Taking pictures with a telescope...

[pursuer]

Digital cameras are not very good for astro-photography. They don't have very low ISO's which leads to horrible noise and since they're battery operated they run out of juice super fast, especially in the cold, which is what it is when your star gazing.

I have to strongly disagree. Digital is defineatly the way to go, hands down. One reason being film suffers from reciprocity failure at longer exposures while digital is immune to this problem. The digi rebel is capable of taking exposeures in the 8-10min area without excess noise, that is long enougth to take SERIOUS photographs especially when exposures of these lengths are stacked. Of course a dedicated cooled CCD would be better but your talking serious dollars. Chances are the thing limiting the length of your exposures will be the quality of the mount the telescope is on. because it tracks the the sky to compensate for the earths rotation over an extended period any small errors in the tracking add up quite quickly.

I have used my digital rebel for astrophotography in -20C canadian winters without a problem, it does die faster, but Im usually ready to call it a night before the battery and if it becomes a problem an extra battery kept in your pocket or better yet an AC adapter is an easy solution.

My boyfriend is wanting to use his rebel to take pictures of the stars and moon, and was wanting some info on using a telescope...so what can y'all tell me?

Are there any particular telescopes that you reccomend, and do certain ones work with cameras, or do you just have to rig em?

This is a very loaded question, This is even more complicated and potetionally more expensive then buying a new camera system.
How much is he willing to spend? How portable does it have to be, is your backyard dark enougth to use it there or will he be packing it up and driving to a dark site? What kinds of objects does he plan on photographing, moon and planets, galaxies and nebulas?

he will NEED a scope with some kind of a motor driven equatorial mount for tracking. After that the type of scope really depends on $$$, these set ups go for anywhere from 500-60,000$ for "amatuer" equipment.

What ever he gets it is best to start by piggy backing with a short focal length lens, then once he has the hang of that move up to prime focus (attachig the camera body directly to the scope), the longer the focal length the more problems there are. Avoid "through the eye piece" set ups.

Check out http://www.cloudynights.com/ there forums are the best resource for this on the net, they can answer any questions you have better the myself, Good luck

PS, please don't judge the Digi rebel by the results I have obtained, they are definatly on the low end of what it is capable of.

 

[Corry]

Thanks for the info everyone! I'll pass it on to him!

 

[airgunr]

I have a Canon AE1 rigged to go on a Meade ETX 90 Cassegrain/Schmidt telescope. It's a great beginner's telescope, comes with the computerized tracking base. If you have the money I'd go to an ETX 125, it's got more mirror surface, hence gathering more light.

If you want the telescope to watch the stars I suggest you also invest in a great eyepiece, made by Televue. They're more expensive than the Meade line but so much brighter, sharper and better! Do not go for extreme magnifications (the smaller the number the greater the magnification), especially under 8mm. Best range is between 8mm and 40mm (eyepieces).

Read a lot about telescopes before you invest in one.

Interesting thread as a very good buddy of mine just got a Mead ETX70, FREE. His next door neighbor was throwing it out in the trash can! My buddy asked if he wanted it anymore and the guy said, no, take it.

It's got a base with batteries in it. A computer control, tripod and 3 eye pieces. We tried the switches and all the lights light up so we think it works. I can't imagine why the guy was throwing it out.

Anyway, he's bringing it up next week and I want to hook up my AE-1 to it and start with some pictures of the moon. It's the least powerful one I believe but hell, it's free... I'm going to check out adaptors for it for the AE-1 as there is what I think is a place to connect the camera to the end of the scope. Our only problem is there are no manuals with it but it look pretty straight forward except the computer module.

I'm going to call up Mead and see if I can order a manual and a couple of camera adaptors. He and I both have Canon AE-1's and I have a Nikon AF camera so I'd like to get adaptors for both to mount to the scope.

 

[Skipster]

You'll need (2) t-rings/t-adapters. 1 for the Canon, and 1 for the Nikon as the lens mounts are different. For the meade you need the #64ST adapter to attach your camera to the rear (prime focus method) or you could use the above method with a basic camera adapter for eyepiece projection.

Adapter for the Meade is $19.95US from scopetronix. You can also check out that site for other optional accessories for your ETX70.

 

[airgunr]

Thanks, just to make sure I understand correctly. I need 3 things.

T-Ring adaptor for Canon FD
T-Ring Adaptor for Nikon AF
#64ST adaptor for scope & T-Ring

Correct?

 

[Skipster]

Correct.

Keep in mind that the rear of the ETX70 is plastic where the #64st adapter screws onto. Careful threading on the adapter. The larger ETX's are made of metal and less prone to damage from cross-threading.

 

[airgunr]

Correct.

Keep in mind that the rear of the ETX70 is plastic where the #64st adapter screws onto. Careful threading on the adapter. The larger ETX's are made of metal and less prone to damage from cross-threading.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. It looks nice and clean on the threads now so I shouldn't have any problems. I ordered the T-rings & Adaptors and they are on the way.