I am very new to all this and I was hoping I could get some help. I've been having a good hard look into buying my first telescope but I just can't seem to find 'the one'. I originally was looking at a 10'' Dob which i was told was great for a beginer but after being aquainted with some great astroimagers i've decided to sway more into buying a refractor instead of a Dob so I can take those amazing images myself. What I was after was a telescope and camera that would allow me to take great shots of nebula's and clusters, to really get the colour in there. I'm almost completely lost on where to start so any help is much appreciated
Hi Casey,
It's great to see you decided to join up!
Astro imaging eh.....nothing like diving in at the deep end LOL.
What it really comes down to is your budgetary contraints.
How much money will you have to sink into the hobby?
1. First off you need a decent eq mount. Preferably one that is set up ready to autoguide eg. heq5pro
2. The most popular first scope for imaging is the ED80. It's such a useful size, I couldn't do without mine.
3. A guide scope
4. guide camera
5. a dslr or a ccd
All of these items can be bought second hand, we have a great buy and sell section here on IIS. Sometimes, if you're lucky, an entire imaging set up comes up for sale.
LOL... what jjj said... ive just started out in imaging, and i dont have a guiding stuff yet, but will be guiding within a few months now i have ST4 Port i was thinking of using the finderscope as the guide scope and a philip webcam as the guiding camera.... im imaging on a real budget... i have a HEQ5 non pro (no guiding capability with out mods) and ED80. great little scope and great mount i can get 1 minute exposure without getting noticeable trailing... hope this helped
cheers.
tony
EDIT: Forgot to add that all my gear is second hand i saved THOUSANDS!!!! got ED80 for 400 (New 899) HEQ5 for 600 (New 1000) and Canon 30D (I have no clue actually LOL)
Hey there Janette =D Nice to hear form you again. I've taken your advice and signed up haha.
I was looking to spend about $800 - $1500 on a telescope (not sure if that's reasonable) and eventually another $400 - $600 on a imaging device that will let me take those ever so alluring nebula shots. I'm not sure about mounts at all and i'm not sure what they'll cost either =S That ED80 looks great. I'm assuming the $1400 doesnt cover the mount lol. I suppose if I'm to get into astronomy i'd better be prepared to pay for it haha.
I was talking to Adrian at the Open night last night (horrible cloud cover all night D=) about cameras/webcams. He gave me a great offer, if I wanted to come up to the observatory some time and he could show me the basics on how to take images =] Maybe that'll take me out of the deap end a bit.
I will keep an eye out for those packages for sale on this site =] Those bundles would be great to stumble accross.
But anyway say I did get that ED80, how much do you think i'd be spending before I start to get my first images?
LOL... what jjj said... ive just started out in imaging, and i dont have a guiding stuff yet, but will be guiding within a few months now i have ST4 Port i was thinking of using the finderscope as the guide scope and a philip webcam as the guiding camera.... im imaging on a real budget... i have a HEQ5 non pro (no guiding capability with out mods) and ED80. great little scope and great mount i can get 1 minute exposure without getting noticeable trailing... hope this helped
cheers.
tony
EDIT: Forgot to add that all my gear is second hand i saved THOUSANDS!!!! got ED80 for 400 (New 899) HEQ5 for 600 (New 1000) and Canon 30D (I have no clue actually LOL)
That sounds alot like where I see myself in a while haha =]
Thanks for the help, I'm really hoping to get a second hand deal as well if the opportunity arises haha. The ED80 i saw was something like $1400, maybe i'm looking at the wrong thing haha.
That sounds alot like where I see myself in a while haha =]
Thanks for the help, I'm really hoping to get a second hand deal as well if the opportunity arises haha. The ED80 i saw was something like $1400, maybe i'm looking at the wrong thing haha.
I'm having a good look at the Orion ED80 and it's looking exactly like what I'm after. Great for general viewing but also very good for DS imaging (so the reviews have said). I'd be more than willing to pay $500 for a scope like that. But what I'm still not sure about is which mount to look into. That Heq5 mount looks great and not that expensive by the look of it. Would I also then have to buy additional lenses? I appologise for my naivety =P I'm trying to learn alot at once haha.
I'm having a good look at the Orion ED80 and it's looking exactly like what I'm after. Great for general viewing but also very good for DS imaging (so the reviews have said). I'd be more than willing to pay $500 for a scope like that. But what I'm still not sure about is which mount to look into. That Heq5 mount looks great and not that expensive by the look of it. Would I also then have to buy additional lenses? I appologise for my naivety =P I'm trying to learn alot at once haha.
I know you said Orion, but there are also two models of ED80 from Skywatcher. One is the ED80 (around $600), and the other is the BD-ED80 (around $950). Those are Bintel's prices. You can shop around.
Casey, there are some who only do imaging and then some that only do visual work, bot are very rewarding indeed.
However is a sport in its self, so to speak, and can become additive and very expensive, if you want to get those long deep images you see on the Deep Space threads.
I suggest you team up with a few people from here that do this sort of stuff and just see what it involves, rather than just jumping in a having a go then finding out that you need to upgrade to get the results you wish to achieve.
