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Hello from the Cotswolds

Sarek

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Sarek

Sarek

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Hi, I'm right at the beginning of my astro photography journey so still in the research stages. Expenditure so far limited to the "Make every photon count" book and an intervalometer for my camera - and so it starts!

Fairly dark skies here (Bortle 4 or 5 I guess) so hoping this is a hobby that can produce some good results.

From what I've read so far best advice seems to be to try and prioritise a good mount over other equipment. I already have a decent bridge camera (Panasonic FZ1000) so will start with that before looking at dedicated astro cameras.  If I add a scope I will need something other than my bridge camera as the lens on that is not detachable. I guess my options would be to get a conventional DSLR (maybe just a second hand body) or an astro camera.  Mount wise I was thinking  Skywatcher EQ5 or even HEQ5?  

I'd love to be able to get shots of nebulae but also keen to get some of planets too.

I'm a complete beginner as far astro photography software goes but have some experience with photo editing. I appreciate I may have some steep learning curves ahead!

That's it - looking forward to the journey and some dark skies!

 

 

 

 

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rl

rl

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Welcome..

As you know for certain you're going down the photography route I'd recommend the HEQ5 over the standard EQ5..it's a big step up in stability and load carrying capacity. Maybe even an EQ6 level mount if you know you won't have to carry it far and you know you will get a scope in the future, but look carefully at the portability aspect and what scope you might get.

A secondhand Canon DSLR body would be a good dedicated astro camera to start with if you can't run to a cooled astro jobbie..just get one with the liveview feature. The cost is relatively low. They're always useful as a second camera for widefield just because of the sensor size. It is possible to remove one of the internal filters to improve the red sensitivity which makes a big difference. 

Scopes tend to work better than the majority of camera lenses...they are optimised for just one purpose and give their best results at full aperture. Owning an 80mm apochromat is something of a rite of passage for good reasons. You will need an apochromat (ED glass or triplet) for astrophotography; the much cheaper achromats lack adequate colour correction.

Yes, the learning curve is very steep! But the path is now very well trodden and you're in the right place for free expertise. 

You will find lots of enthusiastic help to empty your bank balance on this site...

RL

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Sarek

Sarek

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1 hour ago, rl said:

Welcome..

As you know for certain you're going down the photography route I'd recommend the HEQ5 over the standard EQ5..it's a big step up in stability and load carrying capacity. Maybe even an EQ6 level mount if you know you won't have to carry it far and you know you will get a scope in the future, but look carefully at the portability aspect and what scope you might get.

A secondhand Canon DSLR body would be a good dedicated astro camera to start with if you can't run to a cooled astro jobbie..just get one with the liveview feature. The cost is relatively low. They're always useful as a second camera for widefield just because of the sensor size. It is possible to remove one of the internal filters to improve the red sensitivity which makes a big difference. 

Scopes tend to work better than the majority of camera lenses...they are optimised for just one purpose and give their best results at full aperture. Owning an 80mm apochromat is something of a rite of passage for good reasons. You will need an apochromat (ED glass or triplet) for astrophotography; the much cheaper achromats lack adequate colour correction.

Yes, the learning curve is very steep! But the path is now very well trodden and you're in the right place for free expertise. 

You will find lots of enthusiastic help to empty your bank balance on this site...

RL

Thank you for the welcome rl and great advice all. I'm slowly absorbing it! 

I keep hearing people talk about removing one of the DSLR filters but not sure what is involved - presumably that's not a DIY job? What's the likely cost? After it's done I suppose it wouldn't work well as a normal DSLR? Could it be corrected with a filter if needed?

I'm thinking about how portable a set up might be and whether its realistic to take it all to a remote location - we're lucky here in the Cotswolds to have some pretty dark skies quite close. How do people manage with taking flats in a remote location? - sorry if that's a naive question!

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rl

rl

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I keep hearing people talk about removing one of the DSLR filters but not sure what is involved - presumably that's not a DIY job? What's the likely cost? After it's done I suppose it wouldn't work well as a normal DSLR? Could it be corrected with a filter if needed?

I'm thinking about how portable a set up might be and whether its realistic to take it all to a remote location - we're lucky here in the Cotswolds to have some pretty dark skies quite close. How do people manage with taking flats in a remote location? - sorry if that's a naive question!

The basic silicon sensor with no filters has its peak response in the red part of the spectrum. It's to do with how far different wavelengths penetrate into the silicon before getting absorbed and releasing an electron to the well; red penetrates more effectively. Thus camera manufacturers add a filter (it looks pale green) in from of the sensor to cut down the red response to something better matching the green and blue. This can be removed and the full red response restored. 

