Help with Beginner Astrophotography Setup

[Ryan Adams]

Hi there,

I am relatively new to astronomy, as well as this forum so I'm sorry if anything seems obvious that I don't pick up on. However after using a very basic set up to capture some photos of the moon I wanted to invest in some astrophotography equipment.

Ideally I am looking to spend around £800 - £900, and I wanted some ideas on good mounts as well as scopes that can be used to take decent images of the moon along with other celestial bodies in the solar system. 

I have been looking at the Celestron Nexstar 6SE as well as the sky watcher explorer/evostar series attached to a EQ-5 Pro GOTO Mount but as I said I am relatively new to the hobby and have no idea what's good and what's bad. 

I would also prefer it if the mount is suitable for deep sky astrophotography along with planetary imaging as once I get the hang of planetary imaging I would like to take a stab at deep sky astrophotography.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ryan

[Astrosharkey]

Nexstar is an Altaz mount and although fine for moon and planets will not really do the job for long exposure long duration deep space photography, the eq5 will achieve but ideally you want the HEQ5 as a minimum (I started with an eq5 goto mod)

[Ryan Adams]

1 hour ago, Astrosharkey said:

Nexstar is an Altaz mount and although fine for moon and planets will not really do the job for long exposure long duration deep space photography, the eq5 will achieve but ideally you want the HEQ5 as a minimum (I started with an eq5 goto mod)

What scopes would you recommend then with the HEQ5 mount? 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

A big question is what you want to image. I see you've tagged the post with both 'planetary' and 'deep sky' but the scope and mount requirements are quite different I'm afraid.

Edited June 1, 2020 by Knight of Clear Skies

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Ryan,

Around 2 1/2 years ago I was more of a newbie than you consider yourself at the moment. I had never owned a telescope at all but always had a real interest in Astronomy so heading towards retirement with some time to spare now I decided it was time to get one.

Luckily I found this forum and got some great advice otherwise God knows how much I would have spent on wrong equipment.

First of all there are no silly questions on this forum so never be afraid to ask, you will never be belittled for any lack of knowledge, not on this forum,  and help is here.

Being still a relative newbie I am not in much of a position to help you that much myself. You already have some knowledge with your Lunar photography, I was really green when I first posted, and from the start I always wanted to get into Astrophotography, so I asked about  a setup for under £1000 that would capture images of everything in the heavens. I learnt pretty soon that there really is no one scope / camera setup that will do for all and really planetary and DSO's require quite different setups if you are to get the best from it.

Yes there are plenty of scopes that will cope with both and some cameras as well but you will probably end up with a "Jack of all trades" that is not he best for either.

I originally thought magnification was what you wanted and the best scope would be one with the most magnification. How wrong could I be.  More strange to me as well was that DSO's , the furthest things away, require the least magnification. It's all about the amount of light yo can gather, and for DSO's you need a reasonably wide field of view as these things are so big. In fact there are some excellent DSO images taken without  a scope at all, just a DSLR camera and lens on a mount. 

One thing that is common it the mount and that should be where most of your budget goes if you are on a tight budget. The HEq5 is ideal and many come up 2nd hand so can be had from around £500 - £550.

For people to recommend a scope and camera it may help if you can say what your main interest is, planetary / moon or DSO's. Or do you really want to do both ?

Do you have a DSLR ? If so that is a great start and saves a lot of money on a camera. Even if not a 2nd hand DSLR is also a real money saving way into AP and can produce great images. 

Anyway, I will leave it to the experts to advise better but do not be in a rush to send your hard earned cash, there is no astronomical darkness at the moment so imaging sessions are short and difficult at moment, so you have lots of time to make sure you get the equipment that is right for you.

And Enjoy it, its a great hobby obsession 🙂 

Steve

Edited June 1, 2020 by teoria_del_big_bang

[carastro]

Agree that the mount is the most important to get right, the HEQ5 is much more capable and sturdier than the EQ5 and I absolutely recommend that, it is what I use.

A good compromise scope would be a Skywatcher 130PDS (note the PDS as these scopes are adapted for astrophotography) some of the non PDS versions you cannot get focus with a Newtonian with a camera.  With a barlow you can also use this scope for planets. 

