Best budget camera for astrophotography

[TheShape]

Hi, shoot me if I'm in the wrong place but I am looking at purchasing a 'beginners' camera for deep space imaging etc. My telescope is a celestron astromaster 130eq with motor drive. I've seen a second hand camera (sony dsc h400) for £130. My question (if anyone is still reading) is, is it a camera I can remove the lens and attach a t-ring too, or will it only be good for fastening piggyback style to my telescope? I'm very new to this scene, indeed this is my first post. I'm rather hoping someone here has the same setup. 

[John78]

Buy a Canon DSLR, if your budget is £130 you can easily get a 1100D, 450D etc... Canon cameras are much better integrated with astrophotography tools so going forward will be a much better option.  Yes T-ring adapter required.

You can also use it for widefield astro also, here is Pleiades at 1 minute F5.6 200mm lens...

 

[GuLinux]

Problem is, with that telescope, and that mount, it's gonna be very hard to be able to use it for astrophotography: the mount is too shacky, and the optics it's not suited, you're gonna have vignetting, and very much likely you're not gonna reach focus.

As @John78 suggested, wide field might be more suited to you: you can reuse the mount, which with a lower focal length and lighter setup will be much more suitable, and you'll be able to use the setup later, when upgrading to a better setup.

[ronin]

The Sony appears to be a bridge camera and the lens does not come off. Reading fro dpreview.

Usually people pick Canons, although I have a Sony Alpha and many use Nikon. Canons are "liked" as they (Canon) offer a fair bit of software. I am not 100% how useful this is as I tend to attach DSLR to scope, set the intervalometer to say 20 exposures at 30 seconds and some wait time. Then it is off back home to load, stack and play. Point being I would never use the supplied software even I had a Canon.

My Sony has a tiltable screen, but at night in the dark there is nothing on the screen, it is all sort of noise. So tiltable or not I see nothing and I can never get the tilt right to be of great use.

You will want something that goes to around 1600 ISO. From reading it seems that at 400 and maybe 800 the higher ISO manages to create more noise, raises the question of is it worth higher. Your decision. I think that Nikons have better noise handling in their DSLR's.

Your mount is going to be the weak item, especially if you use scope and DSLR. Start with a DSLR and a wide lens and get wide field images, stack them and process. Basically forget the scope bit for now. Once that is done then consider the scope, I do not mean one or two wide shots but a month or twos worth.

DSLR will have to be in Manual and Manual focus - you set everything. You will need an intervalometer to get several exposures. You mount should allow for 30 second exposures. So you would set the intervalometer to something like Exposure = 30 sec, Wait = 30 sec, No of Exp = 20. I think the Exp = 30 sec is a bit of a fib. You set the DSLR to take a 30 sec exposure and the Intervalometer simply kicks that off. But keep them the same for ease of thinking.

To aim a DSLR you may need a hot shoe adaptor and a red dot finder from somewhere like 35 Astro. Aiming a DSLR is not ovrly easy.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Unfortunately your mount doesn't have a polar scope which will greatly limit the possible exposure time. It's more suitable for imaging with short focal length lenses (say, up to about 50mm) than with a scope. The longer the focal length the more critical polar alignment and tracking become.

I put together a quick guide to shooting with a DSLR and kit lens if that interests you, it's based around some of the blunders I made when starting out. On your budget a second hand Canon would be the best option, due to software support and relative ease of astro-modification (removal of one of the IR filters so that it doesn't attenuate the deep read nebulosity of glowing hydrogen). Nikons of the that era had problems with eating stars (in-camera noise reduction that couldn't be turned off) and amp-glow in the corners of the sensor.

Another approach you could take is to get a cheap webcam to try lunar and planetary imaging with your scope.

Hope that's some help. The good news is that it is possible to get decent results on a budget, I took this recently using a basic mount, modded DSLR and old camera lens.

2 hours ago, ronin said:

DSLR will have to be in Manual and Manual focus - you set everything. You will need an intervalometer to get several exposures. You mount should allow for 30 second exposures. So you would set the intervalometer to something like Exposure = 30 sec, Wait = 30 sec, No of Exp = 20. I think the Exp = 30 sec is a bit of a fib. You set the DSLR to take a 30 sec exposure and the Intervalometer simply kicks that off. But keep them the same for ease of thinking.

 To use an intervalometer correctly you need to put the camera into 'bulb' mode, this allows any exposure time to be entered.

Also, there is absolutely no need to wait 30 seconds between exposures, please stop repeating this advice. Doing so just wastes valuable imaging time. I give the camera 5-10 seconds between shots, looking at my subs the first one (where the camera stared cool) isn't less noisy than ones in the middle of a run. Case in point:

Not masses of data here, 1h30m in a mix of 60 & 75 second unguided subs, using a 200mm lens at f3.5 - but it was enough to bring out the fainter parts of the galaxy and the bridge between M31 & M110.

[TheShape]

Thanks know for your replies people. Have I basically purchased the wrong telescope then lol? 

I will look at the link (and camera recommendations) and hopefully learn a lot more. Like I say, I'm totally new to this, the astronomy and not just the Astrophotography. All the images that have been posted here blow my mind. Thanks for the input, it's greatly (if not a little disheartening) appreciated. 

[John78]

Well I have a 130P scope, I bought it from Astro boot for £30 or so and an EQ5 I got 2nd hand from a member her and it's more than enough kit for me - you will need to modify the scope to reach focus with the dslr - there are a couple of ways to do that.

