Photographer starting out in astronomy

[Splreece]

Hey all.

 

I'm a wildlife and sports photographer but want to move into astronomy via telescope.

Just wondering what would be a recommended kit for someone who has the motivation to learn and build a new skill .. I have a ten yrs old son so being able to see the moon, planets, rings, satellites would be great if we could then print out or record the findings.

 

Budget around 2k.   UK north England based.

 

Thanks in advance.  When I started Photography was so difficult googling the equipment as you always get a mix of rubbish and great gear but so many poor reviews.... Hoping to get some experienced views on the best startup gear that is as automated and computer compatible with photo functionality.   

 

 

[newbie alert]

56 minutes ago, Splreece said:

Hey all.

 

I'm a wildlife and sports photographer but want to move into astronomy via telescope.

Just wondering what would be a recommended kit for someone who has the motivation to learn and build a new skill .. I have a ten yrs old son so being able to see the moon, planets, rings, satellites would be great if we could then print out or record the findings.

 

Budget around 2k.   UK north England based.

 

Thanks in advance.  When I started Photography was so difficult googling the equipment as you always get a mix of rubbish and great gear but so many poor reviews.... Hoping to get some experienced views on the best startup gear that is as automated and computer compatible with photo functionality.   

 

 

Astrophotography covers a vast range and therefore a vast range of equipment.. if you're after planetary/ solar system work then something with a fair focal length , like a SCT..

The planets aren't in the best position in the UK, most of them in the early morning sky atm so your 10 year old maybe dragged out of bed.. To image them look up lucky imaging or join your local astromany club and talk to the members there..

I'd change the title as astromany and astrology are different things

[900SL]

A set of Tarot cards and a crystal ball, perhaps? 

[Stu]

Title changed to avoid confusion 👍

[PeterCPC]

Maybe read "Making every photon count" first.

[tomato]

+1 for getting hold of a copy of “Making every photon count” by Steve Richards, and have a look through the “getting started with imaging” section on here. 

For optimum results different subjects require different equipment, so a one size fits all set up will inevitably be a compromise.

Occasionally you get an imager selling their entire setup in the classified section, so that would make your budget go further, but  be aware that a number have folks have jumped in trying to get a complex set up running from the start and have got frustrated and consequently disillusioned with the hobby, which is a shame. Try and get some results early on, I found this really motivating to continue the imaging journey which I have found immensely rewarding, even if it has emptied my wallet along the way.

[Carbon Brush]

As a wildlife and sports photographer, it is reasonable to assume you a decent quality DSLR and lenses to cover 50 to 200mm FL.

You may also have a good tripod. Photography and astronomy tripods do overlap, but not by much.
If you remember that 0.5deg of shift/flop on a tripod takes you from one side of the moon to thee other, you can see rigidity is vital.

To start, place your DSLR on the tripod and take a few photos of the moon. These being second or less exposures.
You should get some half decent, albeit small, images.
Longer FL lens will give you a bigger image at the expense of longer exposure - but you know that already.

A next step can be taking multiple short images and stacking them in sofrware.

Another step is to buy a small driven mount to track the object.

The attached photo is not one of mine. It was shown to me by someone who doesn't have in depth astronomy or photogprahy knowledge. His (in my view very good) first result.
He used a standard DSLR & lens. Fixed on a small undriven mount that I lent him and stacked about a dozen 5 second exposures.
I think it shows very well what can be produced using limited equipment.

The next stage up would be a driven mount allowing longer FL lens......
Yes I have now lent him a driven mount.
Astrophotography can require a 20 litre bucket filled with £20 notes. But you can get good results for little cost.

HTH, David.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Carbon Brush

[Pete Presland]

I would have a very long think about exactly what you want to image.  Solar system objects require very different methods to Deep Sky Objects . That said you can do both with the same scope. 

Plenty of planetary/Moon images are captured with fast Newtonian telescopes, that are more than cable of capturing Deep Sky Objects as well. It is the methods that are completely different.

