Whats the best equipment I can get with $600 for astrophotography?

[alanp97]

Hi all,

I've decided to pick up some equipment to do some astrophotography as I love astronomy and wanted to pick up a new hobby. I'm a bit overwhelmed with the amount of different products and equipment there are. I know 600$ is a bit of a tight budget, but its all I can work with for the minute and I can always upgrade in the future. I would like to be able to take photos of the milkyway and possibly some nebulas if it would be possible in my budget. Thanks inadvance to anyone who can help me out.

[kendg]

First question is do you have anything usable right now like a DSLR?

Once you have the camera, you can start with just using it. Then it becomes a question of :

1) Getting a good book such as "Making Every Photon Count" and/or "The Backyard Astonomer's Guide"

2) Getting a tracking mount (Star Adventurer or similar)

3) Lenses for the camera or a telescope.

4) spending a lot more money down the road.

So, start with what you have and work from there.

[CraigT82]

The way I started out in astrophotography is to use a DSLR and some vintage lenses form ebay on a tracking mount like the sky watcher star adventurer.  Get everything second hand and your budget should get you the kit!  Wide angle lenses (<20mm) for milky way images and 100mm to 200mm lenses for nebulae.  Here are some of my images using this kind of setup...

 

 

[alanp97]

29 minutes ago, kendg said:

First question is do you have anything usable right now like a DSLR?

Once you have the camera, you can start with just using it. Then it becomes a question of :

1) Getting a good book such as "Making Every Photon Count" and/or "The Backyard Astonomer's Guide"

2) Getting a tracking mount (Star Adventurer or similar)

3) Lenses for the camera or a telescope.

4) spending a lot more money down the road.

So, start with what you have and work from there.

The best camera I have right now is my iPhone camera lol. Ive found some used (and new) cameras that come with lenses so I could find a bargain there. Is a tracking mount a neccesity?

[alanp97]

27 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

The way I started out in astrophotography is to use a DSLR and some vintage lenses form ebay on a tracking mount like the sky watcher star adventurer.  Get everything second hand and your budget should get you the kit!  Wide angle lenses (<20mm) for milky way images and 100mm to 200mm lenses for nebulae.  Here are some of my images using this kind of setup...

 

 

Wow. No matter how many times I see photos like these, it never ceases to amaze me. Really nice photos! So what I need is a DSLR camera, lenses and a tracker of some sorts? Do you have any recommendations that i could fit in to my budget? Thanks!

[kendg]

First you need a camera and tripod. The camera should have a manual setting so you can take exposures longer than 30 seconds.

This is your starting point. Now start shooting pictures and experimenting and reading. You will soon see what you need next like an intervelometer for the camera  and on and on and on.....

Enjoy

[CraigT82]

23 minutes ago, alanp97 said:

Wow. No matter how many times I see photos like these, it never ceases to amaze me. Really nice photos! So what I need is a DSLR camera, lenses and a tracker of some sorts? Do you have any recommendations that i could fit in to my budget? Thanks!

Yeah a tracking mount is an absolute necessity.  You can get milky way images with 30 second exposures on a static tripod and a wide angle lens (<12mm) but that's all you'll be able to get.  If you want to image any kind of nebula or galaxy like M31 then you will need to be able to track the object across the sky.

I'm assuming you're in the USA?  Apologies if not!  Head over to the classifieds on the Cloudy Nights forum.  There is a Skywatcher star adventurer on there for $350 and an astro modified Canon T3i for $350... A bit of negotiation might get you both within budget!

What you need then is some lenses... vintage M42 screw fit lens can be had on ebay for $20 ish, you'd just need a screw fit adaptor to fit them to the camera but that's only another $10.

You don't strictly need an intervalometer but they sure make things easier, they're about $15.

All you need to do then is get yourself to somewhere with nice dark skies and have a go!

[alanp97]

1 hour ago, CraigT82 said:

Yeah a tracking mount is an absolute necessity.  You can get milky way images with 30 second exposures on a static tripod and a wide angle lens (<12mm) but that's all you'll be able to get.  If you want to image any kind of nebula or galaxy like M31 then you will need to be able to track the object across the sky.

