Newbie shopping list

[Fenton]

Hello,

a noob here so please excuse the stupid questions. I'm putting a shopping list together for a portable telescope based astrophotography rig. 
It has to be portable as the only places in the UK with little light pollution, tend to be at the top of large hills.
My main aim is to have a rig that can be upgraded in time without having to throw too much away. I already have a DSLR (Canon 50D).
But it has to be as cheap as possible, but give me good results so I don't give up immediately because I get crap results.

My list so far.

Mount: Either a SkyWatcher EQ3 Goto Mount and Tripod. My only worry is a max imaging weight of 5kg
or spend the extra money and go with the EQ5, but that may well mean dropping in price on the scope.
I'm leaning towards the EQ3 as it could be a keeper for portability with a small scope.

Scope: Either a Skywatcher 80ED or William Optics Zenithstar 73 III APO, leaning towards the William Optics as it is the faster lens and is lighter.

Guidescope: Astro Essentials 32mm f/4 Mini Guide Scope + ZWO ASI 120MM Mini USB 2.0 Mono Camera

Then comes the accessories.
Image flattener. Is this necessary for a beginner?
T-Mount adapter for the canon.
A 1.25" and/or 2" to T-Mount Adapter.

I'm seen all sort of other accessories online for the camera to scope connection, extenders and the like.
What are the recommended, not vital but will make you life much easier accessories.

Anything else, other than.
Lots of large CF cards
Laptop with interchangeable Battery (and spares)
Lots of camera Batteries.
Lots of Batteries for the mounts.

I'm mostly interested in deep space objects, rather than the moon or planets.

So rip my list apart as you feel fit, but if you can come up with cheaper/alternative components, that would be much appriciated.

 

 

 

 

[The Lazy Astronomer]

Hi and welcome to the forum ☺

When building up an astrophotography rig, the golden rule is buy the best mount you can afford. Everything else is inconsequential.

Due to your portability requirement, you're understandably not going to want to drag a big heavy mount around all the time (it's bad enough just moving mine a few metres into the garden...), so l might suggest you take a look at the ioptron mounts - they're a fair bit pricier than Skywatcher, which is not so good, but they are good mounts and very lightweight.

That said though, is your only reason for not wanting to image from home to do with light pollution concerns, or are there other issues (i.e. no access to outdoor space/very restricted views)? - You can do a lot under even quite significant LP, and you can use special filters to reduce its impact also.

If you are able to do imaging from home, even if you don't really want to, I'd still recommend you do so in the beginning, so you can get plenty of practice in and resolve any issues (and you will encounter issues! 😁) before heading out somewhere with all your equipment and having a frustrating clear night under a dark sky trying to fix problems. 

[Fenton]

I live smack in the middle of London, worst light pollution you can find.

[The Lazy Astronomer]

Ok, yep, not ideal, but l think my point still stands. Sure, your images from central London probably won't be great, but if you have an outdoor space where you live, it will still allow you to get to grips with things, and fine tune various settings so when you do go to darker skies, everything will just work. 

[Louis D]

I suppose you could use ultra narrowband filters to block most light pollution.  They would allow you to do fairly decent nebula photography.  They don't come cheap, though.

Astrodon - 1.25'' Mounted OIII 3nm Narrowband Filter

Astrodon - 1.25" Mounted Narrowband H-Alpha 3 nm Filter

Astrodon - 1.25" Mounted Narrowband NII 3 nm Filter

Astrodon - 1.25" Mounted Narrowband SII 3 nm Filter

[Altair8389]

Hi, interesting question, I have some experience of this setup. It depends on your budget and what you want to image. Maybe you should reduce the size of your telescope to a 50 or 60 mm. The RedCat scopes seem quite good (Petval design). However, once you start putting on telescope rings on the telescopes, your weight will increase dramatically. Getting guiding to operate in a remote location is hard. You will need to perfect it or get lots of practice at home first in your garden.

Can I suggest you don't autoguide but get polar alignment spot on, and use shorter exposures, up to a 1 minute or more should be possible with EQ3 Pro mounts. The tripod is heavy and so is the mount. Taking it up a hill maybe difficult. A more lighter mount like the Skywatcher Star Adventurer may work but you will need the advanced kit with balancing weights so you can balance the camera. It should work with shorter camera lens e.g. wide angle, and lighter telephoto lenses, but a heavy zoom lens won't work well.

