Sky Watcher 150p

[NoOneItsPerfect]

Hello, 

My name is Daniel.. i recently bought a sky watcher 150p  , since then i struggle with the alignment  for different reasons (UK weather most of the time) now having this great days i tried again let`s say everything was alright  not perfect.

I am more interested to do astro photography then just looking trough the eyepiece..so i tried  i attached my camera Canon 50D to the telescope..but it looks like i can`t get the right focus.. so i just went online bought a Eye piece projection i tried again and still i got problems with the focus. (can someone let me know what i do wrong or how i should do it)so i can take some pictures with Jupiter.. or how i can get any pictures.. as i really wanna take pictures with Planets,Galaxy etc..

I am new to this so be gentle  i appreciate any comments.

Thank you, Daniel 

[Cornelius Varley]

hello welcome to SGL. Most Newtonian reflectors have a problem with focusing a dslr camera. The problem is usually because you can't get the camera sensor close enough to the secondary mirror to achieve focus. The can be solved in two ways. the first is to move the primary closer to the secondary, not recommended unless you know what you are doing and know how to recollimated the telescope. The second is to use a barlow lens to move the point of focus outwards. The 150P might have the 2" Crayford focuser which will have a direct slr fitting.

 

[Peco4321]

I use my canon 1100d on 150p and have got loads of images (nothing like the beautiful images on here with more suitable equipment but to me, I love them). 

Camera is attached with a t ring adapter at prime focus for deep sky stuff. I reach focus winding in to about 1 finger width of all the way in. Then I fine tune focus on a bright star using a bahtinov mask. 

For lunar imaging I use a 2 x Barlow. 

Here's a picture of about where I reach focus. Hope this helps. 

[NoOneItsPerfect]

23 hours ago, Cornelius Varley said:

hello welcome to SGL. Most Newtonian reflectors have a problem with focusing a dslr camera. The problem is usually because you can't get the camera sensor close enough to the secondary mirror to achieve focus. The can be solved in two ways. the first is to move the primary closer to the secondary, not recommended unless you know what you are doing and know how to recollimated the telescope. The second is to use a barlow lens to move the point of focus outwards. The 150P might have the 2" Crayford focuser which will have a direct slr fitting.

 

Thank you ..it help  me understand some of the things.

I will give it a try when the sky will be clear in London

[NoOneItsPerfect]

22 hours ago, Peco4321 said:

I use my canon 1100d on 150p and have got loads of images (nothing like the beautiful images on here with more suitable equipment but to me, I love them). 

Camera is attached with a t ring adapter at prime focus for deep sky stuff. I reach focus winding in to about 1 finger width of all the way in. Then I fine tune focus on a bright star using a bahtinov mask. 

For lunar imaging I use a 2 x Barlow. 

Here's a picture of about where I reach focus. Hope this helps. 

I already tried that whit the t-ring but did not manage to find the focus.

But thank you for your help.

[Geoff Lister]

I too had problems with getting focus with my DSLR, but solved it with a x2 Barlow. Celestron do a x2 Barlow with built-in T thread, product code 93640, you just need the T2 adaptor specific to your brand of DSLR. It works as a conventional x2 Barlow for standard eyepieces, and I find I need it to obtain focus with my binoviewer.

[lnlarxg]

I had the exact same problem with my 200p, at the end I found the right combination:

i found prime focus by getting the Baader ultra low profile t adapter for my canon 550d https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/baader-ultra-short-canon-eos-t-ring.html

then screwed on a low profile 2” nose so it bypasses the 1.25” eyepiece holder thus gaining more inward travel https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/flo-2-inch-t-mount-camera-adapter.html

And I was jumping up and down when I found focus when zooming into some birds really really far away on a tower!

good luck

[JOC]

A Skywatcher delux x2 Barlow usefully unscrews to produce a useful length onto which to fit a camera - I haven't got that scope, but I do own said Barlow and for the small expense it might be worth an experiment.  NB.  The OP also needs to realise that Jupiter in particular will never come into pristine crisp focus around the edges as it is just a ball of gasses!

[Peco4321]

I use a screw in adapter onto the canon t Ring with a 6mm eyepiece in it, drop it into a 2 x Barlow then onto the scope where the eyepiece would go. All a bit long and focus difficult, but managed this recently. 

[Alan White]

When I tried to use my 150p f5 for a try at imaging, I could not get focus as the focus draw tube would not go in far enough.
Tried many option but could not get it to work with whatever arrangement I made.
The 150 PDS option is designed for photography and is set up slightly differently for astro photography.

In my case I was not really bothered as I am a visual observer at heart and the camera was a dabble.
I hope you get things to work for you.
 

[Louis D]

Another option to reach prime focus with a DSLR that works for my Dob is to use a GSO (Altair Astro) coma corrector's optical elements in place of a barlow's optical elements.  The result is a flattened field that is well corrected for coma into the corners.  Here's a photo I took of the last Mercury transit with this setup:

[david_taurus83]

If your willing to spend more you could fit a low profile focuser.