Telescopes to use with cameras

[cammie]

Hi all,

I am a keen photographer and regular user of this site but I'm just wondering if anyone knew anything about telescopes and what might be a good quality entry level telescope? My fiancee has always wanted one and hopefully we are about to buy a house on a hill so I think the time might have come for me to get him one. He's a keen photographer and already the owner of a Canon 5D Mark III. I'd love to get him a telescope that he could attach his camera to. I'm looking at a budget of around £300 but I have no idea if this would get one that would be any good? If anyone happens to know of any around this price bracket that might do the job, I'd be very grateful for any info. If not, an idea of what I might have to spend to get one that would be if use would also be really handy to know and maybe I could then get a few more people to chip in or something.

Many thanks in advance for any info,
Cammie

 

[BillN_33]

used digiscope plus adaptor kit, but they are generally used on a tripod with a small compact digicam?

if he has a tripod and small digicam …. the digiscope route is worth looking at ……. but for good IQ they are expensive …. but maybe a used one could be found within your budget

A specific bird forum is a good place to start looking

 

[seme]

Pop along to this site stargazerslounge.com really useful forum and really helpful people.

 

[allanm]

If I were you, I would get him a good entry level telescope (something like an 8" Dobsonian) then if he is keen enough to start using his camera, he could could think about upgrading to one that will be suitable. He will need to learn his way around the sky too and that sort of scope is ideal. A good book to help is "Turn left at Orion"
The next step is a computer controlled telescope which will goto any object you wish to view and track its path across the sky. The latter is essential if you want to photograph anything except the moon.
As has been suggested, pop over to stargazerslounge, loads of info on there on astrophotography and while you're there, look at First Light optics, they sponsor the site and are excellent suppliers.
But, astophotography is a very expensive hobby........
This would be a good starter telescope with goto http://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/skywatcher-skymax-127-synscan-az-goto.html
Even a simple modified webcam used with this would give you stunning deep sky images. He wouldn't really need his Canon, its far too sophisticated, but he would be able to buy an adapter to fit it to the scope.!
Allan

 

[hollis_f]

If he's interested in photographing the night sky then digiscoping won't work (but it is great for birding). For £300 I wouldn't get him a telescope, but one of these - iOptron SkyTracker

One of the main problems with shooting the stars is that they move (well, it's the Earth that moves - if you believe that Copernicus bloke). This movement imposes a huge limit on the exposure time you can use - around 20s for wide-field down to just a second for even a short telephoto - before you get the stars tailing.

The SkyTracker fixes that problem. You mount it atop a tripod, align it due north and adjust the tilt until it's pointing at the Pole Star (loads of instructions on how to do this). Once it's polar-aligned you attach your camera and lens and start shooting. The SkyTracker moves your camera so that it's always pointing at the same piece of sky. Bingo, huge long exposures no matter what focal length you use.

For a review and some sweet examples - LINK

 

[jimmyjamjojo]

For 300 you'l get either a mount or a scope, but sadly not both. Scope wise you'd get a skyliner 200p and some eyepieces, but dobsonians are no good for photography due to the mount. The 127mm recommended above is slow as hell at f11-13 iirc, so also no good.
Unfortunately you need to decide is the scope more important or the photography. If it is the scope i'd get a decent mount like an eq-5 at least, and whatever modest scope you can afford after that.
Bottom line, a mount and scope for 300 will give you nothing but frustration. A good mount however, with no scope but a fast lens will give you great photos. You can always save for a scope whilst using just a camera and lens.
Stargazers lounge is a good place to ask for advice, though i imagine they'l tell you the same as i have.

 

[arad85]

Avoid trying to photograph stuff with a telescope for £300. Either buy a telescope and star map (8" dobsonian would be my choice at that price - although the better eyepieces make the whole experience better IMHO and they cost lots) or get an automatic mount as suggested and mount the DSLR and lenses.

Photographing anything more than wideangle of the sky - and doing it well - is a very expensive job. Trust me, been there, done that, got the T....