Equipment for complete Astronewbie

[Atlantis69 (Simon)]

Hi guys/girls,

This is my first post, as I've decided to think a bit more about getting into astrophotography as a hobby. I have a tonne of camera gear already (wedding photographer) which I hope to be able to use.

I was wondering if I could get some advice regarding equipment selection.
Ideally I'd like to be able to photograph the Milky Way band on clear nights, as well as some of the easier nebulae to locate. I occasionally travel out to areas like Griffith & Wagga NSW which have amazing skies compared to my area (near Sydney).

Photography equipment wise, I have the choice of using any of the following bodies: 300D, 400D, 1D4, 1Ds3. Lenses available are 16-35, 24-70 and 70-200. All lenses are f2.8 models and the 70-200 has IS as well.

Will the 200mm mounted onto one of the crop bodies be good enough for any nebula work? the 300D/400D have 1.6 multipliers, the 1D4 has 1.25 multiplier and the 1Ds is full frame.

I have been looking at getting the Skywatcher HEQ5Pro SynScan mount. Would this be suitable to mount the above equipment onto? For the moment, I don't wish to purchase a dedicated telescope if I can get away without one.

Is the SynScan GPS unit worth it for ease of setup?
Does anyone know if the unit will polar align the mount or will that still need adjusting?

Should I purchase any particular filters to aid in imagery? The EOS clip in filters from Astronomik appear to be the best solution for the equipment I own. Not sure if this is true in practice, just what I've guessed so far.

Any help would be immensely appreciated

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

hey mate, your running really light gear so just a standard EQ5 will be ample sufficient.

No German Equatorial Mount (GEM) will auto align as there is physical adjustments to be made unlike a Altitude Azimith mount (ALT AZ) that can "semi align itself" but if its photography you are looking for then go the GEM.

As for the precision that you will need in regards to wide field photography although you have to be reasonably aligned it isn't as critical also you don't need to guide at that focal length as long as your subs are around the 4-5 minute mark much over that and using something like the finder guider package that Orion offer will be very good for your setup.

https://www.bintelshop.com.au/Product.aspx?ID=9193

Things that you might want to purchase in addition to the mount;

Rotating ball head (so you can get the right framing)
Side by side setup (so you can run more than 1 camera at a time eg your 200 with your 50 this isn't essential but could be of good benifit)
An astronomy package something like "back yard EOS" or the like is very handy

With your cameras they have a daylight filter that will block most Hydrogen alpha wavelengths (red nebula) but you may still get a faint hint of these nebs at such a wide field. So in that case using the clip in filters are pointless unless you are using the light pollution blocking ones for shooting in the city (not really advisable in anycase).

As for the selection of what camera to use try to use your 1D as the full frame and superior noise control will give you really nice images one of the members of this site Hymuan (sorry if i spelt your name wrong) who frequents the terrestrial photography area has alot of experience with this type of photography with DSLR's

Hope that helps and here is a quick glance at what a Standard 40D guided at 2 min exposures stacked with the standard 18-55mm (i think its those numbers) will do.

http://brendanmitchell.net/?page_id=...oto=71&occur=1
http://brendanmitchell.net/?page_id=...oto=72&occur=1

This one is with a standard canon 55-200 i think it is zoom lense at 5 min exposures stacked
http://brendanmitchell.net/?page_id=...oto=73&occur=1

[Atlantis69 (Simon)]

Wow, excellent reply... thankyou very much for responding so quickly and in depth.

I'll take a look at BackYardEOS software as I have a tiny 10" laptop which would work well when out & about.

I might visit Bintel next week and bring a body/lens along to see which mount (EQ5 or HEQ5) works best.

As for the bodies, I may look into removing the IR filter on either the 300D or 400D as I don't use them for paid work anymore, so if I can make one more suitable for astro it might work well.

[Poita (Peter)]

If one of your older canon bodies is gathering dust, then you may want to consider modding it as well down the track. You then get to have fun doing daytime IR terrestrial photography as well.

[Peter.M]

Modded = remove IR filter.

[Atlantis69 (Simon)]

Yeah, the 400D just sits lonely in a corner so I might pull it apart and pull the IR filter off the sensor so I can try some photos with it as well.
Thanks for the help guys. No doubt I'll be $1500 poorer, but a lot more excited next week

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

Go for gold cheif just remember its a sand monster pit you know just like the ones out of star wars

[Atlantis69 (Simon)]

Hopefully a bit more enjoyable than Sarlacc

[Poita (Peter)]

You will get much better results with the filter removed, and it is a nice little weekend project.

[Atlantis69 (Simon)]

I pulled apart a 5D2 twice last month, so the 400D should be pretty much the same. I've read a couple of guides and the worst part seems to be desoldering a few shields, which should be easy enough.

I'm sure the effort will be worth the results.

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

be aware that if you remove the front glass completely you will not be able to use auto focus at all because the glass changes the focus point slightly. (youll have to use live view).

Alternitively i think baader offers a special UV IR cut filter specific to astronomy to which you can get a daylight photography clip in to bring it to normal and use your normal lenses with it. they arnt that expensive either

Brendan