If you are confident and the camera is not a family heirloom then it is possible to do it yourself with a set of jewellers screwdrivers. There are instructions on the web (youtube?) on exactly how to do it. You need to take some antistatic precautions to avoid damaging the electronics; avoid nylon shirts and earth yourself while messing inside the camera. There were a couple of people doing the mod commercially; Cheap astrophotography did mine and made a good job of it. It's all explained in the on-line writeups. 

There are actually 2 filters; removing both is called the "full spectrum" mod and gives the best red sensitivity. But...the camera is now a one-trick pony. The autofocus won't work any more with camera lenses and the distance scale on manual lenses will be wrong. The stage one mod removes and replaces the green filter leaving the other in place. This keeps the camera useful as a normal camera, albeit with a pink cast. The cast can be removed in processing. 

I'm ashamed to admit I don't bother with flats. I'm strictly amateur! I make do with just lights and dark frames. I suspect you could do flats back at base with short exposures but speak to an expert about that one...they would be essential if you were doing photometry.

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Sarek

Sarek

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7 minutes ago, rl said:

The basic silicon sensor with no filters has its peak response in the red part of the spectrum. It's to do with how far different wavelengths penetrate into the silicon before getting absorbed and releasing an electron to the well; red penetrates more effectively. Thus camera manufacturers add a filter (it looks pale green) in from of the sensor to cut down the red response to something better matching the green and blue. This can be removed and the full red response restored. 

If you are confident and the camera is not a family heirloom then it is possible to do it yourself with a set of jewellers screwdrivers. There are instructions on the web (youtube?) on exactly how to do it. You need to take some antistatic precautions to avoid damaging the electronics; avoid nylon shirts and earth yourself while messing inside the camera. There were a couple of people doing the mod commercially; Cheap astrophotography did mine and made a good job of it. It's all explained in the on-line writeups. 

There are actually 2 filters; removing both is called the "full spectrum" mod and gives the best red sensitivity. But...the camera is now a one-trick pony. The autofocus won't work any more with camera lenses and the distance scale on manual lenses will be wrong. The stage one mod removes and replaces the green filter leaving the other in place. This keeps the camera useful as a normal camera, albeit with a pink cast. The cast can be removed in processing. 

I'm ashamed to admit I don't bother with flats. I'm strictly amateur! I make do with just lights and dark frames. I suspect you could do flats back at base with short exposures but speak to an expert about that one...they would be essential if you were doing photometry.

Thank you - really helpful explanations. If the cost is not prohibitive I might look to get someone with experience to make the filter mods as I'm not that confident to do it myself. I will have a look on you tube though.

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Xsubmariner

Xsubmariner

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Hi and welcome to the forum. I started AP in 2016 and it has been a wonderful journey of discovery. You are fortunate there is a broad range of telescopes, mounts and software available at this time with options for most budgets. 

I would recommend an NEQ6 size for your first AP mount. The extra load capacity will give greater flexibility for imaging setups, my mobile system EQ6 has ably supported my 130mm Triplet together will guide and imaging cameras and all supporting accessories. 

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adyj1

adyj1

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@Sarek, Hi and welcome. 

As you have already learned, there are no shortage of options to suit any budget - and budget is the absolute limiting factor... 

Can you afford to spend big on a 'proper' mount? The EQ6 is better than the HEQ5 and the HEQ5 is better than the eq5. None of them are 'portable'*, but the better they are the heavier they are. You will want to spend money on other astro essentials, so I wouldn't recommend blowing the whole budget on the mount. Will you be imaging from the back garden, or do you need to travel to get a clear sky? 

I was finance-bound when I started and got all my kit second-hand and mainly from this week group: DSLR (eventually modded by cheap astrophotography), EQ5 (motorised, and eventually diy modded to goto), and 150pds. I've supplemented it with diy auto-focuser, dew control, imaging pc and filters, but these upgrades took quite a long time because of finances. The 'big upgrade' I decided to plump for when I did come into a bit of money was a dedicated cooled astrocamera (ASI533MC Pro). Still imaging on my eq5 and not regretting it 😉 

So the tldr; is that recommendations need to reflect your budget and desire/ability to add funds... 

Ady

Edit: *Oops - by 'not portable', I mean that you'd want to carry for any distance - they can all be unloaded from the back of a car and carried somewhere close... 

Edited by adyj1
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