DSO Photo Equipment: Pre-built Kit vs. Custom ?

Hi Max

It is a great hobby, and rewarding. It can also be frustrating. I came to this thinking I knew about photography, only to discover that what I thought I knew didn’t help me a great deal.

It can also be brutal in terms of punishing purchasing mistakes.

I would definitely recommend starting modestly, so, Your 910mm focal length option is, for me, a little too ambitious. The ED80 is an excellent kit for starting out (and beyond). But before spending too much money, I’d suggest you look for a book called ‘Making Every Photon Count’, by Steve Richards. This will lead you through what you need and why you need it, and it will give you a better idea about a possible route. If you want to do DSO, I would look at the mount before anything else.

Steve sets it all out very well in his short book.

Good luck.

Steve

EDIT:  You asked a specific question.  I’d suggest you identify the bits and pieces you want and put together your own custom kit.  As a ‘vinyl’ man I’ve no doubt you have a stupidly expensive collection of boxes connected together so that you can listen to all the pops and clicks as they were meant to be heard.  (I suffer from a similar affliction.)

For what it is worth - I started with my stock (unmodified) DSLR and a 135mm prime and 70-200 mm f/2.8 which I had from regular photography. My "mount" was an iOptron Stkytracker which screwed on to my camera tripod. With the I was able to take nice wide fields of the Milky Way  and M31. From there to a Fornax Lightrack, also mounted on my tripod which pushed my focal length limit to 400mm with a 400mm f/5.6 lens. I still use that set up on occasion. A dedicated astro camera is not really needed when starting out. You can even get by with an unmodified DSLR which will give you very nice images of M42, M45, M31, M33, and even the Flame and Horsehead among many other objects. Steve is right - things get a lot harder as your equipment gets heavier and focal length longer. I'd suggest starting small, making use of what you currently have, and as you push that limit, the next steps become clear and you'll avoid wasting a lot of money.

For what it is worth - I started with my stock (unmodified) DSLR and a 135mm prime and 70-200 mm f/2.8 which I had from regular photography. My "mount" was an iOptron Stkytracker which screwed on to my camera tripod. With the I was able to take nice wide fields of the Milky Way  and M31. From there to a Fornax Lightrack, also mounted on my tripod which pushed my focal length limit to 400mm with a 400mm f/5.6 lens. I still use that set up on occasion. A dedicated astro camera is not really needed when starting out. You can even get by with an unmodified DSLR which will give you very nice images of M42, M45, M31, M33, and even the Flame and Horsehead among many other objects. Steve is right - things get a lot harder as your equipment gets heavier and focal length longer. I'd suggest starting small, making use of what you currently have, and as you push that limit, the next steps become clear and you'll avoid wasting a lot of money.

Steve Milne:
Great point.  With astrophotography it is a case of mount, mount, mount.  So starting with mount plus camera and its lenses is a very sound idea.

Thanks guys—you'll be seeing some pics of mine in no time.

The SkyWatcher ED80 set looks solid, although I don't know the camera and whether it's good or not.That said, I would not buy a kit. I think a lot of fun lies in learning and assembling the right kind of gear. This will most likely save you some money and it will allow for much deeper understanding of your hobby.

If you have a DSLR and aren't afraid to spend some money, I would buy a 14kg-class mount like the HEQ5, AVX or CEM25P (~1k EUR), a William Optics RedCat51 (~0.9k EUR), T2 adapter for Canon & some spacer to reach the required backfocus. You can use an intervallometer to control your DSLR, use a laptop with something like APT or you could use a device called ASIAIR which is a mini-PC plus smartphone app. You'll probably buy some software like AstroPixelProcessor and/or PixInsight for the image editing, but they're cheap compared to the
hardware.

This will cost you 2k EUR, will be gentle on the skill-set and make you do awesome images. And you can extend that endlessly to dive into whatever niche you want.

Thanks, Jesco!

While I know you said you wouldn't buy a kit, but I am curious what you think about these kits? I am thinking that it may be an easy way to get something decent to start without getting crazy on the cost.

I'll check out the 14kg-class mount and WO scope—with this route, would I need anything else to get started (like a guide scope, etc.)? I do have a DSLR to use.

Between the kits linked above ($1200 use and $1700usd) or the WO scope and 14kg-class mounts you mentioned—which do you think is a better route to get me rolling and taking some DSO photos right away?

Thanks!

I am afraid I don't know enough about those parts to give you a solid feedback. I am quite novice myself - in this hobby for 6 months only. I would step into this hobby one baby-step at a time. Otherwise you'll frustrate yourself.Buy a good mount. It's unsexy advice but people are right if they say "buy the best mount you can afford". If you realize early that you don't like this hobby... they have good resale value so the risk is limited. Use your DSLR. If you have a good & fast 50mm or 135mm lens, use that in the beginning. Stop it down one f-stop for better image quality. Buy an intervallometer to do >30s exposures (lots of them).

Hope for clear nights. Learn polar aligning and shoot some nice and bright objects. Cygnus area is always nice, M31 Andromeda Galaxy or just shoot constellation widefields. Then learn calibration and image stacking with free tools (DeepSkyStacker, GIMP).

If you are still having fun, you will know what scope you'll want next.

I really don't think the kit idea will satisfy you. It's a recipe for unnecessary frustration.

Thanks, Jesco.

I already have an intervalometer and have done a good amount of wide night photography shots—nothing with a tracking mount yet.

I am now leaning toward a Sky-Watcher HEQ-5 with a RedCat or a ZenithStar to start.

Thanks again fo all the insight.

I think you’ve made a wise call on the mount - but I’d keep an eye out for used EQ6s too.

The scopes you’re looking at look nice.  I don’t know either scope, so I’d check to see whether or not anyone has had any issues in the field with them - especially any optical issues like coma.   The Cloudy Nights site can be another useful resource for this sort of information.  The other thing I’m not sure about with these scope mounting system design is how you attach a guide scope to the rig when the time comes.  Again, I’d ask users of the scope how they go about doing this.

Good luck.

That sounds promising. I wish you a lot of fun. I read only good reports about your choices.

Thanks, Jesco!

Looking forward to it!