telescopes?
- Thread starter JonClarke
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allanm
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- Allan
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I am afraid you can get either good close up moon shots, or a cheap telescope!
You will need the correct tripod and mount and if you are going to take shots of more than a few seconds, you are going to need to drive the telescope.
Mounts are either equitorial mounts ( cheapest) or polar mounts ( expensive)
It all starts to add up!
If you want to connect your camera, you need an adapter of some sort. Either one to hold the camera over the eyepiece ( afocal) or an adapter that enables you to use the camera in place of the eyepiece.
Something like this is a good starter scope and you will be able to hold a small camera over the eyepiece and get shots of the moon.
I dont think you will get down to crater detail.
For that you need something more substantial to hold the camera.
I used this scope. It allowed me to attach my Nikon D80 and track objects for longer exposures to get shots like this...
Astrophoyography is addictive and puts a strain on your wallet. Theres always something better in the shops....
Somebody else might have info on cheaper setups, but I learnt the hard way that there isnt a really cheap option.
Allan
You will need the correct tripod and mount and if you are going to take shots of more than a few seconds, you are going to need to drive the telescope.
Mounts are either equitorial mounts ( cheapest) or polar mounts ( expensive)
It all starts to add up!
If you want to connect your camera, you need an adapter of some sort. Either one to hold the camera over the eyepiece ( afocal) or an adapter that enables you to use the camera in place of the eyepiece.
Something like this is a good starter scope and you will be able to hold a small camera over the eyepiece and get shots of the moon.
I dont think you will get down to crater detail.
For that you need something more substantial to hold the camera.
I used this scope. It allowed me to attach my Nikon D80 and track objects for longer exposures to get shots like this...
Astrophoyography is addictive and puts a strain on your wallet. Theres always something better in the shops....
Somebody else might have info on cheaper setups, but I learnt the hard way that there isnt a really cheap option.
Allan
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- John
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Jon, I use a cheap 80mm refracting telescope on an ebay Altitude Azimuth mount (think camera tripod with motors). View and imaging the moon through a static tripod mounted telescope is possible, I've done it, but it's incredibly infuriating, as soon as you get up to sufficiently high powers to start seeing interesting things, the motion of the earth and moon will shift the moon out of the view in about 30 seconds.
The crop factor on the SLR means that to get in close you need a very long focal length of scope something like a Skymax 127 would work (£220) think mirror lens really. However, using something like a ccd webcam allows you to get in much closer, like this, but requires powered tracking.
Please excuse the image quality, it was before I managed to sort out the focuser on my scope.
The crop factor on the SLR means that to get in close you need a very long focal length of scope something like a Skymax 127 would work (£220) think mirror lens really. However, using something like a ccd webcam allows you to get in much closer, like this, but requires powered tracking.
Please excuse the image quality, it was before I managed to sort out the focuser on my scope.