Quote:
Originally Posted by SadisticSarz
Hiya Bruce
I love your pictures of the moon. I was wondering how much I need to spend on equipment to get a good image like yours.
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Hi Sara, I made all of my astro purchases pre-loved. I used ice in space classifieds, astromart classifieds in the USA, and eBay for cameras. It really depends what you want to shoot. My setup is more for deep space relatively wide field (larger nebulae etc). The only solar system work I can do is the sun and the moon. If you want to shoot Jupiter, Mars and Saturn you need long focal length scope, Barlow lenses (these magnify images by 2x, 3x, 5x etc).
An entry level Tracking goto mount something like a HEQ5 pro from skywatcher is important. A lot of cool software to help with all of this is available and much of it is free. Others are modestly priced for what you get. Using eyepiece projection, (what you are doing now) is not easy. You will find it hard to get sharp images hand holding your video cam. If you can get focus with a web cam mounted directly to your focuser you will be much better off.
In summary, think about what you really want to get into, and ask about what you need to get to accomplish that and watch the classifieds for opportunities to save money along the way. It took me almost 12 months to collect what I wanted to get started. In my opinion, the most important thing is a good mount. A good mount will hold you in good stead for whatever direction you want to go.
Good luck and clear skies,
Bruce.