@@sunsetdrive4437 hi there. I didn't notice your message until now. This is a pretty standard f/5 reflector. Definitely suited for Astrophotography. Be aware you'll probably need to collimate reflectors, and you'll probably want to buy an additional coma corrector.
Great video! Just started a while ago (few years) with some astro-photography. (i am a pro photographer, not familiar with all the astro things i look at in the sky...) Started last year with a Sky adventurer pro mount... terrible, had a lot of trouble... after 4 months and 3 adventurers later i changed to a EQ5-Pro GoTo. And bought a newtonian 130-900 after being disappointed with my own 300mm objective. Talking about terrible... the newtonian and photography... pfffffff... Looked at a lot of videos on youtube, reading a lot on the internet (some crap available...) So recently i bought a Skywatcher APO 80-600 ED triplet. What a difference, love it. The sharpness, brightness and contrast when i look through the 2" viewfinder... stunning. Sharp photos as i am used to. When looking back at it, there are a lot of things you need after buying a good mount, telescope and camera. The batterie to feed the equipment... the T2 rings... the flattener... the dew wire... the polar alignment lights... the red headlamp...a laser... an Imac 27" Retina as my laptop just gone to heaven... new software... new external disk as there will be a lot of photos taken every session... (my camera takes big files every raw photo...) Spending hours at the computer, watching videos, watching fora, watching facebook groups... and i am not even mentioning the chocolate to throw at the wife every night i go out to keep her happy ( same as you, light polluted area, Brabant in my case). But most important, it is fun to do, looking at the sky trying to make nice photos... Great learning curve...
Im responding to your comments because, like you, i am a photographer as a hobby today, but did professional work in the past. WIth that said, i have Canon gear currently, 1DX, 1Ds MK II, 1D, with USM100mm-400mm and USM 28mm-300mm USM IS II, No bragging but you being a fellow professional, you understand my level as a photographer. Like you, or maybe not, I was just trying to take a picture at the moon. It all seems simple, mechanically, but the mechanics are the same, but not really? Get it? Anyways, im just behind you on this astro stuff. Watching Astro Biscuit and Astrobackyard and this guy, Im finding my list of things I need to buy, changing ever time I look( Daily). My hobbies destroy my bank accounts. I cannot stand buying twice. When I decide to do something, im gonna do it 200% or you wont find me doing it at all. My goals are simple, photo and view nebulas and local planets, and moons. Im prepared for $6000 in expenses to get going and then re asses more particular items as learning a new hobby will have, and new needs. I like having good equipment, as my last "SUBERBIKE RACING HOBBY" proved itself for the past 5 years, so when I buy equipment, i want it to be the last time I need to get it. I want quality images, I want NOT to buy twice on anything, im not a scientist, nor a scholastic professional needing $500,000 in equipment or even $50,000 worth of equipment. My goal is to suffice family time with this hobby and have excellent images and to also further my sons interest in higher education, OK, he is 8, but still.... Your start so far appears to be very much like mine,100's of hours in research, not a full grasp it what works the best and the costs associated. Could you provide any input to getting going? Also any more information on what didn't work and what has worked for you? You would be pulling me out of a very frustrating attempt at a hobby i want to do with my family. This is to anyone that has read this, Specially you Rob Smit, Astroforum, and anyone who could help me get the next pieces. I have already settled on a Celestron CGX or CGX L, if that isnt a good mount then I got troubles, beyond that i have considered a 14" Dob, 12 TPO RC Truss tube, the New Raptor 61 APO, Celestron 11 EDGE HD and variants because of the tremendous discounts at OPTCORP currently. The mic is yours and I am listening...
The information is good, but being a beginner, my concerns are: Cost, the ability to move it from my house to the site, followed by how easy to polar align and then how easy to use it to find objects.
Yes, the video is for deepsky astrophotography. The C8 is a good place to start in terms of planetary and some deepsky observing. Keep in mind that it's an f/10, which is relatively slow for deepsky observing. You could buy a.67 focal reducer which gives you a wider field of view at f/6.3. keep in mind that if you want to go into astrophotography, you'll eventually need a decent EQ mount. The C8 can be used for planetary imaging as you will be making videos instead of long exposure pictures. Clear skies!
The C8 is a great starter scope, you can often find them for $300-$400 on Craigslist and sometimes bundled with some good accessories. Honestly, it's all you'll ever need in a scope as a small time hobbyist for visual observing but not AP. You don't mention if you're a beginner to scopes or AP, based on the comment I'm assuming both. I would suggest getting a C8 with an Alt-Az mount but hope for a GPS Nexstar 8 (the ones with the carbon fiber tubes) for around $800-$1,000 used and get used to it, then get a wedge and continue from there. At that point you could get an earlier generation Hyperstar used and that along with the wedge would get you some AMAZING photos. You can even skip the wedge and I think you'll be fine since field rotation likely wouldn't be a huge issue for most objects. Cameras have come down a lot in price but there are many paths to your goal, find the one that's most comfortable for you.
Cost is the one big downside of decent refractors as opposed to an average Newtonian. Mobility can go either way. Smaller refractors are the most practical, but if you have a car then it shouldn't matter much. In either case you would have a mount which would be the bulkiest part. I would say maintenance matters more, as lugging around a Newtonian is bound to decollimate it. Alignment is more a matter of mount, so make it an eq rather than az. Eq mounts are made for natural tracking of the apparent movement of stars. Particularly as a beginner I found it so much easier to gently nudge an eq mount rather than waste time fiddling around an alt-az.
Your question is very sound. Often the comparisons are for price of scope itself vs features, but then you need $1500 for a good motorized EQ and tripod to replace the clunky manual one delivered with the under $1500 scope. Then you need to buy photography mounts. Total cost is often 2000 to 3000USD. I have found the best scope for your stated core desires is the bronze tube SC Celestron NexStarSE. They come from 4" to 8" primary mirrors. They have a computerized tracking and object finding motor built in. They can be AZ aligned in 4 minutes, or polar aligned like an EQ with a latitude tilt table built in. The SE4 and 5 are light in total weight. The tripod is very shake resistant stable The tube and motor comes off easily and together as a short standing unit with very stable rubber feet. Easy to sit in your car floorboard, without rolling around. The tripod alone is very light. The scope may be used without the tripod as a tabletop scope on a level table. I use a cut level stump in my own field, which is as stable as you can get. The motor autotracks. The scope comes with a seperate camera mount opening and an eyepiece mount on the drawbar. There is a simple flip mirror to switch in a snap to the camera. So if you want the whole thing under $1500USD then that or the Orion or Meade competitors is probably best for the beginner. These are the first true Celestrons. I found a used one SE4 for $40 in pristine condition with a box of German eyepieces and filters that belonged to an elderly enthusiast, but that was luck. See them for $500 often, sold after a teen's interest wains. I have several Newtonians on traditional EQ and AZ tripod mounts and Dobsons, but by comparison they are much more awkward to use that these scopes.
