What kind of camera for a skyliner 200p dob

[jason dufton]

Hi Guys

Im in a bit of a quandry because i dont know what kind of camera to use on my dob, it is not goto or autotrac its just bog standard lol. My wife has said that she would like a new digital camera for xmas and my scope has got a direct SLR connection but i have been told a webcam would be better because of the lack of powered movement. Would a normal digi camera suffice? My budget is around the 2-300 mark and any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

Jason :headbang::evil6:

[simon84]

Welcome to SGL Jason.

On a dob your going to be limited to 30 seconds or less I would imagine. Most cameras are capable of this but it all depends on what targets you would like to image.

You might be better off with a camera on a tripod and go for some 30 second widefield images instead.

[jason dufton]

Hi Simon

I would like to take some widefield pics but would a webcam be any good for taking galacy and nebula pics

[simon84]

Not really, you wont get enough data with 30 seconds on a webcam, webcams are more suited to planetary imaging because of the small chip in them.

If you want to image deep sky targets you will need an EQ mount with tracking.

[jason dufton]

But a dslr will give me some good widefield shots

[simon84]

Yes using a dslr on a Dob will give you a bigger field of view but because the mount cannot track the target you will be limited with your exposure times.

Its one of those things you just need to have a try with and see how you get on.

If you and your partner fancy a camera that will do for general purpose and astro use then you really cant go wrong with the Canon 1000D with the 18-55 kit lens which is about £380 from Jessops.

[Ben Ritchie]

You might be better off with a camera on a tripod and go for some 30 second widefield images instead.

That seems to be the best option to me.

You can do webcam imaging of the moon and planets with a Dob, but it's no use for long exposure astrophotography - stars will trail very rapidly.

[Capricorn]

Unless it is the moon then a dob is really a purely visual instrument. Even at 30 sec the object will have moved 0.125 degrees (half the diameter of the moon) so at 100x mag that is 1/20 of what you see looking down the scope.

For anything resembling a DSO, even Jupiter, you need a lot more then 30 sec.

Simplest way is: People do not do astrophotography with Dob's for a reason. That being it doesn't work.