I have owned a GSO 150mm newtonian on an eq mount with an RA drive for about a year. I have been doing some very basic astrophotography (piggyback + planets) using an old film SLR camera. I'm keen to get into astrophotography and I'm thinking of the following upgrade path for my equipment:
(0) I already upgraded to a crayford focuser & I have made a rough and ready hartmann mask for focussing
(1) HEQ5 mount soon (may be my Christmas present)
(2) modified webcam also very soon for taking shots and eventually autoguiding
(2) an ED80 for a guide scope sometime in the next year
(3) Canon 400D in 1-2 years time
I would then take prime focus shots of DSOs through the ED80 and the 150mm, using the other for auto or manual guiding. Also planets using the webcam.
Another issue is that I can't get the camera close enough to the secondary to do prime focus. I'm not very handy so I'm planning to solve this by doing prime focus through a 2x barlow. At some point I may buy a 1.5x barlow.
Any advice on this strategy? E.g. is the HEQ5 mount overkill or not enough for my setup? Any ideas much appreciated as this will be a long & expensive process!
Rob
Upgrade Path for Astrophotography
