New Setup for Astrophotography/Visual

[andy77]

Hi Guys

My Partner & myself are looking into a setup for Astrophotography Imaging and Visual. We've been advised by many that the Skywatcher ED80 Evostar mounted on a Heq5 Pro Synscan would be the way to go. We also want a Guide scope to improve tracking etc. We would really appreciate some advice into your recommendations regarding gear and info on all the gear that we would need to get going. So far this is the list of equipment that we've been advised on if there's anything missing or anything that you think we need please feel free to advise us. Will also need advice on adapters for attaching our dslr to scope etc.

So what we're looking for is everything from start to finish.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-ds-pro-outfit.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-heq5-pro-synscan.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/guide-scopes/sky-watcher-evoguide-50ed-guidescope-zwo-asi120mm-bundle.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-85x-reducer-flattener-for-ed80.html

We would really appreciate all your input and also if any of you have any images we could see from this setup we'd love to see what this setup is capable of.

Many Thanks

Andy & Sarah

 

 

[steppenwolf]

Your choices so far are very sound. The focal reducer/flattener has a thread suitable for the attachment of a Canon DSLR adaptor.

What DSLR camera do you currently have?

[mikeyj1]

Hi Andy

that will be a really nice setup, many people would 'progress' to that on their 2nd generation of equipment.   However, I would like to throw a couple of comments out for your consideration:  Visually, the 80mm is ok but nothing spectacular, as the light gathering will be limited by the aperture.  Photographically, it's a great setup, especially with the 0.87 reducer, even if F6.6 is not the 'fastest'.  But it will be easy to get going, reliable and not need things like collimation, so an added bonus.

In summary, like many things, it's a compromise that edges toward imaging rather than visual, but if that's what you're after, its spot on with great quality components

Mike

[andy77]

As im a photographer currently use a canon 5d mk3 a canon 7d and canon 600d

Thankyou

[david_taurus83]

That's a good choice and delivers proven results. How are you going to control it all? Computer?

[andy77]

We would like to control it all by computer/laptop

Thankyou

 

[Prador]

Your 600d is a ripe candidate for astro modding too.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Looks a good setup for imaging, and as said above probably much higher spec than many start off with. 

I only started out this time last year, so still all very new to all this, and as many starting out I wanted a scope that would be good for imaging and visual and soon found out that there really there is no "jack of all trades" scope. But if imaging is your goal (which if you are into photography anyway I suspect is the way you want to go) then even with my limited knowledge gained so far then looks good especially as a large percentage of the outlay is in the mount which is a must for  serious imaging and coupled with a fairly lightweight scope should be a stable platform.

If you do want to save a bit of cash for other bits you will inevitably acquire then you would definitely get a decent guidescope and camera 2nd hand from this forum, not necessarily from the same seller . Also (this might just be me being a numpty) but from my experience I would not even use the guidescope for the first few sessions but take shorter exposures just using tracking. You will get some good results  especially if targeting some of the easier DSO's . I just found it all a bit too much to get right as a newbie to all this trying to do it all at once and probably lost acquiring quite a bit of data on first few sessions due to taking ages getting the guidescope working when I could have been snapping away with 2 to 3 minute exposures without guiding.

Just my thoughts but as you are DSLR competent already of course is one less thing to learn whereas I was also new to this.

[david_taurus83]

21 minutes ago, andy77 said:

We would like to control it all by computer/laptop

Thankyou

 

Then you should also look at one of these:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-eq5-pro-heq5-syntrek-pro-az-eq5-gt-az-eq6-gt-and-eq8-mounts.html

 

You can completely control everything using your laptop. Camera, mount, guiding. Have a look here as well:

 

https://ideiki.com/astro/Default.aspx

 

It's free but a donation of 18 euros is optional. More than worth that if you ask me.

[bottletopburly]

+1 for APT

[PhotoGav]

You need to think about how you are going to power everything. Will you be near a mains power source or will you need portable power?

The other consideration is dew control - a dew heater controller and dew straps for main scope and guide scope will be essential (and the power supply for them).

One other thought is focusing - the best tool for accurate manual focus is a Bahtinov mask.

Good luck with it all.

[Skipper Billy]

I started off with almost exactly the setup you are contemplating and it really takes some beating.

Setup here - scroll down to the bottom of the page - https://sites.google.com/view/astro-imaging/equipment

Images here - from about half way down to the bottom - https://sites.google.com/view/astro-imaging/deep-space-objects

You have clearly done some good quality research and your choices are sound. Since that starter outfit I have tried many different scopes - fast reflectors - Ritchey Chretiens etc but eventually ended up back where I started with a simple refractor albeit a step up the quality scale.

If you want to add guiding (and you will do ! } then keep your eyes on the `For Sale` section next week - I will be selling my Evoguide and Atik GP guide camera - one of the best and easiest to use combos that there is.

When it gets to setting up hardware and software if it all gets too confusing then don't be afraid to shout there are a lot of very knowledgeable and friendly people on here who will gladly help you out.

Good luck!

[DaveS]

I pretty much concure with the above, but you can save yourself £110 by just getting the OTA rather than the outfit if you're going imaging, the money could go towards getting the 600D astro-modded.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

59 minutes ago, Skipper Billy said:

Setup here - scroll down to the bottom of the page - https://sites.google.com/view/astro-imaging/equipment

Images here - from about half way down to the bottom - https://sites.google.com/view/astro-imaging/deep-space-objects

Certainly worth a look.  A great insight into astrophotography setups and some fantastic images. All in all a great website.

Steve