I am a very keen photographer and have been for many years and now want to mix the two hobbies together. I resisted up to now as I appreciate I now will need a go to telescope that can track so that I don't get star trails but longer exposure images. My budget is quite limited, maybe £3-400 and having popped into Telescope House in Lingfield (an amazing shop and some of the best and friendliest staff I have ever dealt with) I left with the impression that the Skywatcher Skymax 127 Goto would be the best for me, of course with a T adapter but am I right??? Can you knowledgeable and helpful chaps perhaps help educate me and make sure I follow the correct path.
Thank you kindly in advance!
Astrophotography
Moderators: Guy Fennimore, joe, Brian
I have the 127 and it's a cracking little scope.
It tracks OK but it won't give to trail-less images if you go over about 1 minute exposure. It's more designed to keep an object in view rather than keep it in the same place.
As for the T mount... From what I can gather, and from my limited experience, most astro photography is done either by web-cam or shooting movies and stacking the frames of those movies.
My movies were shot on a Canon Compact. The only times my Nikon DSLRs get put on the scopes is when photographing the moon.
The 127 is a lovely 'scope. A real planet killer. Nice and robust too. Mine lives in my motorhome as my portable scope. The mount could be a bit firmer, but the 'scope itself is very nice
It tracks OK but it won't give to trail-less images if you go over about 1 minute exposure. It's more designed to keep an object in view rather than keep it in the same place.
As for the T mount... From what I can gather, and from my limited experience, most astro photography is done either by web-cam or shooting movies and stacking the frames of those movies.
My movies were shot on a Canon Compact. The only times my Nikon DSLRs get put on the scopes is when photographing the moon.
The 127 is a lovely 'scope. A real planet killer. Nice and robust too. Mine lives in my motorhome as my portable scope. The mount could be a bit firmer, but the 'scope itself is very nice
I once came last in an astronomy competition.
I was awarded a constellation prize
Skywatcher Explorer 200 HEQ5
Skywatcher Skymax 127 SupaTrak
Celestron C4-R CG-4 mount
I was awarded a constellation prize
Skywatcher Explorer 200 HEQ5
Skywatcher Skymax 127 SupaTrak
Celestron C4-R CG-4 mount
Hi there, Welcome
Your question under Beginners has also had some useful replies I see. The 127 mak has been shown to be a good starter 'scope for solar system imaging (see "Smerrals" posts on here) . However if you are serious about getting into DeepSky astro-imaging then you would be well-advised to start with a mounting capable of giving good tracking performance over several minutes at a time , has reserve carrying capacity for your kit and can be auto-guided. To some extent the optics and camera come second, without a good mounting they cannot perform as you would wish. A much-used entry-level mounting for deep-sky work is the "EQ6" type.
Away from webcams, astro-imaging cab seriously damage your wealth
ATB,
Your question under Beginners has also had some useful replies I see. The 127 mak has been shown to be a good starter 'scope for solar system imaging (see "Smerrals" posts on here) . However if you are serious about getting into DeepSky astro-imaging then you would be well-advised to start with a mounting capable of giving good tracking performance over several minutes at a time , has reserve carrying capacity for your kit and can be auto-guided. To some extent the optics and camera come second, without a good mounting they cannot perform as you would wish. A much-used entry-level mounting for deep-sky work is the "EQ6" type.
Away from webcams, astro-imaging cab seriously damage your wealth
ATB,
Brian
52.3N 0.6W
Wellingborough UK.
254mm LX90 on Superwedge, WO ZS66SD, Helios 102mm f5 on EQ1, Hunter 11x80, Pentax 10x50
ASI120MC Toucam Pros 740k/840k/900nc mono, Pentax K110D
Ro-Ro roof shed
52.3N 0.6W
Wellingborough UK.
254mm LX90 on Superwedge, WO ZS66SD, Helios 102mm f5 on EQ1, Hunter 11x80, Pentax 10x50
ASI120MC Toucam Pros 740k/840k/900nc mono, Pentax K110D
Ro-Ro roof shed