Portable imaging set up around 1k

[Olli]

Hi all

i have been  thinking of getting into imaging to get my motivation going for astronomy again. I was thinking about getting a portable set up. My budget would be around £1000.

i was just wondering what would be the best way to go about this or should I save a bit more to get a proper set up. I would like to take images of dso,And also the moon. I also wanted to ask if I would need to do guiding and buy a laptop which I really don’t want to have to buy if I can help it. 

 

many thanks for your help 

[Robny]

You can certainly get a proper setup for £1k if your willing to buy used.  If I had a grand for an imaging setup I would CERTAINLY be looking to purchase a used HEQ5 pro, they typically go for 450 to 500. 

The remainder I would use for a widefield refractor, preferably doublet...mayne ed80 used and the left over for dslr and associated accessories, to get you going.  You might also.want to budget it.a guiding package, but that needn't be expensive.

£1000 can get you a decent rig to be starting out with.

Rob

[carastro]

You can buy a portable set up and use a camera lens such as a Skywatcher star adventurer and just use a camera, but if you can afford £1000 then I'd be looking at what Rob has suggested, but you would really need to guide to get long enough exposures for decent results.  There are stand alone guide set ups so you don't need a laptop, but I am not sure how good they are as I read of a few people having problems with such a set up.   For guiding with a laptop, the laptop doesn't need to be high spec, I use cheap reconditioned W7 laptops for mine cost £100 - £150.  

Carole 

[happy-kat]

I would remember why you need to get motivation going again.

As a less experienced but like to get out there and keep portable my suggestion is Az-gti why it has same pay load as star adventurer but has goto, can be used in either az or with free firmware can be used in eq mode, can be guided and guides on both axis I think. Is super portable. Some excellent videos and images out there.