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I’ve just recently started astrophotography with my Canon 600D, HEQ5 mount and 6” F6 reflector scope.
Have successfully photographed the moon, stars and clusters and just copied the jpegs and raw images to my PC. No processing as yet but images turned out ok ( refer my previous post in beginner astrophotography )
My Canon 600D with its T ring and 2” adapter slots straight into the dual Crayford focuser with the 1 1/4 eye piece adapters removed.
I used the moon as a test target to see if I could achieve focus.With the focuser wound in to the end , I was able to achieve focus on the moon with good image results.
Stars were also just in focus with no more spare movement on the focuser ( I guess I was lucky , my scope is an F6 )
My camera settings were as per Jerry Lodriguss DSLR astrophotography guidelines.
Settings for full moon were ISO 800 with shutter speeds around 1/1250 to 1/2000 and for first quarter moon were ISO 800 and shutter speeds around 1/200 to 1/400
I’ve tried to image Jupiter, Saturn and Mars a couple of mornings this week but ended up with pinpoints of images and when you zoom out you lose pixels and the results are horrible, so planetary imaging on a DSLR is very difficult unless you have the correct processing software and tools etc...
The golden rule in any astrophotography is get your mount polar aligned as best you can
I have no view of the SCP so I cheat and use a 1m long shadow stick set at 90 degrees on my pavement, jump on Stellarium and find the exact time of the noon meridian, and mark a line on the pavement through the centre of the shadow at that precise time.So far this method has provided a very close true south direction. Then I set up my mount along this line using a plumb bob, level the mount with both bubble level and digital inclinator, set my latitude with same level gear and then carry a 2 Star alignment and drift alignment with Synscan hand controller. It’s very crude but it works
Once again read up on Jerry Lodriguss DSLR astrophotography articles , he has a lot of good practical advice
Good luck
Clear skies !
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