SLR on an explorer 130P?

[RobK]

Hello everyone

Sorry to ask what must be the 1,354,283rd "gear for a beginner" question...

My daughter (age 9) is very keen on astronomy and we've agreed to get her a decent telescope for her birthday (she currently has a rubbish toy one) as a joint present from parents and grandparents. The Skywatcher Explorer 130P seems to be the sweet spot in terms of price and performance and I think that for her it'll do very nicely.

I do a fair amount of photography, and I'd like to try my hand at astrophotography, nothing too advanced but I'd like to have a go. I've been reading up on what's needed and I'm not sure whether I'll be able to use my SLR on the telescope - it's a Nikon D300, which is quite heavy and might be a bit too much for the mount, which is the EQ2 - can anyone give me any advice as to how well an EQ-2 will hold a telescope with an SLR on it?

It's a bit of a tough one - I don't want to spend much more than the price of the 130P on a present because I want my daughter to understand the value of things (you might well think that we're already being pretty extravagant), plus it's her telescope, not mine, so I should let her use it first, but also it would be a shame to get something that I couldn't use the camera on at all. Any experiences or advice gratefully received.

Cheers

Rob

[Bizibilder]

You can put the camera on the scope - you will just have to adjust the balance (you will know what I mean when you get the scope!!). You will need a t-ring for the nikon and an adaptor so the camera will fit into the focusser instead of an eyepiece. Ask FLO or any other reputable supplier and they will tell you exactly what you want (for approx £30 extra!). That set-up will allow pictures of the Moon (and Sun with PROPER filters - maybe under strict supervision by yourself - the Sun can be dangerous!!) but not Deep Sky Objects or planets as you really need long exposures and a driven (and guided) mount for them.

That much weight on a little mount will be a "bodge" but you should get away with it! - Get a remote shutter release to stop vibration and click away to get a few frames - then pick the best. Good luck.

[RobK]

Thanks Bizibuilder, very helpful.

Rob

[rowan46]

If you want to take images of planets you can put a webcam on the eyepiece you take a video and then stack the frames using a free software. webcam will be fine on that scope and mount. probably better than a dslr to be honest

[danielson23uk]

Hi Rob,

As above, the EQ2 will take a camera. You just need to balance the scope. But beware. I've just bought and Explorer 130P and although I've not tried yet, I've been told and heard of other threads that say that you can't get a DSLR to focus properly on a 130P.

Something about the 130P not having enough focal length for a DSLR. No one has been able to explain to me yet why there's no way round it but for the sake of spending £40 on adapters for a camera that won't focus, you might as well get a modded webcam. I suspect you're in the same dilemma as me.

At present, my next pay day is erring towards a webcam rather than a DSLR mount.

[Mikea]

Hi Rob,

As above, the EQ2 will take a camera. You just need to balance the scope. But beware. I've just bought and Explorer 130P and although I've not tried yet, I've been told and heard of other threads that say that you can't get a DSLR to focus properly on a 130P.

Something about the 130P not having enough focal length for a DSLR. No one has been able to explain to me yet why there's no way round it but for the sake of spending £40 on adapters for a camera that won't focus, you might as well get a modded webcam. I suspect you're in the same dilemma as me.

At present, my next pay day is erring towards a webcam rather than a DSLR mount.

The only way I can get a webcam to focus on my 130P is by using a Barlow. I read somewhere that someone had shortened their 130P tube slightly (don't know by how much) to get over this problem.

[RobK]

Thanks for the advice people. I'm buying the telescope from a shop so hopefully if there are problems with the focus they'll be able to help me out.

Rob

[Bizibilder]

Rather than cutting the tube you can move the main mirror closer to the secondary - this brings "prime focus" further outside the tube and thus you can focus your camera. On some scopes you can do this with the adjustment bolts but on others you need either a longer set of bolts or a few new holes in the tube to take the main mirror attachments.