Canon 1300D for astrophotography

[harshit8]

Should I buy Canon 1300D for astrophotography of DSO's with Bresser 90mm f/10

I plan to take short exposures,i.e., under a minute. Am I expecting too much from that camera??

[happy-kat]

Will this be a dedicated astro camera?

[ollypenrice]

2 hours ago, harshit8 said:

Should I buy Canon 1300D for astrophotography of DSO's with Bresser 90mm f/10

I plan to take short exposures,i.e., under a minute. Am I expecting too much from that camera??

I would say that, no, this combination will not work well on DSOs. The focal length is on the long side but, above all, the F ratio is too slow, especially for short expousures. DSLRs thrive on fast F ratios and F10 really is very slow even if you can take long exposures.

What mount would you aim to use? In DS imaging the mount is the most important item.

Olly

[harshit8]

31 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Will this be a dedicated astro camera?

Yes it will be

[harshit8]

22 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

I would say that, no, this combination will not work well on DSOs. The focal length is on the long side but, above all, the F ratio is too slow, especially for short expousures. DSLRs thrive on fast F ratios and F10 really is very slow even if you can take long exposures.

What mount would you aim to use? In DS imaging the mount is the most important item.

Olly

Can I use a focal reducer to bring it down the f ratio to f/5 ?

I am using an EQ 2 Mount.

[ollypenrice]

Just now, harshit8 said:

Can I use a focal reducer to bring it down the f ratio to f/5 ?

I am using an EQ 2 Mount.

So far as I know the focal reducers which reduce as much as that only cover a small imaging circle, not a circle big enough to cover a DSLR chip.

I assume your EQ2 is motorized?

You would do far, far better to forget the telescope and use the DSLR with a fast, short focal length camera lens. The mount is not really good enough for imaging at telescopic focal lengths but could handle a short, fast camera lens happily.

Olly

[harshit8]

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

So far as I know the focal reducers which reduce as much as that only cover a small imaging circle, not a circle big enough to cover a DSLR chip.

I assume your EQ2 is motorized?

You would do far, far better to forget the telescope and use the DSLR with a fast, short focal length camera lens. The mount is not really good enough for imaging at telescopic focal lengths but could handle a short, fast camera lens happily.

Olly

Sorry Olly but I can not buy a new lens for now and the mount is motorized.

Can you please give some suggestion regarding the current setup. 

BTW The main question, Is buying 1300D worth it 

[ollypenrice]

1 hour ago, harshit8 said:

Sorry Olly but I can not buy a new lens for now and the mount is motorized.

Can you please give some suggestion regarding the current setup. 

BTW The main question, Is buying 1300D worth it 

Well, to use with that combination of mount and scope I'm reluctantly going to have to say 'No.' But that's just my opinion.

You can use very old manual lenses, which are extremely inexpensive, to take great astrophotos. You don't need any of the modern electronics in a lens for AP. Surely a camera would come with a lens anyway? I would just start with any basic lens.

Olly

[adder001]

In the combination that you have stated I can say for sure no because that equipment is almost the same as what I have and using the telescope with the camera the focal length is too much, but all is not lost you can get some nice images of deep sky objects with just the camera mounted directly to the mount and just use your telescope for visual use on planets, moon etc. Thats what I use my 90 Mak Cass for.

The camera is great, I have one with a standard kit lens of 55mm and a 75-300mm telephoto. The mount not good also no way to properly polar align that mount and the is a lot of backlash in the gears but the way I see it, use what you have and get the best results possible for that equipment. I have learned a great deal by trying different methods for improvement these range from drift alignment , using a home made polar scope to making all kinds of brackets and knobs to fine adjust legs and hubs etc, all to get good alignment.

Do not despair though, If you don't expect super pin sharp stars with mega long exposures it is surprising just what you can do with this setup.

This is how I now do it and I enclose some pictures for you to see if they meet your expectations. BTW These are all taken form my back yard which suffers from lots of light pollution.

First get a rough focus on a bright star holding by hand and then mount the camera with 300 lens directly to the mount. Clip a bhatinov mask onto the lens hood and take a 20sec shot to see what focus is like, repeat until happy with focus. Now align mount to celestial pole as best you can visually. Now drift align to improve.

This seems really complicated at first but when you get used to it, it is not bad, basically just point to a star in the south as low as you can and take a long exposure shot  of 1minute. Set you motor to 4x speed or whatever you can do in one direction, then after 30 seconds change direction. after 1 minute check the photo. If you have a V shaped line then adjust the azimuth very slightly and repeat. keep doing this until the V becomes a line. Once you have this, move to a star in the east or west and repeat the procedure but instead of adjusting azimuth adjust the altitude. (Even writing that description sounds complicated but really once you get used to it, it really is very easy). Thats it your all done.

Here is M51 that I took last night

 

Andromeda that I took earlier in the year

 

 

and Orion nebula

 

I know that they are far from perfect but for an EQ2 mount I am very pleased and also I have enjoyed learning all the different techniques especially drift alignment, so its worthwhile doing.