I agree with at least one other comment - An achromatic lens is perfectly acceptable in a starter, or even more advanced instrument. It is not as you described in your otherwise excellent video and it's important to correct it because people may avoid perfectly good products because of that error. In fact, what you describe as an 'ED' lens describes the type of glass in use, not the type of lens. It means Extra-Low Dispersion Glass. Many of Meade's refractors, for example, incorporate Achromatic lenses, so viewers, check that out if you're not sure, but don't rule out instruments with achromatic optics.
I'm finding many of these guys go too far with their "recommended" gear. I was watching another guy's "beginner" guide who said avoid all pre-built telescopes and to get custom built lenses. Err... i don't even know where to go to get a 1 of a kind built-to-order lense for a scope. They also said not to go below 8". I'm betting his "beginner" guide would cost a brand new noob $5~$7k. Another said you "need" a "required" 6 hours gige or take for astrophotography... here i am with my first ever scope, taking a picture of the Lagoon nebula with 5 minutes of exposure... lol... since then I've stopped looking at these guides as much.
Sinds twee dagen geleden je insta account ontdekt en ik bekijk nu je filmpjes. Je enthousiasme en passie voor astrofotografie spreekt me enorm aan. Mijn complimenten! Ik ben zelf bezig al jaren bezig met astrofotografie, maar dan met mijn foto camera en het vastleggen van de melkweg en andere sterren constellaties. Dat soort foto's ken je wel. Ik deed het vooral in buitenland omdat daar lichtvervuiling niet zo erg is. Echter is het me een weekje geleden gelukt om hier in Brabant de melkweg vast te leggen. Dat was een mijlpaal voor me. Een telescoop heb ik nog niet. Dus dit hielp mij zeker om alvast een keuze te maken. Ik heb ook je andere blogs gelezen en kan zo alvast een mooi winkelwagentje maken. Super bedankt voor al je hulp en tips. En echt bijzonder wat je zo in hartje Utrecht kan vastleggen. Ik had dit echt NIET verwacht omdat we in NL het meeste en ergste lichtvervuiling hebben op aarde. Geeft me in ieder geval hoop om met astrofotografie aan de slag te gaan. Ga vooral door met je passie en je kanalen (YT en Insta)! :)
Man! I was going to start complaining and saying that all these “beginners” videos actually aren’t meant for real beginners because people asume you know things that a newbie wouldn’t know, BUT THEN I KEPT ON WATCHING... HANDS DOWN the easiest to understand, informative, direct to the point and most complete video I’ve seen... and believe me, I have watched at least 30 videos for beginners to astrophotography. Yours is the best BY FAR. Keep the good work, my friend. Greetings from Mexico!!!
My advice to any noob: start by buying secondhand and never brand new. You will develop your skills gradually and will always be able to resell what you acquired for nearly the same purchase price as you upgrade. If you own a DSLR already, use it even though it is not Astro modified. You will learn a lot and will have spent less money. Aim to get to 30 second exposures without star trails. When you can do that, you can think about upgrading to get to 3+ minutes exposures. Also, what is missing in this video is the need and price of the field flattener for refractors versus coma corrector for fast reflectors. I purchased second hand a house brand 130mm f/7.7 (1000mm focal length) reflector with EQ3 mount and good eyepieces for $160USD/150 euro. It was a great buy for visual but when I went to Astrophotography, it needed a 2x Barlow for the DSLR to focus making it a f/15! I then upgraded to the Skywatcher 130PDS f/5. Collimating it is easy to learn and do but I quickly discovered I needed to spend more $$ for the coma corrector. With refractors, it is my understanding a field flattener is needed. More $$ for a noob.
Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, a field flattener would be required for a triplet to avoid astigmatism. Second hand may make sense but you'll have to take care not to buy low quality stuff.
@@AstroForumSpace Agreed, but second hand is more of a problem with mounts than with the telescopes themselves, especially refractor telescopes, which you can buy with confidence, in the USA at least, in the classified ads on Cloudy Nights or Astromart--and there are sometimes listings from European sellers on these sites as well.
I've been trying to learn the basics of buying a telescope for about a week now, looking at manufacturers' web pages, clubs, forums, and other people's videos on RU-vid. I learned more from this 28 minute video than from everything else in the past week. Thank you so much! I feel more confident to consider a first purchase now.
I just started in mid 2023, photographing the night sky. My first image was of the Milky Way from a bortle class 2 sky at a recreation area outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. I used a Canon Rebel SL100D camera with the 18-55mm kit lens and a tripod. The results were amazing, and it got me hooked on this hobby. I currently use the same camera, but with the 75-300 mm kit lens, tripod, and Sky Watcher Star Adventurer 2i mount to take my images from my household in New Orleans, Louisiana under a bortle class 8 sky. I purchased an Optolong L-enhance LPF to help with the light pollution and to bring out more color in my images. I'm considering purchasing a refractor instead of a higher focal length zoom lens to enhance my imaging. I appreciate the content and insight, it really has opened my eyes to the different functions and benefits of the different types of telescopes to more accurately decide what works for me! Keep up the great work and take care!! 😊
All of the information I needed! I've wanted a good telescope for a while but now I'm finally sure I want one. Thanks for the video and the information I needed.
I bought my first dslr, a t3i mostly for regular photography but also The capability to mount telescopes and telephotos. Then I find out my bridge camera has the ultimate 50x telephoto lens. Im learning that getting near that will cost thousands of dollars so thats why im here, to learn about telescopes
Great video! My first (and only) Astrophotography Telescope is a William Optics Zenithstar 73mm. I love it to death, but the one thing I am jealous of is the detail that larger aperture refractors can obtain. I can’t do almost any galaxies justice. But it’s perfect for nebulae and star clusters. Spot on with your recommendations as well!
