Next Upgrade

Modifying will probably give the quickest and best results.  I started with a second hand Canon 1200d for 120 bucks on eBay. followed a guide online, and armed with a screwdriver, I modified it myself. It wasn't perfect, but it worked great to learn the hobby and still get results I was happy with.

Then, probably consider a filter. Canon Clip in filters work great with a DSLR and lens combo, and the clip in filters usually don't break the bank.
Optolong L-extreme, Optolong L-Pro, Optolong L-Enhance.  Those are all great.
(other brands are available , but my main experience has been with optolong)
Look at what you want, L extreme and L enhance are heavily focussed with narrow band passes. While the L-Pro allows more things to go through.



The Rokinon 135 is a beast. You probably won't need to replace that… ever… It's great for so many different targets that you will always want to keep that one in the bag/back pocket. You will be able to use that one forever and ever and ever and ever in this hobby, as a main or second rig.. no matter what upgrades you do to camera's, mounts, guiding, etc..  So I'd stick to that one if you are on a budget and wouldn't need upgrading for a while. It's also great for the star adventure mount. Quick, easy, portable.  You can always upgrade to higher focal lengths later, but the rokicon is great for so many targets that you won't get bored of this hobby for a long time if you keep it. And the wide-field of a 135 is a great way to learn the hobby, before getting into higher focal lengths. 


So, upgrade what you have. Modified camera + a good filter will do wonders! 
Wether you get a new camera to modify, or get your wife a new camera and modify the 600D. That's up to you. (or up to your wife) 




Other future upgrades:

Mount, probably no rush. At least not for the DSLR + Rokinon setup. I wouldn't change the mount until you go over 250mm or so. or if you want to go for a "go-to system" . Anyway, something like a Redcat 250mm still works great with a star adventure mount.. So you still have a while to go in this hobby before such an upgrade becomes important. And I think the star adventure supports guiding?

Guiding: Again, no rush. At 135mm you don't need it with a proper polar alignment. + this comes with additional upgrades and way to control the guiding, laptop or other methods.

Camera: I don't know your budget, but you could consider a dedicated camera (cooled?) But, again comes with a whole heap of upgrades that you'll need and a different workflow.  + some just prefer the workflow of a DSLR, so again. No rush. And, usually those camera's have smaller sensors (unless you for for the expensive full frame ones). Those smaller sensors completely change your needs for focal lengths.

Scope: Like I said, the 135mm is great. Eventually you probably want to upgrade, depending on the targets you want to shoot. There is no magic scope that does it all and you probably end up with about 3-4 scopes in the end just to cover the range of focal length that you might want. But there is no rush, until you upgrade the mount.

how much are you willing to invest? in both time and money?

your next upgrade should be a camera that hasn't any limitations on the Ha emission line. This can be achieved by either modifying your camera (and buying the wife a new camera) or buying an astro dedicated camera (major advantages here).

or you need to invest in your imaging lens. Lenses usually have issues, especially on their corners with the stars, and more specifically when they are used wide open. You can keep your current lens if that doesn't bother you, or get a more astro friendly lens, or better, a small telescope like the askar 200 or the redchat51 (there are other alternatives, like sharpstar 65 edph ii, ts optics has a few, etc….

All of the above should be fine with the tracker, but an astro dedicated camera will require a laptop and has some learning curve. Or you can get the asi air to replace the laptop, or stellarmate, both are based on raspberry pi.

Whatever you end up doing, darker skies, integration time and processing skills are still going to be very important

Dave B:
Don’t waste any more money on a dslr , get a cooled set point Astro camera honestly I recently got a zwo533mc and you can get an adapter to take canon lenses , take proper calibration frames that work best move you’ll ever make I wish I hadn’t wasted funds modifying cameras and buying more dslrs your images will step up a mark that’s for sure .

regards Dave

Dave got a point.
My ASI533MCPRO beats my DSLR on every point except FOV.

my 2 cents on the last few posts in this topic. Yes, a cooled camera is always better. And probably worth it.
But there are a lot of things to consider when going that route. Which, might not make it useful for Codey to do.