A Newtonian will need collimating regularly, but if you are not up for that, then i would recommend a small refractor.  It needs to be an Apo to avoid chromatic aberration, but this will be more expensive than a Newtonian.  a good starter scope would be an ED80, or one of the smaller William Optics scopes.  These won't be so good for planets though as the planets will be too small.

Hope this helps.

Carole 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2020 by carastro

[Ryan Adams]

2 hours ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Ryan,

Around 2 1/2 years ago I was more of a newbie than you consider yourself at the moment. I had never owned a telescope at all but always had a real interest in Astronomy so heading towards retirement with some time to spare now I decided it was time to get one.

Luckily I found this forum and got some great advice otherwise God knows how much I would have spent on wrong equipment.

First of all there are no silly questions on this forum so never be afraid to ask, you will never be belittled for any lack of knowledge, not on this forum,  and help is here.

Being still a relative newbie I am not in much of a position to help you that much myself. You already have some knowledge with your Lunar photography, I was really green when I first posted, and from the start I always wanted to get into Astrophotography, so I asked about  a setup for under £1000 that would capture images of everything in the heavens. I learnt pretty soon that there really is no one scope / camera setup that will do for all and really planetary and DSO's require quite different setups if you are to get the best from it.

Yes there are plenty of scopes that will cope with both and some cameras as well but you will probably end up with a "Jack of all trades" that is not he best for either.

I originally thought magnification was what you wanted and the best scope would be one with the most magnification. How wrong could I be.  More strange to me as well was that DSO's , the furthest things away, require the least magnification. It's all about the amount of light yo can gather, and for DSO's you need a reasonably wide field of view as these things are so big. In fact there are some excellent DSO images taken without  a scope at all, just a DSLR camera and lens on a mount. 

One thing that is common it the mount and that should be where most of your budget goes if you are on a tight budget. The HEq5 is ideal and many come up 2nd hand so can be had from around £500 - £550.

For people to recommend a scope and camera it may help if you can say what your main interest is, planetary / moon or DSO's. Or do you really want to do both ?

Do you have a DSLR ? If so that is a great start and saves a lot of money on a camera. Even if not a 2nd hand DSLR is also a real money saving way into AP and can produce great images. 

Anyway, I will leave it to the experts to advise better but do not be in a rush to send your hard earned cash, there is no astronomical darkness at the moment so imaging sessions are short and difficult at moment, so you have lots of time to make sure you get the equipment that is right for you.

And Enjoy it, its a great hobby obsession 🙂 

Steve

I currently have an old cannon DSLR that I believe is good enough for astrophotography.

In regards to which type of astrophotography I would rather do deep sky however, I’ve read that it can be challenging so I thought planetary imaging would be better for a beginner such as myself.

Thank you,

Ryan

[Ryan Adams]

4 hours ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

A big question is what you want to image. I see you've tagged the post with both 'planetary' and 'deep sky' but the scope and mount requirements are quite different I'm afraid.

I would much rather do deep sky astrophotography but I’ve read that it can be challenging so I thought planetary imaging would be better for a beginner like me. However, if it isn't too difficult to do deep sky astrophotography then I would rather get a scope for that rather than planatery imaging.

Thanks, 

Ryan

Edited June 1, 2020 by Ryan Adams

[spillage]

I do deep sky stuff and have not touched the planetary stuff for years. I think if I went back to it I would have a learning curve to get over. Deep sky stuff yes is challenging but not ridiculous to do. It all comes down the the end user and how far they want to go.

If you want a starup no fuss set up then as @carastro mentioned above a heq5 minimum for your mount and something like a ed80 for a scope. The scope is a not fuss out the box ready to go. A cheaper option again recommend by @carastro is the 130pds. Much cheaper scope but will need some tinkering.

If you are prepared to do a bit of work then this hobby is cheaper. If you want to buy without much fuss then the prices will go up quickly.

Keep an eye on abs for second hand kit.

heq5 second hand £500

neq6 second hand £700

130pds second hand £100-120

I always look to sell and buy at around 70% of the original cost.  Just do not make the mistake many of us have and buy new kit that needs changing in 5 minutes and end up costing you money.

