Hello, I need some help to choose the right scope for me. - Forums

Topic starter

Apr 10, 2022 · Edited: Apr 10, 2022

Hello! I want to start astrophotography and I have a small budget. I found this telescop and it looks very good on paper. Artensky 70/420 Triplet FPL53. The problem is that it looks too good to be real. Do you know anyone that have this scope? Can you tell me if it is a good telescope or if it has any hidden problems?

Thank you so much!

Walter Leonhard Schramböck

Apr 10, 2022

I don't own this refractor, but from what I could read, it should really be ok. Some have reported problems with sensor tilt, but that can happen with any telescope.

kuechlew

Apr 11, 2022

Hi, what are the other parts of your equipment? As a minimum you need a camera, a tripod / mount and a lens or telescope. The combination has to fit together i.e. the tripod and mount have to be sturdy enough to support the scope. Depending on what you have you may consider to take your first steps just with a camera and lens combo. A good introduction is the narrowband channel on youtube The Narrowband Channel - YouTube or Niko Carvers Nebula Photos: Nebula Photos - YouTube.

Have fun and clear skies
Wolfgang

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severinbb

Apr 11, 2022

I say, "use what you already have." And then, you can upgrade one thing at a time as need and finances allow. (Except for the mount: as already mentioned, the mount had to be sturdy enough, so if you need to buy a mount, think about what you might likely put on it within, say, the next 12 months.)

I initially put a 8" dob on a mount before getting a little more gear, one upgrade at a time.

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Cristian Arhip

Topic starter

Apr 11, 2022

Hi, what are the other parts of your equipment? As a minimum you need a camera, a tripod / mount and a lens or telescope. The combination has to fit together i.e. the tripod and mount have to be sturdy enough to support the scope. Depending on what you have you may consider to take your first steps just with a camera and lens combo. A good introduction is the narrowband channel on youtube The Narrowband Channel - YouTube or Niko Carvers Nebula Photos: Nebula Photos - YouTube.

Have fun and clear skies
Wolfgang

I want to buy a Skywatcher EQM-35 PRO, a Nikon D5600. What do you think?

Cristian Arhip

Topic starter

Apr 11, 2022

I say, "use what you already have." And then, you can upgrade one thing at a time as need and finances allow. (Except for the mount: as already mentioned, the mount had to be sturdy enough, so if you need to buy a mount, think about what you might likely put on it within, say, the next 12 months.)

I initially put a 8" dob on a mount before getting a little more gear, one upgrade at a time.

I already have around one year Experience in observing and I want to try astrophotography. Thx for the opinion

Cristian Arhip

Topic starter

Apr 11, 2022

Walter Leonhard Schramböck:
I don't own this refractor, but from what I could read, it should really be ok. Some have reported problems with sensor tilt, but that can happen with any telescope.

Thx so much!

Brian Boyle

Apr 11, 2022 · Edited: Apr 11, 2022

Without knowing your background experience., it is difficult to comment. My recommendation to those new to the hobby is always to start astrophotography with a star tracker, a sturdy mount and a DSLR with a "stock" lens of focal length 200mm or less. Don't forget you all also need software to reduce the images and a lot of time to learn. Its how I started in astrophotography as a retirement hobby, and I had been a professional astronomer for 40 years.

If you like what you see, and have $$ to afford it then telescopes, mounts, guiders, controllers, focussers will follow.

CS Brian

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Bradley Watson

Apr 11, 2022

Hi Cristi and welcome.

Difficult really to answer. Why?

Are you still going to have a passion for astrophotography a year or two from now?
How much is your budget?
What do you want to take images of? Small objects or large nebulas?

If you think you want to image small galaxies, the Artensky will not "zoom in" for want of a better expression and you maybe be disappointed, so no to your answer if that is what you want to do solely.

As stated above by others you need to realise that you require a camera and a mount. Looking at what you have chosen, a Nikon and SW EQM-35 Pro with the Artensky should get you started quite nicely and should not break the bank (obviousley I don't know how big your wallet is but in astrophotography terms spendig this amount of money is not significant). With the Artensky you will get some very nice widefield shots that you will be happy with and the mount you have chosen will be sufficient.

This is where it gets interesting. IF you say to yourself I do want to image that smaller galaxy and your Artensky and Nikon show it as a spec in your current imaging setup, you will start looking for a bigger telescope (larger focal length and aperture), which you will sit on your exisiting mount. You will soon realise that the mount does not have a sufficient enough weight capacity to support the new heavy scope. You will then buy a new mount to support this new scope and then the rabbit hole of spending occurs. I say this because back to point 1) if you are still interested in AP 1 year from now you would have wished you had spent money on a good mount FIRST to allow you to progress quickly - Just a thought but explaing what almost every astrophotographer has been through.

I think you will get some nice images with the setup you propose and it will give you a lot of freedom to make errors and keep the hobby of interest, while giving you the time to learn about AP and what the art of the possible is.

