How to best modify the NexStar 6SE for astrophotography

I have a 6SE and use it for imaging. It really is a capable scope and I've been happy with its performance. I see by your comment that you are interested in pursuing deep sky images so I will offer you my 2 cents for what it's worth. Trust me in the fact that my experience encompasses just about every mistake a beginner can make.

If you are new to astrophotography and wish to include deep sky imaging as part of your goals, my first advice is to acquire a small refractor. The 6 SE's relatively long focal length introduces a lot of challenges when you are just starting out. I tried to begin my journey with the 6SE and nearly quit in frustration. I tried short exposures with the stock mount and added a wedge and lets just say none of those images are in my Astrobin library.

I found a beginning astrophotography YouTube video by Trevor Jones that had some solid tips and the 2 biggest contributors to my progress was getting a 60MM refractor (Zenithstar 61) and pairing it with a good equatorial mount. I selected the Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro because it had enough capacity to handle my 6SE.

There are folks that manage some good imaging with short exposures on an alt/az mount but if you are serious about deep sky imaging, a good equatorial mount is a game changer. Based upon my experience, I strongly advise you to stay away from the wedge. The stock mount is already near the weight limit with the single arm and while the wedge did allow me to increase my exposure times, it did not allow me to track accurately enough for long exposures (2+ minutes). The cost of a wedge will go a long way towards a decent equatorial mount.

Once I cut my teeth using the refractor, I mounted my 6SE on the HEQ5 Pro and started chasing galaxies. As far as cameras go, I ended up going strait to a dedicated astrophotography camera. The only reason that I went that route was because I did not own a DSLR. I've seen some incredible images with DSLR's but my lack of experience with this type of camera disqualifies me from offering any advice on their specific pros and cons. I do like astrophotography cameras because of the cooling capabilities. I live in the Arizona desert with huge temperature fluctuations so the ability to cool the camera helps with noise reduction and calibration frames that match my lights. I started out with an ASI533MC Pro one shot color camera and eventually decided to go into monochrome imaging with an ASI294MM Pro.

Computer applications are something that can result in a lot of passionate debate. Once I started figuring out how to acquire good data, I ended up settling on Astro Pixel Processor for stacking and processing. I did final finishing with Photoshop and started getting results that I was comfortable sharing on Astrobin. As my experience grew, I adopted using Pixinsight since it has specialized tools that will help take you to the next level. That being said, I'm not a software purist as my current workflow is more of a hybrid approach. I stack and do light pollution removal with Astro Pixel Processor and the move over to Pixinsight for primary processing and do final touch ups with Photoshop. I tried other applications including Nebulosity, Deep Sky Stacker, Siril, GIMP, Affinity Photo and Star Tools. I've seen great photos using all of these applications but Astro Pixel Processor and Photoshop ended up being easiest for the way my brain is wired. Pixinsight is a different beast and the learning curve is daunting but I can honestly say that it does eventually start to make sense. It's certainly a great way of keeping this retired mind active!

Good luck with you astrophotography pursuits. This is a challenging hobby but I've found it to be rewarding and well worth the effort.

Hi, i would agree with whats already said above. However i think the most important thing to get right is a Equatorial mount. Lots of users have different views on mounts, so research. Think about a guiding scope to match your telescope and then move to a camera. Do you want one shot color, or do you bite the bullet and go monochrome. Bear in mind you'll need filters to progress this route. I got the zwo533mc to start and learnt huge amount using it. Trevor Jones visit his website he truely gets across the passion of astrophography in simply manor

Anyhow youll get hooked for sure. Enjoy your journey.

Going from what Wolf has replied with. While i agree its a good telescope setup for planets and viewing and solar. If you want to go deep sky you will find it hard with a alt/alzi setup. You could opt for the wedge., like wolf said I wouldnt. I almost did but opted for equatorial mount so i could get longer exposures. I asked the same question and was told it would be hard to image at long exposures. In fact i still use my evo 8 for moon and planets on the mount it came with. But a have option to change it to a equatorial when im deep sky imaging. I would research more. The scope you have is great and is what a stsrted with. And yes  Astrophotography on the go i too have this book its worth it. I would learn processing alot more before you make an investment in more accessories. If you plan on keeping the evo look a reducer for it it helps.

I'm still using the 6SE OTA for imaging, but I really regret buying the NexStar 6SE,  the Optical Tube is good, and below I can share some mods to improve the quality from it's origin.  Please do not invest in accessories like the StarSense Autoalign and bundles and bulk.  Stay away from Celestron's products!
Harsh, yeah, here my experience in a few bullet points.

