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  #21  
Old 19-03-2016, 12:47 PM
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alpal
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Originally Posted by Perseus View Post
Hey,

Just wondering what affordable telescope would be sufficient for both astrophotography and viewing (Planets and some galaxies/nebulae). Currently looking at a Go-To Dobsonian (8-10inch), would this be a suitable Telescope for a beginner astrophotographer?

Cheers.

If I was starting out again -
I would get a small mount like an HEQ5 &
put a DSLR camera & good lens on it.
Learn how to drift align using the camera - easy to do - & just go for it.
Learn stacking & processing of the data.


cheers
Allan
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  #22  
Old 07-04-2016, 09:23 AM
Perseus (Kobe)
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Leaning towards the HeQ5 mount, ED80 scope and the Canon EOS 500d. Any problems with this setup for deep sky observing. Also i have come across setups with a guider scope. Is it necessary to have a guider scope with a camera attached or is the setup above sufficient until i feel the need to modify it ?
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  #23  
Old 07-04-2016, 09:38 AM
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Somnium (Aidan)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Perseus View Post
Leaning towards the HeQ5 mount, ED80 scope and the Canon EOS 500d. Any problems with this setup for deep sky observing. Also i have come across setups with a guider scope. Is it necessary to have a guider scope with a camera attached or is the setup above sufficient until i feel the need to modify it ?
That is a really nice imaging set up. However, the small aperture will make it difficult to observe faint deep sky objects
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  #24  
Old 07-04-2016, 10:01 AM
raymo
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As others have said, a good imaging rig. With really good polar alignment
and the shortish focal length of an ED80, you should be able to get a high percentage of usable exposures out to around 120-150 secs, and a much
lower percentage a bit longer than that. That is long enough to get some
very nice images. You can decide further down the track if you want to go on to guiding, and what method to use, and if you want a larger scope.
Actually, the ED80 is a bit aperture challenged for the visual side of things;
you could get a used 6 or 8" Newt for a few hundred bucks for visual use.
raymo

Last edited by raymo; 07-04-2016 at 10:03 AM. Reason: more text
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  #25  
Old 07-04-2016, 10:15 AM
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Somnium (Aidan)
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Originally Posted by raymo View Post
As others have said, a good imaging rig. With really good polar alignment
and the shortish focal length of an ED80, you should be able to get a high percentage of usable exposures out to around 120-150 secs, and a much
lower percentage a bit longer than that. That is long enough to get some
very nice images. You can decide further down the track if you want to go on to guiding, and what method to use, and if you want a larger scope.
Actually, the ED80 is a bit aperture challenged for the visual side of things;
you could get a used 6 or 8" Newt for a few hundred bucks for visual use.
raymo
Or dob ...
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  #26  
Old 07-04-2016, 11:47 AM
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ZeroID (Brent)
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The 1200D is better than the 500d from what I'm told. 18 mp, lower noise and cheaper. You don't need all the fancy whizzamagig features on an astro camera. Low noise and lightweight is best. Really impressed by mine and I'm not a 'Canon' man but with BYE it is the best.
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  #27  
Old 07-04-2016, 12:20 PM
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As Brent said, you don't need any fancy stuff on the dedicated astrophotography DSLR. I have 1200D and ED80 and it works really well. I haven't used 500D though so I can't compare it. But if you plan it to use it for daytime photography as well then 500D may be a better option.

Also if you want to save few $ you can use APT instead of BYE.

As others said, for visual observing ED80 has too small aperture. Either you get something bigger straight away or get a Dob or Newtonian to compliment the ED80 (which is what I am planing to do).
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  #28  
Old 07-04-2016, 02:15 PM
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janoskiss (Steve H)
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Start with a smaller aperture. There are lots of targets out there well within the reach of a small refractor or even a camera lens.

Unless you have loads of cash to spend on a sturdy computerised mount that will basically do most of the work for you, the way to go IMHO is to start with lightweight scope/lens + camera on a good mount (rated for several times the weight of what you're putting on it).

I am just starting out in AP myself after 10 or so years of watching others do it and learning about it along the way. I only have very modest equipment an old Japanese Polaris EQ (a modern Chinese EQ5 is comparable, but the EQ5 would probably beat my Polaris), a cheap but nice new camera and a couple of very cheap second hand lenses. But after just three nights I managed to capture 100+ galaxies, including some spiral arms at 60m ly, and many more closer-to-home DSOs.

Processing is where it's at and that's more time consuming and steeper learning curve than the actual data acquisition you do in the field (but there are things to learn there as well: tracking, alignment, focussing, image/photon quality-vs-quantity compromises).

My processing skills and software at my disposal are still severely lacking but here is what I managed: on my very first night out and on the second night out.

If you go for large aperture off-the-bat for deep sky imaging, you're looking at spending a lot of money on a good enough mount and you'll miss out on all there is to explore with a wider field scope/lens. An 8 or 10" will only let you image a tiny portion of the sky and tracking and alignment hassles will be much worse.

Planetary and deep sky imaging are very different beasts: pick one. If you decide to go for planets then a goto dob and a camera for capturing video through it should work well. But the same setup will not let you do anything exciting with deep sky.

Again, if you're loaded and want to do it all, this may not apply. Money will buy happiness (sort of): a large Cassegrain on a beefy expensive computerised GPS mount and the right accessories could do it all for you. IMHO though it's more fun to do it with more modest equipment, not in the least because then you'll be able to share your acquired knowledge and experience with many more people.

Not that I have anything against folks doing great things with large Cassegrains and fancy gear, but as a starting point, it'd be like buying a supercar to get your P-plates.

Last edited by janoskiss; 07-04-2016 at 11:37 PM.
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  #29  
Old 08-04-2016, 12:33 PM
Perseus (Kobe)
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Thanks for the replys. I already have access to the Canon so i may just get a decent tripod and give AP a crack and go from there.
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