Brent A.
member
Reged: 06/30/08
Posts: 16
Loc: Georgetown, KY
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Hello,
I just recently bought a Celestron 80ED off a member here. It just arrived yesterday as a matter of fact. This is my first telescope so I'm a newb at just about everything involving telescopes or imaging. I am in need of some basic advice for start-up. I'm already hooked by the way as my first view ever through a real telescope was of Jupitor and 4 moons last night. Amazing!
What I have:
Celestron 80ED
Nikon D50 DSLR
Alt-AZ mount
The Celestron has a T-ring adapter I do believe. My general thoughts are that I only need an actual T-ring to be able to attach my camera to the scope. Is that correct. Now I don't want to start out heavy into this. Just dabble to see if it is something I would like to sink money into. Right now I'm really only looking into imaging the moon and some planets. I may invest in a good GEQ later if needed.
I've read post after post and can't seem to grasp what I need to get going. Just a T-ring seems too simple. Any thoughts? Any help much appreciated.
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Frankfort
Lexington
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yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1596
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Here is what you need:
Parts TTNK, TA2P and TASL from scopestuff. I also suggest a software program. However, I am not sure which one works with a Nikon.
http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_tadpt.htm
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Nils_Lars
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/04/08
Posts: 605
Loc: Santa Cruz Mountains , CA
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If your plan is the moon and planets then the Nikon isnt the best choice , a webcam is most peoples prefered device.
Maybe a NexImage or the SPC 900
The Nikon will work for the moon and DSOs but with tracking on the mount for DSOs.
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Erik
Celestron C6S-GT
Various eyepieces and other gear
Baytronix 80mm guidescope
Orion Starshoot Autoguider
PHD guide
Canon 400D (unmodded)
Stilleto Focuser
Tamron 75-300mm&28-80mm lenses
NexImage webcam
http://home.comcast.net/~eriknlarsen/site/?/photos/
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Brent A.
member
Reged: 06/30/08
Posts: 16
Loc: Georgetown, KY
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Quote:
Here is what you need:
Parts TTNK, TA2P and TASL from scopestuff. I also suggest a software program. However, I am not sure which one works with a Nikon.
http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_tadpt.htm
Thanks for the info. A couple of those are described as being for SCT's. Does that matter or would it still fit my refractor?
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Frankfort
Lexington
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Brent A.
member
Reged: 06/30/08
Posts: 16
Loc: Georgetown, KY
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Quote:
If your plan is the moon and planets then the Nikon isnt the best choice , a webcam is most peoples prefered device.
Maybe a NexImage or the SPC 900
The Nikon will work for the moon and DSOs but with tracking on the mount for DSOs.
I have read many post's regarding the webcams. I'm pretty good with computers so it would probably be a decent idea for me to go that route. One question that I wonder about though is magnification. If those webcams go into the eyepiece hole, what is the magnification? Is it adjustable?
Thank you
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Frankfort
Lexington
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Jared
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/11/05
Posts: 1714
Loc: Piedmont, California, U.S.
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You've got some great equipment for getting started in astrophotography. Your current setup will do a nice job on the moon--just buy a Nikon 'T' ring and you will be good to go.
If you want to move on to planetary imaging, I would recommend swapping out your D50 for a web cam. They aren't all that expensive--something like the Celestron Neximage can be had for well under a hundred dollars. Or you can look for a Phillips ToUCam or SPC900 and a 1.25" adapter. You're not going to be able to get very large images because of your focal length, so you might want to think about a 2x or 3x barlow as well. Even higher power would be better, but if you magnify it too much you are going to have trouble keeping the planet in the field of view of your camera since you are working with an alt-az mount.
If you decide to move on to deep sky imaging, you'll want to switch back to using the D50 with your refractor. Do a Google search on "Mode 3" and "Nikon" to read about the one limitation on the D50 when taking long exposures--it's something that's not too hard to work around, but you should be aware of the issue. The problem for you if you want to do deep sky imaging is your mount. You simply can't do much with an alt-az mount since the exposures are just too long. If you want to get into this area of astrophotography, I would look at a Celestron AS-GT mount or equivalent. It's a very competent, fairly light weight, fairly inexpensive german equatorial mount that will work well with optical tubes under 700mm in focal length weighing less than 15 pounds.
