Astrophotography - the real costs

[NewToStars (Jase)]

I've done a bit of searching, but most of the information i have found is old. ie 07. If i've missed the answer i apologise in advance.

Ok. basically i want to get into Astrophotography. I use to own a 8" dob which was great for what it was, but it was heavy and i never got to use it often as i lived in brisbane. I now live in Yeppoon so finding dark sky's isn't much trouble.

What i want to know is the real costs in setting myself up to take good quality astro photos. I want to focus mostly on DSO's.

I'm looking at the EQ6 Pro mount.

but what telescope do i choose. do i get something with a large apature like a 8 or 10" dob or do i get a 100ED refractor... obviously the cost difference between the 2 and size between each scope is rather substantial.

Next question is ... what type of imaging do i want.. CCD or Digital SLR.. 350D, 400D or 450D.

what is the best software.

What other accessories will i require.

Most importantly, if i'm going to be spending my hard hearned money (and a lot of it) what is the best setup i can go. idealy keep costs under $4k. but can stretch a little higher.

thanks in advance.

[Ian Robinson]

Um .... you don't need to spend a lot of money to do astrophotography, there are still good 35mm and medium format manual cameras out there to be had that do a wonderful job as astrocameras.

BW and colour print film is as cheap as chips , and it's pretty cheap to have the film processed and printed too.

Check out your local pawn broker , I often do , not to buy , unless I spot something handy that's in great nik that's a bargain , good cameras and lenses can be had for a fraction of the cost of new .

A good GEM is a must.

Get a 2" crayford , a 2" LPF , a BAADER MFCC camera kit and a T-ring to suit your camera and shutter cable release and you are then ready to rock and roll with some prime focus and piggy back imaging.

You can easily keep your costs well under $2k.

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

At the moment it seems that a EQ6 is a standard mount that makes life easy (gives you heaps of load capacity it also tracks alright). As for the OTA, well if you have a dob already, or you don't care to much for visual, then a nice apo with a reasonable FL# to give you wide field shots.

Something like a WO (Wilson optics) or the like (somebody will add in the best OTA.

As for CCD, well thats a open field, depends if you want 1 shot colour or image in RGB with a mono CCD
If you want 1 shot colour then your DSLR's seem to be the go, 350D or 400D seem to be the go, though you might want to get them modded (taking a filter out and replacing with a clear glass filter).
Other wise the DMK's have been getting some good reviews but slip a set of Astronomik R G B L filters into it for colour shots.

the other thing that you will need is some kind of Guide scope and guide CCD, I belive that Orion does this as a combo of a 80mm short tube refractor and sensitive mono CCD.

The other thing you can do and save yourself some cash is use the 8" Dob for a start put it up on the mount with rings. you might have to change the focuser to get to Prime focus or do a slight modification but don't be affraid of that. After your wallet recovers from this you can always go and get yourself a quality refractor and youll be able to take some awsome shots.

Also you will have to have a PC to run the gear, if you don't already have one Epcee's are cheap at under $400 and they are solid state memory so very durable not to mention very daym small (A5 size).

so all in a nutshell

EQ6
Good refractor (if not using your 8" dob)
Guide scope (ccd to match)
your choice of DSLR or Mono CCD
PC.

Myself, i set myself a 5k budget to get it all at once, though nowdays i went a different route, buy the 10" dob now, then later on buy the other gear if or when the eq6 comes down in price

thats my 2 bobs worth

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Jase
What type of astrophotography do you want to do?

Long focal length, up-close imaging of deep space objects?
Longer focal length, really-up-close imaging of planets/moon?
Or widefield imaging of DSO objects/star fields etc?

[iceman (Mike)]

hmm ok I just read your post more carefully.. focus mostly on DSO's.

Still the question stands though - up close and personal views of galaxies, or wider fields that can fit both M8/M20 in, for example?

[NewToStars (Jase)]

i guess i can't have everything in 1 go.

my plan if to make poster size images and sell them through the shop i work at.. i know this is going to take a while especially in putting images together, but that would be my aim.

I would want exceptional detail of the images and time is no huge factor when it comes to processing and taking images.

what is going to give me the best detail.. 1 galazy at a time?? if this is the case. can i still get wider fields in my shots. any chance you could show me an image, 1 upclose and one wide view.

i've been thinking this afternoon since posting this topic that i might go with the digital slr camera. prob 400D as they have a 12.1MP image. so i would get better detail and could blow the image out further. I want good quality colour images.

Brendan, i don't have the 8" dob anymore. so i would be starting from scratch.... need everything.

if i get the refractor, do i need an additional guide scope with CCD connected to PC to keep tracking spot on with the help of computer software.?

i'll post more q's as i need them.

thanks again

[Kal (Andrew)]

I think you should view your astrophotgraphy path as a journey, and start off with a setup where you can learn and refine your skills before advancing. The EQ6 would be a good start platform. To that I would add two refractors, you will be able to image through either, and guide through the other. For visual it's all about aperture, for photography, aperture is far less important, so a couple of good starter scopes would be one of the common 80mm FPL-53 doublets (there are several brands of these and plenty available on the second hand market if you are patient), and maybe a william optics 66mm. You could also maybe go a bit larger, the 102mm FPL? doublets that are around give some good results too. Make sure it has a decent focuser to support the camera weight.

For a camera, I'd suggest a DSLR. You can get one brand new for under 1K, or even a modified one (extra hydrogen alpha sensitivity through a change of the filter) second hand for under 1K. You can go film, but look around in the photography section of these forums. No one uses film anymore. When you spend 10 hours capturing, and you develop to realise your stars aren't focused, you've just wasted an entire night. The digital age gives instant results, ready for post processing, and to be honest, the cameras aren't expensive.

Additional costs will include mounting hardware/guide camera/field flatteners/software (you might already have photoshop?), you will have to factor this in.

Do you have a notebook for running guide cameras/capture software?

[iceman (Mike)]

Kal's post is exactly what I would've suggested too.

If you get ED80's and not Takahashi's, you can get a reasonable DSO imaging setup for about $4-5k.

Mount - $2k
ED80 - ? $600
Guidescope - $500
DSLR - $600-$1k
Bits and pieces - $500

[Phil]

Hi Jase
I live in Rocky you are welcome to have a look at my setup. I have a observatory in the backyard with some nice gear in it. I can show you the in and out of astro photography. The only prob. it will have to be after Chrissy say sometime in Jan. PM me if you are interested.
Phil

[NewToStars (Jase)]

thanks again to those who have submitted great feedback. much appreciated.

Phil i think we have spoken before.. start of the year when we had all the floods. i should still have your number in my PM box. i'll definately take u up on that offer if i decide to spend my hard eraned $$$ as i don't think this is a hobby i can just "wing" if you get my drift.

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

Your in some of the best possible hands when it comes to good wholesome advice!