Greg, have a look here:
http://www.qcuiag.org.uk/
You will find plenty of good ideas there.
Also, a cheap way into astro-photography is classic, film (yes, film..) camera, on barn-door mount.
http://www.homebuiltastronomy.com/barndoor/index.htm
http://astronomyboy.com/barndoor/
http://www.astunit.com/tonkinsastro/...cts/scotch.htm
As Daniel mentioned, EQ3 with RA drive will not set you back a lot, I am sure you can find second-hand on ebay, this is better than barn-door.
Recently I acquired one from Bintel, for $50.. it needed quite a lot of repair, though.. but that is why it was 50 bucks. Of course, that was one off, but they may have something similar again, so it is worth a look at the shop from time to time.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=45079
Once you find out you really want to take this path, you can start spending more serious money... but, keep in mind that to do some real science, you do not need to spend that much.. pretty pictures are, belive it or not, actually much more demanding in that respect. Photometry of variable stars (and that means even detecting and monitoring exoplanet transits !!! ) can be done with Canon 400D and 200mm lens (and the lens does not have to be very expensive - for up to $100 maximum you can get adequate one from ebay) on eq3 mount, all that will be well below $1000 mark.
For exoplanet observation with 400D and 180mm lens, have a look here:
http://brucegary.net/AXA/XO4/xo4.htm