Haha. Yes, I can relate to your comments. I get aperture fever every year from march till may (galaxy season). Rest of the year we have plenty of large nebulae to choose from without the need for a reducer. Thanks, clear skies!
This is the best explanation I’ve seen to date! I have binoculars at the moment, and will be getting a refractor as my first!! Thank you 🙏 love your work!!
@@AstroForumSpace here’s a good question for you! 😏 if you had a 100mm x 800fl refractor and a 100mm x 400fl with a 2x Barlow, would they give the same FOV and quality of view?
@@Balataone that depends on the quality of your barlow lens. If you want a higher resolution picture, you'll need a bigger aperture, not a shorter or longer focal length.
I did not disliked it. It's a great, informative, almost "idiot friendly" video. Just perfect for mediocre intelect such as mine but I am afraid that lots of those minuses came from "cultural" differences of what one sees as affordable. Unfortunately, from my latitude/longitude point ,1000 euros is certailny not reasonable price.
@@andrejm77 If you are interested in such hobby but finding things not so affordable in your region, I strongly suggest you to contact universities which have such departments. You may run into projects which need people. Good luck.
Hello! I find your video informative. My son is a first time buyer and we are looking at the Celestron Powerseeker 80EQ. do you recommend and if yes why? If no why not? We are looking at seeing very close and clear images. Can you tell us what you recommend? Thank you!!
Hi Joseph, the power seeker is a good telescope to start with visual astronomy. You'll have very clear images of the moon and you'll be able to see some of the brighter deepsky objects (Pleiades,orion nebula, andromeda galaxy and globular clusters). Planets will also be visible, although they will appear as small dots on your FoV. Clear skies!
Good video...lots of information. Refractors - least amount of maintenance, bright high contrast image, but good ones are expensive. Newtonian Reflectors - less expensive (best bang for the buck), larger apertures (more light in), but higher maintenance (collimation). In my opinion, refractors are great if you have the budget (don't get a cheap one). Newtonian Reflectors are great if you have a smaller budget. I find collimation isn't that difficult (I use a laser collimator. Either one will be fine as a beginner telescope.
Hi Wido, Thanks for all the informative video's. The 'astrophotography bug' has bitten me and I am looking into starting the hobby (have a good deal of photography experience and have owned an old Celestron C8 non-goto for visual astronomy in the past). Looking at Teleskop Service I see two options that would fit my budget and plans and I was wondering your take on them: a TSAPO80F7 (80mm / 560mm FPL 53 APO doublet) for 549 + TSRed279 0.79 reducer corrector for 235 = 784 total (giving a 80mm 442mm F5.5) or the one you own: TLAPO804 (80mm 480mm F6 triplet) for 848. I'm leaning towards the first option due to the flexibility of putting on the reducer for photography but optionally not putting it on for more visual punch. I was wondering if you use a flattener on your TS 80 triplet and what your take on doublet vs triplet would be, you mention ED doublet vs APO triplet, but how about APO doublet vs triplet (is it really worth it if you're on a budget when starting out)? Thanks in advance, keep up to good work and clear skies! Jos
Thanks very informative video for people knowing nothing about telescopes For now I don't have much interest in deep space photography. I'm more interested in moons and planets and maybe other planets out of our solar system. I have a Sony mirrorless camera already. I don't have a tracker though What would you recommend with this in mind?
Hi Patrick, thanks! I have a separate video on planetary scopes: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hwtjw07QZsE.html. If you're looking for a first scope that is great for visual... You may want to consider a dobsonian telescope as well. Good luck!
Leuke video! Ik zit er ook aan te denken om iets te gaan doen met astrophotography. De foto die je aan het begin van de video hebt laten zien, heb je die met de telescoop gemaakt die je in de video liet zien? En wat gebruik je als sensor? Ik heb een sony a7 iii liggen. Kan je die gebruiken als sensor? Ik heb ook nog een tamron 100-400 lens liggen. Is dat ook nog een optie? Of heb je echt een telescoop nodig? PS die foto aan het begin is die gemaakt in de achtertuin of ergens afgelegen zonder lichtvervuiling? Owja, en heb je nog meer spullen nodig? Thanks!
Hoi Martijn,leuk dat je ook wil starten met astrografie. Er zijn veel mogelijkheden. De foto's in dit filmpje zijn allemaal met een 80mm telescoop en een gekoelde mono camera op mijn dakterras gemaakt. Je kunt ook beginnen met een DSLR en lens. Je hebt veel vragen...kijk anders even op mijn website, daar staat al best wat info over wat je nodig hebt astroforumspace.com/
Wow, that's great Ed! Thank you. I thought about asking you to share some user experiences with your newt. Reflector in this video but was busy with work. Would you be open to some form of collaboration :-)?
Thank you for such an informative video. Will you plz tell us something about accessories along with your telescope like camera, tripod as well? Thanks again.
Thank you! I have other videos on my channel where I discuss mounts, cameras, and other astrogear. I also made a video about how to start AP, perhaps useful: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WwYj0B6l964.html
Thank you Wido, I loved your video, it is helping me in my newly found passionate hobby. What a wonderful way to connect to our universe, and others. Please keep the great video's coming, they are really good thanks. I just bought a William Optics Redcat 51 apo,and am looking forward to trying it out, as my first ever Astrophotography telescope connected to a Astro modified DSLR. I am going in at the deep end to be sure,I get the right set up lol. Thanks again and all the best from North Wales United Kingdom Proost buddy
Awesome stuff!. My first and favourite was a 1000mm f5 skywatcher newtonian scope. Collimation isnt really all that difficult. I rather like tinkering around with it anyway. Awesome video, keep them coming!
Without doubt a small quality Refractor is a good place to start. I've two a ED80 and a TS130APO and love them both. That said my imaging scope of choice is my 10"F4 Newtonian. Collimation takes me just a few minutes. The scope delivers superb resolution, perfect colour and gathers the data so quickly.
@@MoultonDave hi David. Thanks for sharing. I was actually considering a Richey cretien as my next scope. Good to hear that collimation is not so difficult. 10" F4, wow that is indeed fast. Clear skies.
