Hi Everyone and first time buying advice

[Lampertron]

Hi Everyone!

Great forum and very help, but the gear lust is almost overwhelming!

I and looking for a first time telescope and have about £600 to spend.  This is going to be a new hobby so ideally I would like something that would allow me to observe and photograph the planets and the if possible some DSOs like the M41 and the Crab.

My DSLR is a Cannon 5DMK3, which I am wondering might be a too heavy for this at 800g, but I could/would consider buying a dedicated camera a little later when I am more confident.

So in summary, what would you suggest as a good starting scope and mount, but also has the ability to grow with, so that I don't feel I have to replace or upgrade immediately.

Having looked on First Light Optics, I have seen the following....

Sky-Watcher Explorer 150PL EQ3 PRO GOTO
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-150pl-eq-3-pro-goto.html

Sky-Watcher Explorer 150P-DS EQ3 PRO GOTO
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-150p-ds-eq3-2-eq3-pro-goto.html

Celestron NexStar 4SE
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/se-series/celestron-nexstar-4se.html

Celestron 22096 NexStar 102 SLT Computerised Telescope
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-22096-NexStar-Computerised-Telescope/dp/B0007UQNN6

Celestron Nexstar 5 SLT
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/slt-series/celestron-nexstar-5-slt.html

 

What would you suggest based on these choices?

 

Thank you in advance

 

[scitmon]

Firsty, I would recommend buying the book "Making Every Photon Count" before spending significant money.  However I will summarise as best I can....

• Astrophotgraphy is a money pitt.  Hence read the above book before getting into it.
• Photographing DSO's and Bright Objects (Moon and Planets) are very different disciplines.  DSO's require equatorial tracking GOTO mounts and long exposure photographs.  Planets/Moon benefit from high frame rate video captures.
• With your Canon DSLR, that is an ideal starter camera for DSO's.
• With Astrophotgraphy, the mount is everything.  You'll want an equatorial mount which can comfortably cope with your payload.
• Telescope wise... Reflectors offer the best 'bang for buck' in terms of aperture, but big aperture is not required and adds weight and surface area that wind can disturb your tracking.  Small refractors are generally the goto starter scopes for astrophotography, but can be a little more money if your budget is tight.  
• Maksutov scopes like the nexstar are not suitable for DSO's (wrong mount type, and focal length is too long), but are good for planets and moon.  I presume your Canon will have a video mode which might work well.
• Consider that planets can go for long periods below the equator.

If you ask me, I would recommend saving for something like https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-pro-heq5-pro.html for DSO stuff.  I'm not experienced enough in planet photography yet to recommend anything in that area.

 

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by scitmon

[Lampertron]

15 minutes ago, scitmon said:

Firsty, I would recommend buying the book "Making Every Photon Count" before spending significant money.  However I will summarise as best I can....

• Astrophotgraphy is a money pitt.  Hence read the above book before getting into it.
• Photographing DSO's and Bright Objects (Moon and Planets) are very different disciplines.  DSO's require equatorial tracking GOTO mounts and long exposure photographs.  Planets/Moon benefit from high frame rate video captures.
• With your Canon DSLR, that is an ideal starter camera for DSO's.
• With Astrophotgraphy, the mount is everything.  You'll want an equatorial mount which can comfortably cope with your payload.
• Telescope wise... Reflectors offer the best 'bang for buck' in terms of aperture, but big aperture is not required and adds weight and surface area that wind can disturb your tracking.  Small refractors are generally the goto starter scopes for astrophotography, but can be a little more money if your budget is tight.  
• Maksutov scopes like the nexstar are not suitable for DSO's (wrong mount type, and focal length is too long), but are good for planets and moon.  I presume your Canon will have a video mode which might work well.
• Consider that planets can go for long periods below the equator.

If you ask me, I would recommend saving for something like https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-pro-heq5-pro.html for DSO stuff.  I'm not experienced enough in planet photography yet to recommend anything in that area.

 

Planet photograph

Hi Scitmon,

Thanks for your quick reply.

I sort of guessed money pit bit looking at some of the things that are available.  All things being considered, and keeping in mind my hard budget of around £600, what will allow me to get reasonable results and help me build confidence before stepping up to spending the sort of money for the EvoStar 80?

Mike

 

[scitmon]

It's going to be difficult on your strict budget.  An eq3 goto mount and reflector like: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-eq3-pro-goto.html you could get great results with, it breaks your budget by £28 however.  The telescope itself is great, would last your as long as you want it to.  But there is very little wiggle room in the mount, so there is no "ability to grow with" as you put it.  Don't forget other costs  you will need such as power supplies, camera adapters, dew heaters etc.

