He-Man
member
Reged: 11/22/07
Posts: 17
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I would like to know what is the best telescope that I should buy for film astrophotography of galaxies and nebulae. I already have a film slr camera and a 90mm Maksutov 1200 focal length. Can this telescope be used for photographs of DSO's?
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ClownFish
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/26/05
Posts: 5600
Loc: Islamabad, Pakistan
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He-Man - welcome to Cloudy Nights!
I'm afraid that the scope is a problem. With film, you need a scope at f/6 or lower. Yours is f/13 - far too slow for film.
CF
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Learn all about POLAR ALIGNMENT with my Drift Method Tutorial and simulator!! Or visit my Foreign Service Blog!
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ZachK
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/21/05
Posts: 667
Loc: Israel
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Your best bet would be a small APO refractor. Or you could piggy back your camera on your existing scope to take widefield pictures.
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Zach Kessin
Yesha Israel
Meade ETX 127 Mak-Cass
15x70 Celestron Skymaster Binoculars
Sinar F 4x5 view camera
Rolliflex Camera 80mm F2.8
Pentax K-1000 Camera 35,50 and 60--300mm zoom
3 kids, Large cat, small dog
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ClownFish
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/26/05
Posts: 5600
Loc: Islamabad, Pakistan
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Actually, in my humble opinion, I would suggest a cheap f/5 reflector. You get more aperture for the money. But like ZachK suggested, I would also piggyback a regular camera lens first. It's much easier due to the shorter focal length, is usualy f/4 or faster, and requires nothing extra than a piggyback mounting bracket.
CF
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Learn all about POLAR ALIGNMENT with my Drift Method Tutorial and simulator!! Or visit my Foreign Service Blog!
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He-Man
member
Reged: 11/22/07
Posts: 17
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Hello, what would give me the best results between afocal, eyepiece and prime focus astrophotography? Thanks in advance.
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tommyhawk13
sage
Reged: 09/28/07
Posts: 492
Loc: Jacksonville, Fl
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I tried some projection images of the moon, and I was not happy with them. The purple halo that you hear about with achromats showed up in my image, but I have a reflector. This means the eyepiece was the culprit. I have read that microscope objectives work better, but I haven't got a clue as to what size to use.
Have you checked out the Orion Starburst? They have one that's set up for astrophotography, so you don't have to move the mirror, and it's cheap! It's also pretty small, and you can use your 90mm Mak as a guidescope.
What kind of mount do you have?
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Meade Starfinder 8,Meade SN-8 OTA, Orion Atlas, and a handfull of film cameras
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tommyhawk13
sage
Reged: 09/28/07
Posts: 492
Loc: Jacksonville, Fl
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Zach, have you ever piggybacked your Rolliflex?
I have an old Yashica TLR and was wondering if the lens was too small to gather enough light.
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Meade Starfinder 8,Meade SN-8 OTA, Orion Atlas, and a handfull of film cameras
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He-Man
member
Reged: 11/22/07
Posts: 17
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I just have an alt/az mount. Can you use this kind of mount to track DSO's or do I need to get an EQ mount? Also, what kind of film do I need to get better pictures?
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ZachK
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/21/05
Posts: 667
Loc: Israel
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At the moment I don't have anything to piggyback it on. However I have done some tripod shots that came out pretty well.
I'm still working on my 4x5 astrograph project very slowly.
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Zach Kessin
Yesha Israel
Meade ETX 127 Mak-Cass
15x70 Celestron Skymaster Binoculars
Sinar F 4x5 view camera
Rolliflex Camera 80mm F2.8
Pentax K-1000 Camera 35,50 and 60--300mm zoom
3 kids, Large cat, small dog
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ClownFish
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/26/05
Posts: 5600
Loc: Islamabad, Pakistan
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He-Man, DSO's are faint, and thus need long exposures. Long exposures requires an EQ mount of some type. With a 50mm lens, you can use a cheap barn-door type mount - which can be built for about $20. There are instructions HERE.
