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confused...... as always

goatshoes

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ashenlight

ashenlight

Posted
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Hi goatshoes :)

I'm sorry but I can't help you on the CCD front. Hopefully some of our imagers will come forward with some suggestions.

On the 3x barlow, I purchased one from FLO (Tal 3x barlow) a while back and it has been my best purchase yet! It has provided stunning planetary observing session and has been great for splitting doubles - especially the famous double double Epsilon Lyrae. Just be careful that when using it you aren't getting to the limit of your scope's magnification - even if your scope can take higher mag, the seeing might not be able to. Just experiment :grin: I have found that working with 60-70% of my scope's total available magnification has afforded me the best views.

So yes, IMO, go for the 3x barlow :)

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DeanWatson

DeanWatson

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Hi GS, are you new to astrophotography or are you experienced? You may want to start with a digital SLR as I have been using for many years for deepsky and I have no plans to 'upgrade' as I'm not always convinced that going to a cooled CCD is always that. Most people use Canon EOS with the advantage that you can take it to the zoo or a wedding.

If you are planning on lunar or planetary imaging a webcam or a (meade, celestron etc) planetary imager is a good option (around the £150 mark) - or of course a ccd.

But anyway, let us know the level you are or want and i'll be happy to help.

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DeanWatson

DeanWatson

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Hi GS, just noted from another thread that you already use one but that you get star trails. To be honest if I were you get a better tracking (ideally german equatorial mount) and/or (if your mount is ok) autoguider. If you get trails, a CCD won't help!

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goatshoes

goatshoes

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Thanks , Dean!!! I am very new.....2 weeks new to be exact. I have a brand new Canon eos 450 Rebel xsi that I am not too good with...and I have taken it to the zoo.. :).....but every shot I take over 3 minutes results in star trails even with my computerized mount...Celestron 130slt....so I figured a CCD which takes tons of short exposures was the way to go... I want to shoot galaxies mainly...but after tossing over $1,500 dollars into this obsseion in the last few weeks I'd hate to throw in another large sum when I should most likely try to get used to running this equipment properly. Thanks again....imptiently.

Gino

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John

John

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I'm not an imager but I think you will need an equatorial mount to tackle deep sky objects - the SLT mount is OK for planets / lunar and basic snaps of the brightest DSO's, from what I've learned from our imagers.

John

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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Gino, you need different photographic equipment for different objects. For Lunar/Planetary images, you need a fast capture device like a Webcam so that you can take many sub second images and stack them and your existing alt.az mount will be fine for this.

For DSO imaging, you will need either your DSLR or a CCD camera (I'd stick with the Canon 450 for now though until you have gained a little more experience) but your mount is going to be the limiting factor I am afraid, being an Alt./Az. mount, it tracks in horizontal and vertical steps which will result in your images suffering from 'field rotation (an effect whereby the stars away from the centre of the image will trail in a circular motion). In addition, the long exposures required for DSOs will mean that your tracking must be very accurate or you will get other kinds of star trailing too and this really requires a guided equatorial mount.

Don't get me wrong, you can take DSO images with your mount and DSLR but I would recommend that you take lots of 30-45 second images and stack them to get the best results with your existing equipment.

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