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  #21  
Old 03-11-2018, 06:38 PM
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netwolf
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Good advise Robyn those threads from Alex are invaluable to beginners. Perhaps they should be made a Sticky at the top of this section.
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  #22  
Old 16-12-2018, 02:28 PM
miskairal (Robyn)
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Thanks all. I still haven't bought anything but have had the luck to meet an older gentleman at work who was an astronomer at Siding Spring. He has loaned me some books, the first was on the history of the telescope and now some on what to look for. Off to read the links supplied (thankyou).
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  #23  
Old 16-12-2018, 02:50 PM
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Stonius (Markus)
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Visual astronomy and photographic astronomy are completely different beasts.

If you're starting out, get an 8" dobsonian -straight up - no fancy star-finding electronics, just a scope you push to point at what you want to see. That way you can get 'lost in the sky' rather than 'lost in equipment manuals'.

You could do some basic astrophotography with eyepiece projection. With a lot of messing around you will get shots of the planets and moon, but anything faint will require rethinking everything.

It's a long journey. Even if you buy all the right gear, there is a learning curve of several months *at the least* to be producing acceptable photos, not to mention the cost of the gear required to take the kinds of photos you probably want to take. I should also add astrophotography is *extremely technical* in both an engineering sense of getting a mount to track the stars sufficiently for long exposures, and also in terms of image processing techniques. You'd want to be okay with both if you're considering 'turning to the dark side'. There are simpler ways of getting involved with a camera, lens and tripod. or even with one of those starwatcher Star Adventurer mounts, but once you start thinking about modding your DSLR, you might as well get an Astro camera, IMO.

So my advice, Spend $600 (or $350 second hand) for a push-to 8" dob and just have fun. Familiarise yourself before deciding if you really want to commit thousands of dollars to astrophotography.

Best

Markus
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  #24  
Old 16-12-2018, 04:23 PM
miskairal (Robyn)
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Oh he is wonderful, those links provided so much for a newbie. Not so much what to buy but what to do after you finally buy something. Best of all, for me, was to see pics of what you are actually going to see.
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  #25  
Old 18-12-2018, 04:42 PM
miskairal (Robyn)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stonius View Post
Visual astronomy and photographic astronomy are completely different beasts.

If you're starting out, get an 8" dobsonian -straight up - no fancy star-finding electronics, just a scope you push to point at what you want to see. That way you can get 'lost in the sky' rather than 'lost in equipment manuals'.

You could do some basic astrophotography with eyepiece projection. With a lot of messing around you will get shots of the planets and moon, but anything faint will require rethinking everything.

It's a long journey. Even if you buy all the right gear, there is a learning curve of several months *at the least* to be producing acceptable photos, not to mention the cost of the gear required to take the kinds of photos you probably want to take. I should also add astrophotography is *extremely technical* in both an engineering sense of getting a mount to track the stars sufficiently for long exposures, and also in terms of image processing techniques. You'd want to be okay with both if you're considering 'turning to the dark side'. There are simpler ways of getting involved with a camera, lens and tripod. or even with one of those starwatcher Star Adventurer mounts, but once you start thinking about modding your DSLR, you might as well get an Astro camera, IMO.

So my advice, Spend $600 (or $350 second hand) for a push-to 8" dob and just have fun. Familiarise yourself before deciding if you really want to commit thousands of dollars to astrophotography.

Best

Markus
Thankyou Markus, that's about where I'm at now, just enjoy the view and forget the photography.
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