what else will i need please

[darren west]

id like to try some basic imaging soon 

currently i have a new heq5 pro mount 

i have a ED80 pro coming this week 

i also have a canon 550d (currently standard)  and a power lead for it 

i have photoshop cs on my mac and on my old xp laptop

what else do i need to get started with 

many thanks

[bottletopburly]

10 minutes ago, darren west said:

id like to try some basic imaging soon 

currently i have a new heq5 pro mount 

i have a ED80 pro coming this week 

i also have a canon 550d (currently standard)  and a power lead for it 

i have photoshop cs on my mac and on my old xp laptop

what else do i need to get started with 

many thanks

Clear skies  and oh a camera for guiding +guide scope or one of these to complement your guide cam  http://www.modernastronomy.com/shop/accessories/qhy-accessories/qhy-miniguidescope-kit/ ,Apt which is free for managing subs etc  http://ideiki.com/astro/Default.aspx

[The-MathMog]

All you pretty much need to get started is a T2 ring, if you don't have one, specific to the brand of camera you have, canon in this case, and a T-Adapter if your scope doesn't have threads that lets it connect directly. Like this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/t-rings.html
 

[Filroden]

A few basics I'd recommend:

• a Bahtinov mask to help you get a good focus
• some way to remotely trigger your camera to avoid shake, e.g. an intervalometer or connecting the camera to a laptop and using capture software
• a free copy of DSS for stacking images (you will need the latest version 3.3.4). I don't know what a free equivalent would be for Mac. 
• maybe a dew cap...this could be as simple as a flocked flower pot!

and plenty of time to practise and learn

[darren west]

9 minutes ago, Filroden said:

A few basics I'd recommend:

• a Bahtinov mask to help you get a good focus
• some way to remotely trigger your camera to avoid shake, e.g. an intervalometer or connecting the camera to a laptop and using capture software
• a free copy of DSS for stacking images (you will need the latest version 3.3.4). I don't know what a free equivalent would be for Mac. 
• maybe a dew cap...this could be as simple as a flocked flower pot!

and plenty of time to practise and learn

i forgot that the guy selling the scope to me has the mask and the tee adapter

[nandopg]

All the advices above are very nice.  I would inlcude the following:

    A field flattener (without reducer just the flattener)  http://www.telescope.com/Astrophotography/Focal-Reducers-and-Field-Flatteners/Orion-Field-Flattener-for-Short-Refractors/c/4/sc/64/p/99608.uts

    A LP filter.  Hutech carries the one I think is the best  http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/idas/lps.htm

Regards,

Fernando

 

 

[iapa]

 

50 minutes ago, darren west said:

id like to try some basic imaging soon 

currently i have a new heq5 pro mount 

i have a ED80 pro coming this week 

i also have a canon 550d (currently standard)  and a power lead for it 

i have photoshop cs on my mac and on my old xp laptop

what else do i need to get started with 

many thanks

Nothing - to get started - other than clear skies, at night.

Oh, and an EOS-T2 adapter, and a T2-1.25" nosepiece  - the later screws onto the former, and fits where your eyepiece goes.

You can use the EOS utility that comes with the Canon to take your images - and it has live view with a zoom option that will help get focus.

I would suggest a free app, such as Deep Sky Stacker - you 'add' all the images together and it helps reduce some noise, and increase the image data you want. The 'tweak' with PS - there are too many tutorial on youtube on that.

Small steps........

I didn't bother with pollution filters for a few months.

First purchase, I think, was a Bahtinov mask to improve focus - you can get rid of a lot of 'rubbish' post processing with the likes of photoshop - but out of focus  not so easy to sort out.

Others will have alternative and/or contradictory views. Such is Astrophotography:)

[The-MathMog]

And to add on to the Bahtinov mask suggestion. You can also create one yourself. Just find a template with the correct size online. Print it out, tape/glue it on top of a thin or thick piece of cardboard and then cut out the holes with a utility knife. Then it is just about adding a few pieces that will hold it in place. It takes a bit of time, but is easy. It might not be AS accurate as one made professionally, but it will still produce the desired spikes.

[ollypenrice]

I would advise you to autoguide from the outset, if you can. Autoguiding is the life blood of quality imaging. I bit that bullet when I started out, under the excellent influence of Ian King, and have never tried to image unguided, other when testing mounts for reviews.

I'll also take the risk of saying that I don't think much of DSS. It has the great virtue of being free, which is great. But stacking and calibrating effectively is hugely important and a programme that does it incredibly well, and incredibly fast, is AstroArt.

I'm a great Photoshop fan but do use Pixinsight for some tasks. Those tasks are so imortant that I cannot imagine doing without them - and I work at a very dark site indeed. At light polluted sites the virtues of key Pixinsight routines become, well, essential.

Olly

[paraman]

1 hour ago, bottletopburly said:

Clear skies  and oh a camera for guiding +guide scope or one of these to complement your guide cam  http://www.modernastronomy.com/shop/accessories/qhy-accessories/qhy-miniguidescope-kit/ ,Apt which is free for managing subs etc  http://ideiki.com/astro/Default.aspx

The evaluation version which i believe is fully featured is free but in reality the author has invested time and money into developing it  so I would say that in fairness try it but then  buy the licence for it.

[happy-kat]

XP will run DSS fine just let it process and go do something else. If starting from scratch then Doug on budgetastro.net has done tutorials to get you started with DSS and photoshop if you decide to go that way they help get started with something.

[kendg]

One item is get "Making Every Photon Count"

 

[darren west]

9 minutes ago, kendg said:

One item is get "Making Every Photon Count"

 

i have that , thanks

[MattJenko]

The two things that should be next on the list to sort out are guiding (for the eloquent reasons above) and dew control. Guiding can be done by a finderscope adaptor and a QHY5 type setup, or an ST80 type guidescope on top. Dew control can be done with dew bands around the main OTA and whatever guiding setup you choose.

[hornedreaper33]

If you get good at PA, realistically what's the best exposure length you can expect before having to but a guiding camera and a finder it can attach to?

[Owmuchonomy]

14 minutes ago, hornedreaper33 said:

If you get good at PA, realistically what's the best exposure length you can expect before having to but a guiding camera and a finder it can attach to?

For most DSO work, not long enough when using an HEQ5 pro as in the OP. One could start with brighter objects first though.

[spillage]

My old eq5 pro could do 120s to 180s unguided but things were looking a bit eggy. I think you may be impressed to start with but I found I wanted and still do want to improve things so quickly upgraded my mount and got a second hand st80 for guiding. 

You will need to spend some time drift aligning to get the best possible pa.