I'm assuming you're in the USA?  Apologies if not!  Head over to the classifieds on the Cloudy Nights forum.  There is a Skywatcher star adventurer on there for $350 and an astro modified Canon T3i for $350... A bit of negotiation might get you both within budget!

What you need then is some lenses... vintage M42 screw fit lens can be had on ebay for $20 ish, you'd just need a screw fit adaptor to fit them to the camera but that's only another $10.

You don't strictly need an intervalometer but they sure make things easier, they're about $15.

All you need to do then is get yourself to somewhere with nice dark skies and have a go!

7

At least ill be able to get some juicy milkyway pictures! Im from Ireland actually. I just used USD as I assumed most people here would know that more than the euro.  Ill definitely have a look on ebay and amazon for some used parts that you mentioned.

Thanks a million for your help, really appreciate it. I have a place thats super dark near my town, thankfully theres not much light pollution here. 

Thanks again!

[CraigT82]

Ah ok! Well this is a UK based forum but there's tons of members from all around the world.  Cloudy Nights is a US based forum which you'll see mentioned on here from time to time. Not sure what there is in Ireland but there's bound to be an astro club near you (especially if there's dark skies nearby!) 

[happy-kat]

With a static tripod you can also do star trail images.

A second hand dslr such as say a canon 1100d, or up such as a 600d with articulated screen, plus a new star adventurer bundle are in budget I think, you might have to be creative on a suitable tripod or make something to tide you over. It might be surprising what vintage m42 lenses might be lurking in family and friends old stuff, all useable with a Canon plus cheap adaptor.

Even if you go mega big in the future a portable kit for travel may always have a place.

[LukeSkywatcher]

42 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Ah ok! Well this is a UK based forum but there's tons of members from all around the world.  Cloudy Nights is a US based forum which you'll see mentioned on here from time to time. Not sure what there is in Ireland but there's bound to be an astro club near you (especially if there's dark skies nearby!) 

Astro shops/clubs here in Ireland are very limited. The only shop i know of is Astronomy Ireland based in Swords (Dublin). They are purely a Celestron dealer (and expensive).

Its shameful how little astro related resources there are in Ireland considering historic astro discoveries by Irish people.

Jocelyn Bell

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

Jocelyn Bell was from Northern Ireland. She discovered Pulsars while working/studying in the UK in 1967.

I know of 2 working observatories in Ireland:

Dunsink (in Dublin) and Armagh.

 

[newbie alert]

For milky way, startrails etc you only need a dslr (with lens of course) and a tripod...a tracking mount such as a star adventurer or the iopron version can come later when you want to image nebulae/galaxies

[Adam J]

On 21/03/2018 at 15:38, alanp97 said:

Hi all,

I've decided to pick up some equipment to do some astrophotography as I love astronomy and wanted to pick up a new hobby. I'm a bit overwhelmed with the amount of different products and equipment there are. I know 600$ is a bit of a tight budget, but its all I can work with for the minute and I can always upgrade in the future. I would like to be able to take photos of the milkyway and possibly some nebulas if it would be possible in my budget. Thanks inadvance to anyone who can help me out.

 

Edit: Discard the below: You said dollars and I read pounds. So that changes things quite a bit. 

 

With that budget your best bet is to be patient and to wait for items to come up second hand.

You should be able to pick up something like:

1) EQ5pro Mount - 300 pounds (Buy / Sell section here or Astrobuysell/uk), the mount is the most important thing you will purchase. 

2) Canon 450D - 120 pounds (literally 100's on ebay but you can find modified examples on astronomy related sites and that is a better bet)

3) Second hand 130PDS reflector - 120pounds.

4) Canon EOS T-ring = 15 pounds

5) Laser collimator = 30 pounds  

That lot will get you started for about 600 pounds

Later as you gain experiance you will want to add: 

1) Coma corrector = 130pounds

2) LP filter = 120pounds

3) Guiding = 200 pounds. 

 

When I started my budget was about 800 so I got a HEQ5pro mound instead of the EQ5pro but apart from that everything was as per the above list and all second hand. 

 

 

Adam