Getting into astrophotography

[Corkeyno2]

Hi, i'm relatively new to astronomy so please bear with me. In the future i'd like to get into astrophotography. Do you know of some equipment i could use that within a realistic price range? (cameras and means of attaching them to the telescope?)

I have a celestron nexstar 4se.

[RuralBill]

Hi,

you could start with a Canon DSLR, with T ring and nosepiece....

plenty of second hand ones around.

Bill

[Corkeyno2]

Thanks

[saac]

Hi Corkeyno an easy and relatively cheap way to start is to modify a basic web cam  - look at the tutorials on the net/you tube for instructions on modifying the web cam.  It's a good way to start experimenting with imaging say the moon or even the planets.

 

Jim

[Corkeyno2]

Cheers

[cjdawson]

First and foremost.  Don't spend any money right away.  Do you have any equipment at all?  Camera's - point and shoot, webcam, DSLR, SLR, Phone?   Do you have a telescope?  If so which one, what accessories do you have?   Please tell us what you have every last detail it will help to be able to make an informed decision on how to give you good non generic advice.

Next question, what do you mean by astrophotography?  It's a huge topic with many different disciplines.  Wide field astro photos, the ones that show a huge amount of the night sky, generally with the milky way is one extreme.  Then you move on to Lunar, solar, planets and finally deep sky objects.    Each type of photo requires different equipment and different skills to get the best out of them.

 

Here's some generic advice.

If you can get hold of a Canon DSLR, a fast lens and a tripod.  Set if up on manual, put the focus to "infinity" and I mean infinity, not past infinity that some lenses can do.  Open the aperture as wide as it will go, if it's a zoom lens zoom right out to the widest setting.  Then take a 20 second exposure at iso1600.

[Kropster]

....and don't expect Hubble quality photos straight away!

But you might be surprised by what modest gear can do.

[Astrosurf]

Please have a read of the imagers' bible first, before you spend any money! https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

Realistically, to do Deep sky Objects (DSOs) you will need an equatorial mount that accommodates autoguiding. The HEQ5 Pro is the entry mount. You could also try a small frac or camera on the Skywatcher Star Adventurer, but the HEQ5 would take heavier, larger scopes.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-star-adventurer-astronomy-bundle.html

As I said, ready the book first! There's a lot to take in.

For planets and the Moon, you can get away with your 4SE and 3x Barlow, although planets will be a little small (I hope I've got this right - not that knowledgeable on scopes!). You could try modifying a webcam to take images. Ask on here for more advice, or my post will get really long!

Alexxx

[nightster]

WorKing up a budget for yourself will help build a road map of moving into AP. Be forewarned it can be as addictive as any drug and cost as much, but obviously much healthier for body and soul.  I built an initial budget for the first hardware purchases and then an annual upgrade budget. I had no gear and my first year budget was 3250 US dollars for a new EQ6, imaging newt and used  dslr, guidescope and cam. Dont forget extension tubes, corrector lenses, rings and plates etc...as they get pricey.  I built my own Dew controllers and bands, battery boxes, support equipment.  If you plan carefully and watch the used markets you can shave your budget and get more gear.  There are so many smart people willingly to help on the world's forums ask every question you can think of. It's a great time to start AP and every new imager that starts up helps the whole community.  I made a few buying mistakes trying to save money and it ended up wasting several hundreds, more research would of averted that. Go with a small aperture frac, even a nice double 80mm would of been better than the AT6IN I bought.  

Best of luck! 

[ronin]

Astrophotography is almost an area of "astronomy" on its own - half the rules are turned round.

With the 4SE you can attach a webcam, aim at a planet, get a video and process the .avi file that the webcam produces. The actual process is to identify a good framem then tell the software to compare all frames to this and select the best say 200 frames and stack these.

A DSLR will take a video but it seems rare that a DSLR is used so I guess there is a problem.

A DSLR is normally used for long exposure imaging, and for that you need a tracking mount and it should be an equitorial. The scope used for long exposures should be fast, f/5 or f/6 being the area. The 4SE is something like f/13 so not best for this.

Simple option is to aim the DSLR and whatever lens it came with and take a series of wide angle shots of about 20 seconds and stack these. Better still a DSLR on a small driven EQ mount and you can take exposures of around 40-60 seconds again wide field with just a DSLR.

Cannot suggest a club, many have an imaging group or people that do imaging, Virgo Supercluster does not help. There may be an imager within walking distance of you, or a whole club of them ?

