Jupiter and moons.

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Maybe gonna splurge on a scope when my velux goes in the loft and Jim Davidson comes romping home

Dunno if I'd ever attempt photography through it like
 


smoker said:
Just enjoy observing marra, astrophotography is a money pit
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Yep, my thoughts

I'd only buy second hand like, so I could make a return if I lost interest. But it would be good for the sprogs to look through a decent scope too
 
Icarebecauseyoudo said:
Yep, my thoughts

I'd only buy second hand like, so I could make a return if I lost interest. But it would be good for the sprogs to look through a decent scope too
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You could put together a reasonable second hand set up for a grand and a half, after that you start spending exponential amounts of money on diminishing returns. I have reached a point where I'd need to spend 3 or 4 grand to make the next step up and I simply cannot justify the expense to myself or the wife. Besides, if you already have good photography gear, you can simply buy or build a tracking platform like Ken is doing. An L series lens will give you far superior results to fastening a camera to a cheap telescope, people assume you need magnification to do astrophotography, you don't!

Just giz a shout if you need any advice on astro kit.
 
smoker said:
You could put together a reasonable second hand set up for a grand and a half, after that you start spending exponential amounts of money on diminishing returns. I have reached a point where I'd need to spend 3 or 4 grand to make the next step up and I simply cannot justify the expense to myself or the wife. Besides, if you already have good photography gear, you can simply buy or build a tracking platform like Ken is doing. An L series lens will give you far superior results to fastening a camera to a cheap telescope, people assume you need magnification to do astrophotography, you don't!

Just giz a shout if you need any advice on astro kit.
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Dunno how I'd attach technical cameras to it anyway ? MF sized lenses. If I did any for a laugh I'd maybe just use the GH1 or summat . I suppose trying a few galaxy shots would be fun, so I'd probably talk myself into it. Could you shoot a nice spiral galaxy with an 8 inch and tracking or is that not enough?
 
Icarebecauseyoudo said:
Dunno how I'd attach technical cameras to it anyway ? MF sized lenses. If I did any for a laugh I'd maybe just use the GH1 or summat . I suppose trying a few galaxy shots would be fun, so I'd probably talk myself into it. Could you shoot a nice spiral galaxy with an 8 inch and tracking or is that not enough?
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The trouble with spiral galaxies is, aside from Andromeda and the triangulum galaxy, they are quite small (less than 10 arc seconds) and dim so you need a focal length of 600mm+ and exposures over 5 minutes. That means having a good, accurately aligned equatorial mount. More expense.

You can image a galaxy with a 3 inch refractor, but an 8 inch reflector at the same focal length will be faster (my vixen r200ss is f4, compared to f6.9 for my refractor) which is always useful in astro.
 
smoker said:
The trouble with spiral galaxies is, aside from Andromeda and the triangulum galaxy, they are quite small (less than 10 arc seconds) and dim so you need a focal length of 600mm+ and exposures over 5 minutes. That means having a good, accurately aligned equatorial mount. More expense.

You can image a galaxy with a 3 inch refractor, but an 8 inch reflector at the same focal length will be faster (my vixen r200ss is f4, compared to f6.9 for my refractor) which is always useful in astro.
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Yes it was 8 inch I was looking at. Sounds like I'll restrict the use to viewing to me
 
Have been looking at various cameras for connecting to my telescope, narrowed it down two cannot decide whether to go for the Nikon P520 or the Nikon D3100. Advice and suggestions would be really appreciated please!
 
Albay3037 said:
Have been looking at various cameras for connecting to my telescope, narrowed it down two cannot decide whether to go for the Nikon P520 or the Nikon D3100. Advice and suggestions would be really appreciated please!
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Go canon for astrophotography. They have lowest noise at long exposures and theres a load of software knocking about.
 
smoker said:
Go canon for astrophotography. They have lowest noise at long exposures and theres a load of software knocking about.
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There was an 8 inch dobsonian on ebay earlier

In Belfast like so couldn't collect else I might have been tempted
 
smoker said:
Would be spot on mate. They are actually better than some of the mid range DSLRs for astro due to larger pixels
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What about a Canon Rebel Xti. Got one upstairs doing nowt. If I get into this astro stuff can it be modded ???
 
K3NA said:
What about a Canon Rebel Xti. Got one upstairs doing nowt. If I get into this astro stuff can it be modded ???
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Yep, XTi/400D is one of the best. If it's doing nowt, you could do the IR-cut mod, really transforms a DSLR for astro (although not so useful for regular use after).
 
Not at the moment, sliced my bloody index finger open making that barn door with the limited tools I have. Throbbing like hell !!!!! :cry::cry:
 
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