Eventually Astrotography

[night_hunter]

Hi, Im new to this community.

Can people please help me with some advice please.

I love anything about the universe, and can look at images, and read about it for hours, if im allowed by my partner . Ive always to be able to take my own photo's of DSO's and galaxies, and until now have always put it off.

Sometime during or after Xmas I want to turn this into a reality, but understand that i cannot just get the equipment and get this done, and that there has to be a starting point, as new to the astronomy side of things.

I have been looking at a scope from a company called SEBEN, but do not know anything about them, I think that I should be purchasing between a 6" and 8" scope with the ability to take photographs in the future.

Here is the link to the scopes i looked at...6" Seben Big Boss 1400-150 Telescope New on eBay (end time 29-Nov-09 22:00:37 GMT)

Ive been looking through some of your guys images, and they are amazing, and i want to eventually get to this stage.

Basically equipment should i get first, i.e what models and accessories do i need as a beginner, with the main aim in mind for the future, and should i purchase a beginners camera.

Any help much apreciated. Be great to hear from some astrotographers and where they started, and then went to!

Kindest Regards

Adam

[vegas]

Hi there,

Im sure that others will have alot of good advice, but I'll put my 2 pennys in quickly.

Im just starting out on the imaging side of things and if you're wanting to do imaging of galaxies and other DSO (Deep Sky Objects) be prepared to spend some money.

imaging planets and the moon can be done relatively cheap with good results from a webcam and stacking programs like Registax.

Imaging objects outside of the solar system though requires more sensitive equipment and often some kind of guiding set up as the exposure times can be long and you often need to take lots of exposures to composite to get the impressive images you see here and on the net.

The basic (and i say basic as I am very aware that this hobby can be a killer on the bank account) set up that I am considering is as follows.

a EQ6 mount (£880) You need the best mount you can afford when imaging DSOs

a 80mm ED APO refractor (around £400) This will be my imaging scope.

another cheaper 80mm refractor (£80) as a guide scope

a QHY5 camera (around £150) to guide with and take lunar images.

I bought a Canon 450D DSLR as my main camera for imaging, this set me back £500. The Canon 1000d though is cheaper and in many ways just as impressive for astro-imaging.

A field flattener (£145) this apparently is needed to avoid curving at the edges.

Plus a netbook which I bought today (£249 Samsung NC10) to help with guiding your set up.

THis list does not include extras such as mounting accessories to fit the scopes together, from my understanding piggyback is cheaper than side by side.

I may be wrong on a few things, but with all my research this seems to be a very acceptable set-up, but like i say still relatively basic in the wider scope of Astrophotography.

I hope this helps a little when considering what equipment will serve you best.

Cheers

Stuart

[alfi]

hi

if you want to image, the mount is very important, put some money on that if imaging is a thing you want to do.

to take long exposures of deep sky objects, you need a mount with tracking.

i would recommend to stick to the known producers, like skywatcher and celestron.

FLO, at the top of the page has good prices, and some nice starter scopes.

alfi

[Whippy]

Hi Adam, welcome to SGL .

First off, avoid Seben, to be honest avoid Ebay! Too many people have bought what looks to be a great scope on the auction page, ends up being left in the corner of the shed never to be used again.

I would always advise to get into stargazing first, buy a scope, learn how it all works and have a grasp of the basics before you take another huge leap by going into astro photography. Trying to take it all in all at once is a receipe for failure.

What you can do is buy equipment now that you will be able to use when you feel confortable to take that leap.

I was observing for a couple of years before I started imaging and I already knew pretty much what I wanted to do and what kit I needed. Buy yourself a setup with a good sturdy mount and enjoy yourself for now, have a look around at what kit people use for imaging and take it from there.

Tony..

[Wiltshiresaint]

Hi Adam,

I'm also interested in getting into the astrophotography side of things, particularly DSOs.

I found this thread very useful:-

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-help/90376-telescopes-astrophotography.html

But the replies you've had so far are all good advice and mirror what I've found out. I'm almost certainly going for an EQ6 Goto mount with an ED80 refractor. I already have the DLSR and laptop.

However, being new to astronomy in general I'm not anticipating much in the way of imagery for a while. It seems to be an area of astronomy that requires more than the usual level of knowledge, patience and dedication (but I think all the more worthwhile for that :-))

[dark knight]

Avoid Seben like the plague!!!!!!!!!

[adamsp123]

One of the best purchases you could make before buying a load of kit is to get this book, it could save you a lot of grief and money.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=makin_every_photon_count