Blasphemy!

[Cyclops]

G'day ppl, great site, friendly people with lots of info!

Anyway onto the blasphemy - I am a COMPLETE noob and (if/when) I get a setup, I want to do astrophotogaphy.

I would like to get any idea of the minimum cost of getting a "goto" setup to take photo's.

I don't know enough to make educated guesses on what I need, but I know enough to ask other who do!

All I can tell you is that I want a fairly easy to setup scope, nothing over 8" as the cost starts to rise substantially. I assume I need a special sort of digital camera to attatch to the scope.

I am hoping to find a couple of ppl around my area to have a look at their setups etc, but really I just want something to play with for myself - not a passion as yet, just something I would like to try.

[RAJAH235]

Cyclops, all I'm going to say is, Hi, :hi: & welcome, :welcome: to IIS, & that you picked a very, (could be), expensive way to get into Astronomy.
There are lots here who will guide you in your quest.
One thing tho, if poss goto a meeting/open night @ your local society/club. They will be glad to assist.
Good luck. :D L.

[asimov]

Hi & welcome to IIS Cyclops.

I suggest the same as L actually. Go to a meeting & have a look thru some scopes etc. Definitely try before you buy.

[iceman]

There's some forum members around your area, beren (stuart) is in perth area and he's into astrophotography. Send him a PM and see if he's able to show you his stuff.

Astrophotography can be expensive, the minimum you'd want is probably an ED80 ($600) on an EQ6 mount ($1500), and then a camera. For the camera, you could get a DSI/DSI Pro ($400-$800), but you might be better off with a DSLR (if you have one), or if you need to buy one, you're starting from $1000 and go upwards from there.

I'd look at $3k as a minimum and $5k is more realistic.

Welcome to the forum, hope you enjoy your stay here. How did you hear about us?

[davidpretorius]

planets can be done quite cheaply once you get a dob, simply add $200 for a toucam, but yes for deep space / long exposure stuff, you need a eq mount that tracks.

as the iceman quoteth

"5 big ones"

there are few guys now over there in WA.

A question: "Do you want to take deep space photos right now - money no object" or "Do you want to look at the sky and then eventually, build up to taking deep sky photos?

[acropolite]

Welcome Cyclops to IIS. Mike's right about the $5K but it isn't necessary to spend all that up front. For example you could buy the OTA/Mount first then collect the other pieces over a period of time while you enjoy the visual capabilities of your new toy. :astron:

[mickoking]

G'day Cyclops

Good to hear from another West Aussie. If you are interested you could check out my gear but I only do visual Astronomy I leave the imaging to others.

[ving]

narayan (seeker) has done some good shots with a little etx 70.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=3260
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=3439

they go pretty cheap secondhand :)

[Cyclops]

thanks for all the replies guys.....I have re-read my OP and it is not that clear......don't sleep deprive and post! At least you guys got the idea though.

I was wondering if it would be worth getting one of those **** Smith goto scopes.....I know they are small and cheap, but I assume they do the job?

Long term I am happy to spend $3000.....but to wet my feet so to speak I was hoping to get by a bit cheaper than that! heh (wishful thinking)

[ving]

hi cyclops :)

I wouldnt go the DSE way, buy from a telescope shop. you'll generally get more for your money. :)

[Cyclops]

happy to, though I have never seen a cheap goto at a scope shop? or am I not looking hard enough?

[janoskiss]

Someone here just bought one of those little Celestron GOTOs from DSE and seemed happy with it. You will outgrow it pretty quickly I'd think. Don't expect to do any astrophotography with this setup or see much detail on the planets. The Moon will look great though (if the Goto can find it :lol: ). But maybe you can reuse the goto later for a larger/better Mak or refractor. :shrug:

[Robert_T]

Welcome cyclops, hope you find what you're looking for - plenty of good advice below. I'd definitely recommend you deal with a telescope shop, there are quite a few online. Perhaps one of the best value astrophoto capable scopes is the schmidt newtonian meades on LXD75 go to mount. These mounts are go-to and the new 2in tripod versions are very stable. If you go for 6in or 8in SNT on this the package will be around $2K, possibly less and it will be a serious setup.

You still need a camera but you can start cheaply with a DSI or similar for ~500 hundred bucks (you'll need a pc too).

cheers,

[rumples riot]

Yeah I concur. For astrophotography you need a good mount and the scope can be made from parts if you like (commonly known as ATM). You could use a film SLR, that would be cheaper. In any case you will need a guide scope (or at the very least an off axis guider), which could be a cheap scope from camera shops, a cable release and a good guiding reticle. In any case 3-5k is about right. Bintel in Sydney and Melbourne both sell telescope parts for a Newtonian, and this might be the cheapest astrophoto option. I think Andrews also sell Newtonian telescope parts.

Anyway don't be daunted, do some research and look at prices and see how you go. If you want ask about which optical design is suited for which form of Astrophotography. The design will influence how much you will need to spend.

[Cyclops]

Just looking at an Australian Geographic Sale sheet and they have several scopes listed.

