Astrophotography: I and my nephew are starting to set up a astromical telescope with a decent camera attached. Also will be computer controlled. Would anyone in the group be interested...

hswader Loc: Bedford, PA

I and my nephew are starting to set up a astromical telescope with a decent camera attached. Also will be computer controlled. Would anyone in the group be interested in viewing/commenting on any photographs if I can get him to agree to this idea? They won't be anything like 'great' or 'spectacluar', of course,but would like to hear any ideas or comments concerning the operation of same. I will check back on this section for any ideas, etc, that appear. Appreciate any and all help that is provided. Thanks for letting me rant.
Haskell

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Hi Haskell,
Welcome to the Astrophotography corner of UGG.
Like most things in Photography, some things are better than others.
Certain telescopes are designed around the endevor, like triple or quadruple Apochromatic telescopes, and it can get astronomical in costs really fast.
https://starizona.com/acb/basics/equip_telescopes_refractors.aspx
https://starizona.com/acb/Telescopes-C501.aspx

The human eye is a marvelous machine, it can adjust nearly instantly.
But the camera doesn't lie to us. So the equipment used has to be a bit better than visual. The telescope, the mount, guiding of the mount, and a laptop all work together.
And please do post your images. It helps see what, if any, suggestions we can offer.

Welcome to the toughest type of photography you can find.
You might like to start here: https://youtu.be/9d0292TBMHo

hswader Loc: Bedford, PA

SonnyE, hswader here.Thanks for getting back to me on the telescope thing. We haven't gotten very far with our project yet. Still learning as we go.Right on as to the cost of equiptment, though! So far, it is still in the 'hobby' stages.
Will try to update the info on it with you and anyone else that may be interested, okay?

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

hswader wrote:

I and my nephew are starting to set up a astromica... (show quote)

You may want to start with your DSLR camera mounted on a good tripod and shoot the Milky Way. My typical settings would be with a 18mm Lens at 20 seconds, f/3.5 and ISO 400. Good luck, this will start to give you a feeling for Astrophotography and can be done in 1/2 hr.
Craig

Ronsh Loc: Floresville,Tx.

CraigFair wrote:

You may want to start with your DSLR camera mounted on a good tripod and shoot the Milky Way. My typical settings would be with a 18mm Lens at 20 seconds, f/3.5 and ISO 400. Good luck, this will start to give you a feeling for Astrophotography and can be done in 1/2 hr.
Craig

Craig, at f3.5and iso 400 do stack photos? Would you post one of our shots . Thanks Ron

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Ronsh wrote:

Craig, at f3.5and iso 400 do stack photos? Would you post one of our shots . Thanks Ron

This was shot resting the camera on the boat deck. Nothing fancy but I liked the results.
If you click on the link next to the photo, it will take you to the flickr page.
The shot information is below the photo and may be helpful.
Welcome to our little dark corner of the world.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2906/14168926888_c8b5ce98bb_c.jpg Milky Way Lightroom by James Martin, on Flickr

Railfan_Bill Loc: "Lost Wages", Nevada

I agree with Craig. Start with a wide angle lens on your DLSR. Find a really dark area and practice with the exposures. One cannot give an exposure toat covers all, so experiment, like we all do..Here is a sample that I gave another member who wants to shoot the MW.
Bill

(Download)

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Railfan_Bill wrote:

I agree with Craig. Start with a wide angle lens on your DLSR. Find a really dark area and practice with the exposures. One cannot give an exposure toat covers all, so experiment, like we all do..Here is a sample that I gave another member who wants to shoot the MW.
Bill

Great job Bill very well done.
Craig

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

This was shot resting the camera on the boat deck.... (show quote)

Very cool shot Jim.
Craig

W7MEV

I would love to see your pix. When you start out if you have a reasonable camera coupled to a decent scope you can take decent pictures of bright objects without autoguiding if you can limit our exposures to maybe 30 seconds of less. Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn all can be likely targets for you to start.

hswader Loc: Bedford, PA

W7MEV wrote:

I would love to see your pix. When you start out if you have a reasonable camera coupled to a decent scope you can take decent pictures of bright objects without autoguiding if you can limit our exposures to maybe 30 seconds of less. Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn all can be likely targets for you to start.

Tried to answer your note, but lost everything I typed in so far. Will try it again when I get my mind and fingers to co-operate, ok? Sorry about that.