Starting camera advice?

[eklipsetim]

Hey, so im new to astrophotgraphy myself. I am using an orion skyquest xt6 dobsonian telescope and for past year or so i have only been using my samsung phone to capture images/videos of moon, jupiter, saturn. Just recently started to dive back into it after playing around with registax. I want to get a cheap camera thats better then my phone so i can also start to possibly capture some deep field photos and stack with them dss and also better shots of planets and such.

So far about the only one i have found thats pretty cheap is this one https://www.amazon.com/Canon-EOS-Rebel-T100-Sunshine/dp/B08TCHD797/ref=pd_ybh_a_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=GB2Z80A70ER6RY6K61MN. 

For a reference heres what i was able to do with my samsung s7 edge phone the other day. Its extremely hard to get these shots on a dobsonian because the earth rotates to dang fast! They are not much but hell of a lot better then last year when i had no clue of stacking and they were just basically light blobs lol. I still have a long ways to go as i have never used any photo editing software like photoshop or gimp.
Any review on said camera or tip towards any other cheap camera will be appreciated.
 

[Alan64]

Nice shots.

"You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!", and in wanting to attempt deep-sky shots with a DSLR, with a manual mount, and a 6" f/8 Newtonian to boot.

I use a point-and-shoot, and soon an SLR, but only for the brighter objects; instant shots...

That's a sampler, and courtesy of my Orion "StarBlast 6", a 6" f/5 Newtonian, which used to be mounted à la Dobson...

I took those images with a now-defunct Canon S110(lens error).  Since that time, I've used an old, 2002 Minolta DiMAGE F100 point-and-shoot, and I have a new old-stock Nikon 1 S1 waiting in the wings.

Are you planning to attach the camera directly to the visual-back, or position it over eyepieces?  If the latter, I'd suggest an SLR rather.

[eklipsetim]

On 09/07/2021 at 17:41, Alan64 said:

I took those images with a now-defunct Canon S110(lens error).  Since that time, I've used an old, 2002 Minolta DiMAGE F100 point-and-shoot, and I have a new old-stock Nikon 1 S1 waiting in the wings.

Are you planning to attach the camera directly to the visual-back, or position it over eyepieces?  If the latter, I'd suggest an SLR rather.

Great picture
My plan was to directly connect the camera to the scope. Never owned a real camera in my life lol.
I have found a Canon EOS Rebel XS body only for just 80 bucks.

Edited July 11, 2021 by eklipsetim

[happy-kat]

That dslr rebel XS is also known as the canon 1000d. 

The canon 550d also known as the T2i has what is termed as video crop mode which is useful on planets, I'm not sure if the 1000d does though it is used on DSO.

A large sensor and large pixels makes for a tiny planet capture.

[Gfamily]

As well as the problem with the Dobsonian not being a tracking mount, it is very likely that you can't get the image to focus directly onto the dSLR sesnsor as the focuser doesn't rack far in enough. 

[happy-kat]

Good point, a google suggests the xt6 has the same issue as a 130P, not enough inward focus travel available to reach infinity focus with a DSLR. Using a barlow may help but make static imaging even more difficult with even shorter exposure lengths.

[Padraic M]

+1 what Gfamily said - go carefully with a DSLR on that telescope. The sensor in a DSLR is set far back into the camera body, behind the mirror. Many Dobsonians and Newtonians aren't designed to be able to focus an image that far back - remember that eyepieces are slotted INTO the focuser tube, not screwed on to the back of it. See this post on Reddit.

The standard workaround is to use a 2x Barlow lens in front of the camera. This will give you focus, but will also double the focal length of your telescope to over 2,000mm and make it extremely difficult to work with - finding targets and getting sharp focus will be difficult, and any tiny movement will ruin your image.

You could look instead at one of the small-format specialist astrophotography cameras such as the ZWO ASI120MC or the T7C camera from Aliexpress. These will work, but you will need to have a PC of some sort (laptop, Raspberry Pi, MiniPC, ASIAir etc.) with you at the telescope to use the camera.

