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Planetary photography or Deep Space Object (DSO) Photography?

The first thing you need to do is start by reading up on the subject. Assuming you're after DSO photography then the recommended book is Making Every Photon Count. You should read it through at least once before even looking at mounts and telescopes.

Once you do get to the point where you can start looking at equipment then the recommended minimum beginner mount is the Skywatcher HEQ5, which is capable of handling the Skywatcher 80 ED or the Skywatcher 130 PDS.

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Don't do what I did and think that it's a simple upgrade from photography - It's a totally different animal and takes time, patience and some amount of money to get good results. If you are going to buy new, expect to budget (without a camera) at around a £1000/$1200 for a good mount and telescope. STAY AWAY FROM EBAY - until you understand a little.

A good way into it is to buy a (good) mount and use your DSLR with a long lens on the mount, once you put a telescope on it, things start getting more and more involved. 

Do NOT  scrimp on the mount, buy once, buy well.

As others have said, Making Every Photon Count is a great book, familiarise yourself with your local sky by buying a star chart. Either that or obtain one of the excellent free programs such as Stellarium or Cartes du Ciel. I find a star chart easier to use just sitting there and looking at the stars.

As a newcomer myself, I'd recommend you look at a refractor to start off with, they are easy to use and take very little maintenance - be wary of buying an inexpensive achromat version though, as you will suffer from Chromatic Aberration with a lot of them. The size of the scope and auxiliary equipment you will eventually use all depend on the mount you select. The HEQ5 is (as stated) the advised entry level mount, you can get away with an EQ5, but you can only expect so much as the mount has a lower payload.

Why do you need a good mount over a telescope to begin with? Depends how well you want to track the object you are imaging in the sky. It is all down to cost and what you want from your images.

If you want a relatively inexpensive way into the hobby that will get you up and running - and give you OK sort of images, search EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy) this is a little bit easier to get to grips with as you can use an Alt-Az mount at first to get you going. The other mounts mentioned are GEM (German Equatorial Mount) and your images will not rotate as much with them.

Long-winded post, but I really hope it is useful, this forum and the majority of its members are brilliant,  they have helped me immensely and I 'm sure they will help you too.

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6 hours ago, Terrierist said:

Don't do what I did and think that it's a simple upgrade from photography - It's a totally different animal and takes time, patience and some amount of money to get good results. If you are going to buy new, expect to budget (without a camera) at around a £1000/$1200 for a good mount and telescope. STAY AWAY FROM EBAY - until you understand a little.

A good way into it is to buy a (good) mount and use your DSLR with a long lens on the mount, once you put a telescope on it, things start getting more and more involved. 

Do NOT  scrimp on the mount, buy once, buy well.

As others have said, Making Every Photon Count is a great book, familiarise yourself with your local sky by buying a star chart. Either that or obtain one of the excellent free programs such as Stellarium or Cartes du Ciel. I find a star chart easier to use just sitting there and looking at the stars.

As a newcomer myself, I'd recommend you look at a refractor to start off with, they are easy to use and take very little maintenance - be wary of buying an inexpensive achromat version though, as you will suffer from Chromatic Aberration with a lot of them. The size of the scope and auxiliary equipment you will eventually use all depend on the mount you select. The HEQ5 is (as stated) the advised entry level mount, you can get away with an EQ5, but you can only expect so much as the mount has a lower payload.

Why do you need a good mount over a telescope to begin with? Depends how well you want to track the object you are imaging in the sky. It is all down to cost and what you want from your images.

If you want a relatively inexpensive way into the hobby that will get you up and running - and give you OK sort of images, search EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy) this is a little bit easier to get to grips with as you can use an Alt-Az mount at first to get you going. The other mounts mentioned are GEM (German Equatorial Mount) and your images will not rotate as much with them.

Long-winded post, but I really hope it is useful, this forum and the majority of its members are brilliant,  they have helped me immensely and I 'm sure they will help you too.

thank you for the information. I have been observing for a while as small hobbies... but I recently bought myself a dobsonian… and I have been loving it... and trying to take pictures with it through my iPhone xD The pictures are meh but for what I have I am proud of them.  and I am planning a trip with some friends to go out to death vally and "Observe" /  pictures.  I am guessing to get more clear pictures I need a mix of a Refractor (Which I keep hearing) and more exposure time. which would make sense. 

 

 

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On ‎03‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 17:42, Ricochet said:

Planetary photography or Deep Space Object (DSO) Photography?

The first thing you need to do is start by reading up on the subject. Assuming you're after DSO photography then the recommended book is Making Every Photon Count. You should read it through at least once before even looking at mounts and telescopes.

Once you do get to the point where you can start looking at equipment then the recommended minimum beginner mount is the Skywatcher HEQ5, which is capable of handling the Skywatcher 80 ED or the Skywatcher 130 PDS.

 

Agree with HEQ5 mount with ED80

Before you rush out and purchase, rock up to your local astronomy club

Members there only too happy to show you their set up, and able to view through different scopes, and also talk about what imaging software they using

Attached pic of my ED80 on an EQ5 mount, with solar filter

 

John

 

 

Skywatcher ED80.jpg

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Hello Lonestar,

The equivalent of the Sky-Watcher HEQ5 in the U.S. is the Orion "Sirius EQ-G", which would make for an excellent start in astrophotography.  Both the Sky-Watcher and Orion are manufactured by Synta, and are identical save for the colour.

A similar book for astrophotography, that's sold in the U.S., is this one...

https://www.amazon.com/Deep-sky-Imaging-Primer-Second/dp/0999470906/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544021940&sr=8-1&keywords=the+deep-sky+imaging+primer

In addition, an 80mm f/6 apochromatic refractor is generally recommended for deep-sky astrophotography.  Some also choose larger apertures, up to a 130mm f/6.  The faster the focal-ratio of the telescope, the faster the pictures are taken by the DSLR.  Newtonians at f/4 are also popular for such, but they require a coma-corrector.  Incidentally, you can take images with practically every telescope on the planet; the results on the same object would differ of course.

 

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