Best of luck, and welcome to the imaging side of things!
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- Jared Willson
- Fluorostar FLT-110 w/ TEC optics
- Vixen VC200L
- Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO
- Stellarvue SV80S
- Takahashi Teegul SP Mount
- STL-11000
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Jared
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/11/05
Posts: 1714
Loc: Piedmont, California, U.S.
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Quote:
Quote:
If your plan is the moon and planets then the Nikon isnt the best choice , a webcam is most peoples prefered device.
Maybe a NexImage or the SPC 900
The Nikon will work for the moon and DSOs but with tracking on the mount for DSOs.
I have read many post's regarding the webcams. I'm pretty good with computers so it would probably be a decent idea for me to go that route. One question that I wonder about though is magnification. If those webcams go into the eyepiece hole, what is the magnification? Is it adjustable?
Thank you
"Magnification" isn't a term that really means much in photography since you can change the "magnification" by altering the focal length of the telescope (barlow), the size of the chip, the amount of cropping you do in software, the size print you make, or even by changing your viewing distance. As a result, photographers generally limit themselves to focal length discussions (which all assume a particular format imaging chip) or to field of view discussions. I believe the typical webcam would give you about the same field of view as a 9mm Plossl eyepiece attached to your scope if that helps any. The field of view (closest analog to "magnification") is not changeable except by changing the focal length of the telescope by, for example, adding a barlow lens.
You probably will want a barlow. Ideally, a 5x would probably be best but might be a challenge to use with your alt-az mount. I'd probably try a 2x or 3x instead. It won't give you the best possible image scale, but you should be able to get enough detail in there to determine if this is the hobby for you. If you really like planetary imaging, you are going to want a moderately good equatorial mount and a heck of a lot more aperture than you have now.
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- Jared Willson
- Fluorostar FLT-110 w/ TEC optics
- Vixen VC200L
- Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO
- Stellarvue SV80S
- Takahashi Teegul SP Mount
- STL-11000
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yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1596
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Quote:
Thanks for the info. A couple of those are described as being for SCT's. Does that matter or would it still fit my refractor?
It would fit your refractor as the TA2P has a 2 inch cylinder that you can attach to the focuser of your refractor. But I agree that a webcam such as the Philipps SPC 900NC would make for a better planetary cam.
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Brent A.
member
Reged: 06/30/08
Posts: 16
Loc: Georgetown, KY
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It seems from several posts I've read that the Philipps SPC 900NC is a better choice than the Neximage. Is that the general consensus? Does is produce better images or maybe easier to use? Better because it's cheaper? The Neximage seems to be made specifically for telescope imaging so why do so many recommend the SPC 900NC?
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Frankfort
Lexington
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DonR
professor emeritus
Reged: 11/15/06
Posts: 635
Loc: Georgia, USA
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I believe they are essentially the same camera with the same capabilities. The Philips SPC 900 NC was less expensive, but you had to buy or make an adapter for your 1.25" focuser. And now the SPC 900 NC is no longer made, so unless you can find one used you will have to get the NexImage. Astronomics is selling the NexImage for $99 currently, which is a good price IMHO.
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Don
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Atlas EQ-G
Orion 8" f/4.9 newtonian
Orion 127mm Mak-Cass
Orion Skyview Pro mount
Orion 80mm guide scope
Canon Digital Rebel XT
Meade DSI
Philips SPC 900 NC webcam
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yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1596
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From what I read, the Neximage was essentially the Philipps Toucam. The Philipps SPC 900NC was a slight improvement over the Toucam. But both are good. They both have the same CCD chip.
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rcd47
sage
Reged: 03/15/08
Posts: 203
Loc: East Texas, USA
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If you decide on the Philips, check Ebay. There are several new ones listed for less than $50 with shipping. Also on Ebay is the adapter for $18 + shipping. The adapter is easy to install...just screws on instead of the lens. Good capture software like K3ccdtools, astrocapture and wctrl are available as freeware to run the camera.
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Randy
Edmund Astroscan
Meade ETX125PE
Celestron C6R/CG5
Orion ST80/Mini EQ1
Tasco Starguide 114/Celestron Hand Paddle
Pentax 10x50 Binoculars
Philips SPC 900NC
Stellacam EX
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