Newbie astro photo questions

[mikey2000]

Forgive me for asking such silly questions here - I'm such a newbie that I don't even have the correct vocabulary to do a sensible search.....  I've tried our friend G**gle.com but I have a feeling that astrophotography is so complex that I'm left even more confused than when I started !!!!!

This is such a friendly and well informed site that I thought nobody would mind too much if i asked here

Here's the background...

I'm a keen photographer with SLR, DSLR and mirroless kit.  For my christmas, I received a skywatcher 130P with an EQ2 mount and a RA motor.  I have 10mm and 25mm eyepieces that came packaged with the telescope, bought from the wonderful people at FLO.

I've not had too many clear nights yet (Bedfordshire UK) but i'm enjoying the telescope already - I even managed a reasonably good polar alignment!  Being a photographer, I cant resist the urge to attach my camera....

So, can anyone advise me on what I need to do to attach my Sony A6000 (E-mount, NEX style camera) to the telescope?   Do I attach it directly to the telescope?  The focus unit on the scope seems to have some threads - is this a "T Mount"?  Will I need extension tubes to achieve focus?   How then do I change magnification? Do I leave one of the 10mm or 25mm eye pieces in place?

I'm flummoxed!

Or maybe I should be piggy backing the camera on to the telescope somehow.  I have DSRL lenses up to 200mm/f2.8 and 400mm/5.6.  Maybe I should be moving a piggy backed camera with the motor drive on the EQ2.   But how then to get close up pics of the moon and distant objects?   A piggy backed camera wouldn't take advantage of that great big parabolic mirror in my 130P telescope.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[MarsG76]

Welcome to SGL...

Yeah, the thread on your focusser should accept a T-Mount for your DSLR. 

As far as magnification is concerned, you'll find that you either use the prime FL or a focal reducer to get a bit wider shot. Outside of those the only time you would want more magnification is if you're imaging planets, that's where a 2X or 3x Barlow will be handy.. for everything else native or focal reducer will be all you'll need.

Piggy backing your DSLR with a lens will allow you to make widefield shots of the sky.

[steppenwolf]

Your telescope is available in two flavours, the 130P and the 130P-DS. The latter is suitable for astro-photography whereas achieving focus with the former will be difficult if not impossible.

Perhaps you could confirm the exact type that you have so that we can advise you more accurately?

[JR1987]

If you want to get your camera involved, for successful results for now, id recommend piggy backing on the back of the scope for now for more wide field stuff. You should have a thread on the bottom of your camera that will screw onto one of the tube rings on your EQ2. 

Your scope wont focus with a DSLR unless you involve a barlow... This would be suitable for taking close up pictures of the moon/creating mosaics and maybe some smaller images of the planets. 

but with deep sky objects you will need a tube that is more designed for photography + a GoTo mount that follows objects across the sky using its internal computer. 

[D4N]

+1 to what JR said.

Achieving prime focus on a 130P is not easy!

The EQ2 mount is also not good for imaging at the focal length of the 130P but it should be fine for the much shorter focal lengths of your DSLR lenses. I would suggest starting with the 200mm lens and look for big bright objects like M42 in Orion.

If I was imaging with that mount I would remove the OTA and tube rings then connect the camera directly to the mount. This will keep the weight and windage down and allow it to track better.

Do not fully extend the tripod legs, it is most stable if they are not extended at all.

If you have an intervalometer use it, if not use a shutter delay so the shake from you pressing the button has died down by the time the shutter opens.

/Dan

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mikey2000]

Just to say...  Thanks for the replies so far.  It seems that maybe my ultra-low budget is nowhere near sufficient for a photo-set up.

And to clariy, I have the 130P model, not the 130P-DS version.

I have a variety of cameras to use.  My plan was to try my Sony A6000.  The distance between the camera mount and sensor is very small, making it a popular camera for adapting vintage lenses.   The narrow gap lets me fit adapters for almost any type of camera lens so I was hoping I might be able to adapt the camera to the telescope quite easily.  I think this is called 'prime focus' (??)

Is the other alternative to somehow mount the camera with it's owne lens onto one of my eyepieces and take a photo that way?  I can't see how I'd securely attach the camera to the eyepiece though.

[steppenwolf]

I think that with the gear you currently have, for photographic purposes, you would be better off using just the driven mount with your camera and a lens of, say, 50 to 75mm focal length attached directly to the mount and concentrate on capturing widefieild images.

Normal deep sky astrophotography through a telescope requires long exposure times which means that the mount must accurately track the movement of the celestial sphere for long periods of time. For observing purposes, your mount can do this but for imaging, it will not be accurate enough and you will get very trailed stars in your images. However, using short focal lengths (the shorter the better) and short exposures (up to perhaps 30 seconds), you have a good chance of capturing some fascinating images.

Good luck!