Don't be disheartened for sure you'll get an image of Orion over the next few weeks as you only need a few seconds of shutter time to get you hooked.  You will need rough polar alignment for that though so maybe research that with your mount - even if it's only setting the right alt for your latitude and pointing it north it'll should be good enough for a few seconds.

[TheShape]

2 minutes ago, John78 said:

Well I have a 130P scope, I bought it from Astro boot for £30 or so and an EQ5 I got 2nd hand from a member her and it's more than enough kit for me - you will need to modify the scope to reach focus with the dslr - there are a couple of ways to do that.

Don't be disheartened for sure you'll get an image of Orion over the next few weeks as you only need a few seconds of shutter time to get you hooked.  You will need rough polar alignment for that though so maybe research that with your mount - even if it's only setting the right alt for your latitude and pointing it north it'll should be good enough for a few seconds.

Thanks mate. There seems to be various ways of taking photos. Some use the camera mounted purely on the tripod with no telescope. Others seem to attach the camera with a t-ring onto the telescope eyepiece. When I use my scope I only ½ extend the legs (and use a chair for viewing). Seems more stable that way. I've sussed out the polar alignment. I used Google maps to give me what I hope are pretty precise coordinates to where I am viewing from. All I need now are some clearer skies :-) 

[spillage]

I would say if your looking at a dslr go for canon every time. Great software for setting exposure times and number of shots. I would say you also need a motorized eq mount. I have still got my eq5 pro and this has given me good results its light but stable. T-rings and the smaller things can be found cheap second hand.

[GuLinux]

1 hour ago, TheShape said:

Thanks know for your replies people. Have I basically purchased the wrong telescope then lol? 

I will look at the link (and camera recommendations) and hopefully learn a lot more. Like I say, I'm totally new to this, the astronomy and not just the Astrophotography. All the images that have been posted here blow my mind. Thanks for the input, it's greatly (if not a little disheartening) appreciated. 

I would say there is no wrong telescope

I had the 130p too, it's a wonderful telescope to start observing, and as someone suggested, you might use it for planetary imaging too with a webcam, or better, a planetary camera.

Keep in mind you just spent a few hundred pounds (2/300 I guess), deep sky imaging with a telescope can be extremely more expensive, more like a few thousands, and you have to learn a huge amount of things too, before actually having good results.

My suggestion is to just take your time, enjoy your current telescope which is very pleasant, start learning how to find faint objects, how to read maps, how to reach good focusing, and all the kind of things that will certainly help you one day for deep sky imaging too.

[Neil27]

Great advice Mr Linux and I would add this will be the best £20 you could ever spend >> https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

Maybe a Xmas prezzie, just a suggestion.

Clear skies,

[alacant]

Hi. As a Nikon-is-best bore of many years standing, I had to admit that in AP there is nothing to touch Canon. HTH. 

[happy-kat]

You can do DSO without the telescope, the telescope helps you see the DSO so for that you want light bucket. A camera does not need the telescope to see DSO a lens will do. Your kit is great to get started with observing and you can use just the mount to get started with DSO imaging with a camera and lens. Don't be disheartened look past what is holding you back with what you know right now to seeing what you might do when you learn more.

Canon for me the price and support was right.

[Gina]

I too started with the AstroMaster 130MD.  I managed to capture a few images of Saturn with it and a webcam   Later when I wanted to capture DSOs like galaxies and nebulae I found the supplied tripod somewhat useless and invested what seemed a fortune to me at the time in a proper mount - the SkyWatcher NEQ6.  That was a vast improvement.  The telescope itself is pretty good for the price and satisfied me for quite a while. 

As for cameras, I started with the point and shoot camera I already had with an eyepiece, but much better than that is a DSLR directly attached to the scope.  A second hand Canon EOS 1100D can be bought quite cheaply eg. ebay etc.

But as has been said, you can do a lot with a lens, taking wider field views.  Lenses generally have larger apertures than scopes and you can use shorter exposures and cheaper equipment.  In fact I am exploring wide field imaging myself with lenses though on a dedicated astro camera.  However, I spent a couple of years with the Canon DSLR before I upgraded to more expensive cameras - you can do a lot with a DSLR.

Finally, I agree with a post above about buying Steve Richards' book "Making Every Photon Count" it really is "the bible" of astro imaging and great value - best £20 I ever spent

Hope that helps and good luck.  Welcome to the fascinating world of astro imaging

[TheShape]

Thanks again to you all who replied. Having had a few nights out with my above mentioned scope and mount and having a play around, I was lucky enough to still be in the 'window of return' for it. It went back today. I have decided to purchase a  EQ6 PRO SkyScan GOTO Mount & Tripod, I just need a scope to go with that, but that is another topic elsewhere on this very welcoming forum. 

[spillage]

Think you will find this a better mount by far. You should consider a 130pds as a starter scope. Check out the topic on this forum section https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/210593-imaging-with-the-130pds/ good value for the money.

[carastro]

Wow, you went from one extreme to another with the Mount.  The HEQ5 which is cheaper than the NEQ6 would probably have done.  But the NEQ6 is a really good mount and will serve you well, and also take a larger scope if you later want to upgrade.

I would recommend the Skywatcher 130PDS if you want a budget beginners scope, though this will need collimating.  Or something like an ED80 refractor as your starter scope and a Canon DSLR.  If you can manage to get one already Astro-modified (having had the IR lens removed/or replaced with Baader glass/filter) that would produce much better images.  Cheap Astrophotography does already modified reconditioned cameras.

Carole