Starting astrophotography on a budget

[scott2 (Scott)]

Hi everyone,

I've been wanting to get into this for awhile and figured I should start cheap to make sure it's something I'll be into. I'm leaning more toward trying out landscape/DSOs.

Hoping to confirm what I'm looking for sounds good, budget is $500 and I'm starting with nothing:
DSLR: Canon 700D (alternatives?)
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens
Tripod: Not really sure, any recs?

Anything else I should be keeping an eye out for?
If I get a 700D body-only, are there other lenses I should consider?

I do have a SkyWatcher Heritage 130p telescope, although I'm guessing there's not much I can do with that + a DSLR?

[iborg (Philip)]

Hi Scott


I am not claiming any great experience, but, here are my suggestions.


Without some form of tracking mount, definitely don't try using the telescope. The usable exposure time will be too short.


For a tripod, go to a camera store, look at the ones that are setup, check the legs are tight, put your finger on top and see how stable they are. If you can afford it, buy the most stable one. Remember this is something that can used for a long time, and for others things. Hopefully, someone here will be able to point you at one that is both stable and cheap. Also, try to use it with short legs, they are more stable that way.


For a lens, I suggest trying about 100mm focal length. That may 'zoom' in enough to see something of the nebula, and pick up Jupiter, at least, as a disk.


Use an intervalometer, these are cheap off ebay.

Link https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/16139361...frcectupt=true


Also, use a bahtinov mask on the front of the lens. These are also cheap, and I think there are people on the forum who can make them for you. Get one to suit the front end of the lens you use, and I think these things are for a specific focal length.


Make sure you can use the zoom function on the live view of the camera you have. You'll need it to focus.


You might find something like this useful as well, for aiming the camera close to the 'right' spot.
Link https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3112271


Find somewhere dark!


Last, but, not least, have fun!


Philip

[Saturn488]

All that to me sounds fine to get started.

Just to compare I started with a Celestron 60AZ and an iPhone 4S!

[ChrisV (Chris)]

I'm not sure about the lens. Trouble is
- if you go with a tripod you need a fast short fl lens, otherwise stability and lack of tracking will be a problem. With this the lens becomes expensive. And dark skies!!
- A slower longer FL lens is cheaper but then you'll need some sort of tracking. Now the mount is more expensive.

So I don't know what to suggest. Depends on whether you want to go for DSOs or nightscapes. They are two very different things which require different equipment. Except they can both start with a basic DSLR

[mura_gadi (Steve)]

If your going for a cheap intro and have access to a few basic tools I would suggest a DYI star tracker mount for the camera.


as fancy as this if you have the finances and access to a 3D printer -
https://www.hackster.io/news/the-nic...n-0d3632d7347b

or the barn door tracker - two planks of wood and a long screw for under $40... https://www.diyphotography.net/how-t...rophotography/

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

Originally Posted by scott2

Hi everyone,

I've been wanting to get into this for awhile and figured I should start cheap to make sure it's something I'll be into. I'm leaning more toward trying out landscape/DSOs.

Hoping to confirm what I'm looking for sounds good, budget is $500 and I'm starting with nothing:
DSLR: Canon 700D (alternatives?)
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens
Tripod: Not really sure, any recs?

Anything else I should be keeping an eye out for?
If I get a 700D body-only, are there other lenses I should consider?

I do have a SkyWatcher Heritage 130p telescope, although I'm guessing there's not much I can do with that + a DSLR?

The older Canon's are all very noisy. The 700D is one of the noisiest of the Canon APSC's.

Practically anything without a Canon badge on it will be much better for nightscape type photography - Sony, Nikon, Pentax all have Sony sensors. Sony have been making full frame for quite a while but the Alpha 5000 and 6000 series are APSc and will have half the noise of the 700D. Some of the Sony camera's had a problems with noise reduction called star eating where the camera treated images of stars as noise and deleted them. They fixed this problem in firmware. I don't know if any older model cameras don't have the firmware fix.

Any of these cameras, whichever are in your budget, will be about half the noise of the Canon 700D :-
Nikon D3200, D3300, D3400, D5100, D5200, D5300, D5500, D5600, D7000, D7100, D7200, D7500
Pentax K01, K5, K5ii, K5iiS, K3

All of the above are APSC cameras because you asked about an APSC camera. if you can afford a second hand full frame camera, performance increases substantially.

Cheers
Joe

[RyanJones]

Hi Scott,

Without knowing what objects you plan to image it is a bit hard to say exactly where to start. Really simplified it comes down to the more feint and more distant objects you want to image, the more your mount will matter. If you’re not sure if it’s for you and you want to dabble, buy second hand. If you don’t like it, you haven’t spent much and can likely recoup your money. If you get bitten by the bug like the rest of us, you’ll want more and bigger and better at which point your definition of budget will change.

Cheers

Ryan

[scott2 (Scott)]

Appreciate all the advice.

..ended up going over budget because I found a solid deal for a very lightly used Nikon D5300 with 2 kit lenses which seemed too good to pass up and should be able to recoup the costs if this isn't for me.

Next will be a tripod and then I'll see how I go and start learning!

Understanding that the lenses are probably not the best - what objects can I be looking for with these lenses?
AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Lens
AF-P DX NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED Lens

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Hi Scott,

Between the two, you can cover everything from wide-angle Milky Way shots to larger DSO (Deep Space Objects) and some of the larger galaxies.

However, without a tracking mount, I suggest sticking to the wider angle shots; simply to reduce the amount of star trailing. (The 500 Rule is handy here to compute the longest exposure you can do without starting to see smudged stars.)

Have a look on YouTube for Nico Carver (NebulaPhotos) to see what can be achieved with a camera on a tripod - you'd be surprised at what you can do.

With regards to a tripod, go for something sturdy with a bit of weight in it. I have a Manfrotto 290 (something or other) and whilst not cheap, it has some heft to it.

If you decide astro is for you, then a small tracker such as a Star Adventurer or Sky Guider is a good step up. I'll go out on a limb and suggest the Star Adventurer GTi - controlled by your phone and with full GoTo capabilities. They're brand new and not quite out on the market, so be prepared to wait a while if you're keen.

Failing that, haunt the 'For Sale' section here, as mounts do come up on a regular basis.

Oh, and astrobuysell.com is another option, too.

Cheers,
V