Astronomical photography ..

Volusian

Volusian

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Anyone here into Astronomical photography .. ? I have a Fuji S5 and a D700.
Anyone know what the best value telescope setup would be for around the £700 region that would allow attachment of my digitals. I will be looking at used equipment initially unless i can get a decent setup new for this price region. Which would be the best setup - manual or motorised movement ?

any advice welcome .... :)
 
I think motorised is meant to be more accurate.

Think you can get some decent telecopes for about £200-250.

check out this site, www.ccdland.com some of the photo's are at 28mm so your don't always need a telescope.

Hopefully someone else will be able to help out some more.
 
SWMBO who does a lot of astrophotography says if you look for the 'cloudy nights' 'beginning imaging' subforum at http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/low you'll get more than enough info. From an interested bystander's point of view I'd just repeat the boring but sensible advice to 'define the question', ie do you want moon pix, sun pix, planets, deep-sky etc? You can get a good picture of jupiter and 4 moons with a 200mm zoom and 4s exposure. You can get an excellent moon pic with a compact. For the horsehead nebula you might have to sell body parts (or at least forego a few curries...). Don't buy a telescope. Do join a local astro society.

HTH

Regards,

Z
 
Hi Volusian,
astrophotography is a massive subject.
I have been trying it for a couple of years and there are some very experienced togs here who can offer specific advice.
The problem seems to be where to start?
I can only offer my advice based on my experiences so far....PM me if you wish.
The advice from z3t4 above is good general advice ....do not buy equipment yet until you know what you want...try and get along to a local astronomy society and then you can see and evaluate all the different kinds of 'scopes available and their strengths and weaknesses wrt photo work.
A very good site which I can recommend is http://annmarie.tamaris.org.uk/ she is an excellent photographer who explains a lot of general considerations.
HTH.
 
Now that is a really difficult question. If you want to image the moon and planets, you want a long focal length scope like a Catadioptric (Mirror lens) on a decent mount. If you want deep sky, then for widefield, you can get a decent refractor on a decent mount, or for close up, a decent reflector on a decent mount. The key being the decent mount as you want to be able to get longer exposures for image detail. The minimum that the long exposure astroimagers I know recommend is an HEQ5 (£500) and an 80mm ED scope (£200). I have that scope and it's a beaut, I don't have a decent mount though and am struggling because of that and this is the advice that the astro community has offered me. In fact, the reckoning is that it's better to have a really solid mount and a cheap scope than a stunning scope and cheap mount. I have also seen some absolutly stunning Astro shots taken with lenses between the nifty fifty and 220mm and some of those lenses are old M42 mount, they were all shot with the camera mounted directly onto a heavy duty mount. HTH
 
Something to bear in mind is where you live? If in a city or town, it might not be worth the investment in £700 worth of telescope and mount due to the ambient light radiation. I would love to get a decent telescope but living in London i cant justify the money when i struggle to see more than 5 stars on a clear night (with the eye).
 
Matt, there are filters that can be used in Astro Photography (Astronomik CLS or the Huetech IDAS) that remove the LP from the skies. I used the CLS on my astro shots, whilst Sussex isn't as bad as London, Gatwick is pretty close.
 
i can certainly try to help here:)

do your research on scopes. depends first if youll want to photograph lunar/planetary or stars. if the former your best bet is for a maksutov, the latter (in your budget) is a decent refractor. the type of eyepieces you choose will depend on your target too.

however, youll need a motorised mount & tripod, so get a package, as these can be around £600 upwards. and dont forget a compass, and spirit level unless your mount has one

never get a cheap scope either, if money is an issue get one with a smaller lens, rather than a cheaper one with a larger aperture.

regardless of where you live youll need filters, a neodimium & a moon filter are a must, as theres light pollution everywhere, and through a decent scope the moon can be very bright. coloured filters are very helpful with photographers.

obviously youll want a camera mount too.

i really recommend you try here though:

http://www.stargazerslounge.com/

theres a wealth of information there from some very experienced folks :)

or you could ring up first light optics on 01392 420 792 who are a great astronomy shop for some advice. i can highly recommend them and steve is really the guy to talk to about equipment choice:)

joel
 
just remembered this book: the nature companions practical skywatching 1 876778-91-1. helped me loads of times and a great reference for any astronomer :)
 
seems theres just been another price hike just so you know on alot of manufacturers astronomy equipment. best buy quick. there go my new eyepieces for a few months more :LOL:
 
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