Diving into the world of Astrophotography

[GoodOleJim]

Hello all, I'm looking at diving into an astrophotography rig. I'm looking for suggestions from people who've done it before. I know Celestron makes some great models for this. 

I can spend some money, mainly looking for recommendations for whole set-ups at the moment.

 

Thanks!

[Freddie]

Going to need a bit more info. What types of objects are you interested in imaging, rough budget?

[DaveS]

Unless you are doing lunar / planetary with lots of very short exposures then the mount comes first, get the best you can afford, even if it means getting a slightly cheaper 'scope / camera.

Beyond that we need to know what you want to image. Even with DSOs there are variations, Galaxies (Small, LRGB targets, but with Ha) Planetary Nebulae (Mostly small again, and faint. Respond to NB), Emission Nebulae, usually large, can be bright (Eg M42 in Orion, Rosette) or faint (Pretty much everything else), can be imaged in RGB but respond very well to NB.

[happy-kat]

The OP already has a canon T5.

[GoodOleJim]

Sorry, I just re-read that myself and realized how uninformative I was.

 

I mainly like viewing planetary objects, but with my 10" dob, I like to delve into nebulae and galaxies. I possess a Canon T5.

 

I can supply any other information requested. 

[happy-kat]

Observing and imaging are two different activities. 

You could use a webcam and have a go at imaging the Moon and planets with your dob.

If you want to try imaging DSO you want to be thinking about a tracking mount of some sort, the more it will carry the more capable the mount will need to be.

If you just want to try now then use your T5 with kit lens and have a go at wide field or star trails. You still get to dabble at collecting data, processing it and whether you like what you are doing and learning.

[GoodOleJim]

On 5/10/2017 at 03:43, happy-kat said:

Observing and imaging are two different activities. 

You could use a webcam and have a go at imaging the Moon and planets with your dob.

If you want to try imaging DSO you want to be thinking about a tracking mount of some sort, the more it will carry the more capable the mount will need to be.

If you just want to try now then use your T5 with kit lens and have a go at wide field or star trails. You still get to dabble at collecting data, processing it and whether you like what you are doing and learning.

2

Right! I knew the difference, for sure. I'm thinking about picking up the mount kit for my T5, then going from there. Without a tracking mount, my options are fairly limited.

[assouptro]

Snapping the moon with a camera adapter will be a good start. 

Then I agree with DaveS the mount is going to be your starting point.

I bought a fork mounted 12" Meade for visual initially before I knew I was going to be taking photos, once I obtained a camera adapter, that was it. I was hooked!

It has cost a bit of money and taken a lot of patience to adapt it for ap but now it's on a wedge with a piggybacked apo I have the best of both, I can image with a 12" sct or a 100mm apo so I can theoretically do planetary or deep sky depending on which scope I put my camera or which camera I use. 

having said that, I think if I started again I would probably get a really good quality eq mount with goto capable of taking the weight of a couple of scopes side by side.

I don't know if I've helped there? I guess what I'm trying to say is don't rush a decision, unless you find a bargain!