So, basically, a smaller telescope is best. I don't think an 80mm telescope can be managed by either EQ3 or Star adventurer mounts. EQ5 is a bit heavier.

Going up a hill ? That's adventurous and strenous. Some locations allow parking near to the best viewing sites, so walking is not too difficult. But I don't think you can drag a lot of equipment up a hill alone. Unless you have 2 or more helpers with you !

Basically you can carry a backpack (not too heavy) and a tripod. The tripod is quite heavy, unless you get the aluminium EQ3 tripod. Hope this helps a bit.

Magnus

[Fenton]

Whilst I may practice at home, this hobby will be an excuse to get out of the house when lockdown is finished, get some exercise for myself and dogs
and do a bit of camping on Dartmoor whilst I'm at it, with a nice bottle of wine when waiting for the exposures to finish ;o)

Now I am leaning towards the EQ5 mount. Start off without the motor drive and goto functionality, good practice in finding stuff by hand.
Rather than go with long exposures, take lots of short exposures and stack em (learn the hard way), then add the Goto stuff later.

 

[Fenton]

Alternatively just go down the photo lens route, but decent photo lenses are more expensive that entire telescope rigs

 

[Altair8389]

Hi Fenton,

I think you can go for the EQ5 mount, but the motor drive is not that heavy I think. If you go this route, you will need to add the motor aspect later or upgrade to a smaller or heavier mount. I am all for exercise, but its hard working in the dark on a hill. You will need regular breaks for fluids, food and bathroom breaks !

 

Hope you find some good clear skies !

Magnus

[Altair8389]

Hi Fenton,

I don't know if you have much astronomy experience, but the best way to start is to get a good pair of binoculars. You don't need those adaptors or filters at first or even a telescope. You can't see much with a telescope as most of it is invisible to your eyes. You should also make sure that you can mount the binoculars on a tripod and something to allow a stable image. You will see a lot more than a telescope with wider views. Once you are familiar with the seasons and sky, you will have a better idea of what you want to see and image.

Astronomy is not easy. It takes time and some practise and lots of knowledge. Even processing images will take as long or longer than you think !

All the best.

Magnus

[Fenton]

I'm in it mainly for the technical challenge, combining my landscape photography experience, and my photoshop experience.
I'm now actually leaning towards this kind of setup

https://astrobackyard.com/deep-sky-astrophotography-kit/

I already have a decent Photography tripod. I looks like I can take some fairly decent shots of DSOs (which is my main interest)
So then the question is Redcat 51 or the William Optics Zenithstar 61 II both appear to be roughly the same weight.

Get the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro Pack so I can go with longer exposures.
If I am then totally gripped by the hobby I can then think of getting a decent heavy mount and bigger scopes. The above setup
can then be a keeper for mobility.

One quick question. Can you use a small scope as mentioned as a guide scope on a larger telescope, assuming you get adapt the mounting?

[Altair8389]

Yes, you can use a small scope as a guidescope. Usually, unless you have an enormous mount costing thousands, you need a small light weight guidescope as there are mechanical and optical reasons for this. A guidescope usually needs a small focal length than typical small telescopes.

Looking at your interests, deep sky astrophotography is one way to go. Backyardastro is a good channel, but you need or  be willing to spend ££££ to copy his setups.

If you want inspiration, the Astronomy Photographer of the Year held at the Greenwich Nautical museum yearly is helpful. Milky Way nightscapes is beautiful and challenging and apart from some good camera lenses, is not prohibitively expensive and not too heavy.

Very best,

Magnus

[The Lazy Astronomer]

1 hour ago, Fenton said:

So then the question is Redcat 51 or the William Optics Zenithstar 61 II both appear to be roughly the same weight.

The redcat is very highly regarded.

If the cost was no concern for you, then redcat would be the one to go for I would say. 

[iapa]

On 23/03/2021 at 23:53, Fenton said:

 

Anything else, other than.
Lots of large CF cards

IMHO TBH large memory cards are not the best.

I have used 32, 64 & 128 cards in my DSLR, for Astro and terrestrial imaging and it takes ages for the camera to read the card’s contents when you power on the camera.

My Canon 70D was over an hour with the 64G card when 75% capacity used.

These are OK, I suppose, is you download everything after every session and clear the card.