Here is my setup, you can see the red dot finder that I have attached to the RA axis of the mount to get close to polar align and the bahtinov mask on the second picture

[happy-kat]

If it will be dedicated to astro could get a astro modified canon then buy a vintage lens probably work out cheaper.

[Adam J]

With a DSLR F6 or lower as a minimum, preferably F5 or lower mate.

[harshit8]

9 hours ago, adder001 said:

In the combination that you have stated I can say for sure no because that equipment is almost the same as what I have and using the telescope with the camera the focal length is too much, but all is not lost you can get some nice images of deep sky objects with just the camera mounted directly to the mount and just use your telescope for visual use on planets, moon etc. Thats what I use my 90 Mak Cass for.

The camera is great, I have one with a standard kit lens of 55mm and a 75-300mm telephoto. The mount not good also no way to properly polar align that mount and the is a lot of backlash in the gears but the way I see it, use what you have and get the best results possible for that equipment. I have learned a great deal by trying different methods for improvement these range from drift alignment , using a home made polar scope to making all kinds of brackets and knobs to fine adjust legs and hubs etc, all to get good alignment.

Do not despair though, If you don't expect super pin sharp stars with mega long exposures it is surprising just what you can do with this setup.

This is how I now do it and I enclose some pictures for you to see if they meet your expectations. BTW These are all taken form my back yard which suffers from lots of light pollution.

First get a rough focus on a bright star holding by hand and then mount the camera with 300 lens directly to the mount. Clip a bhatinov mask onto the lens hood and take a 20sec shot to see what focus is like, repeat until happy with focus. Now align mount to celestial pole as best you can visually. Now drift align to improve.

This seems really complicated at first but when you get used to it, it is not bad, basically just point to a star in the south as low as you can and take a long exposure shot  of 1minute. Set you motor to 4x speed or whatever you can do in one direction, then after 30 seconds change direction. after 1 minute check the photo. If you have a V shaped line then adjust the azimuth very slightly and repeat. keep doing this until the V becomes a line. Once you have this, move to a star in the east or west and repeat the procedure but instead of adjusting azimuth adjust the altitude. (Even writing that description sounds complicated but really once you get used to it, it really is very easy). Thats it your all done.

Here is M51 that I took last night

 

Andromeda that I took earlier in the year

 

 

and Orion nebula

 

I know that they are far from perfect but for an EQ2 mount I am very pleased and also I have enjoyed learning all the different techniques especially drift alignment, so its worthwhile doing.

Here is my setup, you can see the red dot finder that I have attached to the RA axis of the mount to get close to polar align and the bahtinov mask on the second picture

 

The light pollution is pretty evident in the photographs, I am sure that you might have been frustrated by that.

I have decided to buy new Canon 1300D.

Can you please suggest two lenses that would be best suited.

It's my dream to image Eagle Nebula can I achieve it ??????

[jimbo747]

Not bought one yet, but I've been recommended something like this:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CARL-ZEISS-JENA-S-SONNAR-3-5-135mm-MC-MULTI-COATED-LENS-M42-MOUNT/172591898490?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D40656%26meid%3Ddae58869f7ee467a8e3ff9b2ac4510c7%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D3%26sd%3D391629261458

 

Just need an m42 to ef adapter which you can find on amazon / ebay for a fiver.

[happy-kat]

M42 to EOS adapter.

Budget available for the lens?

If the Eagle Nebula emits lots of ha you won't pick that up with an unmodified camera. it's not that you can't capture it, it is whether you are satisfied with how you managed to capture it with the equipment you have. My camera is not modified but I managed to get a suggestion of the rosette and north American nebula even though ha rich but there was no detail I just know I got a little tiny something.

[adder001]

13 hours ago, harshit8 said:

The light pollution is pretty evident in the photographs, I am sure that you might have been frustrated by that.

I have decided to buy new Canon 1300D.

Can you please suggest two lenses that would be best suited.

It's my dream to image Eagle Nebula can I achieve it ??????

Yeah its a real pain, not helped by my neighbors security lights either. Not sure about other lenses as I have never tried any others. Mine came with the camera and they are the standard kit lenses EFS 18-55mm and 75-300mm and I am very happy with them. The lower the F number would be the thing to look for but they start getting very expensive.

I have never tried the Eagle nebula but if it is anything like the horsehead it is quite challenging because of the ha but it can be done, its just a case of what standard you would be happy with. I have been trying the horsehead for ages without much success but thats mainly because of rubbish seeing and light pollution etc., and now its getting a bit to low in the sky when its dark enough so I will probably try again next year.

[Conrad Edwards]

Before you pull the gun on a new 1300D, have a look at modded cameras. You could get a secondhand modded camera quite cheap which gives you a budget for lenses and accessories too.

If you don't want to spend £50 on a Carl Zeiss lens, then there are lenses like the Helios 135mm f2.8 which go for under £20 on an m42 thread.

Your local secondjand camera shop should have a few decent lenses knocking around, fixed focal primes being better than zooms