Choosing The Ideal Setup To Begin Your Astrophotography Journey

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JayTee United States of America
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Choosing The Ideal Setup To Begin Your Astrophotography Journey

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Post by JayTee »


Choosing The Ideal Setup To Begin Your Astrophotography Journey
by JayTee

This article should be used as a reference source for the ideal setup needed to educate those that would like to start their Astrophotography (AP) journey or anyone switching from visual astronomy to AP. This article is an opinion article and contains one of many possible solutions about what to gear...
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∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°

Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."

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JayTee United States of America
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Re: Choosing The Ideal Setup To Begin Your Astrophotography Journey

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Post by JayTee »


I messed up the posting procedures for this article which is why it did not appear in this sub forum. So here it is ... again!

Enjoy,
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°

Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."

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Michael131313 Mexico
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Re: Choosing The Ideal Setup To Begin Your Astrophotography Journey

#3

Post by Michael131313 »


Thank you JT. Although I am not inclined to get into AP this is a very good article that satisfied my curiosity about what you need for AP.
ES AR 102 102mm, f/6.5, ES 254mm f/5 DOB, Obie 10x50, GSO SV 30mm, ES 68° 20mm, ES 82° 14mm, 11mm, 8.8 mm, 6.8mm, 4.7mm. Twilight 1 mount.
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Re: Choosing The Ideal Setup To Begin Your Astrophotography Journey

#4

Post by notFritzArgelander »


Congratulations on the excellent content of the article!

There is a question of editorial style for the sections in outline format, though. I tried reading the article on both a smart phone and a laptop and found the use of the same number format for both major and minor divisions in outline lists difficult to follow, especially on the phone. Now I don't suggest going full formal Roman numeral but making a distinction between numeric and alphabetic item labels will help on a smaller screen.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writ ... lines.html

The editing tools in the site software don't work easily with this, though.

Also the section following:
In its simplest form, this is all you need.
I think it is clearer as:

1. Photo tripod
2. Your camera with a wide-angle lens ≤50mm (18 - 35mm preferred)
3. An intervalometer, cable shutter release, or IR remote shutter release[/list]
4. Optional additions that give you greater capability such as any polar-aligned tracking mount to increase the exposure duration. An Alt-Az mount will not suffice. An Alt-Az mount on a wedge will, also a “Barn Door” tracker, or any of the commercially available Star Tracker type camera mounts
Scopes: Refs: Orion ST80, SV 80EDA f7, TS 102ED f11 Newts: AWB 130mm, f5, Z12 f5; Cats: VMC110L, Intes MK66,VMC200L f9.75 EPs: KK Fujiyama Orthoscopics, 2x Vixen NPLs (40-6mm) and BCOs, Baader Mark IV zooms, TV Panoptics, Delos, Plossl 32-8mm. Mixed brand Masuyama/Astroplans Binoculars: Nikon Aculon 10x50, Celestron 15x70, Baader Maxbright. Mounts: Star Seeker IV, Vixen Porta II, Celestron CG5
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SkyHiker United States of America
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Re: Choosing The Ideal Setup To Begin Your Astrophotography Journey

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Post by SkyHiker »


Nice entry article JT. Here are some suggestions that might be useful to mention without making the article too long:

For wide field:

Mention some limitations - a good barndoor or star tracker will max out at about 300 mm FL.

You might mention MW time lapses, something simple that can yield spectacular videos, only a tripod and sensitive camera with remote timer needed.

For planetary:

You don't need an accurate mount, just a mount good enough to not lose the target from the FOV.

I thought that for planetary the frame rate should be up from 100 Hz, not down from 60 Hz. Read for instance the comments in this thread, https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/5150 ... ?p=6847914 according to which 60 fps is pretty bad.

In this regard, DSLRs are pretty useless because they can't keep up. I have a ELPH 100HS that can run at 120 Hz at 640x480, it worked for Saturn (used afocally at full optical zoom) but not for Jupiter as I could not suppress the flood of light with the cheap camera.

That Saturn image is pretty good, nice shot! Maybe that's the proof that 60 fps works (but maybe at 254 fps you could capture the hexagon?)

For AP of DSOs:

In general, you pay for quality. It is perfectly reasonable to start out with an advanced kit rather than starting out simple and replacing gear until you get the quality you want - that might cost a lot more. IMHO you cannot equate a beginner setup with entry-level equipment. Some beginners buy advanced equipment and save a lot of money that way if they make the right choices. Doing it right the first time can pay off.

Don't mention a capacity upper limit for the mount, the more the better.

You might mention something about encoders. Absolute/relative, high res on axes vs low res on DC motors. This explains the price difference between low end and high end gear.

An OAG is not just an arbitrary alternative, it fixes flexure problems. What you see is what you get.

Mention that with mono imaging you can work with achromatic refractors instead of expensive APOs.

Talk about the improved quality of mono vs color (it's a pretty significant difference in my experience, resolution wise).

IMHO a laptop by the scope is far from ideal. It is so much more productive to use a small, lightweight, low power PC or RPi that handles the data acquisition (and polar alignment, autofocusing, observatory, scheduling, autoguiding and plate solving) and can be remotely logged into as if you were sitting behind the laptop. It saves setup time and hopping around the laptop. An RPi4B costs about $120 or so, a RPi3 costs less, so it fits in entry level kits. We live in a very fortunate time for such advanced controls in a small cheap package.

Mention plate solving, and what type of camera and computer equipment are needed to support this. Plate solving can facilitate polar alignment and goto alignment considerably. If you look at the AP threads, many beginners jump right at computer controlled polar alignment and goto alignment, so this is appropriate to mention for entry level gear.

Mention one essential difference between astro cameras and DSLRs: While you can use DSLRs with minimal computer equipment (none if autoguiding is not used), an astro cam requires the use of a computer with USB3 ports for the video. This ups the ante quite a bit, equipment wise. But you can do quite a lot with just a DSLR and remote timer, using a mount with some smarts like an AVX.
... Henk. :D Telescopes: GSO 12" Astrograph, "Comet Hunter" MN152, ES ED127CF, ES ED80, WO Redcat51, Z12, AT6RC, Celestron Skymaster 20x80, Mounts and tripod: Losmandy G11S with OnStep, AVX, Tiltall, Cameras: ASI2600MC, ASI2600MM, ASI120 mini, Fuji X-a1, Canon XSi, T6, ELPH 100HS, DIY: OnStep controller, Pi4b/power rig, Afocal adapter, Foldable Dob base, Az/Alt Dob setting circles, Accessories: ZWO 36 mm filter wheel, TV Paracorr 2, Baader MPCC Mk III, ES FF, SSAG, QHY OAG-M, EAF electronic focuser, Plossls, Barlows, Telrad, Laser collimators (Seben LK1, Z12, Howie Glatter), Cheshire, 2 Orion RACIs 8x50, Software: KStars-Ekos, DSS, PHD2, Nebulosity, Photo Gallery, Gimp, CHDK, Computers:Pi4b, 2x running KStars/Ekos, Toshiba Satellite 17", Website:Henk's astro images
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Ylem United States of America
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Re: Choosing The Ideal Setup To Begin Your Astrophotography Journey

#6

Post by Ylem »


Great article JT!

I'm just starting down the rabbit hole, so I found it to be a great help.
Clear Skies,
-Jeff :telescopewink:


Member; ASTRA-NJ



Orion 80ED
Celestron C5, 6SE, Celestar 8
Vixen Porta Mount ll
Coronado PST
A big box of Plossls
Little box of filters
:D



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