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Starting AP
Hi Cody,
I started in AP about a year ago when I bought a Vixen 8" VC200L which is a dedicated AP scope. This is a wonderful scope but is not for everyone.
The first thing I learned was that the mount is far more important than the scope and needs to be the best you can afford. If you don't have a mount that is up to the job you will not get good photos.
Having said that obviously the scope plays a big part too but you can good pictures from a second hand digital SLR camera and a 50mm lens or a fancy CCD camera and a $15,000 scope! It depends on the objects you want to shoot. The critical thing is to keep the camera steady during the exposures, and the longer your focal length is the more critical it is. And long focal length F10 scopes need long exposures.
I went to a star party and found many of the people were using EQ6 mounts and smaller scope like the ED80 or 8" Newtonian. The photos these people were producing were very good.
As I wanted to computer control my gear I decided to get a second hand EQ6 and a 65mm refractor along with a laptop and the free EQmod software. I spent several months learning to use this gear and then bought an auto guider setup which allowed me to get longer exposures.
Most of the learning was how to polar align the mount as this is also critical.
My next step was to mount the VC200L side by side with the 65mm refractor, which I now use with the guide camera, and to mount a second DSLR with an 85mm lens on the system as a wide field camera.
This is where I am now and I am very happy with the setup. I have the 8" with a field of about half a degree, the 65mm with a field of about 3 degrees and the second DSLR which I can use with a range of lenses for wide field. I also use a small tracker with a DSLR and wide field lens for time lapses and get a lot of enjoyment from all of the results!
Cheers,
Ross...
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