Nikon Z and Celestron 130eq, first timer.

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Steven
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I've been given a Celestron Astromaster 130eq, that had comes with a 20mm eye piece. I seems incredibly slow to align and move it's position (Maybe I'm doing something wrong)
I know very little about using the telescope but want to connect my Nikon Z7II to it.
I've had a look about but can't seem to figure out what bits I need. Can anyone point me in the right direction? and if you have any tips using it, that would be great.
 
Is it on the manual mount with slo mo controls or the driven mount?
If it's manual the slow motion controls are just that - you can tweek them to keep the object in view but they're only any use when observing visually. Putting a camera on won't work as the mount won't track for itself. It will move slowly using the slo mo cables as they're intended for very minor adjustments, not large movements.
If it's the driven mount it appears it only tracks in RA (right ascension - think horizantally but aligned with the motion of the stars, not the Earth). You align it on the object you want, do any final tweeks with the slo mo controls, then leave it to track. It will move very slowly when tracking (15 deg per hour). You will be able to put a camera on but you'll need an adaptor to suit your camera lens mount and a piece that screws into it which then slips into the eyepiece tube. It'll never be great for photography as I can't see any means of accurately polar aligning, the mount probably isn't up to the weight of the scope and a decent camera and it doesn't track in dec (declination - 90 deg to RA).
If you really want to do astrophotography with that scope first learn to use it to find and look at things then pop it on a heftier mount driven in both axes and with GoTo.
If the above doesn't tally with the mount you have then more info is required. Some idea of your experience with scopes in general would be useful too. Even basic astrophotography isn't simple.
You can get a smartphone adaptor for the scope - maybe give that a try first.
 
Thanks.
It has the slow motion cables and I viewed the moon with it last night, but it quickly moved out of frame needing continual adjustment, I have no experience using scopes for astrophotography and wondered whether it'd be up to the task.
I have taken images just using my camera and lenses of the night sky and the moon, but wanted to get more magnification or deeper imaging.
I seen there was a motor drive for it but from your answer it doesn't look like something to start throwing money at to add bits too.
What mount would you recommend for tracking and GoTo?
 
It has the slow motion cables and I viewed the moon with it last night, but it quickly moved out of frame needing continual adjustment,

It will. That's why you need a mount that tracks for photography (and for effortless visual observing). It's not the stars moving of course - it's the Earth.
I would advise using the scope you have (you might just as well if it was given to you) to just look, get used to using a scope and seeing what's out there. When you feel you have the experience to move to astrophotography look at the SkyWatcher series of mounts and take note of the payload. You might also want to go for a larger scope. Keep it dead simple at first. Don't worry about auto-guiding or anything like that. Your subs will probably be limited to around 60 sec but you'll need to learn to integrate (add) subs to make the final image (and you'll need suitable software).
It's all a very frustrating money pit so use what you have to learn the very basics and just enjoy what's up there :)
 
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