Complete beginner looking for advice: Entry setup for galaxy imaging

Equipment Acquisition Deep Sky
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Ayaz avatar
Ayaz avatar

I'm 19 and will be starting my first job in a few months. I want to start saving up and building my very first astrophotography setup. My main interest is deep space, specifically diving into distant galaxies.

I know the golden rule is usually "start small with a wide refractor," but my passion lies in galaxies. Because I want a long focal length and definitely no diffraction spikes on stars, I'm really interested in catadioptric telescopes. I'm looking for something that offers better magnification than a standard 6SE.

Since I'm starting completely from scratch and will be on a beginner's budget as I enter the workforce, what mount, telescope (OTA), and camera combination would you recommend to get me started on this specific path?

Also, I want to start learning how to process images before I even buy the gear. I spend a lot of time in 3D modeling software like Blender, so complex interfaces or steep learning curves don't scare me. Which processing software should I start watching tutorials for right now?

Thanks a lot for your help!

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Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

The question that has to be asked, given that you want to image at focal lengths longer than 1500mm. What’s your budget? Nothing about what you want to do is easy so knowing how much money you have to throw at the problem is key to pointing you in the right direction.

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Ayaz avatar
Ayaz avatar

Tony Gondola · Jun 3, 2026, 02:40 PM

The question that has to be asked, given that you want to image at focal lengths longer than 1500mm. What’s your budget? Nothing about what you want to do is easy so knowing how much money you have to throw at the problem is key to pointing you in the right direction.

Thanks for the reply. To give you a better idea of my budget, I'm currently living with my parents, so my living expenses are minimal. This allows me to dedicate the vast majority of my income straight into this hobby.

I can reliably save about $650 USD per month for my setup.

With that monthly budget in mind, what would be the wisest roadmap? Should I save up for a few months and buy a complete starter set all at once, or is there a specific core piece of equipment (like a solid mount or a specific OTA) I should buy first and build around?

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Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

Saving up for 4 or 5 months and buying something like an EQ-6 mount would be a very wise course of action. The mount is the foundation of any astrophotography rig and is the last place you want to skimp. For shooting long focal lengths you’re going to be dealing with weight and you’ll need fairly precise guiding. The mount will need to be able to handle it and there’s no way to do that cheaply.

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TiffsAndAstro avatar
TiffsAndAstro avatar

Im going to suggest buying a solid mount, as recommended above, but start with a small cheap (lol) refractor, a 533 sensor camera and a guide cam/scope.

Plug it into a windows laptop if you already have one.

This will let you get a handle on the basics, then swap in a C6 once you're comfortable with the basics.

I currently use a C6 at f10, after doing the above (except I got a cheap mount :( ) for about a year, then my C6 got last year or so.

My telescopius has many examples of my noob efforts so far which might give you some perspective / expectation management ;)

https://telescopius.com/profile/tiffsandastro

To be fair I'm a slow learner but have had plenty of help from kind people on stargazers lounge and astrobin.

I blame UK weather.

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