Where should I go from here?

[AlanP_]

Hey everyone,

I just bought a star adventurer tracker and a sturdy steel tripod to support it. I currently own a canon 600D and the kit lens that comes with it which is 18-55mm. I am also about to purchase a canon 55mm 1.8F lens too. 

My goal with astrophotograohy is to take images of deep sky objects as that’s where my interest lies. I figure I will need to save up a lot of money to be able to achieve this.

What should be the steps I take in order to achieve this. Can I get some deep sky images with my DSLR and my star tracker? If so, how would I go about doing that.

Also, what mount or scope should be my first if muni goal is deep sky? I know it won’t be cheap but I don’t want to go crazy with it either.

I appreciate anyone’s input on this, thanks in advance and happy stargazing ?

[Demonperformer]

First buy a copy of Making Every Photon Count from FLO. It will save you many mistakes and much money.

[Adreneline]

8 hours ago, AlanP_ said:

My goal with astrophotograohy is to take images of deep sky objects as that’s where my interest lies.

Hi.

This was exactly my starting point two years ago. I too started with a dslr (Canon 70D) on the end of an ED80DS-Pro mounted on an NEQ6 and got some (for me) very pleasing early results. I stopped using the dslr (a) because the images were quite noisy, and (b) because I didn't like my treasured 70D getting covered in dew! So I purchased an Atik 414ex-osc and then a year later an Atik 428ex-mono.

8 hours ago, AlanP_ said:

Can I get some deep sky images with my DSLR and my star tracker?

I am sure you can, and many on this forum do and achieve amazing results with an SA-dslr combination; I am sure someone will pop up and give you shed loads of advice.

8 hours ago, AlanP_ said:

I am also about to purchase a canon 55mm 1.8F lens too.

In order to provide a larger FoV I purchased the WO-ZS71 and more recently the 135mm and 85mm Samyang, which I can use as stand-alone lenses for everyday photography.

I now operate a flexible setup depending on what I want to image, as shown in the images below.

To answer the broad question "what to buy" I for one would not want to advise. What I have bought works for me. The NEQ6 may be overkill for my equipment but better to over do it on the mount than buy one you later need to upgrade. My setup is far from portable - back garden only. Do I sometimes wish I had slightly more focal length? Answer "yes I do" but then with my ageing hands I'm not sure I could lift anything much heavier safely onto the mount - which is heavy enough in itself!

Definitely buy :

2 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

Making Every Photon Count

My copy has fallen apart from over-reading!

Taking up AP is one of the best things I have ever done - if only we had more clear skies.

Good luck!

 

[AlanP_]

5 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

First buy a copy of Making Every Photon Count from FLO. It will save you many mistakes and much money.

Just ordered it, thanks.

[AlanP_]

2 hours ago, Adreneline said:

Hi.

This was exactly my starting point two years ago. I too started with a dslr (Canon 70D) on the end of an ED80DS-Pro mounted on an NEQ6 and got some (for me) very pleasing early results. I stopped using the dslr (a) because the images were quite noisy, and (b) because I didn't like my treasured 70D getting covered in dew! So I purchased an Atik 414ex-osc and then a year later an Atik 428ex-mono.

I am sure you can, and many on this forum do and achieve amazing results with an SA-dslr combination; I am sure someone will pop up and give you shed loads of advice.

In order to provide a larger FoV I purchased the WO-ZS71 and more recently the 135mm and 85mm Samyang, which I can use as stand-alone lenses for everyday photography.

I now operate a flexible setup depending on what I want to image, as shown in the images below.

To answer the broad question "what to buy" I for one would not want to advise. What I have bought works for me. The NEQ6 may be overkill for my equipment but better to over do it on the mount than buy one you later need to upgrade. My setup is far from portable - back garden only. Do I sometimes wish I had slightly more focal length? Answer "yes I do" but then with my ageing hands I'm not sure I could lift anything much heavier safely onto the mount - which is heavy enough in itself!

Definitely buy :

My copy has fallen apart from over-reading!

Taking up AP is one of the best things I have ever done - if only we had more clear skies.

Good luck!

 

Very informative answer, I really appreciate the time you took to answer my questions. I’ve screenshot your reply for future reference when I’m upgrading my equipment. 

I’m super excited to get into this hobby and thanks again!

[Adreneline]

1 hour ago, AlanP_ said:

I’m super excited to get into this hobby ....

As a footnote:

I think the ED80DS is amazing for the money and works really well for RGB and HaLRGB.

I find the ZS71 is not so good for RGB but very good for Nb (suffers a bit with blue halos around stars).

I love my Samyang 135mm - it works really well with large Nb targets; it's light and easy to set up and forgiving of guiding issues when the seeing is not good.

I've not done any serious imaging with the Samyang 85mm as yet but early results look very promising.

I have 'Rowan-modded' my NEQ6 and get excellent guiding performance from it now with all combinations of scope and camera.

I use Sky Safari Plus on the iPhone to help me decide on the combination to use for imaging a given target.

I use PI and PS to process the images - and sometimes DSS, especially if I use the 70D.

Good luck and enjoy!

Adrian