Quip. advice for a newb

[sagittariusA]

hey, posted in the other one before realising there was this one.
OOPS! oh well, caffeine hasn't kicked in yet, human energy cells running reserves.
Anywho, back on track.
what do i need to start astrophotography??:question: I'm a student so funds are limited and am willing to accumilate what i need over time.
all advice welcome.
:thanx:C

[renormalised]

Hi Chantelle...welcome to IIS:):)

OK, astrophotography....the BIG money pit!!! (or can be:))

It all really depends on what you want to take piccies of. The Moon and planets are quite easy to do on a limited budget, but DSO's (Deep Space Objects) are a different kettle of fish altogether (for most).

For a budget starter, you can get away with a 8-10" dobsonian telescope (a telescope with a simple alt-az mount), a camera mount for the eyepiece/focuser and a point and shoot digital camera:). That will give you reasonably good shots of the Moon and the planets. Try these places... MyAstroShop (http://www.myastroshop.com.au/products/details.asp?id=MAS-052C2), Andrews (http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-10.htm) and Bintel (https://www.bintelshop.com.au/welcome.htm)

If you want very good shots of the Moon and planets, plus be able to take good photos of DSO's, you'll need a good solid EQ mount and a reasonably good telescope setup. A setup like this...EQ6 mount, Meade 8" LX200 ACF OTA, ST80 guidescope and Starshoot autoguider will set you back about $4400. That's without a camera. Then you can either go the DSLR or dedicated CCD route. A Canon EOS 400D would make a good, relatively cheap DSLR to get for taking piccies, but a CCD camera will have quite a few advantages over the DSLR. Least of which is it can be cooled and doesn't needed any mods done to it to make it dedicated for astrophotography. A really good CCD camera would be the Atik 314L+, which goes for $1649 at Andrews. Or even the Starshoot Pro V2 at Bintel, for $1999.

So, for a basic mid range astropic setup, you could go $6000 to $6500 or so. You could lower the cost by about $1000 if you decide to leave out the 8" Meade and get an ED80 refractor, which you can pickup for $800 to $1100 depending on which brand you buy. This will be great for widefield shots and large sized targets like the Orion Nebula and Andromeda Galaxy.

What I would suggest, before you decide to shell out your money, is join a local astroclub and go to their meetings. That way, you'll get to see the equipment they have and find out how much it costs, how easy it is to setup etc. The you'll have a better idea of what you may want to get for yourself, plus you'll learn off the more experienced users.

[sagittariusA]

well..... i did think it would be an expensive venture, oh well, will take the time to save up and do some searching round in the time. dare say that the death of most the stars will register from here by the time i do. lol
thanks for the advice, now i know what to look at, helps alot, better then walking in like a dope.
C.

[bmitchell82]

Howdies there, i am a student too. :) and have been saving buying saving buying making building saving buying for a while now

The numbers are scary when you put it in one pot and call it what it is. But first things first. ide go with a 8" dobsonian and just dip your fingers into the water with that. when funds permit your next purchase would be a NEQ6 mount following that (2 pieces together) Guide scope + Guide camera. Im gathering if your a uni student you have a laptop of some description. if so your a head in the game if not you can pick up a little eepc that will tie you over so they are quite cheap. following that you will need a camera i could suggest a small CCD camera something that has cooling.

By this time you will have a basic astrophotography kit. That will allow you to take images of nebula, planetary nebula, galaxies, stars, glob clusters ect ect. it wont be wide field (capturing alot in one image) but will be a good kit.

After that you can work towards a wide field system with bigger cameras, better mounts, field flatteners, ect ect ect skys the limit!

have a look at my equipment for a bit of an idea what a 10" dobsonian + Modified canon 40d mounted up on a EQ6 Pro mount (same as the NEQ6 just older).

www.photobucket.com/brendanmitchell

and some of my recent work + Photo of the kit

www.brendanmitchell.net/Project%20254/

Good luck and remember to ask lots of questions.