Some Beginner AP Questions

[SyedT]

Hi guys,

Slowly making my way into the world of astrophotography, and had a few questions. But before that, a bit about my equipment and requirements.

My setup so far is as below:

1. Skywatcher 200P + ST80 guidescope
2. HEQ5 Pro Synscan
3. ZWO ASI 120 MC-S + Canon 650D (unmodded) + Philips SPC900NC

My AP targets for now will be:

1. Planets
2. Moon
3. Brighter DSOs

Based on all of this, I have a few questions:

1. What LP filter would be best considering my scope size and target requirements? (I live in a suburban area, so still quite a bit of LP here) I'm not keen on modding my DSLR for now as I use it for daytime photography mainly, plus it's out of budget
2. Is it possible to do AP afocally via an eyepiece filter instead of using DSLR clip-on/lens filters etc? Any particular drawbacks if so?

Cheers,

Syed

[Thalestris24]

Hi

Regards a lp filter it depends on the nature of most of your lp - filters don't help if the lp is predominantly caused by led/white light. With my dslrs I use an astronomic cls-ccd clip filter. They are easy to put in and take out. With the ccd I use an IDAS D1. Both are quite expensive though...

I can't comment on your afocal query but you might consider a suitable Barlow for planetary (but not for dso). I recommend using a online fov calculator or Stellarium planetarium software to gauge what size your targets will appear using your kit.

It's very quiet on here at the moment as lots of members have packed up for the summer but I hope that helps a bit 

Louise

[alacant]

15 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

members have packed up for the summer

Ah. Is this because of lack of darkness? It seems to be a UK based list. I wonder if that applies more there? Here at lat. 38ºN it's still quite good from midnight onwards. Or is is temperature, or something I haven't thought of. I just didn't realise this was seasonal; you'd miss Scorpio and sagitario and stuff! Don't get it...

[Thalestris24]

38 minutes ago, alacant said:

Ah. Is this because of lack of darkness? It seems to be a UK based list. I wonder if that applies more there? Here at lat. 38ºN it's still quite good from midnight onwards. Or is is temperature, or something I haven't thought of. I just didn't realise this was seasonal; you'd miss Scorpio and sagitario and stuff! Don't get it...

Yeah, it's even worse where I am in Scotland - doesn't get dark until after about 11:30pm and starts getting light again before about 3am. So not much imaging time...

Louise

[alacant]

Dunno. A. Go to the bar until it's dark enough? B. Nooo, then one may stumble over one's guidescope cables. Who's round is it anyway? Hic! 

I've been meaning to try and learn that thing on APT where it tells you if it's dark enough...

[SyedT]

On 31/05/2016 at 20:18, Thalestris24 said:

Hi

Regards a lp filter it depends on the nature of most of your lp - filters don't help if the lp is predominantly caused by led/white light. With my dslrs I use an astronomic cls-ccd clip filter. They are easy to put in and take out. With the ccd I use an IDAS D1. Both are quite expensive though...

I can't comment on your afocal query but you might consider a suitable Barlow for planetary (but not for dso). I recommend using a online fov calculator or Stellarium planetarium software to gauge what size your targets will appear using your kit.

It's very quiet on here at the moment as lots of members have packed up for the summer but I hope that helps a bit 

Louise

Hi Louise,

Thanks for the insight! I was wondering why it was so quiet. I've got this summer relatively free so I'm trying to get to grips with the basics and do some test shots before winter comes around, so that I'm not experimenting while trying to get good images.

I suppose the only way to really eliminate LP would be to save up and invest in further kit.

Out of interest, have you had any experience using the UHC filters?

Cheers,

Syed

[Thalestris24]

1 hour ago, SyedT said:

Hi Louise,

Thanks for the insight! I was wondering why it was so quiet. I've got this summer relatively free so I'm trying to get to grips with the basics and do some test shots before winter comes around, so that I'm not experimenting while trying to get good images.

I suppose the only way to really eliminate LP would be to save up and invest in further kit.

Out of interest, have you had any experience using the UHC filters?

Cheers,

Syed

Hi Syed

One can't really eliminate lp, as such, but filters can often help to reduce most of it. Gradients can be tackled in processing with suitable software. Maybe you could just try taking some test images without a filter and then post on here? Members can then advise. I've not really used a uhc filter for imaging with but I think they just pass certain wavelengths in a similar manner to a lp filter. You can look at the transmission graphs of various filters to see what they might do.

Louise