My apologies for the weather....

[Maxrayne]

My apologies for the weather we're currently experiencing, completely my fault quite clearly.

Getting delivered on Sunday so I can finally get out and start imaging, although the only thing I currently possess is an unmodded D5300, intervalometer, and a t-ring (somewhere.)

Pretty sure looking at this there's no tracking/guiding ability at the present time, but looking to add that at a future point.

With the current setup, or not breaking the bank too much more, what's the best I can hope for?

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Looks like rain for Nottingham for the next two weeks then. .

Others on here are far more qualified to give advice. I am sure that Lunar and planetary images will be fine. DSO's may be challenging.  If your first scope I would recommend using for observing mostly at least to start with, get used to whats out there and be amazed. I have only been doing it for a few months so can't really give you much in way of advice. I am starting to image but love to just observe as well and learn whats out there.

Best advise I can give is enjoy it, otherwise no point doing it if frustration gets the better of you.

Good luck with the weather anyway.

Steve

[Maxrayne]

Mental note, change location to Gloucester lol.

Planetary is a definite try for me. And I can use the time during the summer to practice before Orion season is back too. Hopefully I'll have some form of tracking etc in place by that point too to increase exposure times

[Dragon_Astro]

Hmm even your profile name sounds like bad luck lol....not related to MaxCloud are you? ☁️

[Maxrayne]

Lol no. Max is the name of my firstborn son. Rayne, the name of a character from a game I used to play (Bloodrayne)

[wimvb]

I hope that the scope has a focal length of 1000 mm and is f/5, rather than the f/1000 in the ad. 

Without tracking, and the long focal length, your exposure time will be seriously limited. As already suggested, you may be able to shoot closeups of moon craters and do some planetary imaging. For any other imaging, you will need some form of tracking. There is an RA drive upgrade available for this mount (EQ5), that will give you tracking, but a complete RA/DEC upgrade is better, imo.

Have fun and good luck (once the clouds clear)

[Maxrayne]

Unbelievable! Just been messaged by the seller to say he's sold it to someone else this evening...

Air just turned blue here...that's poor form after an agreement was reached

[tooth_dr]

7 minutes ago, Maxrayne said:

Unbelievable! Just been messaged by the seller to say he's sold it to someone else this evening...

Air just turned blue here...that's poor form after an agreement was reached

That’s a bummer. But I will be quite certain that you will have no problem at all finding a suitable scope.

[wimvb]

6 hours ago, Maxrayne said:

Unbelievable! Just been messaged by the seller to say he's sold it to someone else this evening...

Air just turned blue here...that's poor form after an agreement was reached

That may actually be a blessing in disguise. If you really want to get into imaging, you're better off buying a mount with tracking, or a staradventurer, and use your nikon with lens.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-star-adventurer/skywatcher-star-adventurer-astronomy-bundle.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-eq3-pro-synscan-goto.html (but do get the one with steel tripod instead)

Both are adequate mounts for a light weight, portable setup. To be used with camera & lens, or a small telescope. Even if you upgrade to a large mount later on, you can still keep these as grab & go for wide field imaging.

[Maxrayne]

You may well be correct on that. I'm more than happy to bow to superior wisdom here as I know very little when it comes to mounts etc.

Quite like the idea of that second one, although I'd prefer to jump straight in with a minimum EQ5 to save having to upgrade it at a later date (although I probably still will anyway)

Would the EQ3 take something like an ED80 (been looking at a couple of those recently) together with the Nikon? Or would I be better going for a CMOS camera and hooking straight into the laptop say?

That said, the star adventurer looks pretty decent? Am I right in saying ioptron do something similar?

 

[wimvb]

I think it would take the ed80. There is a thread in the beginners imaging section about the eq3. It all depends on your budget and conditions. If you need to travel, live in a small apartment, (or are physically impaired,) a smaller, light weight setup is the way to go. If you don't mind the extra kilos and money, an eq5 is a better and more futureproof choice.

[Maxrayne]

29 minutes ago, wimvb said:

I think it would take the ed80. There is a thread in the beginners imaging section about the eq3. It all depends on your budget and conditions. If you need to travel, live in a small apartment, (or are physically impaired,) a smaller, light weight setup is the way to go. If you don't mind the extra kilos and money, an eq5 is a better and more futureproof choice.

Will have a look for that thread, thank you ?

Tbf I am somewhat space restricted and also at times have mobility issues (one of those conditions that you never know if you're going to have the energy or not from one day to the next)

Going to have to look closer into this. The EQ3 I think would solve immediate issues of not being able to image (as of course would the star adventurer) but...EQ5...