Some of the imagers on this site, including myself have spent many years to perfect the passion and have massive and hugely expensive rigs, although I have recently sold my set-up
Take it easy and move into the imaging game slowly, and you will be rewarded.
Below is a pic of what i used, don't be disheartened
Leon
That sounds alot like where I see myself in a while haha =]
Thanks for the help, I'm really hoping to get a second hand deal as well if the opportunity arises haha. The ED80 i saw was something like $1400, maybe i'm looking at the wrong thing haha.
Again, Thanks for the help =P
Casey
Andrews Communications has the ED80 on a EQ5Pro for $1799 or on a HEQ5Pro for $1999. I think the only difference is that the HEQ5Pro is rated to carry an extra 3kg so should be a little more stable.
This Orion or Skywatcher ED80 looks like what I'll go for in terms of telescope =] It apparently has a great DS ability which I'm very much looking forward to After what's been said I gather these HEQ5pro and EQ5pro mounts are rather expensive? Not saying $1500 is expensive in this hobby =P If there is any cheaper mounts that'll do relatively the same thing? If not that's all good =D just asking.
Leon that is one amazing piece of machinery you have there. Perhaps I could get to that stage someday... in a few decades
Just got in touch with Rob (Em1gma) who's selling the lot =] He's pretty much selling the exact set up i've been looking for to get me into imaging. I would love to buy straight away but i'd also like to have a further look around the field before comitting to a $3300 setup. I'm pretty certain this is where i want to go but I'm a bit weary i'm going to fast
Quote:
Originally Posted by that_guy
Theres a HEQ5 Pro on sale on iis classified for 900.. its a good deal and i think theres an ed80 for sale too?
I had a look yesterday and toady into DSI CCD cameras and they're really appealing to me =P I'm looking to get a CCD camera rather than a Nikon or Cannon. On that note which set up is better for imaging, Cannon/Nikon camera's or CCD's?
Here's the links to the 2 cheapy's i'm looking at =]
I was wondering if anyone could tell me if they're worth investing in =D I really want to get into DSI but still wouldn't mind occasionally doing some planetery imaging. If they require two different types of cameras well i suppose i'll have to buy 2 different kinds =]
My recommendation for a beginner is definitely the dslr route. One of the big benefits are, you can still use them for daytime and are very user friendly.
If you want a dslr that will capture more of the 656nm wavelength (hydrogen alpha) this is where modification of the camera comes into play by removing and replacing the stock uv/ir cutoff filter.
Usually at this fork is where you decide. Should I go for a dedicated ccd or modify my camera.
I am not entirely sure about the latest Nikon cameras but all the previous versions had a automated routine called "the stareater". This routine is supposed to eliminate artefacts like hot pixels in an image and is responsible for deleting stars (that is thinks are hot pixels). They are ways around (like switching off the camera after the exposure) but you will find that most people use Canon cameras.
Donīt get too fussed about the H-alpha wavelenghts. Only reflection nebulae emit light in this wavelenght and most of their light can be captured without modding. It adds more detail, sure, but you still get the picture. Clusters, Planets and Galaxies shine pretty much only in DSLR- recordable- wavelenghts.
The other benefit of a DSLR is that you have a much larger picture and a much larger field of view than with a DSI. The DSI sensor is about 1.3 mega pixel, DSLRīs donīt start below 10. This acts on the DSI side like a crop factor, meaning an image produced with the Skywatcher ED80 (that is the same as the Skywatcher Black Diamond ED80 without carry case and with standard-non 10:1-Crayford focuser) shows much more sky when photographed with a DSLR than with the DSI. So you can capture larger nebulae in one shot and donīt have to take multiple shots of different parts and mosaic them to one image.
The Meade DSI series is not cooled, has a small sensor and and cannot be used for daytime photography. Itīs only advantage is that it doesnīt have an IR blocking filter.
You can easily get a Canon DSLR with lenses for the price of the DSI III.
here is what i did for a basic setup all brand new.
HEQ5PRO SynScan "Go-To" equatorial mount and tripod $1099 from Andrews
Orion Awesome Autoguider Package $599 from bintel ... this will give you a auto guide ccd which will be great in the long run ... also this scope is a great guide scope ... however probably not the greatest thin for long term astrophotography.
CANON EOS 1000D Digital SLR Twin Lens Kit $743 this gives you a good DSLR that you can also use outside of astro if you find you should not enjoy it (hey it happens) from dick smiths
Orion Deluxe Off-Axis Guider $169 bintel so you can guide for really long astro shots.
i was thinking of using the finderscope as the guide scope and a philip webcam as the guiding camera.... im imaging on a real budget... 
i have a HEQ5 non pro (no guiding capability with out mods) and ED80. great little scope and great mount 
i can get 1 minute exposure without getting noticeable trailing... hope this helped 
After what's been said I gather these HEQ5pro and EQ5pro mounts are rather expensive? Not saying $1500 is expensive in this hobby =P If there is any cheaper mounts that'll do relatively the same thing? If not that's all good =D just asking. 