If i could only have one scope it would probably be a Newtonian, even though i recently sold the one i had 🙂 

[Lee_P]

As you'll already have a good camera and lenses for your wildlife and sports work, perhaps buy a good tracking mount suitable for astro work, and get experience using your existing kit? If you do that for a year you can learn the basics, and then be in a better position to plan your next steps. 

[Shimrod]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Title changed to avoid confusion 👍

That's a pity - I'd just found the perfect scope

[Splreece]

6 minutes ago, Carbon Brush said:

As a wildlife and sports photographer, it is reasonable to assume you a decent quality DSLR and lenses to cover 50 to 200mm FL.

You may also have a good tripod. Photography and astronomy tripods do overlap, but not by much.
If you remember that 0.5deg of shift/flop on a tripod takes you from one side of the moon to thee other, you can see rigidity is vital.

To start, place your DSLR on the tripod and take a few photos of the moon. These being second or less exposures.
You should get some half decent, albeit small, images.
Longer FL lens will give you a bigger image at the expense of longer exposure - but you know that already.

A next step can be taking multiple short images and stacking them in sofrware.

Another step is to buy a small driven mount to track the object.

The attached photo is not one of mine. It was shown to me by someone who doesn't have in depth astronomy or photogprahy knowledge. His (in my view very good) first result.
He used a standard DSLR & lens. Fixed on a small undriven mount that I lent him and stacked about a dozen 5 second exposures.
I think it shows very well what can be produced using limited equipment.

The next stage up would be a driven mount allowing longer FL lens......
Yes I have now lent him a driven mount.
Astrophotography can require a 20 litre bucket filled with £20 notes. But you can get good results for little cost.

HTH, David.

Thanks David.. really useful I use a 6d and yep all red ring lens's, so the thinking is can I do 2 things... 1 is photography via the dslr and a specialist astrophotography lens and 2 deeper zoom images via a telescope.  Although I'm assuming a lot from telescopes and my ability to use them i.e that telescope like photography is a trial and error till you figure out what you like to take.   

With me having a son, I'm hoping to use the telescope to take and view recognisable objects to a child i.e. moon, some planets I.e. What a 10yr old would know, then the question is what should I look for in the telescope I e. Focal length fstop score which brands are best for tripod rigidity and stopping zoom creep ...

 

But that's me assuming photography and telescopes cross some tech paths..

[Splreece]

10 minutes ago, Lee_P said:

As you'll already have a good camera and lenses for your wildlife and sports work, perhaps buy a good tracking mount suitable for astro work, and get experience using your existing kit? If you do that for a year you can learn the basics, and then be in a better position to plan your next steps. 

Good advice.. I will have to battle my impulsive instinct.   

[Splreece]

25 minutes ago, tomato said:

+1 for getting hold of a copy of “Making every photon count” by Steve Richards, and have a look through the “getting started with imaging” section on here. 

For optimum results different subjects require different equipment, so a one size fits all set up will inevitably be a compromise.

Occasionally you get an imager selling their entire setup in the classified section, so that would make your budget go further, but  be aware that a number have folks have jumped in trying to get a complex set up running from the start and have got frustrated and consequently disillusioned with the hobby, which is a shame. Try and get some results early on, I found this really motivating to continue the imaging journey which I have found immensely rewarding, even if it has emptied my wallet along the way.

Thanks for the reply,

Yeah I got the impression it's similar to dslr in the sense of pick the lens and pod and gear for the type of images.  

 

I'm hoping to do moon/planet imaging via the telescope (so closer and more detailed than dslr and zoom could do) but that sounds quite a range, maybe I need to be specific with which planets due to distance etc (assuming focal length and fstop and tripod make a difference.   If I were to say the moon and possibly Saturn viewing, would that give a hint as the which focal length and tripod mount I needed

 

 

[tomato]

I’m not a lunar or planetary imager but for the best results a short video clip is taken of the subject and then specialist software (available for free) is used to pick the sharpest individual frames from the video (when random blurring caused by our turbulent atmosphere is at a minimum), these are then aligned and stacked by the software to improve the signal to noise ratio. As you are already aware, for planets you will need a suitable lens to make the image a reasonable size in the field of view.

