort of thing to buy and more importantly why. the book describes the ideal minimum for quality photo's but it will give you a better understanding of what you are doing and will help you sort out some of the not so good answers you will get on here as well as the better ones 

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

[ronin]

Find somewhere to go and look at a few setups before you buy anything.

You could aim the camera at the sky and get a 20 second exposure for something like Orion, at ISO 1600 f/4 (?) it may give a result. If you had a means to track (there are a few options) then you should get 60 second exposures and better results for constellations. DSLR has to be set top fully manual - you set everything.

The problem is astrophotography can be plain damn expensive. So see what the options are at a club or something then decide what you want to do and stick to it. It is the sticking to it that is difficult.

You could go for EQ5+Motors+ED scope+DSLR which if you have the DSLR you may get the rest for £600-800. There is a nice TMB triplet used for sale on ASBUK for £3600 and that is just a scope, but a good one for AP. That can give the idea of the cost range.