AstroForum Thanks for the reply. The RC's are great for galaxies especially, but can be quite tricky to live with, balance and collimation can be difficult. Slow though at F9 Just added you on Instagram buddy. I'm moulton2252. . The images I have shared on there were taken with various telescopes over the years, an ED80, TS130APO, Skywatcher MN190, and my latest the Skywatcher 10" Quattro. So a variety of scopes sure, but what might be of interest is that all the pics were taken with the same camera a QSI583WSG. I should finish by saying I'm from the Uk, but have moved to Australia so the image are from both hemispheres
Wow, you have an interesting astrophotography life :-). Thanks for following me on IG. I'll check out your feed as well. Maybe I should reconsider the RC.. But I like the aperture. I could also go for a larger refractor. Anyway, how are the skies in Australia? Better then in the UK I presume :-)
Nice and informative, but I don't really consider $1,000 "affordable" (or $850, for that matter). I notice the Newtonian reflectors seem to be much less expensive. I certainly don't mind learning a little bit of maintenance if it will save 70% or more of the up-front cost!
Thanks for the video. How short is too short, in terms of focal length? For example I'm looking at a scope which is 350mm, will I be able to photograph interesting objects?
Sure. There are lots of widefield targets like andromeda galaxy, Pleiades, veil nebula etc. With nebulae, you do need some decent tracking and guiding gear.
Definitely. The Redcat 51 for example is very popular with astrophotographers, even though it has a focal length of just 250mm. With Cropsensors like APS-C that is comparable to 400mm. (your 350mm scope would be comparable to a 560mm focal lenght for APS-C sensors). That is more than enough to get really decent pictures of most nebulas. And much more would make Andromeda really hard to image. On the other hand, with a high resolution planet camera (6mm sensor) you would be closer to a 2000mm equivalent. Far to much for most nebulas and far to slow (not enough light).
Hi AstroForum... Awesome video. Question... @9:30, should that be spelled 'ritchey-chretien' (or should there be only one 'r'?)? Maybe someone asked earlier already, and I missed it. Love the video. Thanks much
Nice summary. I started astrophotograpy last year, and happened to have an old Celestron 8SE Schmidt Cassegrain (2000mm f/l) kicking around, so I modified it to fit an HEQ5 equatorial mount, then put my DLSR on it. Then my frustrations began! There was a massive learning curve to get anything at all with it at 2000mm f/l. So I ordered something similar to you, a TS-Optics TSQ-80APO 80mm f/6.8 Quadruplet Apo with field flattener. Went with built in field flattener as I didn't have to mess around with getting spacing correct. But it took over 3 months to get it delivered to New Zealand. So in my impatience for it to arrive, I bought a cheap 102mm Skywatcher achromatic refactor. The chromatic aberation is awful, the focuser useless, it was a complete waste of time and money. Finally the APO arrived. Its a beautiful instrument, simple to use, even at 600mm. I don't need to worry about guiding if I've polar aligned well in Sharpcap. Yes, they're not cheap, but I'm glad I got it. Have since got a focal reducer for the reflector, and have got better at setup and guiding, so I can get reasonable photos from that now, but they are not nearly as good as the APO. So the next question is what do I get for my second astrography telescope (4th actually )? An 8" RC or 8" Newtonian or spend a lot of money on a 120mm APO? I expect I'll need a better mount than the HEQ5 though.
Thanks. Actually, in struggling with the same question about the second scope. 8" RC is good but collimation is difficult I've heard. 8"SC is ok but would need a reducer. Bigger refractor is nice but they are large and more expensive.
I got the Orion 4.5 in starblast for Christmas and so far I am really happy with it! So far The only concern I have is the mount that came with it which I will explain later. I want to add that reflectors only require more maintenance outside of viewing. You aren't required to have a clear sky to coelomate the mirror and while you do have to purchase some additional equipment, you are able to still get reflectors for far less than you are able to get quality refractors. The scope I have is a fourth the price of what you initially bought and though I am sure yours is far better than mine, when you say the word "beginner" the 100-300 dollar price range is much closer to what comes to mind for me. Again the complaint that I have is with the stand. I got an equatorial stand which can be a pain for beginners but it isn't a tracking mount and upgrading it to be able to track seems like far more work than its worth for a stand that isn't super good quality. I plan on making a Dobsonian mount this summer once I'm done with school for a little more ease of use while I'm out. I think the quality of telescope I got could have been bought for much less than it was but it came with lots of other gear such as the mount and some eyepieces so I suppose it justified the cost.
Your feedback is highly appreciated Mason! I'm focused on astrophotography in this video, but I agree completely that there is a step before that where your just get into astronomy and buy your first telescope and perhaps a computerized mount in a price range below 500 USD/EUR. I myself started with a celestron 102slt. I'll consider making an additional video about cheaper telescope/mount combinations to take your first steps info astronomy. Clear skies!
Achromat is a doublet not a single lens and are corrected to bring two wavelengths(colors) in focus, mostly blue and red. "ED" is the same thing(an Achromat) just with special glass doing a better job correcting color. please check your facts before posting.
A better way to put this would be: Achromat is a doublet not a single lens and are corrected to bring two wavelengths(colors) in focus, mostly blue and red. "ED" is the same thing(an Achromat) just with special glass doing a better job correcting color. Great video otherwise!
Thanks ... I was beginning to think that ... as Pluto is no longer a planet(it is), that a simple lense, somehow, became an achromatic ... I could have sworn we called triplets Ortho-Achromatic(we're talking the 50').
4 года назад
I have no idea, just wondering: An achromat scope produce different focal lenghts on RGB colors, so it causes aberration. Is this issue in effect on monochrome cameras with narrowband filters? Thanks.
This is a great video. Straight to the point with no filler. Thank you! Two suggestions: 1. Maybe in a future video you can show what these telescopes are capable of seeing in the night sky? It will provide some good context. 2. What are your thoughts on Apertura Dobsonian Telescopes because these seem to come with many attachments to allow beginners to get up and running?
Hi Dan, check my channel for pictures I've been making with my 80mm APO refractor. 2nd point: Dobsonians are lovely for visual astronomy and planetary imaging, but they lack an equatorial mount so they are not really usable for deep-sky astrophotography. Hope this helps, clear skies!
