Realistically what can I achieve

[mattd85]

Hi all,

I've spent a good few hours reading up tonight on the forum and I'm both inspired and put off at the same time haha!

Looking at this section it seems that most beginners aim to photograph m42 and m31, and this is exactly where I'd like to start once I've had a few more weeks with my scope, question is, will be gear allow it?

The gear list is as follows ;

meade etx 90 with eq tilt plate tripod mount.

Canon 6D with T ring and attachments to allow mounting in the camera port.

I also have a 

70-200 2.8 Canon L

thanks.

Matt

[wxsatuser]

The 6D and Canon 70-200 should be fine.

If you can get good Polar alignment and tracking you will be ok.
If your not guiding your exposures will most likely be quite short, you will have to experiment with that.

[CraigT82]

Your 6D and 70-200 L series lens will be your best bet. If I were you I'd trade the ETX90 for a tracking DSLR mount (something like a skywatcher star adventurer).  That will get you going and will enable you to (eventually) get some really good images of M42 and M31, and plenty else besides.

[mattd85]

Will I get results similar to what I've seen on here?

matt

[CraigT82]

With the 6D and 70-200 you will, as long as it's on a tracking mount.  Especially if you get it modded (having the infra-red filter removed for increased sensitivity to Ha emission nebula).

[mattd85]

OK, I can't mod it as it's my macro camera and I defo need that lol!

my macro work is here www.facebook.com/mattsmacro 

[wxsatuser]

The 6D is ok with Ha as it stands, use as is.

A test image with a 6D and nifty fifty at f2.8, this was just 7x30sec exposures.

As you can see no problem with Ha.

[mattd85]

Wow! Anymore examples?

[wxsatuser]

No, but the 6D is a very good low light camera, as you most likely know.
If you can pair it with fast optics you will easily get the various nebulae showing.

If you have any light pollution you may need a filter, the full frame LP filters are quite expensive.
 

[mattd85]

What's is the above picture of?

I live in Bathgate but I'm only an hour away from dark skies in the highlands.

[wxsatuser]

The image is roughly centred on the North American/Pelican Nebula, the bright star in the centre is Deneb in Cygnus.
The red round patch bottom left is IC1396 often called Elephant Trunk and over to the right centre you can just see
the Veil Nebula, the other red area above the NA nebula is the region around Sadr.

[mattd85]

thanks for the info

how heavy a crop is it?

matt

[wxsatuser]

Virtually no crop, full frame at 50mm.

[mattd85]

thanks! 

Right im off to bed, just got home from work. I'll check back in later.

thanks again!

[ronin]

With the ETX90 you can put a webcam at the focal plane and then go imaging planets, well 2 of them. Not much at tpresent but in a months or two Jupiter makes an appearance at a reasonable time of the evening so you can try that. You might want a small barlow to increase the image size. Later in the year Saturn makes an appearance, but that is smaller so will not produce results the same as Jupiter

The ETX is probably too light in weight to handle putting a DSLR on the rear of it. They came out about 15-20 years ago when DSLR's were not really available, so no thought was applied to attaching one. Also you cannot adjust the position and so bet better balance when something is stuck on the end of one.

But you now have wide field DSLR imaging (DSLR+Lens) and webcam planetary imaging (ETX+Webcam).

[mattd85]

Thanks everyone.

ive decided I'll sell the etx90 set up. They're going for £500 new and this is practically new but I'll knock it down a little.

Then I'll purchase the sky watcher

 

[cjdawson]

From the imaging perspective.  try this.

1. Get hold of BackyardEOS.  This will let you use a laptop as a remote viewer and shutter release amongst alot of other things.

For planety imaging you can use the Live view on the camera to capture the movie.  You will be using the 5x view on live view to get a true 1:1 on the image scale.  So should need a barlow or anything like that.

2. try it out.

You have the stuff so experiment, it won't hurt anything.

 

My thoughts on the kit that you have so far.

 

1. Camera + normal lens + tripod + cable release.   You should be able to take some widefield shots, and this will get you used to taking photos of the night sky.

2. Camera + ETX90 - The weight of the camera might be an issue, so go careful there.  There's no reason why it won't work.  Just remember that the ETX Has a long focal length, so you'll need to take longer exposures.  Put the tripod in EQ mode if you can.

As others have said, you might find it easier to use a webcam or CCD camera, as these are much lighter than a DSLR.  But maybe that's for later.  You'd probably end up wanting to upgrade the scope first.

[happy-kat]

Can the mount be used with just a camera and camera lens? I don't know how flexible the mount is to using just a dovetail bar for the camera like you can with skywatcher altaz mounts.

[cjdawson]

1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

Can the mount be used with just a camera and camera lens? I don't know how flexible the mount is to using just a dovetail bar for the camera like you can with skywatcher altaz mounts.

Not an ETX 90.   And I would not advise trying to piggy back either, the gears in the mount would most likely have too much strain.

There's no dovetail, or for that matter any facility on the ETX Range to be able to attach things like that.

[mattd85]

What skywatcher should I be looking at?

[dwayne dias]

Typically if u need a good shot...u would require some expensive gear.

Or if u manually track and guide..u can get shorter exposures of 20 to 30 secs. That's what I do. You already have a good DSLR to do the job. As long as your mount is polar aligned well. You should get good images.

I built an eq mount at home that just has a motor on the RA. But I get pretty decent images.

[mattd85]

Thanks again for the advice guys, really do appreciate it.

I wish I could afford bigger and faster scopes but as is the same with most people...I'm skint haha!

So I see it as I have two options.

1. Stick with the etx 90. Use the scope as my lens and have the 6D on the back, try and counter weight the front to stop it tilting backwards and see how I go with the above mentioned software aids.

2. Sell the etx90. Buy the Skywatcher dslr mount and use this with my 6D and 70-200 2.8 L or my 50mm 1.8. 

Option two seems like the easiest approach but leaves me without a scope for viewing planets. 

Right now, I would really like to photograph andromeda and Orion Nebula , also the milkyway.

If you was in my position what would you all do?

thanks

Matt

[happy-kat]

You could have a go with what you have on a static tripod have a look at this video. Still need to learn all about processing taking lights, flats, bais and stacking in DSS and then processing the image.

link here

 

[mattd85]

Thanks, I'll check it out soon once I get back on my machine. Working nights  

[mattd85]

The bias and dark frames surprised me, I didn't expect them to be shots with a lens cap on. Great video