Hi all!
Let me introduce myself first: My name is Andreas Dietz and I live in the geographical middle of Bavaria.
I often wondered why technical equipment for stunning astrophotos always has to be in the range of several thousand dollars/euros. Especially for astrophotographers with a limited budget like me it seems to be impossible to achieve a satisfying quality at a first glance.
All you need is a deep-cooled 50MP-CCD camera, a 100kg sturdy mount, a 40-inch scope and a observatory in your own garden in Namibia.
Okay, I'd like to show you here my way of using low-cost equipment for amazing shots of (deep) sky objects with much less effort. It's also a bit against some kind of establishment…
My way so far:
The most important thing is to understand the background why many astronomical devices are so sophisticated. From there you can optimize your budget by selecting devices with 50-80% of the performance of common high-end amateur equipment. You'll be surprised about the price drop when switching to mid-range equipment!
The camera I use at the moment is an uncooled mirrorless Sony NEX-5 and a Sony NEX-5T which I modified for H-alpha sensitivity by removing the bad IR cut filter. It has a sufficient pixel size of 5 microns, a good resolution and low readout noise. As an imaging lens I use different manual lenses, especially Canon FD lenses (decreasing) and an increasing set of Samyang lenses. Some years ago I bought one of the last Newton telescopes from TAL Siberia. Also from TAL was a modified mount for 10kg loads. Two years ago I replaced it by a used OTE 150 I mount on a DIY concrete pier which should be able to carry at least 20kg. The most important thing for me was to have a fast reaction time when the clouds disappear suddenly. This saves invaluable time for integration. Despite of heavy light pollution at my home observatory, this is still a good compromise. To attuenate the effects of artififial light I decided to buy an Astronomik CLS-CCD filter.
My budget:
Sony NEX-5: 150€
TAL 6" f/5 Newtonian: 200€
Samyang 135mm lens (quite expensive, but worth every cent): 450€
Baader narrowband filter set (absolutely necessary at my location): 400€
OTE 150 mount: 350€
AstroEQ controller (Arduino based): 50€
concrete pier: 30€
My background:
20 years ago, in 1996, I had my first contact to astrophotography when comet Hyakutake visited our solar system. Since then I developed a passion for the imaging requirements. Starting with analog films, I switched to CCDs in 2000 when I built my first DIY camera, the famous Cookbook CB245 by Berry/Kanto/Munger.
Being a student, I always had a lack of money to afford a more sophisticated camera system. Anyway, I started a career as an engineer of optoelectronics in the design of scientific and surveillance cameras. So I never drifted too far away from the matter. When the first mirrorless cameras appeared I realized a new era for astrophotography. The main advantage was and still is the really short back focal length of only 18mm in the case of the Sony E mount. As a father of two children and having built a home with an open garden observatory, I'm still in the low-budget domain of astrophotography. But this only spurs me on to optimize my low-cost equipment.
Andreas
Let me introduce myself first: My name is Andreas Dietz and I live in the geographical middle of Bavaria.
I often wondered why technical equipment for stunning astrophotos always has to be in the range of several thousand dollars/euros. Especially for astrophotographers with a limited budget like me it seems to be impossible to achieve a satisfying quality at a first glance.
All you need is a deep-cooled 50MP-CCD camera, a 100kg sturdy mount, a 40-inch scope and a observatory in your own garden in Namibia.
Okay, I'd like to show you here my way of using low-cost equipment for amazing shots of (deep) sky objects with much less effort. It's also a bit against some kind of establishment…
My way so far:
The most important thing is to understand the background why many astronomical devices are so sophisticated. From there you can optimize your budget by selecting devices with 50-80% of the performance of common high-end amateur equipment. You'll be surprised about the price drop when switching to mid-range equipment!
The camera I use at the moment is an uncooled mirrorless Sony NEX-5 and a Sony NEX-5T which I modified for H-alpha sensitivity by removing the bad IR cut filter. It has a sufficient pixel size of 5 microns, a good resolution and low readout noise. As an imaging lens I use different manual lenses, especially Canon FD lenses (decreasing) and an increasing set of Samyang lenses. Some years ago I bought one of the last Newton telescopes from TAL Siberia. Also from TAL was a modified mount for 10kg loads. Two years ago I replaced it by a used OTE 150 I mount on a DIY concrete pier which should be able to carry at least 20kg. The most important thing for me was to have a fast reaction time when the clouds disappear suddenly. This saves invaluable time for integration. Despite of heavy light pollution at my home observatory, this is still a good compromise. To attuenate the effects of artififial light I decided to buy an Astronomik CLS-CCD filter.
My budget:
Sony NEX-5: 150€
TAL 6" f/5 Newtonian: 200€
Samyang 135mm lens (quite expensive, but worth every cent): 450€
Baader narrowband filter set (absolutely necessary at my location): 400€
OTE 150 mount: 350€
AstroEQ controller (Arduino based): 50€
concrete pier: 30€
My background:
20 years ago, in 1996, I had my first contact to astrophotography when comet Hyakutake visited our solar system. Since then I developed a passion for the imaging requirements. Starting with analog films, I switched to CCDs in 2000 when I built my first DIY camera, the famous Cookbook CB245 by Berry/Kanto/Munger.
Being a student, I always had a lack of money to afford a more sophisticated camera system. Anyway, I started a career as an engineer of optoelectronics in the design of scientific and surveillance cameras. So I never drifted too far away from the matter. When the first mirrorless cameras appeared I realized a new era for astrophotography. The main advantage was and still is the really short back focal length of only 18mm in the case of the Sony E mount. As a father of two children and having built a home with an open garden observatory, I'm still in the low-budget domain of astrophotography. But this only spurs me on to optimize my low-cost equipment.
Andreas
.
