Got into the hobby a few months ago. Never owned a camera and never heard of a DSRL camera until I investigated photographing the sky. Bought one, couldn't figure out how to use it and gave it to a friend. Found out I could take pictures with my cell phone and took pictures of the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, M42, M31, M110 and M92. Currently trying to use a an SVBony SV705mc planetary camera and SharpCap. There is a lot to learn in this hobby and I have already spent $3,500 out of my $300 budget.
This helped me so much with DSLR focusing issues - had no idea I could unscrew the lens from the Barlow and use it as an extender. Thank you ever so much, keep up the wonderful work
Back in 2010 I had witnessed something interesting in the night sky which lead me into astronomy. After several months I eventually decided to give it up do to light pollution. Back in early 2020 I picked it back up just before the onslaught of telescope buying due to COVID. I can see how light pollution can drive you out of the hobby.
Yeah, light pollution is tough. I can still remember what the skies looked like back in the 1960s when I was a kid. I wish I could have those skies back!
@@oldgazer7200 I live in bortle 8 skies. I just wish I had your skies! My mom grew up in the country back in the 1940s. She talked about the stars she saw back then. Told me there were so many of them.
Thank you! I’m right at this phase of frustration and disappointment with my new 8” SC telescope I got back in November after a long waiting… I’m just not able to really see any of those lovely Messier in the catalogue, no matter what technique I use, side viewing etc…. apart from a few obvious ones, like Orion Nebula, which I was able to see even with my binoculars. Best case - I see very faint grey smudges but mostly I’m just guessing that perhaps something might be hiding here or there. Now I’m feeling really bad about it as I spent more than 3k for the package with the starsense and HD Edge OTA and I’m not getting anywhere with the visual astronomy….. my first line of defense was to upgrade the standard eyepieces but I started wondering if that will really bring the result,. Now it seems I’ll have to invest in astrophotography. My questions: 1. I bought an Evolution mount for its portability but it’s azimuthal and not the recommended equatorial- is this gonna work well with long exposure? 2. How do you even get into focus if you are not able to see the DSO properly?
I understand your frustration! Trying to view dim objects can be a disappointing task .As to your questions: I use an alt-az mount. If I have it well aligned I can normally take 12-15 second exposures and sometimes even longer. If you take a large number of such exposures, one after the other, you can “stack” them together using Deep Sky Stacker (a free download) or similar software to produce an integrated image that is much better than any of the individual images. If you take 60 ten-second images and stack them together you have the equivalent of 1 ten minute exposure. This might sound confusing but it’s really not complicated once you get the hang of it. I’m going to do a video very soon that will explain and demonstrate this “stacking” technique. So even though an equatorial tracking mount is better for astrophotography you don’t have to have to have one if you learn the “stacking” or “image integration” technique. As to your second question, you don’t have to try to focus on a dim DSO. Just focus on a bright star or even a planet; then your dim DSO will also be in focus. If you have not seen it yet I did a video on how to achieve good focus. Thanks for your comment and hang in there. I’ve always wanted to be just a visual astronomer myself but came to realize you just can’t see much with amateur telescopes in light polluted skies. So I learned to take long-exposure photos in order to “see” those dim objects and have actually found it to be a fun and rewarding thing to do.
think 8 inch is still a little low for visual Dso. I straight went to 12. Mid Princed eye pieces still works good on even faint objects .. if you can fjnd them ☺️
also, dont know what you expect to see there on DSO's... Even on the Biggest Dobs they will still be Fuzzy and a white Blobb 🫢 You looked up too many long exposure Photos of them on the Internet i guess. thats not what you see on Visual Astronomy!
Great video! Thank you! I just started this hobby and i live outside the US where we dont have all these accesories available. Ive got a celestron nexstar 90 slt alt az go to mount and ive been trying to take pictures with my phone with dissapointing results. Just got a canon DSLR 850D, do you think only with a T adapter and T ring I could hook it to the telescope without any backfocus issues? Since i gotta do an internarional order and wait for it to arrive, id die if it doesnt work. I understand the limitations of my scope for DSOs but i think i got a chance with Orion for example. Ill try to upgrade to a more luminous refractor with EQ mount eventually but wanna give it a go with what I have in the meantime.
Thanks for your kind comments! It’s good to see someone really excited about the hobby. My guess is that you should have no back focus issues. T-rings are designed to provide the industry-standard 55 mm distance between the last optical telescope element and the camera’s focal plane. If you have issues you can increase the distance with a simple extension tube or even decrease it with so-called “minus” rings.
With age comes wisdom. With wisdom comes this common sense advice that I, as a newcomer to the hobby, really appreciate.
Larry, many thanks for your most pragmatic and down-to-earth approach to astrophotography!
