what equipment?

[Lee85]

i havent had a telescope for many years and i would like to buy one that i may be able to take some pictures of galaxies and nebula with.

i have no idea where to start with looking for the right equipment so any suggestions would be appreciated

thanks

[arad85]

What do you have already, including 'scope, mount and photography gear? Bear in mind that astrophotography is a very slippery slope that can cost an awful lot

[Lee85]

What do you have already, including 'scope, mount and photography gear? Bear in mind that astrophotography is a very slippery slope that can cost an awful lot

i havent got anything anymore so im starting from new

[arad85]

Oops... sorry, I read that as "I've had a telescope for many years..." apologies. What's your budget?

[John]

What sort of total budget do you have for this ?

I'm asking this because there are such a wide range of options (and prices) available that it's difficult to know where to start without an idea of what you are prepared to spend.

John

Touche Arad 85 !!!

[Lee85]

i have about £300 to spend but i could get a little bit more

[arad85]

Hmm.. that's could be a toughie. To take good images (have a look in the imaging - seep sky section) you're probably going to need to spend a reasonable amount more than that. However, as a minimum to start with DSOs you need

• Motorised mount with at least a right ascension (RA) drive
  
• Capable telescope
  
• Sensitive camera which can take long exposures (either dedicated astro or dSLR)
  

For your budget, you need to be looking second hand and if you want the field of view that people generally use, you should probably be looking at an 80-100mm refractor. To do closeups of galaxies is much harder as you need to use a very long focal length lens to get the detail - either that or you have a crop from a very high res image. One thing the imagers will tel you is that the mount is king - most use mounts that are several hundred £+

Spend some time browsing the imaging section and look at the equipment people are using to get those pictures... and then start looking for some good bargains...

HTH

[Lee85]

Hmm.. that's could be a toughie. To take good images (have a look in the imaging - seep sky section) you're probably going to need to spend a reasonable amount more than that. However, as a minimum to start with DSOs you need

• Motorised mount with at least a right ascension (RA) drive
  
• Capable telescope
  
• Sensitive camera which can take long exposures (either dedicated astro or dSLR)
  

For your budget, you need to be looking second hand and if you want the field of view that people generally use, you should probably be looking at an 80-100mm refractor. To do closeups of galaxies is much harder as you need to use a very long focal length lens to get the detail - either that or you have a crop from a very high res image. One thing the imagers will tel you is that the mount is king - most use mounts that are several hundred £+

Spend some time browsing the imaging section and look at the equipment people are using to get those pictures... and then start looking for some good bargains...

HTH

awsome thanks also for the info i will have a good look around and see what other people are useing. if i just have a to get a telescope and mount for now i could leave the camera till i next have some money

[Lee85]

i have been looking around and seen this telescope

Meade LX200GPS 14

looks really good but i cant seem to find anywhere that sells them or even the price .

what are some good trusted websites to look for telescopes?

thanks again

[Lee85]

woops maybe not i just seen one that looks the same for £3500

i better go back to drawing board

[arad85]

LOL... £3500 sounds about right! For astro photography work, you need a German Equatorial Mount (GEM). Decent driven ones (CG5/EQ5/HEQ5/EQ6) start at about 500-600 new. You don't want a fork mounted scope at all - the stars rotate in it when you do long exposures....