Looking forward to what you decide to do.

Good luck and CS - Brad

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Cristian Arhip

Topic starter

Apr 11, 2022

Bradley Watson:
Hi Cristi and welcome.

Difficult really to answer. Why?
Are you still going to have a passion for astrophotography a year or two from now?
How much is your budget?
What do you want to take images of? Small objects or large nebulas?

If you think you want to image small galaxies, the Artensky will not "zoom in" for want of a better expression and you maybe be disappointed, so no to your answer if that is what you want to do solely.

As stated above by others you need to realise that you require a camera and a mount. Looking at what you have chosen, a Nikon and SW EQM-35 Pro with the Artensky should get you started quite nicely and should not break the bank (obviousley I don't know how big your wallet is but in astrophotography terms spendig this amount of money is not significant). With the Artensky you will get some very nice widefield shots that you will be happy with and the mount you have chosen will be sufficient.

This is where it gets interesting. IF you say to yourself I do want to image that smaller galaxy and your Artensky and Nikon show it as a spec in your current imaging setup, you will start looking for a bigger telescope (larger focal length and aperture), which you will sit on your exisiting mount. You will soon realise that the mount does not have a sufficient enough weight capacity to support the new heavy scope. You will then buy a new mount to support this new scope and then the rabbit hole of spending occurs. I say this because back to point 1) if you are still interested in AP 1 year from now you would have wished you had spent money on a good mount FIRST to allow you to progress quickly - Just a thought but explaing what almost every astrophotographer has been through.

I think you will get some nice images with the setup you propose and it will give you a lot of freedom to make errors and keep the hobby of interest, while giving you the time to learn about AP and what the art of the possible is.

Looking forward to what you decide to do.

Good luck and CS - Brad

Thx so much! I will consider all the factors.

kuechlew

Apr 11, 2022

Hi, what are the other parts of your equipment? As a minimum you need a camera, a tripod / mount and a lens or telescope. The combination has to fit together i.e. the tripod and mount have to be sturdy enough to support the scope. Depending on what you have you may consider to take your first steps just with a camera and lens combo. A good introduction is the narrowband channel on youtube The Narrowband Channel - YouTube or Niko Carvers Nebula Photos: Nebula Photos - YouTube.

Have fun and clear skies
Wolfgang

I want to buy a Skywatcher EQM-35 PRO, a Nikon D5600. What do you think?

I can't comment on the mount, going for a Nikon or Canon camera is certainly a good choice since they are well supported by astrophoto software. The fact that you intend to buy a camera may indicate that you're not only new to astro photography but to photography overall. If this is the case the learning curve is even more steep. I can only support Brian's suggestion to start small and easy. The channels I recommended to you will show you, that you can do a lot with a simple camera + tracker + lens. It will save you both money and frustration. And there is a surprising number of large objects in the sky you can capture with a lens.

You may check the "Samyang 135 f2 group": Samyang 135 f/2 - AstroBin
The Samyang 135mm is a relatively inexpensive lens and a great starting point.
Of course don't forget to look at Brian's images for excellent examples of what can be done with a camera and a lens. As Brian states it's not only the equipment, a lot of work will go into the image processing.

The good thing about astrophotography is that most objects in the sky will return on a regular basis. So if you don't have the equipment or the skill to capture them this year you may try any time later. There are exceptions of course of some rare events but just don't bother about them as a beginner.

As a tipp for a tracker: Skywatcher is about to release the new Star Adventurer GTi which looks quite tempting and may serve as a good beginner mount (Sky-Watcher | Sky-Watcher Global Website (skywatcher.com)). Obviously as a new product we don't know yet how well it performs in practise. I expect plenty of reviews coming up the next weeks. iOptron Skyguider and the current Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i are trackers with a good reputation.

I forgot in my last post: In addition to the youtube channels I recommend to you the great book "Astrophotography on the go" by Joseph Ashley. It focuses on AP with lightweight equipment and short exposure time.

Good luck and clear skies
Wolfgang

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Andy Wray

Apr 11, 2022

Just some thoughts:

* It's worth working out how much you can afford to spend on a mount first. This will dictate how much payload you have to play with
* I'm sure you will have done this, but there are plenty of online sites (or software such as Stellarium) where you can input scope and camera details and then get the field of view and see how large different targets would look in your photos. The combo you have suggested isn't very good for galaxies (except Andromeda), but would be good for the larger nebulas.
* You will need a guide scope and guide camera to take longer exposures and keep stars round. If you can't afford those, then keep your exposures down to 30 seconds or so.

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lorisaare

Apr 19, 2022

Hello! I want to start astrophotography and I have a small budget. I found this telescop and it looks very good on paper. Artensky 70/420 Triplet FPL53. The problem is that it looks too good to be real. Do you know anyone that have this scope? Can you tell me if it is a good telescope or if it has any hidden problems?

Thank you so much!

I don't know much abou scopes, but I think that you need to get a big one

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