Help with assembling a setup

[FenlandPaul]

I’m hoping I can tap into some of the amazing expertise on here, and my experience is SGLers are usually excellent at helping people spend money wisely!

Over the last 4 months or so I have had my Astro-mojo restored via simple DSLR imaging and landscape astrophotography.  I’ve also really enjoyed doing nighttime and daytime timelapses.  But I have limited imaging equipment at the moment, so I’m looking to make some purchases.  I’m selling on my (much loved, but currently underused) visual kit and hope to build a versatile imaging setup that’ll help me to progress with Astro and also daytime time lapses.

My interests lie in wide field (incl Astro-landscapes) and deep sky.  I’d like to be able to dabble with some lunar as well, but I’m happy if this setup can’t handle planetary at this stage.  I’d still like to do some visual, but am happy to have less firepower for that for now.

Conservatively, my budget is £1,800.  I could stretch to £2,000, but want to do this in a cost-neutral way so it will depend on whether I sell all the kit I’m expecting.

So here’s what I currently have, after selling my visual kit:

• Canon EOS 1000D (standard)
• Canon EOD 450D (modded)
• Samyang 16mm f/2 lens
• Altair Astro Starwave 70ED
• Skywatcher Star Adventurer pro pack
• SW AZ5 

One things that bugs me about the 450D is the readout time, which seems to effectively halve my imaging time. [FIXED - SEE BELOW!!]

So I’m interested in combinations of kit, mostly used, that might accommodate my requirements, including:

 

EQ mount

Fixed lenses (got my eye on the Samyang 135)

Alternative scope(s)

Alternative camera (original 6D?)

 

Or alternatively a method to narrow things down!!

Very grateful for any thoughts!!

 

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by FenlandPaul
450d readout now fixed

[michael8554]

1 hour ago, FenlandPaul said:

One things that bugs me about the 450D is the readout time, which seems to effectively halve my imaging time.

Explain. Should Save to the memory card immediately, to a PC in a couple of seconds ?

Unless you have the camera's Noise Reduction switched on in the Custom Settings, which doubles the exposure time ?

Michael

[FenlandPaul]

3 minutes ago, michael8554 said:

Explain. Should Save to the memory card immediately, to a PC in a couple of seconds ?

Unless you have the camera's Noise Reduction switched on in the Custom Settings, which doubles the exposure time ?

Michael

Hmmmm, that’s a very good point. Will need to check that out because it is taking roughly twice the exposure time to read out to PC. Will report back when home!!

[FenlandPaul]

8 hours ago, michael8554 said:

Explain. Should Save to the memory card immediately, to a PC in a couple of seconds ?

Unless you have the camera's Noise Reduction switched on in the Custom Settings, which doubles the exposure time ?

Michael

Thank you - 450D now reading out beautifully!!  🤦‍♂️

[wimvb]

If I were in your position, I would invest in that Samyang, and maybe a longer fl lens (200 - 300 mm). Add a simple guide setup, perhaps based on a finder guider and a ASI120 camera.

Edited October 1, 2020 by wimvb