 

HTH

[Ryan Adams]

11 minutes ago, spillage said:

I do deep sky stuff and have not touched the planetary stuff for years. I think if I went back to it I would have a learning curve to get over. Deep sky stuff yes is challenging but not ridiculous to do. It all comes down the the end user and how far they want to go.

If you want a starup no fuss set up then as @carastro mentioned above a heq5 minimum for your mount and something like a ed80 for a scope. The scope is a not fuss out the box ready to go. A cheaper option again recommend by @carastro is the 130pds. Much cheaper scope but will need some tinkering.

If you are prepared to do a bit of work then this hobby is cheaper. If you want to buy without much fuss then the prices will go up quickly.

Keep an eye on abs for second hand kit.

heq5 second hand £500

neq6 second hand £700

130pds second hand £100-120

I always look to sell and buy at around 70% of the original cost.  Just do not make the mistake many of us have and buy new kit that needs changing in 5 minutes and end up costing you money.

 

HTH

Sorry if this is obvious but what is the difference between the mounts as you increase in price. I know that they are better but in what aspects? 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

1 hour ago, Ryan Adams said:

I would much rather do deep sky astrophotography but I’ve read that it can be challenging so I thought planetary imaging would be better for a beginner like me. However, if it isn't too difficult to do deep sky astrophotography then I would rather get a scope for that rather than planatery imaging.

Thanks, 

Ryan

It's a learning curve, certainly. Looking at your budget and if you'd prefer to image DSOs have you considered DSLR imaging with camera lenses? There are some large targets up there and everything is more forgiving at short focal lengths. For example, here's my latest effort with a couple of 135mm lenses.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

2 minutes ago, Ryan Adams said:

Sorry if this is obvious but what is the difference between the mounts as you increase in price. I know that they are better but in what aspects? 

Essentially, tracking accuracy and payload capacity.

[Ryan Adams]

1 minute ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

It's a learning curve, certainly. Looking at your budget and if you'd prefer to image DSOs have you considered DSLR imaging with camera lenses? There are some large targets up there and everything is more forgiving at short focal lengths. For example, here's my latest effort with a couple of 135mm lenses.

I’m not sure how into it I would be as I quite like viewing the objects with the telescope but thank you for the suggestion though

[Ryan Adams]

1 minute ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Essentially, tracking accuracy and payload capacity.

So in your opinion is the jump in quality between the NEQ6 and the HEQ6 worth the extra £200? 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

6 minutes ago, Ryan Adams said:

So in your opinion is the jump in quality between the NEQ6 and the HEQ6 worth the extra £200? 

Think you mean the HEQ5?

As I understand it, it depends what scope you put on it. The NEQ6 doesn't necessarily track more accurately but has a higher payload capacity, whereas the HEQ5 does track better than some cheaper mounts. Both mounts require guiding (guide-scope + camera) to achieve long exposures.

[Ryan Adams]

3 minutes ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Think you mean the HEQ5?

As I understand it, it depends what scope you put on it. The NEQ6 doesn't necessarily track more accurately but has a higher payload capacity, whereas the HEQ5 does track better than some cheaper mounts. Both mounts require guiding (guide-scope + camera) to achieve long exposures.

Thank you 

[carastro]

It's no good having the best optics in the world if you put it on a mount that is not up to the job.   this smaller EQ mounts are really only suitable for visual or maybe imaging just with a camera, and I am not sure if all the models are capable of guiding which is essential for long exposure. 

Carole 

Edited June 1, 2020 by carastro

[teoria_del_big_bang]

A belt modded HEQ5 is up for sale on this forum and looking at pics looks in good order.

heq5-pro-belt-mod

And I do DSOs and had some what I consider pretty good images. Never really tried planets but I do not think DSO's are really harder than planets but need a different approach and different scope / camera setup to get best results. Also with DSO's there is always something up there to image and if viewing is good (clear night etc) then they come around every year, planets not always available to image and in fact I do not think particularly good for imaging for a year or two (at their best anyway).  So I wouldn't choose planets because they are easier, in fact I think in many cases the opposite may be true.

Steve

Edited June 1, 2020 by teoria_del_big_bang