Where do we start?

[JA]

Hi folks,

I hope everyone is happy and well. I just enjoyed this story about equipment choices for someone wanting the best from their gear and just starting out in astrophotography. .....
http://www.danlessmann.com/articles/astromistakes.htm

Whilst I'm not new to photography, serious astrophotography is another matter and I certainly took home some lessons from this account, but sorry I can't jump to the ~$10K Astrophysics mount first-up:D. So in light of the story and for your consideration - Is the EQ5, HEQ5Pro or EQ6 then where we should be starting for astrophotography?

Best
JA

[Atmos]

I would say that it is right on the money except that I'd probably ditch the EQ5 myself unless you want to do wide field photography. The HEQ5 and EQ6 range are pretty bullet proof as first mounts and a fantastic place to start.

The mount really is the most important part of your kit :)

[sil]

+1 It may seem to some that its just something to hold their camera and why should they bother spending $1k when they already have a $50 camera tripod. And AP is possible from a regular tripod (its how I do mine) but the tradeoff is possible captures during a session and the longer processing times needed and exposure time limits (which effects your possible targets).

Hell yes the mount is the single most vital piece of kit. Spend as much as you can on getting the best you can from day one, its not something you can upgrade parts later on instead. At minimum aim for an EQ6, it's a good and popular mount (not the best), so you can easily find help to understand mount related problems and what can be done to minimise them.

I'd suggest avoiding the dual purpose mounts (AltAz + EQ modes) purely because its more expensive and odds are it'll stay in Eq mode 99+% of the time. If you get the bug for visual astronomy it's cheaper to just buy a dobsonian telescope seperately to look around the sky while your Eq mount is busy with photos. I'd almost suggest an EQ8 as a minimum, but an EQ6 Pro is probably more realistic minimum. Anything less might put you off progressing. One of the key reasons the large mounts are a better starting point than the smaller lighter ones is because they are large and heavy. This way they aren't easily effected by vibrations and are better engineered to be of practical use with heavier payloads.

Of course there are practical constraints of using a mount. In practice packing/unpacking a mount its more of a hassle the larger and heavier the mount is. So consider where you will use it 99% of the time (usually the backyard) and consider if you will store it fully assembled and just carry it out in one go and what that will entail for you in practice. If you want a mount to easily chuck in the car and take to a dark site (though you can do AP from suburbia with sky pollution it just means a bit more processing).

It all starts with a solid foundation to build on, an EQ6 will work fine with just a compact camera mounted on it, or a DSLR, or a larger telescope and imaging package but all those things you can save for and upgrade as time/money permits but cutting corners NOW on the mount will limit your options later and some problems may not be able to be overcome. Go for the best mount you can and your gear can grow on top later. I know the excitement of new gear might cause you to go with a cheaper option just to get it NOW, but try to resist. Of course you need to live with the cost and the mount itself, so choose wisely. Good luck :)

[JA]

Hi Atmos and Sil,

Thank you for your advice which in conjunction with the account I read, made it any easy decision to start with something reasonable I could build on. I was fortunate enough to pickup a pre-loved NEQ6. Now it's off to think about the other stuff - Using the lenses I have Vs buying telescopes, autoguiding etc. BTW I saw what appeared to be an easy to implement ORION Starshoot autoguide camera. Is that a good (easy) way to go with a PC/Laptop and autoguiding software, do you think?

Thanks in adavnce for your opinions.

Best
JA

[sil]

Focus on learning astrophotography first, not assuming you need gear. Do you know exactly what sort of astrophotography you want to do? BTW Celestron have their own star sense addon system too for guiding.

[JA]

Yes of course- Like anything: Look, Read, Learn, DO, review, modify etc... As far a getting started the only thing/s I needed was a decent mount (Tick) and maybe an autoguider for it (TBA). I have a D600 which has good dynamic range and along with Nikon600/f5.6 and 1100mm/f10 as well as some shorter focal lengths, should see me along reasonably well for now, once I organise dovetails/mounts etc...

I come here from photography and video background so i'd like to apply some of that: perhaps capture Deep Sky Stuff, Widefield and Planet images and put them together as a video montage etc.. I'd like to try Lucky Imaging of Planets / Moon and/or live video of the Moon with some of the video gear I already have to see where that area will take me. The main thing is to have fun, else ....???

Thanks Sil, I will check that out, I have seen a few alternatives from QHY as well.

Best
JA

[sil]

no autoguider needed. an EQ6 will give you several minutes of good tracking which is plenty for you to get a handle on what you're doing. photography skills dont much transfer to astrophotography, you dont work with a single image from the camera very often, if at all.