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NEW to Astrophotography...What would I need?

Started by bigtasty25, 12/12/2007 06:30PM
Posted 12/12/2007 06:30PM | Edited 12/12/2007 06:31PM Opening Post
Just purchased a 2 month old Celestron 8SE off astromart...should arrive today or tomorrow. Im new to astrophotography and would love to get into it, have wanted to for awhile now. Any suggestions as to what Ill need? I live in south fla in a suburban area...but have access to dark skies if needed. Also have an ultrablock filter at hand. Im looking for a simple all in 1 system for capturing deep sky objects...does the meade DSI pro and or Celestron Deep sky imager accomplish this? What do u guys recommend?

Thanks!

-Mike
Posted 12/12/2007 09:57PM #1
Mike,
Get ready for a host of opinions! Here's mine--start as simply and as cheaply as you possibly can. I have not used either of those cameras (I do use a DSI Pro for guiding, not imaging) but either one is probably a very good start, and will also serve as a guider if you advance to that stage. You might also consider a digital camera if you have one (you'll need adapters) or even start with a webcam. Look around on AstroMart--there's always something available. The latter will limit you to the moon and planets but that's not a bad place to start. Overall you'll want to see if you enjoy the effort of not just imaging but also time at your computer processing over visual observing before investing much more.
You will have some limitations when you start( but, again, just see how you like the whole idea):
Your 8" scope is a tough focal length so you might want to get a .63 focal reducer. This will 'speed up the scope' to help you get a few more photons that are pretty precious when you shoot unguided. It will also increase your field of view.
Speaking of unguided, I am not familiar with that mount but if it's at all like my LX90 you're unguided exposures for DSOs will be limited to well under a minute. Be prepared to take lots of them and then stack them in software (lots too choose from including freeware to expensive packages--you will need something but the Meade and Orion cameras will come with their own). If you stay with the brighter Messier objects at first (M42, M13, M57, M27 etc) you will be very amazed at what you can do with an inexpensive camera.
(You mentioned DSO's but if you're more focused on the moon and planets at first, lack of guiding isn't an issue at all. Then you'll be taking lots of short exposures as video and stacking hundreds of the frames, again through software.)
In either case, you will be needing a laptop to take outside to the scope--be prepared to use up memory!
Where you shoot from isn't that big an issue--a dark site is great but I'm shooting a stone's throw from New York City and get results good enough for me.
Finally, plenty of patience--there is quite a learning curve but the results improve quickly and the satisfaction is overwhelming!
Have fun and do ask away with any more questions. I hope this long-winded answer was of some help.
Larry