Hey Jordan, just some more tips from a guy that was in your position about 18 months and several dollars ago!
Use what you've got before the big rush to spend. I did pretty much the opposite and have found myself with six, soon seven scopes and two mounts. Bloody internet!
I originally bought an EQ 6 which was great but it was stored outside, under cover and after it started slewing wildly then stopped working altogether, I used a tax rebate to buy a CGEM mount. Couldn't be happier with my CGEM though I wish it could take a bit more weight. Of course then the EQ 6 started to work again!
In that time I have acquired an 80mm APO refractor, bought and sold (now regretfully) a 100mm refractor, got a second hand 8" reflector off Ice in Space, and a brand new 10" f4 reflector. All added to my original, now de-forked Meade 8" SCT. Plus two 80mm short tube Orion guide scopes which at a pinch are not bad for visual/imaging.
Now have just put an offer in on a 90mm Mak Cass for my travel scope!
Point is, once you are on the slippery slope it gets crazy steep man!
I splurged on an Atik 314L+ when I originally was cashed up, I have used it seldom as the chip is quite small and the technique of mono imaging with filters is something I am saving for my dotage! (too hard bin)
DSLR"s are cheap, they have big chips and even unmodified, you can get pretty pictures with them.
My feeling is that you can have loads of fun with what you have got plus a guide set up. Once guiding, or even doing 30 sec exposures of really bright DSO's, you can get some great pictures. Then get to know the cheap or free software that is out there. PHD, DeepSkyStacker, Stellarium etc.
The point about DSLR chips (sensors) is that they are big, so much easier to find objects and focus on, so use the Canon utilities or other software like Astrophotography Tool to do Live View focus.
Then get to know about processing - this is another steep learning curve and one I have just reached the last bus stop before base camp on!
You can splurge on Photoshop, go free on paint.net, GIMP or similar, or go bargain/cheap on StarTools. The latter is good as the software designer is a regular on this site and you can ask him idiotic questions like I do and he replies! Bonus.
Many people have photoshop, which is hideously expensive unless you are a student, but there are apparently lots of tutes on line to help with astro processing.
There is no substitute for getting out there and having a go, then asking the good folks about what happened on this forum. Shameless plug here but I have learnt all I know about astrophotography (think match head or Victorian stamp) from this very web site. Plus a whole lot more I didn't really want to know about spiders and weird weather and some useful stuff about computers.
I also have bought quite a few things from this site and sold a few too so don't be afraid to make an offer on something or flog that old dusty thing that you are sure no-one would buy.
Thought just occurred to me - one thing I would say about SCT's in general (SGT's) I found the focus knob on my Meade was a pain- and the first and one of the best upgrades I did early was to get that cheap JMI moto focus unit with handbox that screws on, so once you are on target you don't have to bash around at the back of the scope for fine focus.
DSLR's- doesn't matter as long as you can get Live View or such like ( I don't know the Nikon equivalent)
Live View makes life so much easier to focus, assuming you are USB connected and sitting in front of your lap top with Astrophotography Tool or Canon Utilities or Backyard EOS etc connected. So you can sit a metre away, with your red cellophane covering your laptop screen to maintain night vision, and use your remote (connected by cord) focus, and watch the focus on your screen. Using a Bahntinov mask (focus aid which is cheap and mostly idiot proof, though idiots like me sometimes forget they are on and start taking images through them!), then set up and calibrate guiding, then set off your imaging run with the software of your choice. Sheer poetry when it all works!
Course if you don't have a laptop spare- I always found that one of those cheap right angle view finder attachments for the camera was really useful- could find then try and focus through the camera (Mine was made by Seagull brand, off ebay I think).
Power- think reliable clean mains power if you can for the mount, if at a dark site get a big battery. I used to use rechargable batteries for my camera- even got one of those heavy battery extra add on things that fit around the base of the camera. Great, but. And there always is a but. If you observe near the house get an AC adaptor for the camera. My camera batteries rapidly lost the will to live when the temperature became interestingly cold. Once again, ebay or IIS is your friend here.
Do not bother with a Celestron Power Tank. Unless you only want to power a very small amp device in ambient temperature for a short duration.
Go the deep cycle battery for the field trip- I recently powered my EQ 6, laptop, video camera and light from a deep cycle battery for the local club public evening.
The other thing which I would highly recommend if you have a GOTO mount is one of the cheap versions of the plug in GPS module for celestron mounts. Don't buy the expensive Celestron one. I have the cheap StarGPS one which works on a lot of different goto mounts, it works very well on my CGEM.
Sorry about the long diatribe, but clouds have come in ruined my plans!
As Nathan says also, ebay or local shop for second hand dslr body, don't really need a lens if it saves the dosh. Just the live view which is good. His link on the Gary Honis site is great for comparing dslr's, and is also a font of knowledge about other stuff- I modified my own second hand bought 450D using his instructions. Now I am three quarters of the way through his Peltier cooler mod.
Join the local astro society, borrow your mates DSLR again and polar align, whack out 30 shots of iso 800 of M42 -do exposures ranging from 10 secs to 45 secs (longer if you are aligned), shoot in raw mode on the camera, then put the cover on the telescope/camera viewfinder and take the same shots again. Now you have a bunch of images (lights) and some darks in RAW.
Store them in a folder then open up DeepSkyStacker- open this folder with the top command open picture files this is your images/lights. check all. Add dark frames- check all (add your cover on. cap on darks)
Follow the prompts and just agree. Will stack your lights and darks (don't worry about flats etc yet)
Once stacked it will be a very dark image. Wait for it to finish loading then you can either adjust the saturation or LRGB etc or just leave it and save it as a file to desk top.
Then open that file in StarTools, Nebulosity (forgot about Nebulosity- good programme) or PS, and adjust from there.
Easy eh?
Long message, lots of info, sorry about that but as I said clouds have ruined my plans tonight. La Nina needs to pick up her skirts and skittle off somewhere else for a change
Graham