I started with a Celestron SkyProdigy 130 and enjoyed it but learned it limitations. I found that nebula were instead gray smudges and not the colorful pictures that you demonstrated. I now have a Celestron 9.25HDEdge with a CGEM mount and AZO ASI 355 camera. But I haven’t taken a picture yet. I have used the telescope etc but I don’t know where to start with the software, etc. I am trying to get educated. Your videos are “stellar” and I really appreciate your presentations.
I would like to thank you for your recommendations, and you made it easy for me to buy my first telescope (Orion ED80T CF Triplet ). I hope I made the right choice lol.
Nice video. I wish you discussed the planetary telescopes more as i am intrested in one of those. Can you recommend a telescope+track mount based on solely high resolution moon photography with a dslr? Max 2000 euro.
Sure, I have a separate video on planetary scopes: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hwtjw07QZsE.html where do you live? I'll recommend one.
would this be a good set up .. yes im a noob starting out this year skywatcher heq5 pro william optics 73 zwo asi183mc william optics guide scope 50mm zwo asi120mm zwo asi air pro
Sounds good to me. The only thing is the zwo asi 183. I don't own that one but I do own a zwo 178mc. The downside of that camera was that it produced ampglow at multiminute exposures. Also, it doesn't have any cooling. In short, I think the camera is very well suited for planetary and moon, but maybe not perfect on DSO's. But then again, the cooled versions are a lot more expensive, so it depends on your budget and what you want to image. Clear skies!
Hi, nice and clear video. I'm toying with the idea to start this new hobby by buying the Orion XT8 or XT8 Plus. Also I don't want to move around too much. I live in Warnsveld (Zutphen) in a pretty much dark spot of the region. What can you advice me? I've got a decent budget, but I dont want to blow away my money for nothing.
Hi BB. Nice to hear! It depends a bit on what you want. The Orion xt8 is good for visual astronomy, moon and planets. But not really suited for deepsky astrophotography. you'll have to find and track targets manually with this Dobsonian mount. Warnsveld is a very good place to be, I'm jealous :-).
@@AstroForumSpace Thanks for the quick reply. I must admit, I was influenced by other videos regarding to the Orion xt8. My new aim is the TS Optics Photoline 115 mm /f7. Now for the tripod and other accessoires...
@@KarthikSuresh1 Hi there, you can probably see the larger, brighter nebula like Orion and objects like andromeda, pleades visually. If you are using it with an EQ mount and camera you'll be able to make longer exposures and image a lot more.
I have not started photography yet. I have binoculars and a a 50mm and a 60mm spotting scope. Which I occasionally observe astronomical objects instead of terrestrial. I have tried a phone holder with poor results. Although I can take a photo of wildlife with spotting scope and phone. I do have a cannon DSLR with a variety of lenses Up to 300, The big question for me is how to connect a decent camera to a telescope.
Hi John, you can connect your canon with a T2 adaper ring to most telescopes. Clear skies, e.g.: www.astroshop.eu/t2-rings-lens-mounts/celestron-t2-ring-for-canon-eos/p,44777
Don't know anything about the quality, it's a very low cost telescope. Don't expect too much from it. It's a 76/300, you should expect: nice lunar views, small, but visible, dots in the night sky of our bigger planets (Jupiter, Saturn) and some visibility on big and bright deepsky objects (e.g. Pleiades). Maybe great as a birthday present?
@@AstroForumSpace fair enough. Can't afford it as a birthday present don't think my family could either lol. I already found that out though from other reviews so I will keep looking. Might wait and save up for a good telescope. Cause I want to take pics of at least the planets not just as dots. Thanks though.
@@DoomWalker42 hi Tom. I started with a celestron 102slt refractor telescope and computerized goto system. You can put a zwo120mc planetary camera which will - together with a Barlow lens - enable you to make videos and pictures of the moon and planets. The SLT is about 550 euro and camera about 150. I wish astrophotography was cheaper so more people could enjoy it.
Witch do you think would be better buy? I was thinking about getting the Starazonia Hyperstar for my celestron Smith-Cassagrain 9.25 telescope or should I get an APO style lens. Witch do you think would be a better choice? I want to be able to get nebula and maybe some galaxy astrophotography shots. Thank for your in put and love the channel.
Hi Eric. Do you have have a C9.25 Edge HD or a 'normal' one? Also check out if your 9.25 supports hyperstar (you probably did). The edge HD version with hyperstar makes it an excellent and fast deepsky widefield setup. No APO refractors will match that f/ratio. Are you comfortable setting up the c9? An apo refractor is nice because it's so easy to use. Yesterday, I took my 80mm APO 'in the field' to take some pictures of comet Neowise. I wouldn't do that with a C 9.25. good luck!
@@AstroForumSpace I wish I had the Edge HD model but I do not. It says it supports Hyper star on the front and I am ok with setting it up. With it being the normal version I'm not sure witch would be better at giving me quality photographs. I kind of thinking about an APO because it's not as big and already made for wide field work. But that F/ratio would be nice and quick. Guess I will need to think it over for a bit. Good luck with the comet I have not had a chance to get a pic yet. The clouds have been a pain in the butt here. Maybe tonight or tomorrow I can get one. Thanks for the input if you have any more Ideas on what you think would be a good choice hit me up.
My first telescope is (still have it) a 10” Dobson (hand ground mirror by a friend). I’ve been through several Cassegrain style telescopes and now have a 14” Celestron EdgHD with HyperStar that is pier mounted with a Losmandy Titan 50 mount and an 8” Celestron EdgHD with HyperStar on a CGEM mount and field tripod, a 50mm guide scope on both telescopes, and 100mm refractor piggyback on the 14”. I moved away from visual observing to astrophotography. I now have an Atik Infinity, Atik 460ex color, Atik 490ex color, QHY128C color, and Canon 6D modified/cooled. The Canon is fixed on the 100mm. The Infinity and 460ex are for star parties with the 8”. The 490ex and QHY share the 14”.
Hello, did a lot of research and found your channel. Made if very simple to narrow down my choices. My question is are there telescopes for both deep sky and planetary astrophotography? I am looking to spend around $1500. Thanks!
