Ryalphoto

Dear Forum, 

I want to incursion in Astrophotography, for fun, and I would like to purchase a telescope that I can attached my camera. I know there are some adapters, I just don't know what to buy. 

Has anyone experience in this area? that could give me some input like witch telescope gives the best results for the money? I don't want to spend too much money, I just want to create new fun pictures, but I am also want decent quality of photos.

So please any information you can relate to, also attachment suggestions if possible.
Thank you so much, I will be really looking forward to hear from you.
Ciao. 

btrlvngthruchem

You don't need a telescope to take really nice astrophotos. You can take great wide field photos of the Milky Way, which is a great way to get started in this hobby and it can be done with most any camera. Having a tripod and a shutter release so you don't shake the camera are good to have. I've been doing astrophotography for about 2 years with a DSLR and different lenses such as a 14 mm, 24 mm, 50 mm, 300 mm and 400 mm plus other equipment and have turned out some nice pictures. There is a lot of information on the internet that will be very helpful to you. Read it carefully and watch videos to help you learn. The learning curve of astrophotography is very, very steep. It takes lots of time to learn and can get to be quite spendy.

Good luck with it.

jscorbin Loc: Woodinville, WA

You don't say whether you have any experience using a telescope. Before you get into astrophotography with a telescope, it is necessary to learn how to set one up, find your way around the sky, and locate objects in the telescope. Even if you get a motorized "go-to" scope, in most cases you still have to align it each time you use it.

Participating in an astronomy club, if there is one (relatively) nearby, can be very helpful. Otherwise, Sky & Telescope has several very good guides on choosing a telescope and getting started. See https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-equipment/choosing-astronomy-equipment/telescopes/

Railfan_Bill Loc: "Lost Wages", Nevada

You did not say in what part of the country you live. This can be important since the darkness of the sky is very critical for decent astrophotography. As the other OP stated, you can start off with wide field photographs and work your way up. As also stated, there is a steep learning curve associated with AP, but don't give up! The results of your diligence will astound you! A telescope at first is not needed, but a good tripod is. IF you go to YouTube and search for astrophotography tutorials, there will be a large quantity of videos that are very informative. Later on, you can try a star tracker (I have the Star Adventurer) which will track the stars over a period of time ranging from a few seconds to 6 minutes. However, the polar alignment must be absolutely on! I have shown some of my work here before, but I will show some of it to you just to get your feet wet and to stimulate your interest. These pics were all shot with nothing but a tripod, and a remote release. Each pic will state the lens and time. I use a Canon 6d.

14 mm at 30 seconds at ISO 6400

(Download)

14 mm at ISO 6400 25 second exposure

(Download)

600 mm Sigma, 60 second shutter, ISO 6400 with a Star Adventure tracker

(Download)

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

You are on the right trail - research - by doing this you will be getting a lot of opinions - confusing at first - but in the end you will probably reach some solid conclusions. Just continue getting opinions, read the opinions of others on forums like "Astronomy Forum," "Cloudy Nights," and others. DO NOT JUMP IN and start buying gear that gets 4.5 stars. (no pun intended here)

There is a website called ASTROBIN - visit that often. You will see images taken and the gear that was used...and HOW they exposed the image. That was very helpful for me.

BTW and IMHO, the fun is in the learning!

Welcome to a great hobby - for me, it's the second best thing to do after the sun sets!

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

You need to distinguish the difference between astrophotography and nightscapes.

Also, understand what ppl mean by nightscapes and widefield. To me these are different things. Nightscapes are getting a pix of something like the Milky Way with a nice landscape foreground. Widefield is getting a larger deep sky object.

You first need to determine what you want to photograph, what’s your budget, what are your skies like and how much time you want to put into an image. Depending on how you answer these questions, may mean additional questions. Astrophotography, widefield and nightscapes are all fun and challenging, so you can’t go wrong doing any/all of them.

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

I started out with a webcam and an f11 / 80mm refractor imaging the moon, planets and red giants and it was on after that , my handicapped tail fell into the "money pit" . Paid $150 for a telescope bundle and $ 100 for a good webcam . I had the laptop but, nowadays you can hook your smartphone to your scope. Do plenty of research it's awesome with the right info.