- Adapter
You'll need a canon to T2 adapter. 40-50 bucks.
+ a mount to put the cooled camera + lens on your mount. 80-ish bucks

- Sensor size / cropping
Any "budget" cooled camera will still run you a good 1000+ bucks. And will have a smaller sensor than a canon 600D. like a ZWO ASI 183, or 533. 
So the 135MM will change to a 200MM-ish view, this doesn't have to be a problem, but it is something you have to deal with. 
All of a sudden, cropping in so much more, polar alignment becomes more important, exposure lengths, maybe guiding?

- Camera control
With a cooled camera, you will need a new way of controlling it. You will miss out on portability. You will need a laptop, or something like a ZWO ASIAIR to control your setup. 400 bucks.

So, the upgrade that people are suggesting, will run you a good 1500-1700 bucks. + an entire new workflow to learn.



Honestly, in the long run, it's possibly worth it, depending on how serious you plan to do this hobby.
"future proofing" is something that does make sense in this hobby. For example, I got a mount that's able to carry my setup about 3 times over. Knowing that, if I ever upgrade. I can keep the mount and don't have to upgrade that again and again and again. 

So, there is something to be said for going straight into a cooled camera, and not "wasting" time and money on getting another DSLR. 
But it really depends on how you plan to do this hobby in the future.

Thanks for all the replies very helpful! I should have said I've only been doing this hobby for about 4-5 months located in Australia, while I have always loved space it's only recently that I've had the time and money to get started and I think this will be a lifelong hobby. 

So in saying that is it still wise to commit to spending $3000-$4000 or more this early into the hobby, would it be silly to get a CMOS camera without having a telescope and only a small tracking mount? I've got a laptop so that is all good. If I had $3000 ($2100 US) what should I use it on? 

Should I upgrade to a scope something like the SKYWATCHER EVOSTAR 72 ED

you guys are the experts so ill leave it to you! 

andrea tasselli:
It seems to me your run down of the costs are a bit on the high side. Not sure where the OP hails from but looking up things from eBay here shows a far lower cost in pounds:

Canon to M42: around 4 quid, 10 quid tops

Collar for the lens to be attached to the SW gizmo (or a tripod): around 20 quid (needs exact diameter of the Rokinon lens to be more specific)

New camera. I'd plump for a 294MC Pro, which has a larger sensor than the 183 or 533: around 900 quid

Yes, you will need a laptop to control the thing but you can get a decent used one for 100-200 quid. Don't have to be modern or fast, just able to run Win7 at least and have at leats 3 USB ports (and they don't need to be USB3). 

You'd need a way to power both on the field and the solution very much depends on "where" this field is. If it is the backyard not much effort to run a lead from the house. If it is remote than a power inverter and a set of largish lead-gel batteries will be needed. My guess is 100 quid will cover for these.

So my total is 1200-1300 quid for the whole lot.

Well, depends on conversion. I used prices based on dollars,
I'm guessing, since you're based in italy,  you're using Euro or "quid" meaning pounds.
1300 quid in pounds turns to 1800 dollars. (or 1550 dollar, if you were using euro)

The ring + mount I mentioned are ZWO specific mounts, so yes. They are a little pricey.  
I'm sure there are others available for cheaper. I just mentioned those.

Anyway, we agree that it comes with a bit of an upgrade and cost.

Codey:
Thanks for all the replies very helpful! I should have said I've only been doing this hobby for about 4-5 months located in Australia, while I have always loved space it's only recently that I've had the time and money to get started and I think this will be a lifelong hobby. 

So in saying that is it still wise to commit to spending $3000-$4000 or more this early into the hobby, would it be silly to get a CMOS camera without having a telescope and only a small tracking mount? I've got a laptop so that is all good. If I had $3000 ($2100 US) what should I use it on? 

Should I upgrade to a scope something like the SKYWATCHER EVOSTAR 72 ED

you guys are the experts so ill leave it to you! 

