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[A23649]

I have had a small celestron telescope for about four years now and think I need a new bigger one.I also wanted to get more into astrophotography but I cannot afford a ccd camera so that's out of the question but luckily I have a large and old Russian slr camera and suitable film for it. Are there any suggestions for a good telescope for astrophotography?

[bmitchell82]

... what you have asked is as broad as Australia.

-What type of photos are you looking to take
-How much are you wanting to spend
-What do you expect photo wise
-Apart from the small celestron scope what else do you have

The more information you can tell us the better we can help. Also try looking though this forum chances are there is a answer to your questions

[renormalised]

Hi Nathan, welcome to IIS:)

Before I eve mention anything about scopes and mounts, I can foresee a problem straight away...your camera. Being Russian and old, the chances of finding a suitable adapter to be able to attach your camera to a scope are close to nil. You would have to make one to fit the camera to the focuser. Plus, it's a film camera, which means you'll have to do all the processing of the film...taking it to a processing lab is not the best way of getting your pics. Most of them aren't geared to process astronomical print as they have no idea of what to do, unless you specify how you want your prints developed.

But I suppose you can have a go and see what happens.

Now the scope and mount. If you're considering getting into astropiccies and you can't afford a camera, then you won't be able to get a good astropiccie setup. It is not an inexpensive exercise. Your main concern will be the mount. You need a good steady mount that will handle the weight of your scope and the rest of the equipment without flexing too much and being unsteady. At a minimum, you would need a HEQ5 mount ($1099), and that is with a small scope (ED80 APO refractor...$799). However, for the sake of stability and such, I'd suggest you go with a EQ6 mount ($1599). With a mount like that, you could use the ED80 with it, but also scopes and equipment up to about 20kg...so an ED120 ($1999) with the ED80 as a guidescope and all the bits and pieces (guide camera, extra cables etc) will set you back $4500-$5000, without the camera...and that is a cheap setup.

Camera wise, it really depends on what you want to do. If all you want to do is take pics of the moon and planets, a camera like a DFK/DBK 21 will suit ($499). But if you want to take shots of galaxies, nebulae etc (DSO's....deep space objects), you'll need a more capable camera. An Atik 16IC-S will set you back $849, but I'd be looking more at the Atik314 L and L+ ($1149-$1649) as a good start off point. You may also try the Meade DSI II and III range of cameras ($509-$1399). But there are many other cameras out there that you could go with, what I mentioned is only a small sample. If you really wanted to go budget, you could find a decent webcam (QuickCam Pro 4000-500 or a Phillips SPC800/900 or a ToUCam) and modify it for use in astrophotography. You could get away with under $100 for that and you'd be surprised at what you can do with one. One of our members (Rolf, from NZ) does some amazing things with a webcam.

So, now it's up to you as to what you would like to do. What I would suggest before you do any purchasing is join a club. Go meet the members and see what they use. Get as much info off them as you can and see how they use their equipment. You'll have a much better idea of what you want to get then.

[renormalised]

Those prices for the equipment, I got from Andrews (http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-10.htm) and Bintel (https://www.bintelshop.com.au/welcome.htm).

[A23649]

Ok thanks for all the advice you have given me umm but it looks like a while before I get into this particular part of astronomy because of lack of money

[ZeroID]

Nathan, take a look at the webcam, stacking images options that can be acheived with quite cheap webcams and non tracking Dobs.
Not quite in the same league with long exposure DSO stuff but a Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 with 2.0 megapixel and USB is around the $100 mark and a cheapish way to have a go. Just investigating it myself. Check some of the threads and how to's.
You could even start with your wee Celestron. The rest is trial and error and lots of PC work with free software and advice from the great people on here.