Astrophotography question

[osirus]

Hey i was looking to take some shots through my telescope with my Nikon D50.
and i was a lil confused of exactly what i need.
i need a t-ring, i know that
i found them on ebay for like $15.

but do i also need another piece? one sight said an adapter or somthing, then another site said adapters were just for P&S cameras..
another said something else..
and im confused,

the T-ring dosent look like it will allow me to attatch it to the scope..
so im pretty sure i need the other piece

but im not 100% on what the piece i need is called.


so lil help?

i wanted to get some nice moon pics.



my telescope.

 

[Patrice]

The t-ring is camera specific, it allows your scope to become your camera lens. If you get a t-ring for a Nikon you won't need any extra adaptor. However, astrophotos are not as simple as attaching your camera to the viewing end of a telescope. Your d50 is significantly heavier than your typical eyepiece and as such you need a significantly stronger telescope mount to keep things steady. I doubt the mount you show in the picture will be up to the task.
What works fairly well for bright objects and if you have a steady hand is to focus the object in a wide field eyepiece and then hand hold your camera and lens where your eye would be and take an image through the telescope eyepiece.
You can take very nice photos of the moon using your zoom lens and a tripod. Depending on your zoom, the moon might only cover a fraction of your image frame but your d50 has enough resolution for you to crop the moon and still get a reasonable image.
There are many forums that deal with astrophotography in a bit more depth. Try cloudynights for a start.
Good luck and have fun. If you do get hooked on astrophotography I hope you have deep pockets.

 

[astrostu]

The t-ring is camera specific, it allows your scope to become your camera lens. If you get a t-ring for a Nikon you won't need any extra adaptor.

This is not correct. You need both a T-ring and a T-mount.

The T-mount is specific to the type of eyepiece the telescope takes, either 1.25" or 2" usually. It will be a tube, much like an eyepiece, but it will end in a threaded region.

The threads fit into one end of the T-ring which is specifically made to fit your camera body. One end of the T-ring is universal and screws into the T-mount, the other end goes on your camera body like a normal lens ... which is what the telescope technically is, just a really long lens with a relatively large aperture.

 

[osirus]

yeah i did alot of reading and i need the t-mount for 1.25 eyepieces and a t-ring for prime focus atsrophotography.

i have a digicam adapter that will line it up with the eyepiece, but that jstu wont work with the d50 and any of the lenses i have at least. didnt work with my old kodack easyshare either.
my old fugi finepix a1o1 works great with it. it has a much smaller lens opening and that lines upa nd works great with the eyepiece..
but its only 1.2mp.. and has no manual seettings so ot dosent take great pics in there..


ive found both pieces i need on ebay for a few bucks each, going to grab them tomorrow.

yeah the d50 is a tad heavier than my old cams, it should be alright though, if not il try to make up something to hold the weight.

 

[aces40love]

Hi. I just found this forum tonight! Wow, there's so much info here to learn. I'm new to photography and am still trying to learn the basics but I've been active in astronomy for over 10 years.

If you want to take astrophotographs through your scope, first make sure that you have an equatorial mount. It looks like your scope doesn't have one (of course, I'm not wearing my glasses..haha). The purpose of this mount is to "move" with the earth's rotation so you can always have your subject in view (even hours later). Then try to be as precise as you can with the polar alignment (if not) your images will always look "blended" or skewed. If you find this is something you love, be sure to read up on CCD imaging with scopes. Hope this limited advice helps

 

[osirus]

Yup, im aware of that, for now im going to use it for moon pictures ( lunar eclipse in a few weeks )
, in the near future when i get the $$ together, i plan on looking for a new scope with an equatorial mount.

 

[skipper34]

Be aware also that if and when you do get an EQ mount, spend the extra $$ and get one with a motorized clock drive. Be absolutely sure that the mount will support more than what the telescope weighs. There is no such thing as too large of a mount when doing astrophotography. Be aware too that Murphy's Law was written by a person starting out in astrophotography.