[cjdawson]

Here's my thoughts.

Prime focus - you should be able to capture the moon and planets

Without tracking, and guiding I'd say that deep sky is likely to be very tricky.

 

Piggy back, if you are able to mount your DSLR on top of your scope, there's no reason why you can't do long exposure images.   For this, you use the main scope to guide with, keep the scope centered on a star, yep, you'd have to do it manually, that said, wide field photos are forgiving.   You should be able to come up with some very lovely widefield shots like that.

[wimvb]

10 hours ago, Maxrayne said:

Going to have to look closer into this. The EQ3 I think would solve immediate issues of not being able to image (as of course would the star adventurer) but...EQ5...

The EQ5 comes in various flavours, which have different maximum payloads, etc.

The EQ3 with aluminium tripod is sold with a 6" Newton reflector as an imaging rig. The rated maximum payload of this mount is 5 kg, and the reflector itself, without camera and other gizmos, is also 5 kg. If you decide for this mount, try to get the (slightly more expensive) version with the steel (EQ5) tripod. The mount head itself is ok, it's just the combination with the flimsy tripod that doesn't work. The advantage of the EQ3 (Pro version) over a staradventurer is that you get goto functionality, as well as a possibility to do guiding on both RA and DEC. The Staradventurer only has a single tracking motor on RA. This means that you can't compensate for star drift in declination due to polar misalignment.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Hi,

As said above the lost sale may be better for you in the long run.

If you really want to do some imaging please do not rush into buying and ask plenty of questions on here. I only started the beginning of this year and so glad of the advice I received from this forum. There will be plenty of 2nd hand scopes and mounts available including lots of good equipment available on this forum.

I have only just got my imaging equipment together but in the mean time bought a 2nd hand Dobsonian for about £160 so I could get out and observe, when clouds permit, just to keep my enthusiasm and also for some relaxation. I still have the Dobsonian and still like to use it when I just want an hour or so out there observing. More than likely if I want rid I could sell probably for not much less than I paid so no real cost involved.

I am not particularly suggesting this is for you but just to say please don't rush into a purchase heed the advise and you will do well, and I wish you better luck with your next purchase.

Steve

 

[Maxrayne]

20 hours ago, wimvb said:

The EQ5 comes in various flavours, which have different maximum payloads, etc.

The EQ3 with aluminium tripod is sold with a 6" Newton reflector as an imaging rig. The rated maximum payload of this mount is 5 kg, and the reflector itself, without camera and other gizmos, is also 5 kg. If you decide for this mount, try to get the (slightly more expensive) version with the steel (EQ5) tripod. The mount head itself is ok, it's just the combination with the flimsy tripod that doesn't work. The advantage of the EQ3 (Pro version) over a staradventurer is that you get goto functionality, as well as a possibility to do guiding on both RA and DEC. The Staradventurer only has a single tracking motor on RA. This means that you can't compensate for star drift in declination due to polar misalignment.

Must admit I am currently leaning more to the EQ3 pro version right now after reading up more. For the reasons above too ?

Certainly won't be rushing into a purchase, although I'm keeping my eyes open. Even if all I do for the time being is ho the EQ3 route, I should still be able to mount camera directly to it?

[wimvb]

54 minutes ago, Maxrayne said:

I should still be able to mount camera directly to it?

You'll need some sort of clamp. The mount accepts a dovetail bar, and you need to fix your camera to this. Easiest is to 1/4" camera bolt and bolt it directly to a short dovetail. If you have a scope with the mount, you can piggy back a camera. Many SW scopes are supplied with a 1/4" bolt for this.

The mount vendor should be able to supply what you need. Just contact them when you plan to place an order.

[Maxrayne]

51 minutes ago, wimvb said:

You'll need some sort of clamp. The mount accepts a dovetail bar, and you need to fix your camera to this. Easiest is to 1/4" camera bolt and bolt it directly to a short dovetail. If you have a scope with the mount, you can piggy back a camera. Many SW scopes are supplied with a 1/4" bolt for this.

The mount vendor should be able to supply what you need. Just contact them when you plan to place an order.

So is that not the bolt that is usually on the OTA securing rings? Or would that be where the dovetail sits?

[wimvb]

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-150p-ds-ota.html

In the image you can see the camera bolt on top of the tube ring, and the dovetail bar at the bottom. You would need to put a bolt directly on a dovetail.

An alternative solution would be to bolt a ball head to a dovetail. Just have a look in the imaging sections here to see how people have done.