Re: [APML] Getting started for 1000$

[George Anderson <tillerman1@videotron.ca>]

Hi Patrick

Your best bet would be to save a little more and buy a quality mount.
Forgo shooting prime for the moment, there are enough other headaches to
suffer even shooting widefield with camera lenses. See if you can pick
up a Losmandy G-8 and then a 70mm f/10 scope to use as a guidescope with
an illuminated reticle.
There are plenty of widefield areas to shoot even with a 135mm lens.
Don't be tempted to scrimp on the mount, unless you have access to
tools, time, and ideally a machine shop, or you will kick yourself in
the end. And even then you will still be limited to widefield.
Go for a good mount and a guidescope, hone your polar aligning,
focusing, and guiding skills for a while, and then buy a scope through
which you can shoot prime focus. After a short while with that you will
want to drop more cash on an autoguider, and then some more money on...
Welcome to the world of Astromortgage, but it is enjoyable, addictive,
and you can have some wonderful photos that will make you proud. If it
wasn't that great a hobby none of us would be here.
And as Jerry has mentioned, look into making a barn door. Depending on
what you have in the way of tools you can make a regular barn door (good
for about 5 minutes with a 50mm lens), a type 4 (good for about 20
minutes), or a bent screw barn door which should let you run for 30
minutes or longer with a 50mm lens before errors become excessive.

George Anderson
Montreal Canada

Clear skies and good health

Patrick Huber wrote:
> 
> Hi there,
> 
> I have done some very basic astrophotography in the past and
> would like to start with a little more effort. I probaly will
> start with film, since I used to have my own darkroom and have
> some experience with photography in general. Moreover I have an
> old but decent SLR. Now I am about to by some new equipment and
> really like to hear some opionions what a good start might be.
> 
> Since I am not sure how much time I will be able to spent on this
> new hobby, I'd like to start out modest and would not like to
> spend more than 1000$ on the telescope, the mount and the tripod.
> I plan for something like additional 500$ for all the small stuff.
> 
> The plan I have figured out looks like that:
> I take the Meade LXD75 SN-6" with UHTC which comes with the LPI
> for something like 1000$ and ad an off-axis guider like the
> taurus tracker. Then I can use the LPI and my laptop to guide the
> telescope. I know the LXD75 is not a photo mount, but with my
> budget I really doubt that a Vixen GP or something similar would
> be affordable. I've seen some very decent pictures taken on this
> mount with heavier OTAs, so I guess it anyhow takes me a long
> time to be really limited by the mount. Once that happens I still
> can consider an upgrade and the SN-6" is supposed to be a decent
> optic.
> 
> What do you think, am I nuts or can I get along with this?
> 
> Thanks,
> Patrick
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Astro-Photo mailing list
> Astro-Photo@seds.org
> http://seds.org/mailman/listinfo/astro-photo
_______________________________________________
Astro-Photo mailing list
Astro-Photo@seds.org
http://seds.org/mailman/listinfo/astro-photo