have some issues

[eagleoneuk]

Hey everyone,

I've recently discovered a passion for astrophotography. tried it over the last few weeks with a friend in the UK and since then i've been hooked. however as i'm new I'm having a little issue trying to work out whats best.

I want to take photos of planets, and space scenary (nebulae) etc, however not a clue where to start.

Camera wise I was looking at either a Canon 1000d, Canon 550d or I can get a Canon 5d mk1 for £350 (no lense).

As for the scope, well i was kind of hoping I could get some suggestions. would a computerised scope be right for what I'm trying to achieve?

Thanks and look forward to sharing some of my photos with you.

[neilm]

A warm welcome to SGL.

Quite an open ended question! Do you have a budget in mind, as that could be a restricting factor.

Canon 1000D, very popular here, a good choice. Sorry, but can’t comment on the others but some else will be along soon who can.

There are cheaper ways, web cams, typically £30, which are good for planetary, but not DSO, and of course something to plug it into.

As for a scope, do you have a nice dark back garden or do you need to travel somewhere to get good views? I think many people will recommend a Dob as “bang for bucks” they are very good there is no doubting that. I don’t have a Dob, I have a good refractor as I have to cart it up and down two flights of stairs, so a big Dob is really out of the question but many others also use small refractors for DSO’s and get staggering results.

So, budget, personal circumstances etc etc can come into play....

Cheers

Neil

[brantuk]

For observing dso's you can't beat a big dob in a very dark location. But if you're really aiming at photography then a short tube wide field appo would be a great choice. If you want to image planets then a Mak or SCT would be the tools of choice.

The 1000D is a great start in imaging dso's with an appo, but for planets a webcam in a Mak/SCT will give clearer, crisper images. Forget imaging with dobs - they come on alt/az mounts and can't track accurately enough. For imaging best results are with an eq mount.

I guess I'm saying it all depends what you want to do. It's a bit like choosing a car - there are horses for courses. A lot of folk have more than one scope for that reason. Hope that helps

[eagleoneuk]

hey, thank you for the responses.

planets is more of 3rd choice at the moment. My main aim is to go for dso's and scenic nebulae at the moment. I have a webcam already so maybe have that bit covered!

My back yard is dark, however I dont mind travelling as there are plenty of loc's around where I live which have zero light.

so DSO's is my main aim and something I want to do. As with planets, thats something I'd like to look, however I'd rather just observe these for now and learn to go with DSO's.

[rowan46]

welcome to sgl. the most important piece needed for astro photography is the mount. this needs to be rock steady, accurate tracking, capable of being guided and either gem or equatorial wedge. this ones about the minimum Skywatcher - Skywatcher HEQ5 SynTrek. once you have the mount it pretty much directs what the rest of your set up is. as the rest of the kit should weigh no more than 50% of the mounts capacity. you will need 2 scopes and fittings, guide camera, software, laptop, camera adaptors, filters, cables, power supply a fair bit of capital to start it off and an inexhaustible amount of patience. I would suggest you get this book firstr so that you know what you're getting into it will give you ideas on the basic equipment needed and how you need to go about using it Books - Making Every Photon Count - Steve Richards good luck