Is Nikon D3200 suitable for astrophotography

[deepind]

Hi,

Am intrested in astrophotography,but I couldn’t take a single picture with my D-SLR attached to my celestron astromaster 130 Eq telescope...I have Nikon D3200 and if I capture the sky with lens attached the picture is very noisy and not clear...how can I take pictures of galaxy nebulae etc....

 

thanks

[newbie alert]

I'm sure lots use that model of Nikon for astro..

With galaxy/nebulae long exposures are the key...its just if you can keep the target in the exact spot for the length of the exposure..so if that's 2 mins or 10 seconds it will depend on how much signal is captured during that exposure..i assume you're using the eq mount supplied with the astromaster? If so then it's not suitable for astrophography.

Or is it thst you're connecting the camera and can't get focus?

[deepind]

20 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

I'm sure lots use that model of Nikon for astro..

With galaxy/nebulae long exposures are the key...its just if you can keep the target in the exact spot for the length of the exposure..so if that's 2 mins or 10 seconds it will depend on how much signal is captured during that exposure..i assume you're using the eq mount supplied with the astromaster? If so then it's not suitable for astrophography.

Or is it thst you're connecting the camera and can't get focus?

Hi thanks for reply...if I point towards any star or nebulae ,I can’t even see anything in live view of camera only very bright star like Sirius is seen like a small dot...if I capture without telescope it’s not clear and very white...

[happy-kat]

Your exposure on a static mount is roughly 400/ focal length of lens with your camera. Assume you use the kit lens the longest exposure would be 22 seconds at 18mm.

Iso probably 800-1600 depending on your local light pollution.

[Ganemedes]

Hello,

    Probably there will be more experienced people than me to answer your question, but i will give you my humble opinion. The camera is not the problem, capturing stars and nebulae, i believe the problem is exposure. Try longer exposures and adjust the ISO accordingly. Experimenting with the exposures and ISOs will eventually lead you to desirable outcome.

 

Clear Skies,

 Kyriakos

[Skinnypuppy71]

Before embarking on any type of specialist photography...you need to learn your camera first.....shooting in manual for a start...learning that aperture has influence on exposure times and iso speed etc....to me it seems that the op might be trying to run before even being upright.lol.

First you need to start shooting in manual mode.

When looking through the camera eyepiece (or live view)at night to the sky...all you will see is some little dots and it will look rather uninspiring......it's long exposures(camera shutter left open)that allows the sensor to gather in as much light as possible at the widest aperture available within the lens fitted to the camera (most kit lenses have an aperture of f3.5-f4.5 at it's widest at it's shortest focal length and f6.5-f7.5 at it's widest for it's longest focal length.....and enthusiast/pro lens can be anything from f1.2 -f2.8 prime lenses (fixed focal length)and various f2.8 short zoom lenses can be had....these types of lenses are usually quite  expensive.To be able to achieve long exposures towards the night sky you are pretty much constrained to the five hundred rule....500 divided by the focal length of lens (full frame equivalent)...so eg...I shoot with my olympus omd em5 in with a 12-40 f2.8 lens....this is a micro four thirds sensor and has twice the crop factor of  a full frame equivalent so my 12-40 now becomes 24-80....500 divided 24=20 seconds at the lenses shortest focal length and 500 divided by 80 = 6 seconds at it's longest focal length.....if you want all that heavenly glory for longer exposures...a tracking mount of sorts is going to be needed....but I'd suggest getting used  to the camera on a sturdy tripod and getting some night sky shots with just your lens and getting used to how the camera reacts to the various settings....higher iso...longer exposures etc.hope I have been of some help.

Ps..if you want to use your camera to shoot through the scope...you first need to remove your camera's lens and attach a camera mount adapter and t mount to achieve this....but again to get sharp points of light you will be constrained by the five hundred rule.....500 divided by the focal length of the telescope this time as that has now become the lens.