Suggestions please newbie

[Eugene T]

Ive been wanting to have a go at astro photography for years but never achieved it.
I have a laptop and a 3 1/2" homemade reflector and thats it ! The telescope has no drive but i,m just interested in getting something to see from it very cheaply. I thought of buying a cheap webcam and taking out the CCD and placing it in the hole for the optic but which one ?. Then downloading a free astronomy program to view the results. Failing that a very cheap digital camera, what camera though?.
Does anyone have any thoughts please on these two routes.

 

[Jannyfox]

Without a driven mount you will struggle to get much, however you could try just snapping what you have in the eyepiece with your phone. Your scope is not really suitable for serious photography and you need to think about the mount too. Astrophotography costs, however you do it, if you're starting from scratch. You can shoot the Moon and Sun (with a mylar filter and wait till we get some sun spots back) off a normal tripod or even hand held, but you still need decent magnification. For deep sky you need a driven mount (preferably equatorial), camera capable of taking a number of long exposures, and either a scope or a long lens. Planets are where a web cam somes in but you still need a scope and driven mount. If you want to do constellations or the Milky Way it gets a bit easier as you need a much shorter lens and you could get away without a driven mount. Depends where you want to start. If you want to get a DSLR, you don't need the latest all singing model. I have an old Canon 350D which is perfectly up to the task. That'll leave more budget for other stuff. But think first about what you want to achieve and what you're prepared/able to invest in it.