fgh41 Loc: south Mississippi

The movie sequence or webcam sequence (and stacking) needs its own dedicated program. If EOS is capable of doing it, I'm not aware of it. You can Google for astro stacking software and find a goodly set of choices. Registrax is popular and has just recently been commercialized (i.e. you have to pay for it now). But, there are others available that are free.

Darrian629 Loc: Boston

Hello Bruce,

I just posted a similar question on photographing the heavens. You sound like you know what you are talking about and seem to have some experience, which I'm looking for, before I go out and spend money on equipment that may or may not work.

With that said, I want to purchase quality once, than crap twice. My budget is about $1000, shhhh, I have to speak to the BOSS first, but must include all adapters eyepieces and the necessary accessories for a turnkey operation.

Bruce, what would you recommend, taking into account that I shoot with a Nikon D610?

Any input, including where to purchase the gear will be very much appreciated!!!

Thank you in advance.

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

That is difficult to say for it depends on what you want to do. If you are interested in just photographing the solar system objects (planets and moons) it is less costly than deep space photography. The all important piece of equipment is your tracking mount and tripod and that alone could cost you your budget (or more) (look at these http://www.google.com/search?q=celestron+mounts+and+tripods&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 ). Then you have to decide do you want to use a telescope and what type (SCT or refractor) (http://www.google.com/search?q=celestron+mounts+and+tripods&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=sct+telescope http://www.optcorp.com/telescopes/refractor-telescopes.html) or just use a camera lens 500mm or above. All of this could be expensive. When shooting for planets the average exposure time is around 7 seconds (perhaps a bit longer for some planets), but when photographing deep sky objects your time can go from 10 minutes to several hours and the mount tracking becomes very critical to counter the earths rotation. B&H sells some scopes both new and used the only caution I would throw is stay away from Dobson scopes even their tracking motors are poor. The mount is important like I stated and they are rated with a payload capacity (this will be the weight of the scope, and camera you put on it.

Darrian629 Loc: Boston

Thanks Bruce,

I'll get back to you soon and let you know what direction I took.

Once again, thank you for the information.

jcboy3

If you have some good lenses and a good tripod, then getting an equatorial mount to compensate for earth rotation will allow you to shoot a lot. You want fast prime lenses that have little coma.

You can look at these trackers:

Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer $329

iOptron Sky Tracker $299

Vixen Polarie $369

With a wide angle lens, you can shoot star trails, milky way, etc. These trackers will all do a good job.

With a telephoto lens, you can shoot deeper, but the lenses are heavy so you will want to counterbalance, in which case I recommend the Sky Watcher. I don't know of a counterbalance kit for the iOptron; and it's motor is not as strong. I have the Vixen with a custom counterbalance, but that's not readily available (and very expensive).

Darrian629 Loc: Boston

Thanks jcboy, I'll check those items listed and see where we go from there.

Thanks again,

Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer $329

iOptron Sky Tracker $299

Vixen Polarie $369

With a wide angle lens, you can shoot star trails, milky way, etc. These trackers will all do a good job.

With a telephoto lens, you can shoot deeper, but the lenses are heavy so you will want to counterbalance, in which case I recommend the Sky Watcher. I don't know of a counterbalance kit for the iOptron; and it's motor is not as strong. I have the Vixen with a custom counterbalance, but that's not readily available (and very expensive).[/quote]

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

Believe me you want a good mount that can handle the weight at least a load capacity of 35lb and good rating on tracking. They make CCD cameras for astro photography which are lighter than your D600, so the weight of the D600, T-Mount and lens or scope must be factored in. These cheap mounts will not hold up to well under heavy equipment for deep sky photography. One of the problems with cheap mounts is the gears are made of plastic and those that are not have Chinese Tar clogging the gears.

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