• I started astronomy 20 years ago and stopped for university formation and lost connection to the sky for a long time, so I was aware that to start once again I need a first scope, but I did not dig enough to see the change in perspective.
• I bought the NexStar, the 8" was too expensive, got the 6SE instead and called the old astronomers, and I went to a star party last year.  And surprise, I was the only one with eyepieces and I saw what the others may see, just the DSLR subframes where jaw dropping, and some of these guys where using monochrome cameras and filter wheels and tons of experience, 50% where using AVX mounts, and some modified EQ mounts with a single motor, I used a borrowed camera to try some AP, I was blown away and saw the limitations of my equipment Alt-AZ.
• Built a wooden wedge because no wedges in stock and also very expensive.  The NexStar mount is way to weak to hold any wind drafts, backlash is stupidly high, accuracy is really bad, it's cheaply made finished and menus for wedges are the worst.  I really tried to not buy another mount, but my efforts where not met to success and I bought the AVX.
• In that moment I should bought a star tracker and a small refractor.
• My train of thought was to use the 6SE OTA and build from there, and well it was logical after buying a mount.  The AVX is cheaply made as well, the circuit is bad welded and components inside are bad assembled, I have opened the mount several times to make it better or make it work, now these days is working like a champ after many bad nights, wasted the best nights of the year struggling with it.
• The OTA is not for Astrophotography, it's slow at f/6.3 and the reflections inside are a nightmare.  My first try of an image composition was the horsehead nebula, and Alnitak created a big bad reflection.  So I flocked the tubes plastic black shiny tubes only, and for the inside of the primary tube, its just rolled inside, and this creates better contrast and reduces unwanted reflections, not eliminated but better overall.
• Dew is a nightmare, well not these days because you can buy the heated dew ring and of course use the dew shield that makes the tube shake with just a little breeze, so buy a refractor.
• Collimation is hard for a first scope, as I described above, I modified the OTA so I un-collimated a bit in the process, I bought a laser collimation device, with some improvement, but never got good collimation until I knew about tri-bahtinov masks. Buy one ASAP.

Buy other brands, mod the OTA and use this lines I dedicated to you for your better experience.  The OTA needs love to be good and I'm still learning the ins and outs of it while the weather improves again, meanwhile I haven't tested the tube for the complete satisfactory project, a galaxy or a planetary nebula could do this for me, the best integration I have maybe is about 3 hours, and it's not meeting my results.  I think it is a 6 hour project scope for the speed and light gathering capabilities.  
A modified DSLR with a flip screen is my recommendation for having a good time and get a good EQ mount, disclaimer, a few corners ahead you will need a computer, so a dedicated astronomy camera is a great deal, use your own PC for all.  This OTA demands guiding, try an On-axis guider and start messing around, the guiding camera is better if you buy a small ZWO planetary color camera or/and you could practice with the planets. 
As usual it's really not common to have a follow up discussion about a post on the web, but if I helped you in a little way to get a better AP experience, your welcome and best regards.

Merrick Redden:
Thank you all for the advice above.   It will take a while to process it all and decide what is next on the shopping list... probably the book: "Astrophotography on the go"  - definitely not going to bother with the "wedge".   I didn't know there was an equatorial mount option for the NexStar... must find.  Cheers!

You can't be doing better than this. There is nothing worse than going for uninformed purchases in this hobby - and don't ask me how I learned about this ... 

Clear skies
Wolfgang

...

• In that moment I should bought a star tracker and a small refractor.

...

This is actually what I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who dares to enter the swamp of astrophotography. It was my best decision to reset myself to zero and go for a tracker after I got completely lost trying to build my first automated AP rig. 

Ed Ting - whose reviews I consider honest and unbiased - actually gave a quite positive review of the successor NexStar Evolution 6: (6) Review of the $1599 Celestron NexStar 6 Evolution computerized telescope! - YouTube. He mentioned though that there is quite some improvement on the robustness of the mount compared to the SE.

The quality control of AP gear - or lack of such - has already been discussed in another thread, so it seems there is always a certain part of luck involved.

Clear skies
Wolfgang

I wonder why nobody recommend to start with EAA (look here for more info: https://www.cloudynights.com/forum/73-electronically-assisted-astronomy-eaa/).
You can obtain DSO images by stacking short captures (10 - 30 s).
Using "Sharpcap" software for live stacking (see evolving the object in a minute) (see: https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/).
That will be no problem with the Nexstar 6 ALT/AZ mount.
No need to invest in a EQ. mount and avoid polar aligning.
Just invest in a f/6.3 focal reducer, a camera and a Bathinov mask.
I suggest starting with a cheap CMOS mono camera like the ZWO ASI290MM.
You will be able to "see" DSO objects for a lifetime.
Avoid to try to use a wedge! What I have read from others was always negative.
Have FUN.

Ed Dixon:
It's a little like the line they use about real estate, except for astrophotography it is “Mount, mount, mount”. The 6SE is a fairly high mag scope (I have an 8SE).  They work well for planetary and lunar close ups.  Doing much for fainter objects requires longer exposures.  Longer exposure requires very stable guiding and an EQ mount.  Things you will likely want/need are: 

1. Good EQ mount
2. Astro camera for planetary
3. Barlow for planetary
4. Guide scope and guide camera
5. Astro camera for DSO
6. Shorter focal length refractor

 It tends to be a never ending list for those that stick with it…

I agree with you to 99%, the only issue is that once you already own the 6SE I would reorder your list to:

1. Astro camera for planetary
2. Barlow for planetary
3. Shorter focal length refractor (.. or a focal reducer)
4. Good EQ mount (.. or just a tracker as a starting point)
5. Astro camera for DSO
6. Guide scope and guide camera

For starters you can get to decent results with short exposure astro photography (see the link and the book I recommended above)
And while pondering about new equipment don't forget to work on your image aquisition process and the technique to develop your images. They will be at least as important for your final result as your gear. Some people here at astrobin create stunning images with surprisingly moderate equipment.

Clear skies
Wolfgang