Great video. I think apochromatic refractors are way overpriced and overvalued... it seems to me that photographers who are used to expensive camera lenses like them. Something like a 90mm to 120mm achromat or ED at f/5 to f/8 is a great telescope for starting astrophotography and costs $200-$500. You can use filters to minimize chromatic aberration (It's a waste of money to use narrow-band filters on an expensive APO). Or a 6-8 inch Newtonian at f/5 to f/7 is a good option. It's really not hard to learn how to collimate a Newtonian. As you get better at astrophotography, you can buy a coma corrector. RCTs are much more affordable now, and I think they are a better option than an SCT for a 2nd telescope.
Hi there, It's my first day considering Astro so thank you for your videos. Sorry for this basic question, but if I purchased a iOptron CEM25P GoTo mount with LiteRoc tripod and TS Optics Apochromatic refractor AP 80/480 ED Triplet Photoline OTA is there anything else apart from computer software that I need to buy? What about the camera mount system? Do I just mount my Canon DSLR to the telescope? Do I need to buy a Canon adapter? Thanks in advance
You'll need a T2 ring to mount your canon to the telescope. I would also advice a guidescope and camera which will help you to track targets with greater precision. Clear skies!
Hello! You have pretty much convinced me to buy the telescope that you started with but I was curious as to what else I would need to begin my journey in astrophotography. Right now I ordered the telescope and I have a Nikin D750 Dslr and that's all. Thanks in advance for any feedback!
Hi Thomas! I just released a new video with seven tips to start AP with a telescope. You can find it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y5D5JyN42SU.html and if you're interested in my astrogear, you can check that out on my website: astroforumspace.com/my-astrophotography-gear/ Good luck, clear skies!
@@AstroForumSpace Thank you so much for answering my question! I watched your video and I've decided on the Orion Sirius EQ-G Computerized Equatorial Mount. I'm buying my gear individually over the coming months. So I bought the telescope and in about a month I'll buy the mount and then anything else I'll need. Thanks again! You seriously deserve more subscribers/views! 👏
6:40 --> achromat is not single lens. Acromat means chromatic aberration is corrected with 2 wavelength. Only can be done with 2 glasses. apochromatic is corrected to 3 or more wavelength.
Absolutely correct. And a doublet with a good ED lens can be apochromatic. A triplet with an ED lens can improve on the doublet, but the performance/price ratio drops, unless you come across a bargain (typically a lightly used scope).
@Uruguayanflyers Consider this instead. It has a better mount, a larger aperture, a case and is significantly less expensive. www.amazon.com/Sky-Watcher-EvoStar-Optical-Assembly-S11180/dp/B07J25Z8J9/ref=psdc_499152_t3_B076GYR33Q You might also have a look at the Explore Scientific's offerings. And if you can get at least an 80 mm aperture in your price range, that would be better still. Another option is to buy a used scope.
@@AstroForumSpace Thanks for your reply!! Just a newbie here looking for my first telescope. I realize there are so many levels to telescopes and a lot of them have different "purposes". I wish I could get my hands on one of these babies! Maybe one day. Thanks for making videos and sharing your knowledge!!
Hoi Mabel, hou er rekening mee dat die telescopen worden gemaakt van flint glas. Prima voor visueel gebruik hoor (zo ben ik ook gestart), maar als je serieus wil fotograferen (met name deep-sky objecten) dan zul je op een gegeven moment over willen stappen naar een ED of APO telescoop (wel duurder). Veel plezier!
Glad I could help! and yes, reflectors are certainly affordable. I have an updated version of this video where I get into the pros and cons of reflectors vs. refractors if you're interested: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-w89guTIBh3o.html. Thanks for watching Reza, clear skies!
Hi Mike, yes. I do remember that a normal sc like the nexstar suffers from astigmatism, meaning that your stars are more oval shaped towards the edges. I think this can be corrected with an additional coma corrector. Also,you can buy a focal reducer to lower your f/ratio. And Celestron also has the 8 inch edge HD, they are similar to nexstar but optimized for deepsky astrophotography, e.g. they don't have any astigmatism issues.
mike burns. hello. I was gonna buy the 8SE as well. But the only problem is it’s mount. For visual astronomy it is extremely great. For Astrophotography it can be done but you have a limit for the exposure which I think is 30 seconds. This is due to field rotation on an alt az mount. But you can image only planetary like the moon and all the planets and get good images. I found a telescope on FLO that you should check out (EQ5 150P-Ds) which is I believe the same price, or maybe a bit more expensive. That will help you get very long exposures. And adding a guide scope will give you almost unlimited exposures with great tracking. That is a great setup for deep Astrophotography. The 8SE I suggest is not to get, because I saw a lot of bad reviews about it I’m afraid. Hope this helped :)
I can only tell you that thanks for your help, you opened my eyes just before I swapped my Mak 127 from skywatcher for a reflector that I could use with my AZ-GTI mount. I've been looking at the Skywatcher 80 Ed Pro and the Skw 72 Ed. Which one do you recommend? Will I be able to do some planetary photography with any of them? Good video friend. A greeting.
Telescopes are precision instruments and made for a very small market. I think most videos like this assume that you have been doing visual astronomy for a while, and want to branch out into photography. All those things considered $800 is actually quite reasonable.
Hello Wido, I am Stefan from the Netherlands. I am 32 and started in 2021 with astrofotografie. So as beginner I started first for planetary photography, so I bought celestron nexstar 5 slt with zwo asi 224mc. I get nice pictures of the moon and a few planets. After several months of learning how to use the softwares to record, stack etc... I want to do my next step, deep space. What I understand is that the F ratio 5 is the best for nebulas cluster etc... I have 1 question about the refractor telescope, can you also use it for planetary? I am looking for 1 with asi 294 mc cooled camera and want to sell my old telescope. So let me know and your video is excellent to understand what I needed. I hope i can enjoy soon with my future telescope to make all nebulas in the galaxies far far away😁
Hi Stefan, a refractor telescope is good for Deep-sky but not for planetary imaging because of the short focal length. Here are my recommendations for planetary imaging:ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wqGezdz-FBY.html hope this helps. Succes!
Interesting to see this, I am still doing astro deepsky photography with my Canon lens but looking for something else. But I think I will start with a descent tracker that can hold the weight of my paterial Have a question though, aren't you a fan of the Skywatcher models ?
