Starting Out

[Gadget-Guy]

Just looking at taking my first steps into astro photography and was after some help as to what entry level kit i would need to progress from taking pictures of the moon with my 300 F2.8 and stacked TCs.Would like to be able to take some better images of the moon etc and also of some of the closer nebulas if possible.

Did consider the Astrotrac to just use with my existing kit but was not to sure what would be within reach of a 300 with stacked TCs or if it would be pointless considering this as an option as it seems to be more for wide field use although i have seen some images which are stunning taken with the Astrotrac.
http://www.astrotrac.com/

Would really like to be able to use the 1DMKIII instead of my 20D but have been advised it could cause problems with mounting the camera to a scope etc due to the weight of the 1D which is why all the original scopes i short listed have now been excluded due to either poor mounts or poor tracking such as the Skywatcher Startravel 80 Auto,Meade ETX90 PE and the Celestron Nexstar 4 SE.

[Jeff]

For the moon, give it a shot just on a tripod. This was 1/13 sec and ISO 100 though a 10" scope. At that fast of a shutterspeed you won't need any tracking. I could have gone a little faster even on this shot since the right side is a little over exposed.

For deep space/fainter objects, you will need to get a tracking mount.

[Gadget-Guy]

Have now got to a choice between Celestron C80 ED for £490 and a C100 ED for £699 both with the CG 5 GT which are now both discontinued but get good reviews.

Have read that the C100 has better light gathering than the C80 but with a longer focal length of 900mm rather than 600mm might show up tracking errors more for a beginner.

Would like to be able to get some more detail than i can achieve with the 300 and stacked TC's and also try some deep sky shots..

[Adrena1in]

You're right, longer focal lengths will show up tracking errors more quickly for two reasons.

1) You get less in the frame and things will appear to move more quickly.
2) Longer FL scopes tend to be slower, so you'll need to expose for longer to grab the same amount of light, thus doubly emphasising any errors.

It might suprise you to know that a lot of Deep Space Objects are actually pretty large, and I mean that as in the amount of sky they take up. M31, for example, is six times wider than the moon. M42 is big also.

I've got a 600mm f/5.8 scope and a 1200mm f/9.5 scope, and it's the 600mm that gets a lot more use. Personally I'd recommend something around 80mm aperture and 300-500mm FL to start with. But then I'm a real beginner too... :)

[Gadget-Guy]

Thank you for the replies and have just brought the 80ED,just need the weather to pick up now but can spend the time working out how to piggy back the camera on the scope as would like to use the scope as a guide for some long exposure wide angle shots at some point.

[Adrena1in]

Nice, let us see some 80ED pics soon...with all the ones I've seen I'm tempted to splash out on one myself...one's definitely going to be my next scope purchase.

What mount did you get? You should be able to mount the camera straight on it. I just piece some bits of wood and a 1/4" bolt together to sit my camera on top, and it works great.

[Gadget-Guy]

It came with a CG 5 Goto so should help me work out what is where as would like to learn my way round rather than just let the goto do all the work.Just need the sky to clear as the uk weather for the next few weeks looks rather poor.