The critical things you need are:
1. Ability to track in EQ.
2. Ability to track at the SIDEREAL rate.
3. Ability to accurately Polar ALign the mount to the celestial pole.
4. Ability to LOCK open the camera's shutter
5. Ability to achieve precise focus on a star.
If you can aquire the above, then you can capture DSO's. All that you need after that is skill. Everything else just HELPS to achive the goal, and make life easier.
Having a good sky helps a LOT!
And having the correct FILM emulsion, can make a huge differnece too. There is some good material to read about this in HERE.
CF
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Learn all about POLAR ALIGNMENT with my Drift Method Tutorial and simulator!! Or visit my Foreign Service Blog!
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AstroBobo
sage
Reged: 07/04/07
Posts: 395
Loc: Zagreb, Croatia
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Quote:
Zach, have you ever piggybacked your Rolliflex?
I have an old Yashica TLR and was wondering if the lens was too small to gather enough light.
I tried some piggyback shots with my Rolleiflex. The size of the lens does not matter, you should always check the f/number. And the lens should be stopped down to improve sharpness and reduce vignetting. I used my Rolleiflex (f/3.5 Xenar lens) stopped to f/5.6 but the stars on the edges still show coma.
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Boris Stromar : AD Infinitum member : Zagreb, Croatia, Europe
P75SDHF : P105SDP : MN71 : CGE : STL-11000
http://www.astrobobo.net
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jrw11
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/09/07
Posts: 501
Loc: U.S.A.
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Quote:
Quote:
Zach, have you ever piggybacked your Rolliflex?
I have an old Yashica TLR and was wondering if the lens was too small to gather enough light.
Maybe i should try piggybacking my Mamiya and Yashica TLR's! I wanted to piggyback my Yashica 44 TLR. But, the lab I used in the past stopped developing 127 film.
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Celestron C6n -HD Reflector
dual axis drive motors added
Orion 80mm Short tube refractor
Skyscout
Early 70's Pentax 7x50
Garrett Optical 12x60
Garrett Optical 15x70
Oberwerk 20x80 Standards
Canon Rebel Ti (film)
4 Minolta Srt cameras
Mamiya RB67 Pro-s with 180 lens
127mm KL lens for RB, Bellows hood for RB67
120 and 220 film backs
Cambo SCII 4x5 view camera
over 50 other film cameras
several eyepieces
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mlcolbert
sage
Reged: 11/15/07
Posts: 353
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Hi guys!
a question a little different, what about the most suitable scope for a video camera to take images of the ISS? Would the 130 I'm getting be any good for that?
thanks!
michael
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zeiss
APQ 130/3x500 mm Telephotos/2xMC80/MC35/5x7 back/lunar and planetary camera
Hasselblad
503cw/500el/m
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ClownFish
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/26/05
Posts: 5600
Loc: Islamabad, Pakistan
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Film would NOT be the way I would go.
The ISS is tiny and requires a long focal length.
It's also moving at a very high speed and dooes not follow in RA. This means a good tracking system that can do do both RA and DEC tracking quite smoothly.
You also need to take lots of shots of that target to try and get a FEW that are suitable to stack. With film, you would need to shoot several shots per second, which would mean an autowinder capable of 3 or 4 shots per second and then NOT cause any camera shake... not something your going to find.
This is why people who get good images of the ISS use a webcam and shoot video - then stack individual selected frames.
CF
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Learn all about POLAR ALIGNMENT with my Drift Method Tutorial and simulator!! Or visit my Foreign Service Blog!
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mlcolbert
sage
Reged: 11/15/07
Posts: 353
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thanks CF. yes I thought that the best option was video. I think that we're looking at up to 60 fps there. My preference was film but it looks like physics is against this idea.
thanks again,
michael
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zeiss
APQ 130/3x500 mm Telephotos/2xMC80/MC35/5x7 back/lunar and planetary camera
Hasselblad
503cw/500el/m
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