HI Siegfried, Celestron and SkyWatcher are both good brands, but there are many telescopes...Celestron focusses mostly on schmidt-cassegrain telescopes, skywatcher also produces lens-based refractors. But there are others like explore scientific and teleskop service (german based) who offer good quality telescopes...so, a lot to choose :-)!
Enjoyed this video and as I’ve owned both reflector and refractor I’d share your opinion for a beginner going with the latter. My first deep sky scope was the Evostar ED80 and am still using it. Its actually a doublet and seems much cheaper in Europe. With the reducer it’s f6.4. It uses the FPL-53 glass and have never had chromatic aberration. Great first scope.
Hello , this is Aditi from Germany , please put a video about the moisture , how to protect lens and how keep the telescope safe from dust when you are not using it.
The maintenance (collimation) on a reflector is so simple and takes five minutes, ten max. Usually just a tweak. Can you change your car’s wiper blades? It’s about that skill level. The tools? A $25 collimator and $1 hex key. The payoff is the greatest diameter for your dollar and some truly outstanding astro images.
Yep, I've included newtonians in my newer video but people keep watching the is old one, lol. Newtonians are great value for your money, but they are also a bit heavier, they do need collimation, and then there's the coma and diffraction. Still, definitely a good way to start astrophotography... They have a fast f/ratio
Started years ago with an LDX-75 SN10at but it was a bit too much. I still have it many years later and after watching a lot of astrobackyard videos have decided to dip my foot back in the water and bought a Redcat 51 and I got a EQ6-R Pro mount. Will be guiding it with my old Orion Starshoot AutoGuider. There is a lot more helpful videos out there (Like your's) to help me out this time and I expect success this time. The best I did 14 years ago was to get a few lousy black and white galaxy shots. I will be building on top of this foundation with my old 10" Meade SN as I grow in skill. Glad I kept it instead of selling it, still a decent scope! Probably a bit much for a beginner.
Thank you so much. Taking the time to help us new people and break down all of aspects of buying our first telescope is appreciated. You helped me decide. Celestron SE 4. Do you think its a good choice because I was down to that or a Celestron 114 LCM.
Great video but as the dobsonian owner I would say collimation is really easy but the time it takes for the mirror to cool down 30 minutes to an hour is of note. Then again Newtonians are cheaper than refractors. I love how you broke them down quickly with their pros and cons.
Hi,just found your channel, lovely presentation , the best i have found on the web,i am new to Astrology, just got the Sv Bony 503, 102 , might be a big step for a beginner, all i want is to use it for direct viewing and to take some images, i dont know if it comes with a viewing lenses so i can start using it as soon as it arrives, got it from amazon, any advice on what i need to purchase to get started, thank you .
Sure, I'm more than happy to help. Would you be so kind as to send me an email at astroforumlive@gmail.com? Thank you very much. I'm not sure what kind of setup you have purchased, could you please provide me with a link so I can have a look? Thank you again. Wishing you clear skies!
Hi Wido, love your channel and your enthusiasm for the hobby 👍 could you please tell me which flatner you use on your TS-Optics scope? Thanks in advance Mark from Germany
Nice video! Some time ago I got my first telescope, but just for manual observations, and I'm looking for a relatively cheap telescope plus its own computerized EQ mount, along to a decent camera. What can you recommend me (let's say for $500 or less)?
Hi Hernan, this is how I started. This refractor and goto mount: bit.ly/39fHfBP. Good for visual use and you can do some planetary imaging. Not good enough for high quality deepsky astrophotography but I had fun looking at the moon, planets (tiny) and observing some famous objects like the Pleiades and the Orion nebula through an eyepiece. bit.ly/39fHfBP clear skies!
Hi may I know if u have had tried using the following telescope that I was recommended 1) Orion starblast 4.5 AZ 2) Orion starblast 4.5 EQ 3) bresser messer 130/650 table mount . 4) skywatcher 130 AZ What do u think it is good for beginner and some people said EQ is for astrophotography. But required a bit time to learn . And table mount is for grab and ready to use . Will it take away the fun .or it would be more fun to start observing for a busy life working person . . ? Thanks appreciate ur thought on these or u have others u would recommend
The telescopes you mention are nice for some first visual observations but not so great for AP. An alternative you could look into are startrackers with a DSLR camera.
Hi Wido !! been a fan for a while I am planning to buy a 200p-ds (8" f/5) astrograph with an eq6-r pro. I am so excited to use this godly setup !! that will be my future gear, I will buy it when this pandemic is over hopefully :) Ququ from "The Cosmic Life" :D
Good video with lots of good information but I’m still confused. I’m a senior looking to buy my first, and probably my only telescope. I looking to observe planets and deep sky objects and I m pretty sure I will want to photograph things I find eventually. Will a refractor such as the ones shown in this video work for both viewing as well as photography?
Hi Dan, small 80/100mm Ed/APO refractors are very good for observing the moon and some of the larger deepsky objects. In addition, it's great for astrophotography (nebulae, starclusters, galaxies). However, planets will appear as small objects as will some of the smaller, dimmer objects in the universe. Hope this helps. The fact is, there is not one telescope that can do it all. Maks and Smith cassegrains are great for planetary and moon but not deepsky astrophotography. Dobsonians are great for viewing but not astrophotography and Newtonians are affordable and cheap but require collimation and a coma corrector for photography. Hope this is not too confusing. In the end, if this is your first scope, I would advise a small ed/apo refractor telescope because it is lightweight, easy to carry outside and setup, and offers sharp views and pinpoint stars out of the box.
