Happy wife...Happy life

[Afatnuglybloke]

My missus loves photography and has a Nikon D90 with a few lenses and filters. I have a lazy $1000 (loose change saved in a kombi piggy bank over 3 years or so). I would like to get the best possible telescope and any add ons I need to mount her camera on as a xmas pressie. Need some good advice please or links to.
Cheers in advance.

[rustigsmed]

A couple of ideas for you to investigate:
, a vixen polarie allows her camera to track the sky, with her dslr and gives nice wide field shots,
goto 8" dobsonian allow some 20 sec exposures of deep space and some nice planetary views
You could be lucky and find a second hand heq5 (mount) then get a cheap reflector.

Or just get the polarie and get a non powered dob (visual use) to see if there is interest enough in pursuing the interest further - it can get expensive for astro photography ...

[Marios]

Closest thing in that price range would be a Go to Dob system. You might find one second hand for under 1k. http://www.bintel.com.au/Telescopes/Dobsonian/Orion-SkyQuest-XT8G/1471/productview.aspx

[Rex]

G'day Mate, for $1K your best bet is something like the system below. It is actually a pretty good system similar to the one I use, although the scope is a different brand, but still good quality. Freight may take you a little over the 1K mark but like I said this system will last her for years if she is interested in astrophotography. I would go with the F5 being a beginner because it is easier to collimate. You will need a T-adaptor and ring to mount the camera and a collimation tool. Other than that, she will have everything she needs to take wonderful photo's. I am not 100% sure but I think Raymo has this sytem. If you do a user search on raymo for all the threads he has started you will see his photo's. Hope that helps.
Link to website: http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-10.htm Just go to the guan sheng section and scroll down to find the scope in the picture below.

[Afatnuglybloke]

Thanks all so much....Will investigate all replies and hopefully post a pic or two after xmas....I really appreciate the responses and the time you gave....cheers all

[rmuhlack]

just my 2c...this is not the setup that I would recommend. That setup requires a number of additional items to make it ready for imaging, which will more than double the cost required.

This mount suggested here does not have a drive motor, which is a minimum requirement for astrophotography. For a scope like this a goto mount is really what you want (this (http://www.bintel.com.au/Mounts---Tripods/EQ-Mounts/Sky-Watcher-HEQ5-Pro-GoTo-Mount/96/productview.aspx) is the minimum i would recommend for the telescope shown in Rex's post). The telescope recommended here (a newtonian reflector) will also require a correcting lens (such as this (http://www.bintel.com.au/Astrophotography/Reducers--Correctors--Flatteners/Baader-MPCC-MKIII-Coma-Corrector--2--/676/productview.aspx)), and ideally a guide camera and guide scope (such as this (http://www.bintel.com.au/Astrophotography/Autoguiders/Orion-Mini-Autoguider-Package/403/productview.aspx)). You'd also need to have a computer or laptop next to the scope to download your images to and to control your mount. I started out with a setup just like this, so I'm well aware of what's involved.

So even the most basic astrophotography kit quickly adds up in price (more than $2k) if you're looking to use a telescope.

For the budget you've suggested, my recommendation would be to get a couple of Nikon lenses that are suited to astrophotography - older (second-hand) manual focus prime lenses such as the Nikkor 180mm f2.8 AI ED and the Nikkor 300 f4.5 AI ED primes are the best options here, a Nikkor 50mm AI f1.8 prime or a Nikkor 200mm AI f4 prime are also options (I have both of these). Here are some photos that I have taken with my 50mm (http://www.astrobin.com/users/rmuhlack/?public=&sub=gear&active=5196) and 200mm (http://www.astrobin.com/users/rmuhlack/?active=5136&public=&sub=gear) camera lenses. For a "mount" I would suggest a Vixen Polarie (http://www.astroshop.com.au/products/details.asp?id=MAS-022A) with ball head (http://www.astroshop.com.au/products/details.asp?id=MAS-033A2), which you attach to a regular camera tripod. Alternatively a Skywatcher EQ3 with Motor drives could also work for you.

These lenses will not need any extra correcting lenses, and one or two of these lenses PLUS the vixen polarie and ball head would most likely still come in under your $1k budget.

Finally I would also suggest you look at getting a remote shutter release for your wife's Nikon (such as this (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LCD-Timer-Intervalometer-Remote-N3-for-Nikon-D90-MC-DC2-D7000-D3100-D5100-/261118243639?pt=AU_Cameras_Photogra phic_Accessories&hash=item3ccbdc3337)) - which will be necessary for triggering the long exposures that are required in astrophotography.

Am happy to follow up with any questions you might have.

Regards, Richard

[andyc]

I have to agree with Richard (sorry Rex!), the mount Rex put up the info about lacks quite a few bits to make it photo-ready, most importantly drive motors! You'd get away without the correcting lens, at least for a while, but if your wife wants to do telescope astrophotography, she'll probably want some form of guiding (which demands a better mount), otherwise the exposures are likely to be limited to 30secs or so -provided the mount at least has the motor drives!!

If $1000 is a hard limit for the budget, I'd say go for the camera tracker , such as the IOptron Skytracker, the Vicente Polarie or something similar. It'll be well within the budget and allow tracked shots of up to several minutes (less for longer focal length lenses), and some pleasing results. I have the skytracker and am very happy with it (have pushed up to 250mm f.l, but easier results at 100mm, see the images in my widefield gallery for examples). I just spent about $2k on a tracking telescope (6" newtonian, HEQ5pro), and it would've been challenging to buy a new scope set-up for much less that produced good results IMHO. Unless you can find one second-hand, and then I'll be very jealous!:lol:

[Afatnuglybloke]

Thanks heaps Richard/Andy...I can see $2500 entry level for the scope included producing reasonable pics, so, at this stage with the budget I have, I will concentrate on scope only with a view to adding photography equipment as the loose change builds up again. I will also seek out astrophotography courses/workshops in the interim for knowledge. Any suggestions on a scope we can build on?