Edited April 28, 2020 by scitmon

[scitmon]

Another alternative is to skip the telescope altogether if you have some lenses for your camera?  A https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-star-adventurer/skywatcher-star-adventurer-mini-sam-wifi-astro-imaging-mount-bundle.html could be worth considering?

[ThomasF1234]

Hi I started with this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/evostar/skywatcher-evostar-102-eq3-2.html

It includes a great mount and a great telescope. It would work fine for planets, moon etc and when using it I’ve seen some DSO’s (double cluster, M3 ect) however for objects like M44 I discovered that the field of view isn’t big enough so I invested in the William Optics RedCat 51. So if your looking mainly at planets and some DSO’s that would be a good option but if your wanting to look more at DSO’s then you would need something with a bigger FOV. However the EQ3 mount is excellent especially if you get the synscan  GOTO upgrade which is required for tracking objects when taking photos of them to prevent blur ect.

 

[Beardy30]

On 28/04/2020 at 11:44, Lampertron said:

Hi Everyone!

Great forum and very help, but the gear lust is almost overwhelming!

I and looking for a first time telescope and have about £600 to spend.  This is going to be a new hobby so ideally I would like something that would allow me to observe and photograph the planets and the if possible some DSOs like the M41 and the Crab.

My DSLR is a Cannon 5DMK3, which I am wondering might be a too heavy for this at 800g, but I could/would consider buying a dedicated camera a little later when I am more confident.

So in summary, what would you suggest as a good starting scope and mount, but also has the ability to grow with, so that I don't feel I have to replace or upgrade immediately.

Having looked on First Light Optics, I have seen the following....

Sky-Watcher Explorer 150PL EQ3 PRO GOTO
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-150pl-eq-3-pro-goto.html

Sky-Watcher Explorer 150P-DS EQ3 PRO GOTO
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-150p-ds-eq3-2-eq3-pro-goto.html

Celestron NexStar 4SE
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/se-series/celestron-nexstar-4se.html

Celestron 22096 NexStar 102 SLT Computerised Telescope
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-22096-NexStar-Computerised-Telescope/dp/B0007UQNN6

Celestron Nexstar 5 SLT
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/slt-series/celestron-nexstar-5-slt.html

 

What would you suggest based on these choices?

 

Thank you in advance

 

I love my Nexstar can’t beat it for it’s clear crisp views - well built and good quality - high recommended 

Edited May 1, 2020 by Beardy30

[jonathan]

A few things from my own experience...

Don't look at the NexStar 4SE or similar Celestron / Meade 'arm / fork' Goto scopes for astrophotography, your heavy camera would upset the balance and hit the mount near the zenith.

Whether you're into visual or photo, buy a bigger mount than normally comes bundled with the telescope you have your eye on, it will provide steadier views and allow you to upgrade the telescope by at least one size up at a later date.. OR allow you to easily fit more accessories and hang a heavy camera off it without overloading the mount.  For the 150P reflector I'd go for EQ4 or EQ5.  Expect to pay as much or more for the mount as the telescope.

Upgrade to tracking later, just get the mount and telescope first and learn to use it in manual mode, learn some of the night sky, get used to being out in the freezing cold (and become adept at using the mount and scope without the aid of any lights, just star light and your amazing night-adapted eyes).  It may not be long before you want that tracking, but by that time you'll hopefully have the money to buy it (probably around £75).

You *could* go for the EQ3-2 Pro Goto, that would certainly give you everything to start off with, but Goto is not always the easiest thing to use for a beginner, if they go wrong then you could be lost and unable to observe at all (I've seen them be unable to even track or slew, which can really ruin your evening).  This is why I sold my Goto mount and now only use single axis tracking, I lost several perfectly good evenings trying to do the Goto setup and having no end of problems (some noob mistakes, some hardware, some just quirks of the system that didn't make any sense).  Sometimes you can replace the Goto handset with a basic 'tracking only' one, or just put the handset into 'tracking only' mode, I would recommend this mode for the beginner.

Consider that you will also need a decent battery or power supply (6v) to drive a Goto or tracking mount, from personal experience with the typical EQ3-2 tracking motor kit the battery pack is awkward and looks like something Spock usually carried in Star Trek, I replaced this with a small 6v lead acid battery and some home-made wiring (including an inline fuse, important in the event of a short circuit), it lasts a loooong time with this size of mount and is much easier to handle than fiddling around with D cell batteries.  Consider it as a future upgrade / project.  There are pre-made 12v battery packs designed for the larger mounts but I'm not sure if they also can supply 6v, you could look into a simple voltage drop circuit to place between a 12v battery and the mount.  So far as batteries go, I'd always recommend looking at the leisure batteries instead of lead acid, they are usually more expensive but much more robust and won't degrade if discharged beyond 50% as lead acid batteries usually do.

Edited May 2, 2020 by jonathan