Imaging Equipment advice please

[bennethos]

Hi,

 

Im the proud owner of an Esprit 100 SW (EQ6 mount) and had loads of fun with it last year in the south of france. I lost a massive amount of time becauuse I lacked a laptop and autoguiding. So got myself a panasonic toughbook to help me out next time round. I would like to extend my setup to do some imaging next summer though.

What kind of a star guider should I pick?  preferably something lightweight and cost effective.  I mean do I really need a lodestar x2 to do it?  Would prefer to put more money in the cam.

I also have an unmodifoed canon 6D. Any ideas of what I could shoot with it?  ( have no intention on modifying it). Or should I go for a mono cam with filters? 

Its all a bit overwhelming,  thank you for your advice.

[carastro]

If that is a 9 x 50 finderscope that comes with the Esprit 100 SW, then you can convert that into a guidescope with a small adapter.  You can still use it as an on screen finder.  That will be both light weight and cheap.  You don't have to get a Lodestar, something like the lightweight, QHY5ii will be ample and there are finderguider adapters for them too.

As regards the camera, a non modified Canon is not going to pick up enough of the spectrum, so if you are willing to go for a mono cam with filters that won't be cheap, but will give much more satisfactory results.  There are a whole range of mono cameras and prices on the market range from small to large obviously the latter being more expensive.  The Mono cameras with integrated filterwheel are also a good idea.

What sort of budget do you have and size chip do you have a preference for?  

Carole 

[bennethos]

Hi and thank you for your prompt reply. 

Sounds like I need to go for a separate cam indeed for my scope. Budget would have to be max 1000-1500. I might actually try to rent one at astrofarm in france if at all possible. Would go for mono as brussels and belgium is heavy light polluted in general. 

Concerning the guidescope,  what would be the disadvantage of using my finder scope vs the popular skywatcher st80?  I remember finding the finderscope a bit of a nuissance because of its small field of view. Guess that wont matter if im using it for guiding right? That skywatcher guidescope mount seems to be very practical too!  Dont have to fiddle with the rings that much.

And would you recommend placing it on top or side by side? 

 

Thank you

[smudgeball]

Hi

I'd stick with the dslr for now.

I made the move from modded dslr to mono ccd plus filters and the jump in learning is huge. (as well as the expense)

Plus you have the processing to think about.

I don't want to discourage you, but if it's unclear if this is your first venture into imaging? You could get going at far less cost and obtain far quicker results with the kit you have and a smaller shopping list.

Always difficult when you are keen to explore a new part of astronomy.

For my part I chose a mono ccd with a chip smaller than my dslr........do I miss the bigger field of view ? Sometimes.

But I can be selective on the targets I go for and using narrowband filters I can aobtain finer detail.

Although I need to take much longer exposures and re-focus after filter changes and....arghhh

Good luck with what ever you decide to do, don't be put off, there are many people here only too willing to help (even me with my limited experience)

 

Neil

 

[bennethos]

Hi Neil, thank you for your feedback. I noticed indeed that field of view is something to think about. But there are great sites out there on which you can simulate your target + camera or ccd. Noticed for instance that the andromeda galaxy seems to be very wide and a most of the ccd's seem to have a fov that is too small for it.

Im not put off by the technicalities, I'm an engineer it's more price that is difficult to digest. Browsing imaging galleries I'm sort of put off by DSLR, a lot of people seem to have noise issues. Ripping down the camera and cooling it seems like too much of a hassle for me... buying a camera and having it modded would cost a fortune too...

In the end I might decide to just invest in guiding equipment for summer 2018 and see how it works with the laptop and use the scope for classic gazing :), there is soo much to learn anyways !

@caroastro , what an impressive blog/website you have. Great posts and a wealth of info on there. Added it to my favourites !