My question is, what does a scope need to be suitable for photography?
The reason I ask is all the "goto" scopes don't mention it....but some of the non goto ones, specifically state, suitable for photography.

Thanks guys.

[[1ponders]]

Hi Cyclops.

There are a couple of very important features a good astrophotography set up should have.

1. It must be stable. The tripod, mount and telescope connections must have as little movement/flexure in them as possible. That means those scopes with tubular aluminium legs are usually out.

2. You need to be able to accurately polar align your scope. Alt/Az mounts and fork mounts are not suitable unless they are modified with a wedge. For amateur photography generally the preferred option is some form of Equatorial mount though as mentioned before you can do it with fork mounts if you have a wedge.

3. Your mount needs to have some form of ability to track. Either manually if you are a glutton for punishment or electronically with motors attached to the mounts worm drives. Within this requirement is the desire for minimal periodic error (error within the worm drives. no drive is perfect and will track perfectly. There will always be some error. Try to minimise that)

5. A fairly "fast" scope. ie f4 to f6.5 to f7. Depending on what you are thinking of imaging will to a large degree determine the type of scope (reflector, refractor, sct, mak, mak-newt etc) you get and its focal length. For planetary work your mount is not as critical but you want a fairly long focal length to get adequate magnification. For DSO you want a good mount with generally shorter focal length scopes for wider fields.

Contrary to popular belief you don't need a goto scope to do astrophotography. They are certainly handy for finding those faint fuzzies but they are definately in the nice to have basket not the must have basket.

Hope that starts to give you some ideas


ps I would strongly suggest you don't think about getting any sort of setup until you've had the chance to check some out first. And definately don't get a scope from AG. Sure a couple of scopes I've seen there are ok, the nexstar for example, but it is definately not suitable for astrophotography unless it can be polar aligned.

[mickoking]

Most scopes can be made to do photography depending on the ancilliary equipment eg tripods, drives etc. Of course some scopes are more suitable than others and are specifically designed for astrophotography, at a price. As someone starting out dont be too concerned about photography yet as it requires an investment in time, money and patience, as a newby this may lead to fustration. The best bet is to get a suitable scope and use it visually learning about the sky. Then if you want to do astrophotography you can upgrade your scope or buy another one.

If you want my advise don't go buying scopes from places like Autralian Geographic. You are not going to save any money as their prices are a bit steep and you will be dealing with shop clerks who have no idea about telescopes. At one of these shops I once saw a Newtonian mounted up side down in the tripod cradle and a barlow lens inserted where the finder should be.:lol:

I hope this helps you?:)

[Cyclops]

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated.

Okay, will definately not get a non shop scope. I was hoping to find a cheap middle ground that would be tolerable.

The reason I am interested in astrophotoraphy is simply because I know you really can't "see" much with a scope. As I may have stated, this is a new, minor hobby about which I know nothing. heh. I would love to be able to get some of my own space pics though.

Money, while short this year (big holiday planned), is something I am happy to spend to about $3000.

[Blue Skies]

You can't really see much?!?!?!?! Noooooooo that's not true! You need to give yourself at least a year to get used to looking through a scope, a good quality scope in a dark location, not the middle of the city.

If you want to look through other peoples scopes you should come to some ASWA meetings ( http://aswa.info ). We are in recess for January, with most meetings starting up in Feb again. There are several keen astrophotographers in the club and every second month we had a meeting down at the Murdoch Observatory. This will continue during 2006.
Paul Medcraft gave us a good talk last year about getting started in serious astrophotgraphy and his first piece of advice was "get a really good mount" and then work upwards from there. I agree with this, expect for tripod stuff, which is mostly what I muck around with. Not to put you off but you can waste a lot money going in circles with astrophotography, best to take it slow (well, not too fast, anyway) and save the $$$! If you're serious about the imaging you're going to need every cent of it.

[ballaratdragons]

Cyclops, the 'cheapest' way to start astrophotography is the way some of us did! (and still do)
A Dob (nothing smaller than an 8") a ToUcam and a Laptop!

It's a challenge to capture an object as it moves across the field of view but some of us have had reasonable to good results with this initial method.

I still use it as I haven't got my tracking operating just yet (hopefully in a week or two) but the dob allows you to learn the sky and they are cheap, even at 12" ($599 - $1000) ToUcams, LPI's etc are fairly cheap (approx $250 - $400) and lappies are getting cheaper ($500 - $900).

All that is within your budget for astrophotography and you can also get some great visual observing with the dob.

Later on when you want to upgrade, you can stick the dob on an EQ mount, an EQ platform, or buy a totally different scope.

You may also want to upgrade to a digital camera later.

But for now, at least you you can get started for well under your $3000.

But by all means, accept any invitations to viewing nights, Astro societies etc and see for yourself what others are doing and any help they can give!

[mickoking]

You can see HEAPS visually thru a telescope and a lot of it is very spectacular. You just have to 'learn' how to observe.

[Cyclops]

I stand corrected!

:)