A very informative and accurate presentation. I wish I'd seen this prior to purchasing my new telescope a couple of Months ago. After using a small entry level 4" reflector when I was 14, now at age 66, I decided to get back into the interesting astronomy hobby. I ended up buying a nice quality 8" SCT with go-to and "StarSense" auto-alignment. The scope works great and it's so easy to find objects that are difficult, or impossible, to find by naked eye. For example, I found Neptune in a few seconds!! But I also decided that astro-photography would be an interesting hobby to investigate. I have discovered that while my telescope (it's F/10) is extremely nice for capturing short (1 to 3 min) video captures of planets like Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and then stacking these video frames into some really nice pictures, it's not so good at capturing deep space objects. One issue (which you have covered) is that the long focal length limits the field of view and reduces the amount of light, which in turn reduces the sensitivity of the imaging camera and extends the exposure times. The second issue is the mount. Your video just covered the telescope types but something that needs to be considered is that for any sensible exposure time for deep space objects, you really need an equatorial mount that is motor driven and one that can track smoothly and accurately. My motor-driven alt-az mount that the SCT comes with does track, but not quite smoothly enough for the best images and even more of an issue is field rotation due to the alt-az mount. So i'll stick to planets and double stars for now and think about how I will move to deep sky astrophotography in the future. Nice video, I have subscribed!
Great to hear my video is useful Martyn, thanks! I have other videos about equatorial mounts, perhaps useful. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HbdS3ouwwNs.html clear skies!
I would add "convenience" to the first four basic considerations. Setting up and taking down are huge time consumers, especially if a precise polar alignment is required. Having a quick set up configuration (or a permanent set up (-best)) enables far more observation opportunities. By trial, error (and a williness to take risks with my junk) I have found that some scopes can be left outside permanently set up if appropriately sheltered. My biggest worry was condensation, but ventilation seemed to reduce this along with exposing it to sunshine (uncovered) once a week or so. Spiders can move in but my biggest surprise was a scorpion that had crawled up under the cover (on a visit to Arizona).
Hi may I know if u have had tried using the following telescope that I was recommended 1) Orion starblast 4.5 AZ 2) Orion starblast 4.5 EQ 3) bresser messer 130/650 table mount . 4) skywatcher 130 AZ What do u think it is good for beginner and some people said EQ is for astrophotography. But required a bit time to learn . And table mount is for grab and ready to use . Will it take away the fun .or it would be more fun to start observing for a busy life working person . . ? Thanks appreciate ur thought on these or u have others u would recommend
Totally agree with u on taking time to set up and taken them apart could be very frustrating. So I am thinking about getting one for friend that is easy to store and easy to useb
Great video Wido ! :) Let's ignore collimation for now and just consider the quality of images only. I wanted to ask would a 8'' or 10" F/4 Newtonian telescope be a good choice for astrophotography ? Also do you recommend an astrophotography camera to capture the images ? Currently I have a very basic point and shoot camera.
Yes, reflectors are good and cheap telescopes to get into deepsky. F/4 is a fast scope but more challenging to collimate. F/5 is easier. For deepsky you want to consider a cooled camera. See my blog on this topic here: astroforumspace.com/best-camera-to-start-astrophotography-in-2020/
@@AstroForumSpace Thank you very much for your inputs! Will surely check out your blog for more information. Thanks for putting a lot of useful information for astronomy enthusiasts across different platforms!
I'm thinking of buying either an 80mm gt or 91 flt APO Williams refractor. I like you have a AVX mount with a 9.25inch SCT for visual and Plantary AP. Is the 91 flt too heavy for AP on the AVX mount.. will the 80mm resolution be too poor? Will the 80mm be too unbalanced in weight for deep sky AP?
Hi Robbie, I've made a separate review of the AVX: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_3hh8o1g_nk.html I've used it for deepsky astrophotography with an 80/480mm telescope and got some nice results.
Hi, I'm looking at getting my 9 year old son his first telescope. Which telescope would you recommend from the following 3? Thank you! 1. Celestron AstroFi 130 Wi-Fi Newtonian 2. Celestron Starsense Exploroer DX130AZ Smartphone app-enabled Newtonian Reflector 3. Vixen R130sf.
Are you sure you want WiFi? You'll always need a smart device to connect... I started my astro adventures with this one, it has a native controller, no need to connect to a smartphone: amzn.to/2GyxKUF. If I had to choose between the three, I'd take the Astro Fi 130 amzn.to/36OzIux
Hi Victor, thank you. I would say that the best thing to do is to use different cameras. Dedicated planetary cameras require small pixels and a fast FPS speed to capture the planets which are small, bright objects in the nightsky. Cameras for deepsky astrophotography often have a lower FPS, and are equipped with cooling so that the sensor does not produce noise when taking a multiminute picture of larger, dimmer deep sky objects. I have a video on this, perhaps useful: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HhIAEnVMzHU.html. Do you have a DSLR? One option is to buy a planetary camera (not so expensive as a dedicated deepsky camera) for planetary imaging and start using your DSLR camera for deep sky astrophotography. Clear skies!
Hi AstroForum. I am a beginner, starting from the scratch. I have zero experience, but I am very good at doing research on my on. Accordingly, I have concluded that I will start working with viewing only, and later migrate to astrophotography, after gaining enough experience. As a beginner, I would be focussing on planetary viewing, and slowly progress to deep-sky viewing in the future. Being a beginner, my first priority is 'Ease of Use'. Accordingly, I intend to buy, as my first telescope: Celestron Nexstar 8SE, an 8 inch, Smith Cassagrain telescope, substantially computerised. The negative point about it is that it is a single arm mount and hence wobbles when moving; people have suggested that I should lower the height of the tripod, so that I can use the telescope while sitting in a chair, and that would provide quite a lot of stability. This telescope is a bit expensive, but within my budget. I believe, there is no other telescope, as user friendly as this model, for beginners. I am going to buy it as a kit, with power pack, dew shield, different sizes of eye pieces, etc., and later buy a CCD Camera that can be mounted onto this telescope and can be hooked to a laptop for astrophotography imaging, even videos. www.celestron.com.au/products/nexstar-8se-computerized-telescope Please let me know your thoughts on this. I live in a rural area of Australia, with plenty of clear, dark night sky available for many days in a year.
Hi there, you have it all figured out so clear skies mate. The C8 is decent enough for some nice planetary viewing and imaging. Take into account that for deepsky you would eventually need an equatorial mount. You could think about getting a C8 and a beginner EQ mount? Read my blog is you're interested: astroforumspace.com/best-beginner-telescope-mount-for-astrophotography-in-2020/
@@AstroForumSpace yes, of course. I plan on buying the purpose made 'Wedge' for the Nexstar SE8, which converts the standard delivered Alt-Az mount into a Equatorial mount. The Wedge costs about $300. How is that for a beginning? Thanks.
