Best images I can achieve with...

[DeviantUK]

I know this is a very vague question but some rough answers would be very much appreciated!

I'm just starting up in astronomy, bought myself a SkyWatcher BKP1145EQ1 although i've been fairly impressed with what ive seen so far (Jupiter and Moons!) via the 1145 my main passion is/would be to take photo's of what ive seen and in greater detail.

I hope to buy a Canon DSLR camera soon, probably a 300/350d I don't want to spend a fortune until I know how to use all the kit together and practice!

So...question is...with the potential combination above what can I achieve in regards images of particular objects and quality, examples would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

p.s. I'd love to image Nebulae, is this a step to far for my budget setup? :S

[cloudbuster]

Hi DEVIANTUK

I'm only a newbee to this great hobby too. If u have a look in my photo album, it will hopefully give u an impression of what can be seen and photographed (albeit poorly on my part!!!!). Please let me know your thoughts, and maybe we can learn and exchange thoughts.

cheers

bob

[DeviantUK]

Hi Bob and thanks for the reply.

Had a looksie at your album did you really take that Orion pic with ur setup??? I'd be amazed if I got anything near that!

I've been reading up on imaging etc, even watched some documentaries and heard people talking about filters? Ha, L and RGB, do you use these or do you just slap the body of the camera onto the eyepiece using an adaptor?

As I said I haven't even got a camera yet and need to weigh up the costs first before I dive in!

...and of course would be great to share thoughts etc.

Cheers again.

[haitch]

I'm not an imager but I know people who are. I think you will be limited to solar system objects because you would need quite long exposures with that aperture for anything else and I don't think the mount would be up to it at that focal length (you also don't say if it is motorised) especially with the weight of a DSLR strapped to it. For solar system objects you might be better of with a planetary CCD/webcam. The other possibility is strapping a DSLR stright to the mount and using that for widefield deep sky.

[cloudbuster]

On reflection, i agree with HAITCH. it would be a great help if your scope was motorised. i think that the scope itself is fine for some lunar and planetary photography (with a webcam- such as celestron neximage), its just that the mount may not be up to supporting a DSLR - although that being said, the 300D is quite light. Being an optomistic photographer, i would personally rise to the challenge, but depending on what quality of image your'e after, this may not be everyone's idea of a good start. That being said, the night sky is yours to prove them otherwise...eh?

[DeviantUK]

Thanks for the advice and your PM Bob.

The mount is the standard non-motorised one from what I can tell it's pretty sturdy if thats anything to go by? it does have a DC motor addon but it looks and feel pretty pathetic and I havent been able to get it working anyway :/

If I were to invest in a 'proper' motorised mount how much and what should I be looking for? I'm annoyed that I didn't spend an extra £50 to purchase the motorised/gps version of my scope

Would I need to scan the sky for long periods i.e. keep moving the scope to keep up with deep sky objects? When looking at jupiter back in September '09 it quickly disappeared from view!

Remember I am a n00b but willing to learn! please be gentle

[jgs001]

Whilst the mount may struggle with the scope and camera combined, I'm in the process of working the niggles out of an eq1 (adding a polar scope) etc for widefield imaging with my 450d and a 50mm prime lens. Great for widefields. Without a proper polar align, I was able to get 90 second exposures, and that will pull in a fair amount of data, and if you use the kit lens at even shorter focal lengths you'll be laughing. But you will need to get a motor drive for the eq1, or be prepared to manually adjust on a frequent basis.

There's a number of things on the SnS Astroboot that would help, the painted ali plate is a perfect fit, for example, and allows a pair of M6 (tube ring) bolts on the ends, with a photo tripod thread in the centre, and the holes are in just the right place too.

I'm not sure the 114 newt is designed to work with an SLR at prime focus, I'm not sure that the focusser is able to travel inwards far enough to achieve focus, so the scope would need something doing to it to sort that out. The option of using a barlow to achieve focus would work, but that puts even more strain on the mount's tracking.