Beginner with £1,000 budget

[SiD the Turtle]

Hi folks. I'm lucky enough to get a bonus this year and while most of it is earmarked for actual life needs I've put £1,000 aside as 'spoil myself money' and I'd like to start dabbling with astro-photography.

Currently I have a Celestron 127 SLT on the out of the box alt-az mount. I've been using both a camera-phone mount and an old Nikon to take pictures of the moon and recently bought a ZWO ASI 120MC-S to do planetary imaging only to find in my beginners ignorance that the planets are up in the daytime at the moment so it's going to be a while before I can use it! While the Celestron is a great beginners observing mount the tripod might as well be made from bendy straws, given how wobbly it is. I'd like to try DSOs and maybe galaxies on an eq mount and setup.

How should I spend up to £1,000? I am a techie so would like to slowly graduate up to dedicated astro cameras connected to my laptop or similar, rather than investing in a DSLR. Given the kit I have at the moment I was considering:

1. HEQ5 Pro mount
2. Some kind of guide scope + ASI camera I already have for guiding
3. Using the OTA from the Celstron and the old Nikon DSLR while I'm learning.
4. Keep the difference and save for an imaging OTA and/or a DSO camera later in the year.

Alternatively I see the 130pds get a lot of love here so perhaps that plus the HEQ5 Pro?

For context this would be mostly for backyard photography in a class 5 bortle suburb, but with the ability to throw everything in the car and find some dark skies on occasion.

What do you think? Feel free to suggest alternatives completely different from the above.

[ollypenrice]

You're thinking very much along the right lines with mount first. I'd keep your 1 to 4 as it is. Master the mount and the business of guiding (which you are unlikely to find difficult if you're a techie) and get focus right then learn the rudiments of image calibration, stacking and post-processing. The only thing I'd add is that you don't need a scope at all, you could try camera lens imaging. There are some outstanding Samyang lenses winning friends on here or you could look for an old prime lens to fit your camera. You don't need autofocus. Oh, add a Bahtinov mask to your shopping list.

What about software? DSS will get you started for free on stacking and calibrating but I greatly prefer AstroArt which is moderately priced. You'll then be faced with the Photoshop-Pixinsight dilemma. I use both but am really a Photoshop diehard. Or there's Astro Pixel Processor, Gimp, etc.

Olly

[DaveS]

At the risk of a broadside from Olly, if you get AstroArt 7 for your stacking and calibration you can also get started on post. Being a lazy cheapskate it's the only software I use. For results see my thread in the 2019 showcase, and my year at a dark site threads in Imaging > Deep Sky.

Although I'm mainly a 'frac guy, I would have to say that a 130P-DS on an HEQ5 is a pretty good starting setup, but allow funds for a coma-corrector, the Baader MPCC mk3 is well regarded.

[Spaced Out]

26 minutes ago, DaveS said:

Although I'm mainly a 'frac guy, I would have to say that a 130P-DS on an HEQ5 is a pretty good starting setup, but allow funds for a coma-corrector, the Baader MPCC mk3 is well regarded.

I started with a HEQ5 and 130PDS, don’t regret it and I’m still using it now to learn the ropes.

Only issue I had early on was learning collimation, but with practice things slowly started to fall into place.

I found the whole process a bit of a learning curve, especially adding in guiding and new software, all good tho. I really enjoy using this setup and I’m still learning new stuff all the time. Loads of good support on here too, I was on all the time asking for help with this or that........ and I still am !

[SiD the Turtle]

Cheers everyone, good input!

I think to pace myself I'm going to get the HEQ5, and a guide scope and pair it with my existing OTA. Can always spend the rest on the 130PDS or similar down the road.

When it comes to guide scopes, any recommendations? Some of them are more expensive than OTAs!

Software is a good question, I won't open that can of worms here!

Edited February 18, 2020 by SiD the Turtle

[DaveS]

ST80 plus your choice of camera is pretty popular and won't break the bank.

[TerryMcK]

A cheap finderscope like a SW 9x50 clone is good. Paired to a decent mono camera it works well.

[daemon]

I find the ZWO Mini Guide scope excellent.....https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/zwo-mini-guide-scope.html

It's small and light and will not add too much weight to a small rig.

I paired mine with an Altair GPCAM2 AR130 and they make a great pair.

 

[SiD the Turtle]

Payday! Looking to pull the trigger on:

• HEQ5 Pro
• Bahtinov Mask
• ZWO guide scope
• (All on my existing 127 MAK OTA with the Nikon for now).

Just shy of £900 so a bit to spare further down the line or indeed for software licenses! Anything obvious I've missed?

[R26 oldtimer]

I would save the  £90 from the zwo guidescope + the spare £100 and would go for a 130pds. You can make a diy adapter to use the 6x30 finder that comes with the pds as guidescope, or get a second hand 8x50 finderscope/guidescope  later, for under £50