Astronomy equipment

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drb5

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So I’m looking to try my hand at shooting the night sky and I believe I should get myself a good quality motorised head?

I already have Manfrotto 190XPRO3, which I believe is good enough? And I also have a couple of apps for showing me what’s visible in the sky and where exactly.

Do I need anything else?
 
I think there may be a minor difference between astronomy and astrophotography. I think the latter involves photographing whereas the former involves simply observing. there are 2 ways you can photograph the night sky. 1 with a camera lens 2 with a telescope and camera adapter which are you looking at?
 
Sorry for the confusion, I meant astrophotography.

Currently have a 6D with Sigma 150-600 Contemporary and will get a tc-1401, for that bit extra range.
 
just for your info I would not use a teleconverter for Astro, loss of definition will be a problem.better to get a sharp image and blow it up slightly
 
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Looking for wide angle Milky Way or specific objects? For Milky Way i rate Samyang eg 24mm 1.4 on my full frame. It’s manual focus and nice and sharp. For objects then look at sky trackers which follow the motion and allow long exposure or multiple exposures. If you live in an area with light pollution a filter for that can help too. Have fun!
 
Thanks very much guys, much appreciated.

Probably try a bit of both if I can Newbie1. I have a nice sharp Sigma 12-24 for the wider stuff. Just looking forward to giving it a bash...supposed to be pretty clear tomorrow evening.:cool:
 
I still plan on getting the extender for other plans I have, so it may well get a trial or two for moon shots[emoji41]
 
It needs rock solid support, I generally only extend the first leg section on the tripod for moon photos to keep it low a stable
 
Can anyone recommend a ball head that would suit a Sky-Watcher?
 
Fabulous Image
 
I use the Sigma 150-600C on a Canon 350D or 550D for astrophotography. Some of the images I've taken with this set up are on my Flickr (look for M31, the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula in the astronomy album - there's some more recent astro that's been taken with a scope). Whatever you use for tracking, you want a rock solid mount. I have that same Manfrotto tripod and while I'll happily use it for Sun and Moon shots, I wouldn't use it for longer exposure proper astro stuff with the lens at 600mm, and certainly not with the additional weight of a tracking head on it. Neither would I use a ball head with anything other than a wide angle lens. I have a dovetail which bolts to the lens foot with an Allen key bolt, which then fits direct to a SkyWatcher EQ3-1 mount. For the Sun and Moon, though, a fixed tripod is fine (you'll need a filter if you tackle the Sun of course).
 
I would start off with the easy stuff. Wide angle Milky Way, star trails etc. Get a bit of practise shooting at night. Deep sky photography is a different ballgame, especially with long focal lengths. A tracker is pretty much a must have and in the world of tracking mounts you generally get what you pay for. Starter mounts like the sky watcher star adventurer and similar are pretty reasonable money and allow you to get an insight into deep sky photography but they are limited by their mechanical accuracy and build. You can get some pretty acceptable results with them, and with wide angle lenses you can get exposures of several minutes with half decent polar alignment. As the focal length increase however then polar alignment and mechanical accuracy start to play a more important part. Whilst there are great apps for showing you where you need to place Polaris in the polar scope I found the novelty of crawling about on my knees trying to get it spot on wore off quite quickly. I invested in a QHD Polemaster which is a neat bit of kit and makes polar alignment a lot easier. If I was starting again I would have jumped to a better tracker like the Skywatcher EQ5 which has a bigger payload so would allow taking the next step of using a guide scope to increase exposure times without worrying about exceeding the payload of some of the smaller ones.
 
Buy a Pentax DSLR with the O-GPS attachment I think it's called.

The sensor does the tracking for exposures of up to 5 minutes.
 
Thanks very much folks.

I see most SkyWatchers come with a tripod...are a better bet for weight and stability than my Manfrotto?

I don't wish to spend a fortune when starting out, but I certainly don't wish to buy twice, so more likely to find a secondhand, higher end unit.

Got all my gear out this evening, after checking my Clear Outside app, so subsequently see clouds nearly everywhere:( I did happen to see 1 fairly bright star and got a couple fairly decent(to me) shots, but not yet got them onto the laptop...More stars appeared on the camera screen of the shot taken, then there was while about to take the shot lol:eek:
 
sirch said:
I often use a 2x tele converter with a Tamron 150-600, no problem with loss of definition, I think there is a lot of "urban myths" around TC's

HarvestMoon by TheWub, on Flickr
Click to expand...
this photo seems to have a loss of definition or is that "urban myth" i can see
 
sirch said:
I often use a 2x tele converter with a Tamron 150-600, no problem with loss of definition, I think there is a lot of "urban myths" around TC's

HarvestMoon by TheWub, on Flickr
Click to expand...

dinorock said:
this photo seems to have a loss of definition or is that "urban myth" i can see
Click to expand...

I agree. Perhaps we have different expectations as to what is achievable? Anyway here's a comparison of that photo (on the left) with one of mine (on the right). They weren't taken at the same time and the moon in mine wasn't quite full, so they're not directly comparable. And I'm not claiming that mine is a paragon of quality. But I think it shows that it is possible to achieve considerably higher definition.

19267-1510913160-dd662f298defc552b56dab80be79388c.jpg
 
drb5 said:
That's a pretty huge difference and I must say, epic shot Stewart!:cool:

Anyone care to comment on what is a better/more suitable package for me...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sk...watcher-star-adventurer-astronomy-bundle.html

or...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sk...mini-sam-wifi-astro-imaging-mount-bundle.html
Click to expand...

If you're thinking about a star adventurer then you need the package with the counterweight. The mini has only a 3 kg payload compared with 5kg on the other.
 
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Thanks Gaz, missed that part RE payload.

I decided not to bother with an extender and simply get a cheap 50D, which I may have modified in the near future. With the crop factor, it will get closer to objects in the sky, but also have a better quality of shot....hopefully lol
 
dinorock said:
this photo seems to have a loss of definition or is that "urban myth" i can see
Click to expand...
StewartR said:
I agree. Perhaps we have different expectations as to what is achievable? Anyway here's a comparison of that photo (on the left) with one of mine (on the right). They weren't taken at the same time and the moon in mine wasn't quite full, so they're not directly comparable. And I'm not claiming that mine is a paragon of quality. But I think it shows that it is possible to achieve considerably higher definition.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm sure all of that is down to the use of a tele-converter.
 
Well after browsing the internet for some time and speaking with a couple of stores, it's looking like a SW EQ5 Pro GOTO is where I will be headed. It's more than I wished/hoped to spend, but I really don't want to buy twice and if I got into AP as much as I think I could do, then I know I'd end up upgrading in the future and that would annoy me intensely.

So I'm keeping an eye out for secondhand set-up's, or possibly a deal good deal from a stockist. Something to look forward to while I annoy myself silly getting shots like below:LOL:
 

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These images can be so enhanced by stacking......I think you need a min of a 300mm (FF) lens, and maybe 10 to 15 sequential shots. Then use a stacking programme, Registax I use. Just makes awhole load of difference IMHO...

This mornings moon (13th) by Mark Johnson, on Flickr
 
That's lovely mark, thanks very much for sharing and info. :)

So I came across a site selling some pre-owned AP items and managed to get an EQ5 PRO with V4 Synscan GOTO for £409...a fair price I believe. Would normally have spent more time researching, but I figured by the time I'd decided to go for it, someone else would have bought it:oops: :$ Anyways, really appreciate everyones help, though I'm sure there will undoubtedly be further questions in the future.:D
 
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