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TobyW

By TobyW
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TobyW

TobyW

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Hi,

 

My first post to the group. I am Toby and I live near Southampton Hampshire.

 

I am looking to start exploring the world of imaging planets and deep space. I have been around the world of YouTube and it seems everyone has a different story to tell in terms of equipment. The main theme seems to be that the rigs they use seem to cost several thousand £?

 

At the moment I have (was given) a Skywatcher 150P (150mm x 750mm Focal Length) on a basic equatorial (non-motorised) mount. It had a T ring in the box to which I can attach my Canon DSLR camera too and that's it... Like I said, I am new here. The whole world of should I go for a CCD / CMOS camera over my DSLR, Do I need an image flattener, Barlow lens, Do I even have the right kind of scope for taking pics of Nebulae etc etc..... My mind has gone mushy.....

 

Anyway, wanted to say hi.

 

TTFN

Toby

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Paul2019

Paul2019

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Hello! Looks like you have also fallen into the black hole of imaging. I dont know anything about reflectors as I am strictly a refractor man but what I do know (think I know) is that you wont nees a flatner with the reflector but may benefit from a coma corrector. My advice would be stick it on the end and give it a whirl, see what happens and enjoy!

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TobyW

TobyW

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Hi Paul,

I only really fell into it because I was given the telescope. trouble is, and probably like most here, once you have seen the planets etc through you get a thirst for more. I then stupidly went onto YouTube and saw people taking pictures of Nebulae and galaxies. That's it, I am hooked and I want to be able to do that. I would be happy with a basic setup to learn the ropes and progress at my own pace rather than splash out thousands on a new rig...

 

Thanks for the welcome BTW.

 

Toby

 

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Ian_M

Ian_M

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Hi Toby,

Don't have much experience with astrophotography on a reflector scope myself but I would start off simple - take pictures of the moon with your DSLR and scope. It's nice and bright so short exposures may still be OK. Maybe a photo of Venus too. It's nice and bright in the evening. You won't be able to see any surface features but you may be able to make out the phase (Venus has phases just like the moon does).

It's always a good idea to wait until you outgrow your equipment before splashing out on new kit. That gives you some experience and then you will have a better idea on what you need to move on. Stick to your DSLR for a while - there are lots of other things to upgrade before you do that (IMHO). First obvious upgrade to me is to a tracking mount so that you can take longer exposure shots but there may be some people out there who have experience with AP with non-motorised mounts.

Clear Skies,

Ian

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TobyW

TobyW

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16 minutes ago, Ian_M said:

Hi Toby,

Don't have much experience with astrophotography on a reflector scope myself but I would start off simple - take pictures of the moon with your DSLR and scope. It's nice and bright so short exposures may still be OK. Maybe a photo of Venus too. It's nice and bright in the evening. You won't be able to see any surface features but you may be able to make out the phase (Venus has phases just like the moon does).

It's always a good idea to wait until you outgrow your equipment before splashing out on new kit. That gives you some experience and then you will have a better idea on what you need to move on. Stick to your DSLR for a while - there are lots of other things to upgrade before you do that (IMHO). First obvious upgrade to me is to a tracking mount so that you can take longer exposure shots but there may be some people out there who have experience with AP with non-motorised mounts.

Clear Skies,

Ian

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the reply and really useful information. I have taken some moon shots with my current setup (see my profile pic, that was my first attempt) and it came out OK I think. I tried to shoot venus last night but it seems that the telescope shakes a fair bit. The DSLR is on a timer so I can press the button and walk away from it but the image still comes out quite splodgy (if that's even a word) as I am finding it hard to focus the camera in the eyepiece (cam eyepiece that is) and then hit the shoot button. I am shooting in prime focus mode (no lens in the scope) using an ISO of about 400 and shutter speed of around 1/640th of a second or the image starts to streak badly...

 

Frustrating to say the least.

 

Thanks again

Toby

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TobyW

TobyW

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Hi Gordon,

This looks like a hobby that require many of years of experience to master. I thought learning Nuclear Physics was difficult  😆😆

Thanks for the welcome.

 

Cheers

Toby

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teoria_del_big_bang

teoria_del_big_bang

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2 minutes ago, TobyW said:

Hi Gordon,

This looks like a hobby that require many of years of experience to master. I thought learning Nuclear Physics was difficult  😆😆

Thanks for the welcome.

 

Cheers

Toby

Hi Toby, welcome to SGL. There is certainly a learning curve to AP but I am still pretty new to this but have found lots of friendly helpful and more experienced people willing to help on this forum.

Also whilst it takes years to master it is much less dangerous when something goes wrong than Nuclear Physics so feel free to experiment to your heart's content 😆

Steve

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TobyW

TobyW

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6 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Hi Toby, welcome to SGL. There is certainly a learning curve to AP but I am still pretty new to this but have found lots of friendly helpful and more experienced people willing to help on this forum.

Also whilst it takes years to master it is much less dangerous when something goes wrong than Nuclear Physics so feel free to experiment to your heart's content 😆

Steve

Hi Steve,

 

This is very true. Experimentation is the key to learning. In my line of work "experimentation" is frowned upon 🤣

 

Cheers for the welcome and I am sure that I will be using the resources in this group to help / guide me.

 

Cheers

Toby

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