Again, as you already know, long FL telescopes of a reasonable aperture are used to improve the level of detail captured. If the moon and planets are definitely your preferred subjects a scope like this might be a good choice but you would also need a mount to put it on.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-127-ota.html
 

I’m afraid I am about at the limit of my planetary imaging and telescope knowledge, so I would see what the lunar/planetary folks advise.

[Cosmic Geoff]

54 minutes ago, Splreece said:

I'm hoping to do moon/planet imaging via the telescope (so closer and more detailed than dslr and zoom could do) but that sounds quite a range, maybe I need to be specific with which planets due to distance etc (assuming focal length and fstop and tripod make a difference.   If I were to say the moon and possibly Saturn viewing, would that give a hint as the which focal length and tripod mount I needed

 

 

If that's your aim, your DSLR might suffice for imaging the moon, but for the planets you really want a dedicated astro camera e.g. a ASI224MC that can take a video to be processed later by 'lucky imaging'.   For a telescope for planetary imaging, I would recommend a medium aperture SCT, eg a Celestron C8 or C9.25 (though you could use a Newtonian).  For a mount, an alt-azimuth GoTo mount will be entirely adequate (but if you envision deep space long exposure imaging you may prefer to use an equatorial GoTo)

Note that some combinations of camera and telescope will not get the whole Moon in field.

I've already spent more than your £2000 budget for you. 🙂  You will need to decide on your main interest and priorities.

As others have hinted, you can't cover everything with one set of kit.  So far as imaging goes, I have one outfit for widefield & longer exposures & EEVA (q.v.) - (on equatorial GoTo), and another for planetary imaging and shorter exposures of small objects (alt-az GoTo).

[Shimrod]

2 hours ago, Splreece said:

Thanks for the reply,

Yeah I got the impression it's similar to dslr in the sense of pick the lens and pod and gear for the type of images.  

 

I'm hoping to do moon/planet imaging via the telescope (so closer and more detailed than dslr and zoom could do) but that sounds quite a range, maybe I need to be specific with which planets due to distance etc (assuming focal length and fstop and tripod make a difference.   If I were to say the moon and possibly Saturn viewing, would that give a hint as the which focal length and tripod mount I needed

 

 

You've had some suggestions as the type of telescope and mount that might suit for imaging planets, but it would be useful if you could share some information that might help with some of the practical matters of telescope ownership. 

Some considerations are::

• Storage - Have you got somewhere to keep the mount and scope (indoors or outdoors)
• Weight -  Are you carrying this upstairs/downstairs or might you need to carry it some distance
• Setup time - an Alt-Az mount requires less setup time but an equatorial mount is really required for long exposure photography (Deep Sky Objects such as galaxies and nebula). It takes me 3-4 trips to the garden to set up my Celestron AVX mount and telescope

Entry level equatorial mounts (EQ) suitable for AP such as Skywatcher HEQ5 and Celestron AVX will cost around £1000 - add a scope and some extras and you have spent most of your budget. I would concentrate on learning the basiscs and use your DSLR for photography rather than start out with a dedicated astro-camera. If you get an EQ mount you could always get a piggyback bracket to mount your camera on top of the scope and use one of your wider lenses to have a go at some DSO photography as well.

There is also quite a long thread on here about 'No EQ imaging' but I can't remember the exact name - it's worth a read for the type of imaging that can be achieved from an alt-az mount with a bit of skill - hopefully someone else can point you in its direction.

[Mandy D]

Someone has already suggested Making Every Photon Count, so I'll add Astrophotography by Thierry Legault. It covers an awful lot and in good depth.

[happy-kat]

A popular choice for imaging deep space objects is a 135mm lens, a telescope gets you closer for observing but capturing is possible shorter and shorter still, longer is great on Moon planets and galaxies. For fun with just what you have now is combining landscape with startrails using a static tripod and wide lens.