Wanted – digital camera and/or adapter?

[Andrew Kell]

I bought a 12″ GSO dob a few months ago (which the kind CAS folk helped me collimate) with the intention of using it just for viewing.

But now I’m interested in seeing if I can take photos through it.

My friend directed me to the Bintel website, but also suggested I post here.

I’m not sure if I need a special camera, or just an adapter and a cheap digital. I’m open to ideas. My budget is up to a few hundred dollars.

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[Marc Bunyan]

Without tracking you’ll be limited to planetary imaging (cheapest camera option) or deep space objects of very limited exposure length (most probably 10 seconds or less) before the stars start to trail in your images.

If you already own a DSLR, a very cheap option is simply a T2 Adapter to fit the camera onto the scope with – Canon EOS T2 Adapter etc (can be bought from AstroNZ)…you can then stack these short exposures for surprising results given you’ll not be tracking the objects.

[Andrew Kell]

Cheers Marc. I don’t own a DSLR unfortunately. I just have an old Canon Powershot G9 that I found in the garage, and my trusty mobile phone. I did see a Canon G9 specific digi-kit telescope adapter kit online for US$90… but I guess I’d get better value for money putting that towards something new.

Yep my scope doesn’t have tracking, so stacking short exposures sounds like the go.

I’d be thrilled to get any kind of photo of the things that I’ve actually seen through the eyepiece – moon, planets, 47 Tucanae, any of those star clusters between the southern cross and Eta Carinae.

Would it actually be possible to do something with my smartphone, and some kind of adapter, like this one from AstroNZ?

 

[Goran Balvan]

Hi Andrew,

I have recently bought second hand DSLR Nikon D5300 (excellent for beginners astrophotography) from Photo Warehouse for $375. They frequently have Canon or Nikon DSLRs as secondhand sale on their website (photowarehouse.co.nz) that might fit your budget.

[Marc Bunyan]

I’m also selling my Canon 5D mk2 for around $350 – it’s had the IR filter removed so is good for grabbing all the light you can throw at it, the rear LCD is disconnected on it so you’d need to tether it to something to see the images. (laptop etc.)

A planetery/guide camera might be a good thing to buy and it’s future proofing your journey into astrophotography (if you choose!)

• This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by Marc Bunyan.

[Andrew Kell]

Thanks Goran, Marc, I’ll consider all that. I’m thinking of going to at least one night of Stardate this weekend, if there are still spots available. So I might ask around there, and talk to you guys too, if you’re going.

[Goran Balvan]

Hi Andrew, I won’t be there this year unfortunately – still waiting for the CEM26 mount to complete my setup 🙁

[Marc Bunyan]

I’m also waiting on a CEM26 – my latest update this week is that they are all still in the iOptron factory 🙁

[Goran Balvan]

Same here, Marc – waiting for a good news from Astronz 🙂

 

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