Glad to hear it might be a life long hobby. 

One thing that is important to know. Where do you shoot, and where do you plan on shooting?
If you're always shooting at home, next to a power source, from the comfort of you own back yard? Then, the upgrades that include laptops and such are do-able. But if you plan to take the mount with you, to a dark site and less light pollution or camping, then dealing with the power source can be an issue. And sticking to a DSLR + star adventure is useful to stay "off the grid". And carrying around a big GoTo mount is just not an option then. (My EQ6R mount is towards 35KG's. I'm not putting that in a backpack)

Either way, No it would not be silly to get a cooled camera without a scope. They work great with lenses too if you get the right adapter.
If you search "Rokinon 135" on AstroBin, you can see quite a few images that used your lens + a cooled camera. So they can work together just fine.


Personally, I wouldn't go for the 72ED.

- First, you'll need the flattener aswel. And the skywatcher flattener isn't cheap, close to the cost of the scope already. (an additional 440 AUD)
to be fair, with most scopes you will need the flattener, but there are a few where you don't, or where it's included, or where they are a little cheaper.

- Second, It's not well suited for a star adventure mount.  It would give you a 357mm focal length (with the reducer+flattener), which a star adventure will struggle with. Both in weight, and focal length.  I believe it has a 5kg maximum? so a 2kg scope + flattener + camera, you do get there quick.  And, the focal length might be a bit high. A star adventurer can do 200-250, pushing up to 300mm fine, with a good polar alignment. So at 357mm, you might struggle. Also, manually pointing your telescope at a target at 350-400mm, is not an easy task. So you probably want to limit focal length if you don't have a go-to system. 

- Third, It's a doublet design, there are only 2 lenses in there.. That's not necessarily bad, there are great doublets out there! but a "Triplet" or "Quadruplet" design do give better looking results and stars.  The lenses in a 72ED might not be FPL53 glass either? Technical stuff, but..  colours are better with 53 glass. So that is probably something you want to keep an eye on when selecting your next scope.
Again, this has to do with future proofing. Yes, an ED72 can work. But you will probably outgrow it, and it might be better to stick to what you have, and save for a scope that you won't outgrow. 



So, personally.
- Either modify a camera for cheap + a clip in filter and have some great results while learning the hobby. (probably keeping the spending under 600-800 AUD)
Maybe consider a 250-ish mm scope at a later point.

- Or look at a ZWO ASI 294 MC Pro cooled or 533 MC Pro cooled + the right adapter rings, and a filter. (For example: Optolong filter (L-Extreme if you mainly shot emission nebulae, and an L-Pro for when you shoot reflection nebulae) And use it with the Rokinon + star adventure for a while. (probably about 2000-2200 AUD for the camera + adapters + 1 or 2 filters). And consider a scope later.

The second option is probably more future proof, as you probably won't outgrow the 294 or 533 for a while.

There is also a consideration to go for Mono imaging. But, then you're dealing with filters for Red, Blue, Green. or Hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur. filters.. filterwheels..  it's a different take on the imaging, but again... it comes with high cost for dedicated filters. (I hope you are starting to see how dangerous this hobby can be for the bank account!?)

*sidenote on the laptop. a reminder hat astrophotography isn't very MacOS friendly. So if your laptop is a windows based machine, perfect. If not. it is something to consider*


If you want to upgrade the scope, without upgrading the mount. Maybe stick to 250mm or so, maybe something like a William optics Redcat 51. It's a great scope, and doesn't require any flatteners, or hugely precise back focus requirements, so it's very beginner friendly. Or a Radian Raptor 61 is a good option too, and comes with pretty much everything you need.  Both of these scopes work great with either a DSLR or a dedicated astronomy camera. Or a maybe William optics Z61, but that is at 360mm, so you might run into the same issues (but higher quality than the ED72)
Others are available, but to give you an idea.

If you want to go over 300mm-350mm, then you will probably want to consider to change the mount to deal with the focal length and weight of the setup.
You will get other benefits like 2 axis guiding, GO-TO system, etc.