[eklipsetim]

As for the dslr not being able to focus, after some research i was able to find that i should use a Baader Ultra Short Canon EOS T-Ring and a 1.25" T-Adapter(nose piece) 

which would make the camera closer to or the same distance as just using a regular eyepiece.

camera attaches to T-ring which attaches to t-adapter which will then fit in the focuser tube?
I do have a barlow, so if need be the t-adapter can go into it which then slides in the focuser tube.

Edited July 11, 2021 by eklipsetim

[eklipsetim]

I found this which shows where the sensor is. It would seem that the auto focuser is around 3/4 -1 inch embedded, the tiny t-ring adapter is like around 1/2 inch, the nose piece is around 1.2 inches.....so all together the auto focus would be around 2.3 inches?
I cant seem to find exact distance of sensor but a common number i come across is 44mm? Thats a bit bigger distance around 1.7 inches which would mean the total is around 3-3.4inches, now it does seem like it would be a tad to far, the focuser would have to be all the way in. As reference my 32mm eyepiece is around 2.75inch long and focuser has about an inch left after full focus.

So as not to waste money it would seem going for canon 1000d has very high chance to not work and id be out of the money for nothing.

 

[happy-kat]

On a canon EOS the sensor to flange is 44mm. Add to that the thickness of your T ring and T mount.

There's a section on here for smart phone imaging you might find some new ideas to use your phone you already have.

[Alan64]

There is this, and with your existing kit...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJVXCO2Vwac

This, a fun, economical telescope for getting into deep-sky astrophotography.  It's configured to reach focus easily with a DSLR...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-ota.html

Here's a thread about it... https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/210593-imaging-with-the-130pds/

Unfortunately, they're not available in the States.  I'd love to have one myself.  All we have here in so far as solid-tube 130mm f/5 Newtonians are instruments with 1.25" plastic focussers, and for visual-use mostly if not exclusively; for examples...

 https://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Reflector-Telescopes/Reflector-Telescopes-for-Beginners/Orion-SpaceProbe-130ST-Equatorial-Reflector-Telescope/pc/1/c/11/sc/339/p/9007.uts?refineByCategoryId=339

https://www.telescopesplus.com/products/zhumell-z130-portable-altazimuth-reflector-telescope

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/468744-USA/Vixen_Optics_2604_R130Sf_5_1_130mm_Reflector_Telescope.html?ap=y&smp=y

In that you seem to be keen on taking pictures, I would move mountains to get that photographic 130mm f/5 Newtonian.  You'd need an equatorial mount, but not necessarily a go-to; simply motorised at the RA-axis, to get your feet wet, and a bit more besides.

 

[AstroMuni]

On 09/07/2021 at 21:43, eklipsetim said:

to get a cheap camera thats better then my phone so i can also start to possibly capture some deep field photos and stack with them dss and also better shots of planets and such.

Hi,

Take a look at the ZWO ASI 224mc astro camera as well. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras/zwo-asi224mc-usb-3-colour-camera.html is the link to a UK site.

Its reasonably priced and you can get great shots of planets and the brighter DSOs. You can see a few images of DSOs taken with that in my signature.

Edited July 12, 2021 by AstroMuni

[powerlord]

7 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

Hi,

Take a look at the ZWO ASI 224mc astro camera as well. Its reasonably priced and you can get great shots of planets and the brighter DSOs. You can see a few images of DSOs taken with that in my signature.

Not just the brighter ones. I took M51 with mine and was pleased how it came out.

It also comes with a fish eye lens for all sky - so you have that to play with too.

stu

 

[AstroMuni]

4 minutes ago, powerlord said:

I took M51 with mine and was pleased how it came out.

Yes, forgot about that one as I have captured that too. 🙂 The OP uses a non-tracking dobs, so might be a bit of a challenge to get that many shots.