is it possible

[AndyUK]

Hi Darren - Okay, I'm not a very active imager at the moment (manily pressures of work ), but I made a mistake when I first decided I wanted to photograph the night skies...

Having started with my daughter's 130P and an EQ2 (a requested Christmas present when she was 10, but then only used twice before being resigned to the loft for 2 years), I then discovered an AZ goto mount + ST102 on AB&S.  Now I could find and track (YAY!), I soon wanted to try and photograph what I could see.  A quick internet seach brought up FLO, so I called them to ask what I should buy...  Mistake #1 was ignoring their advice, but it did also introduce me to to this forum .  However, being constrained by budget, I bought myself a "kit" of a CG4 (upgraded to Goto) with a Celestron C100/f9. 

Admittedly It did pretty well on the moon with a Toucam, and I also got some Jupiter / Saturn images (not great, but I was happy), but with my unguided / unmodded DSLR on DSO's it obviously wasn't up to it...  It was then I realised that my heart was in DSO imaging, not planetary and therefore had to classify the purchase of the CG4/C100 as mistake #2. 

It was then I bought Steve's book - It's very easy to read (I'm definitely not technical and can't spil DYI) and it will help you to ask questions of yourself what direction you wish to go down and therefore provide guidance on what you need to be looking at / planning to buy in the future... and, as a consequence, will stop you making mistakes like the ones I made.  For someone just looking to start getting into imaging, personally I'd say it's "required reading" and worth every penny... as it could potentially save you £00's if you make a mistake. 

(One thing though - Don't underestimate the power of the dark-side of imaging - Once you see the first half decent image on the screen, you'll be hooked)

Regarding the FoV of the scope, it might help if you look at a FoV Calculator (ie something like this or this).  There's also CCDCalc you can download...  It's quite surprising how big some of them are...!

 

[Cornelius Varley]

12 hours ago, darren west said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SkyWatcher-Explorer-200P-HEQ-5-PRO-SynScan-8-Goto-Telescope-10923-20886-/131852421476?hash=item1eb3044964:g:9PUAAOSwGIRXZUws

 

but is this not basically my scope with a heq5 mount ?

The dobsonian version of the SW200 has a longer focal length (1200mm) compared to the version sold on equatorial mounts (1000mm), so the tube is about 200mm longer.

[ollypenrice]

31 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

The dobsonian version of the SW200 has a longer focal length (1200mm) compared to the version sold on equatorial mounts (1000mm), so the tube is about 200mm longer.

Yes, and a 1.2 metre focal length would not be easy to mount or guide. Not impossible but certainly not easy.

Olly

[darren west]

thanks so much for the helpful advice 

i have just purchased the book via the link posted by steve 

will it be a signed copy ha ha ha

 

ill read up as soon as i get it 

can you tell me what you guys use as a set up and if you are happy with what you have 

thanks

 

[darren west]

18 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

Unfortunately not, my book is only available in good old fashioned printed format

purchased 

thanks

[DaveS]

What I currently use? A 130 f/7 apo triplet with Starlight Xpress Trius 694 and Baader LRGB and NB filters. Piggy backed on that an 80mm f/4.4 six-element apo "astrograph" with ASI 1600 and Astrodon 3nm NB filters. Both 'scopes on an ASA DDM60 Pro direct drive mount the whole on a pier bolted to a concrete block under the patio. Getting on for £14k of kit.

However I started with a Megrez 90 and reducer plus Canon 550D on an HEQ5 without guiding.

But it doesn't matter how expensive your kit if you can't see anything through near permanant cloud.

Oh, and there're imagers here who's kit makes mine look like small change.

[darren west]

i already have a spare canon 550d

[DaveS]

If you're not going to use it for normal photography it would be worth getting it astro-modded to pick up more Ha which a normal DSLR is very insensiyive to.

[carastro]

Quote

will the 130pds allow enough light in for deep space photography ? 

There is a whole thread on here dedicated to the 130PDS and you can see all the wonderful images people have taken with it.

Carole