For further thought a sort of basic/starting out set up for AP would be alond the lines of and EQ5 goto, 70mm ED refractor, and the DSLR. The scope is around £400, the EQ5 £550, add another £200 for bits like power, T-rings, adaptors,  intervalometer and likely other bits and you are lookingat £1200 - all prices are the new cost. You might swap the 70mm refractor for a 130PDS but I don't think there is much saving.

 

[Corkeyno2]

Thanks again everyone

[The Admiral]

Just to counter a couple of comments here, you emphatically can do astrophotgraphy without a tracking mount, or even an EQ mount. If you have the Nexstar Alt-Az mount, that'll do nicely. Whilst there are some limitations compared to using a properly aligned EQ mount, it'll provide a good introduction to the needs of astrophotography without spending the earth, and allow you to hone your skills. Have a look at what others have achieved using 'humble' equipment in the 'No EQ Challenge' thread https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/228101-the-no-eq-dso-challenge/

Ian

[Kropster]

Mount the DSLR on a 'Barn Door' mount....... a few pounds is all that will cost.

[happy-kat]

If you are not into DIY.

Mount the dslr on your 4SE mount you will be surprised with what can be achieved with a dslr and lens on a tracking altaz mount, yes it does have limitations but discover what can be done before hitting them.

[ollypenrice]

Do I know any way to do good deep sky astrophotography on a reasonable budget? 

No!!!!

Olly

[bendiddley]

I started with a 2nd hand canon 1000d with kit 18-55 lens mounted on a camera tripod, photographing the milky way, stacking 2 second or less exposures, I learned a lot about my camera, stacking software and post processing from this. I then moved to an EQ3-2 and bought an RA motor and experimented using a kit 75-300mm lens, managed to get about 60 second exposures. I'm now using a 130PDS on a 2nd hand HEQ5 standard mount, it's unguided at present, but I'm looking into a guided set-up as my next project. There's a lot to learn and a lot of money to spend when you start getting serious so start small and take your time. As Astroturf says, get a copy of Every Photon Count, it will help you loads.

[swag72]

Definitely get the book Making Every Photon Count..... read it once, twice and thrice before spending a penny. Then sit back and think about what you need and why ...... if you don't know, then go back and read it again! It really is an imagers bible and is a great starting place. 

Imaging can be done on a budget, but I think you need to be very clear on what you want to achieve. If you go to the imaging section, take a look at the images on there - there are loads of different types and quality....... think about what level you would like to be at and be realistic about this. Then look at the equipment that people use to get their images..... that will give you an idea of where you can start.

Lastly, something that is often overlooked is that there's a huge amount of time invested in astrophotography at all stages. To learn to capture the data is difficult from the start, then when you get your data you need to learn to process it. As a general figure, I can spend upwards of 10 hours processing ONE image...... It is a huge time investment as well as anything else.

So I wouldn't say that it can't be done on a budget, it can ...... but if you look at pictures taken by Olly Penrice for example, you will not be able to achieve that level of images with an elastic band, piece of wood and mount for £100.... if it was possible, we'd all be doing it! Take your time and above all, enjoy it! But be aware that IF the bug bites, it's a downhill slope to bankruptcy  

[Stub Mandrel]

I agree, as someone who is trying to do what they can at the budget end. You can do almost any aspect of imaging 'on the cheap' but you will face either challenges or limitations (or both!)

Three things I have worked out, that probably apply to most hobbies:

1. The benefits from additional expenditure are NOT linear - you won't simply get a picture ten times as good by spending ten times as much.
2. As has been stated, what you achieve will have as much to do with the effort and time you put in as the gear you have.

[Alien 13]

There are a couple of things I always keep in mind any deep sky image can be bettered by the Hubble however it cant do widefield so this is my focus, it may be coincidence but a significant number of the APOY images are done on a fixed tripod.

Alan

[Kropster]

18 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I agree, as someone who is trying to do what they can at the budget end. You can do almost any aspect of imaging 'on the cheap' but you will face either challenges or limitations (or both!)

Three things I have worked out, that probably apply to most hobbies:

1. The benefits from additional expenditure are NOT linear - you won't simply get a picture ten times as good by spending ten times as much.
2. As has been stated, what you achieve will have as much to do with the effort and time you put in as the gear you have.

This is killing me! What was the third thing? (There are only two things you need to know, perhaps?!)

?

[Alien 13]

5 minutes ago, Kropster said:

This is killing me! What was the third thing? (There are only two things you need to know, perhaps?!)

?

I was wondering too for me it would be never ever never use a bat mask with a DSLR.

Alan

[Stub Mandrel]

I was going to add that better gear will improve you pictures, but a skilled person with basic gear might well get better results than a beginner with all the bells and whistles.

[Corkeyno2]

Thank you everyone