Need Astrophotography Help

[cyclone]

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a telescope thats under £200 that would be a good starter for astrophotography. i don't want to blow a huge amount of money on equipment if in 3 months I decide i'm not that interested in pursuing it as a hobby.

If i decide i like it i'll get better equipment down the line.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Cornelius Varley]

£200 is not a lot of money for an astrophotography setup. It will get you one of these Skywatcher 130P with a little left over for the single axis drive EQ2 RA drive. The telescope is not ideal, however, for astrophotography with a DSLR as it is not possible to reach focus without a barlow lens. A lot will depend also on what you wish to photograph, DSOs, planets or the moon.

For photographing DSOs you need a mount which is capable of accurately tracking the movement of the stars across the sky over several minutes to avoid star trails, the EQ2 mount is not accurate enough for this. Ideally the mount needs to be bigger than is necessary for the telescope to avoid shaking and vibrations. For planetary photography you need a webcam or similar camera (Neximage, Meade LPI or more expensive imaging cameras), the mount does not need to track as accurately for this type of imaging as the camera takes a short video clip and then software is used to stack the best individual frames of the video for processing (Registax, Avistack). For lunar photography you can use either a DSLR or webcam and process the images in Regitax or Avistack.

Peter

[brantuk]

With that budget I would go second hand and buy from the for sale section. You'll get a bigger aperture for the money (maybe a 150P) and possibly even tracking motors all in. Look for an EQ mounted one - CG5 or EQ5 as a minimum - and a webcam as suggested above - Phillips SPC900 and Nextimage cams come up regularly here or on astro buy sell - both have the same chip. This will give you a very basic start in photography.

Welcome to the group

[cyclone]

Well, i'm just looking to take shots of the moon for the moment maybe mars and the scope you mentioned was actually the one I was looking at as a possible purchase. So I think i'll get it, Thanks very much for the advice I probably wouldn't have thought of buying a tracker.

[cyclone]

thanks brantuk, i'll take a look now

[Si W]

Hi Cyclone, and welcome to SGL.

Keep your eye on Heads up as well, and check out ebay. You should be able to do it and stay on budget. But It will be the basic setup for luna imaging.

Simon

[RayGil]

Hello I'm sort of at that level, but check my blog for info

http://rays-place-on-the-net.blogspot.com/

Hope it helps some what, there is a lot of mis guided information out there on the Internet.

Ray

[Rusty Strings]

Hi and welcome from me too.

[Talitha]

Hi and welcome to the group, Cyclone.

(I'm clueless when it comes to imaging.)

[ezza123]

Welcome from North Hampshire Cyclone :-)

[cyclone]

thank you all for the tips and kind comments, i feel very welcome here i hope to order a telescope this week and start observing, but living in Ireland with it's almost permanent cloud cover will make it a bit difficult but it should be fun!

[themos]

Astrophotography on a budget? Yes! I got my first moon and saturn videos with a half-price 4.5-inch Newtonian on an equatorial mount (who needs motors when you have a steady hand) and an ebay webcam, all under £100.

[JamesM]

Hi Cyclone and welcome to the forum.

Wishing you clear skies for your future imaging.

[barkis]

Welcome to SGL Cyclone. I hope you enjoy your stay.

Astro Imaging can be done cheaply, but beware, while its money mouth opens a little to start with, once your hooked, it becomes a ravenous beast. If you are wed., you'll need her to be very understanding..

Ron.

[cyclone]

lol thanks barkis, it's ok though i'm single

[jgs001]

Hi Cyclone, welcome to SGL. Imaging on a budget is possible, I started out with a £40 tracking mount, a £30 webcam and a £40 scope. None ideal, but it worked... so it can be done... The downside is that it can get very frustrating and the temptation to throw money at the problem gets more and more.

[johnh]

A warm welcome from me, you'll find imaging so absorbing and results will amaze.

JohnH.

[cyclone]

Thanks to everyone for the welcomes, very appreciated, quick question, is it normal to start dreaming about stargazing? I've been dreaming about using a telescope for the last few nights since I decided to get one. It just seems a bit odd that i'd start dreaming about looking at planets, galaxies and nebula and they're all through a telescope. If the real thing is half as fun as it is in my dreams then i'll be a very happy guy!

[RayGil]

Which scope did you settle for in the end?

[RayGil]

To Cyclone: that was meant to go!

[cyclone]

i decided to get the skywatcher explorer 130p. should be good

[glowjet]

Hi Cyclone,

A very warm welcome to SGL, hope you enjoy the forum and your imaging.

John.

[RayGil]

Good choice! It came top in the sky at night review, look forward to seeing your images, I have the same scope so it will be nice to compare images. There is a lot of great advice on the forum, but if I can help, feel free to get in touch.

Ray

[cyclone]

thanks RayGil, i took a look at your blog, you took some nice pictures. hope i do as well as you did with that scope

[kris h]

Welcome to SGL