Got into the hobby a few months ago. Never owned a camera and never heard of a DSRL camera until I investigated photographing the sky. Bought one, couldn't figure out how to use it and gave it to a friend. Found out I could take pictures with my cell phone and took pictures of the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, M42, M31, M110 and M92. Currently trying to use a an SVBony SV705mc planetary camera and SharpCap. There is a lot to learn in this hobby and I have already spent $3,500 out of my $300 budget.
perfect video - very clearly explained especially to a newbie
This helped me so much with DSLR focusing issues - had no idea I could unscrew the lens from the Barlow and use it as an extender. Thank you ever so much, keep up the wonderful work
very informative for the beginner
Really thanks for this video. Really good details and explanation for someone like me who have been lost in adapters and rings things!
I have a place that's very dark,I see beautiful detail in Andromeda !!!
Back in 2010 I had witnessed something interesting in the night sky which lead me into astronomy. After several months I eventually decided to give it up do to light pollution. Back in early 2020 I picked it back up just before the onslaught of telescope buying due to COVID. I can see how light pollution can drive you out of the hobby.
Yeah, light pollution is tough. I can still remember what the skies looked like back in the 1960s when I was a kid. I wish I could have those skies back!
@@oldgazer7200 I live in bortle 8 skies. I just wish I had your skies!
My mom grew up in the country back in the 1940s. She talked about the stars she saw back then. Told me there were so many of them.
good explenation
Thank you. I appreciate the comment.
Thank you very much for explanation. helped me alot.
thank you
Is astrophotographer better with a 1.25 adapter or 2 inch one?
Thank you! I’m right at this phase of frustration and disappointment with my new 8” SC telescope I got back in November after a long waiting… I’m just not able to really see any of those lovely Messier in the catalogue, no matter what technique I use, side viewing etc…. apart from a few obvious ones, like Orion Nebula, which I was able to see even with my binoculars. Best case - I see very faint grey smudges but mostly I’m just guessing that perhaps something might be hiding here or there. Now I’m feeling really bad about it as I spent more than 3k for the package with the starsense and HD Edge OTA and I’m not getting anywhere with the visual astronomy….. my first line of defense was to upgrade the standard eyepieces but I started wondering if that will really bring the result,. Now it seems I’ll have to invest in astrophotography. My questions: 1. I bought an Evolution mount for its portability but it’s azimuthal and not the recommended equatorial- is this gonna work well with long exposure? 2. How do you even get into focus if you are not able to see the DSO properly?
I understand your frustration! Trying to view dim objects can be a disappointing task .As to your questions:
I use an alt-az mount. If I have it well aligned I can normally take 12-15 second exposures and sometimes even longer. If you take a large number of such exposures, one after the other, you can “stack” them together using Deep Sky Stacker (a free download) or similar software to produce an integrated image that is much better than any of the individual images. If you take 60 ten-second images and stack them together you have the equivalent of 1 ten minute exposure. This might sound confusing but it’s really not complicated once you get the hang of it. I’m going to do a video very soon that will explain and demonstrate this “stacking” technique. So even though an equatorial tracking mount is better for astrophotography you don’t have to have to have one if you learn the “stacking” or “image integration” technique.
As to your second question, you don’t have to try to focus on a dim DSO. Just focus on a bright star or even a planet; then your dim DSO will also be in focus. If you have not seen it yet I did a video on how to achieve good focus.
Thanks for your comment and hang in there. I’ve always wanted to be just a visual astronomer myself but came to realize you just can’t see much with amateur telescopes in light polluted skies. So I learned to take long-exposure photos in order to “see” those dim objects and have actually found it to be a fun and rewarding thing to do.
think 8 inch is still a little low for visual Dso. I straight went to 12. Mid Princed eye pieces still works good on even faint objects .. if you can fjnd them ☺️
also, dont know what you expect to see there on DSO's... Even on the Biggest Dobs they will still be Fuzzy and a white Blobb 🫢
You looked up too many long exposure Photos of them on the Internet i guess. thats not what you see on Visual Astronomy!
DSLR T adaptor to newtonian telescope
Great video! Thank you! I just started this hobby and i live outside the US where we dont have all these accesories available. Ive got a celestron nexstar 90 slt alt az go to mount and ive been trying to take pictures with my phone with dissapointing results. Just got a canon DSLR 850D, do you think only with a T adapter and T ring I could hook it to the telescope without any backfocus issues? Since i gotta do an internarional order and wait for it to arrive, id die if it doesnt work. I understand the limitations of my scope for DSOs but i think i got a chance with Orion for example. Ill try to upgrade to a more luminous refractor with EQ mount eventually but wanna give it a go with what I have in the meantime.
Thanks for your kind comments! It’s good to see someone really excited about the hobby.
My guess is that you should have no back focus issues. T-rings are designed to provide the industry-standard 55 mm distance between the last optical telescope element and the camera’s focal plane. If you have issues you can increase the distance with a simple extension tube or even decrease it with so-called “minus” rings.
@@oldgazer7200 thank you for the reply 🙌🏼🙏🏽, so does the T adapter goes straight to the maks backside? No other things required?
@@andesastro Yes, T adapter attaches to telescope, T ring attaches to camera, tAdapter and tring then connect together
What small telescope are you using? Tx
I have 5 telescopes, none of them anything special. The one I used in the video is a “budget” achromatic refractor (Orion 80 CT).