Astrophotography from scratch (ish)

[Questor]

Howdy all.

I am after some advice as to what people would recommend for someone starting out in astrophotography but not new to observing (kinda)

A bit of background, I grew up in the UK using a friends parent's scope reasonably often (Alt-az mounted) enjoying observing moon/planets etc. moved from the UK to NZ in '06 and then to the SE suburbs of Melbourne in 2013. All that time I kept saying I would buy myself a scope to the point of doing lots of research and then never getting round to it for one reason or another. Come to now and I am a bit more serious about getting into the hobby, but I think imaging as opposed to direct observation (mostly) is what I would prefer to do. So I am not new to looking at the sky, but I almost might as well be.

I'm the sort of person who would rather get something that's known to be good but not going to break the bank as opposed to just jumping into SUPER entry level, though of course because I will be learning as I go (and I appreciate it will be a STEEP learning curve) I don't need every last bell and whistle, but kit that I can grow into would be nice if that makes sense.

I have a DSLR that I am happy with (Nikon D90) so I don't need a camera immediately but I would be looking at purchasing basically everything else. So what would people recommend? the smaller refractors seem to be the best bang for buck when it comes to wider field deep sky imaging, which is where my interestsare at the moment.

[Drac0]

Welcome Jon.

I think you need to give some sort of guide to what the bank may be & if you want to go new or if second hand would be a real option. The difference in cost can be great but the quality just as good.

Cheers,
Mark

[Questor]

I think at this stage $2-3,000 has been okayed by the minister for finance and free time - though if it comes out of my sanity budget she won't know...

Second hand is always fine if it's good kit and well looked after, I would happily give it a good home

[Drac0]

That's a hefty budget for a complete small refractor setup, even going new for some items. A good complete refractor setup will be quite doable. I guess the first question should be about the mount.

Do you want/need something very portable or do you think you you will be looking at a bigger scope later? For a refractor up to around 80mm, something like the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi is quite suitable, but something like a HEQ5 Pro will give you a more stable base with greater capacity.

As for the telescope, you have a very wide choice from many different manufacturers. You will need the scope, a flattener/reducer plus a T-ring to suit the D90. That and a mount is the very basics to get going, but you will probably want a guide scope & guide camera for better tracking.

If I was starting from scratch, and this is only my opinion & you know what they are worth, I would go something like:
Scope: SVBony 80mm ED (SV503) + flattener/reducer (SV193) + M48 T-ring for Nikon. That's buying new (~$1000) - just look for similar if going 2nd hand, you will find some good deals in the classifieds here.
Mount: 2nd hand HEQ5 Pro or similar, preferably with belt mod. Again, watch the classifieds.
Guiding: ASI120MM Mini guide cam + SVBony or ZWO mini guide scope.
Filter: you may wish to invest in a filter to help deal with any light pollution - not needed but can help (a lot). These can be had for very little or a small fortune, depending on what you want.

Then there are the 'extras' - some method to power the system (I run totally off 12v), a dew heater to fit the scope, a bahtinov mask to aid with focussing, a method to connect to pc/laptop (cable or wireless - connection and control software is readily available for free) and probably something else I've missed.

That should all come in under your upper limit & give you a good, usable setup from the start that, once you get comfortable with it, will provide you with great results.

Hope this helps - I'm sure others will come along with their own suggestions, pretty good bunch here. I'm sure someone will come in with a newt or MAK suggestion... :D

Cheers,
Mark

[Questor]

That scope is one I have seen around in a few places recommended as a great price/performance ratio. Looks really good

[Drac0]

I haven't used one, but like you pretty much everything I've seen suggests it is a great budget scope. Looking at maybe getting one as my travel scope in the future.

[Questor]

Next step is to learn how it all actually works before committing to any purchases - any foolproof 'how to put stuff together and get it working' guides out there? :P

[Drac0]

I've actually come across this very question a lot in the last couple of weeks on social media. There are plenty on setting up various mounts, especially the common ones. But people can't seem to find very basic ones for setting up telescopes for astrophotography and dealing with small issues they may come across. Even been told I should make my own...

Cuiv, The Lazy Geek has a series on YouTube for getting going. I haven't watched these myself, but maybe they will help you out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xeq-0c_eM8&list=PLDesYsLqfxSEjJlo0v94vj2JOABYO swoX

[Questor]

Just watched the first couple of episodes (yay for a day off work today) and they seem good so far - he seems good at explaining a lot of things without assuming you know exactly what he means.

[Startrek]

When I first started Astro in 2017 at the ripe young age of 57, I use to watch Trevor Jones Astro backyard channel on YouTube
He’s still presenting today but a lot of his older clips are quite good for beginners and easy to understand ( he hails from Canada )
These days it’s not a hobby for Trevor it’s a full time career
Just go to …..
https://astrobackyard.com/

Another Astrophotographer I followed starting out was Jerry Lodriguss in the US who mainly images with DSLR’s and his telescopes
Again Jerry’s e books and clips are excellent
I bought 2 of his e books

https://www.astropix.com/

Hope the above is helpful

Clear Skies
Martin