Looking for advice -Astro photography

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

While I myself, am only interested in visual astronomy, my children are expressing interest in the dark arts of Astro Photography...

I am interested in advice in terms of mount and camera and any other needed cannot live without accessories. They are interested is shooting it all but I imagine they would progress from easy to hard objects.

I thought I would turn them loose with my APM 130...I am guessing the weight is near 20 kgs...it is an f6.

I am game to encourage them to love the night sky so am considering supporting this bad habit. With respect to budget, I am fortunate not to have many constraints. Portability is a plus (no near term chance of observatory) as is ease of use...PHD (push here dummy) level is attractive to me. They are both teens and are computer/technology whizzes.

I am not sold on this idea completely so nice gear that can be resold without a big loss is of interest. I am very interested in the perspective of this august community.

Thanks!

[kens (Ken)]

Whilst it is possible to do astrophotography with an alt-az mount, an equatorial mount makes things a whole lot easier. An HEQ5 with your ED80 is a popular combination and they hold their value pretty well.
Start with shorter focal lengths and maybe even just a DSLR and a telephoto lens of 200-300mm.
At some point you'll need a guide scope and camera for guided photography.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Scott
Having been through the trials of getting an imaging rig up over the last 15 months, I would suggest trying the 80mm first with a DSLR. The APM is going to need a mount in the class above an NEQ6 with that weight, and while $$$ may not be a factor, a mount in that sort of class is starting to get a tad non portable.
The 80 mm could be guided very easily with a basic guide camera and a 50mm like this and a HEQ5 will work great. If they are tech savvy, then PHD and Backyard EOS will work fine for capture.

Malcolm

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Hi Scott,

I second what Malcolm and Ken suggested; an 80mm scope would be ideal to get into astrophotography. I believe Stellarvue makes good telescopes, and perhaps SV80ST-IS would be a good choice because it has a Feather Touch focuser, it is fast - f/4.8 triplet and has short focal length of 384 mm when used with a dedicated reducer.

As for the mount, perhaps something similar to AZEQ5/6 or, if funds permit, then why not get a quality one such as MYT or Mach1.

Please keep us posted

[doppler (Rick)]

Looking at the specs the ADM130 /f6 is only about 7 kgs so a Heq5 pro would be your minimum starting point. A NEQ6 would be much better if they decide to jump into auto guiding, but as the others have said start with a dslr, a canon with a swivel screen is probably easiest to use.

Then all you need is a tmount and adaptor a usb cable, laptop and a copy of backyard eos. You might also need an extension tube to reach focus with the camera.

[Atmos (Colin)]

There are a lot of objects that are fun to do wide field with so starting off with those is definitely the best way to start. Short focal length! HEQ5 or NEQ6 is a great place to start as they are definitely easy to offload if need be. Whether you start with an ED80 or even a small triplet it doesn't matter. If they're already into photography, getting a nice camera and some decent lens' and doing wider field is a lot of fun too.

[Windston (Dan)]

Depends on the amount of money that you are willing to spend on it, and if you wanna image DSO's or Planets, but like what others are saying, EQ mounts like the HEQ5 or the Celestron AVX is the way to go if you are just getting into it. They will provide great results and will provide fun for the whole familiy! Esspecially when you show them the image and try to explain how far away the object is, or what is contained in the frame. I personally love galactic clusters and they are esspecially fun to say.

"When the light left that galaxy, apes hadnt even evolved yet, and most life way still contained in the sea! I love that one, and sometimes you can get ones where the dinosaurs where still alive and that is just awesome!

But that is just my opinion!

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Thanks all...I had not been thinking about using the ED80 but that would address some concerns of mine. Your mount ideas are helpful too.

Any particular camera suggestions?

[raymo]

The quality of the DSLR is pretty much irrelevant for basic and intermediate AP, so the cheapest Canon model that has a swivel screen is the way to go; easy to sell if and when they decide to upgrade further down the track, or stop doing AP.
raymo