Tracking telescope I can use with me Sony A7R4

Guy Churchward said:

Hey all.. Am wondering what’s the entry/sensible level recommended telescope I can track and take pics...I have no idea where to start except googling so looking for pointers to setup recommended to purchase...

We fortunately live in the middle of nowhere where the sky is super black and stars are abundant..I have gotten into taking pictures of the moon phases and now would love to go a little further ..

thanks for advice in advance

Guy

Click to expand...

Scratch the question.. been reading up, seems I should ave baby steps and find a tracker.. am on the hunt..sorry for the naive question/..

Guy Churchward said:

Guy Churchward said:

Hey all.. Am wondering what’s the entry/sensible level recommended telescope I can track and take pics...I have no idea where to start except googling so looking for pointers to setup recommended to purchase...

We fortunately live in the middle of nowhere where the sky is super black and stars are abundant..I have gotten into taking pictures of the moon phases and now would love to go a little further ..

thanks for advice in advance

Guy

r

Click to expand...

Scratch the question.. been reading up, seems I should ave baby steps and find a tracker.. am on the hunt..sorry for the naive question/..

Click to expand...

As far as a telescope is concerned they will narrow down quickly as not many can handle a full frame sensor. Its called the corrected circle where the stars are round. Often most scopes only can handle an APSc or smaller sensor in their corrected circle.

Full frame sensors in a telescope also need a large focuser so it does not vignette. Typically a 3 inch focuser is needed. Perhaps you can get away with a 2.5 inch but probably not any smaller.

You would need a separate mount. Usually a German Equatorial Mount and Skywatcher is a common choice the EQ5. Not that expensive, has go-to so you can find the objects and has good tracking with autoguiding available.

A Newtonian (2 mirrors) scope 200mm F5 is common. There are plenty on the market.

A refractor (lens telescope) is also common. To start 70-80mm is a good size.

Otherwise lenses and a tracker. Lenses longer than about 50mm are going to require accurate setup, balance and polar alignment, no or light wind etc.

You probably would be better off using one of the smaller ZWO or QHY dedicated astro cameras than your A7riv which would be mostly useful for nightscapes. Yes it will work on deep sky objects but the cost will rise exponentially.

Greg.

Guy Churchward said:

Hey all.. Am wondering what’s the entry/sensible level recommended telescope I can track and take pics...I have no idea where to start except googling so looking for pointers to setup recommended to purchase...

We fortunately live in the middle of nowhere where the sky is super black and stars are abundant..I have gotten into taking pictures of the moon phases and now would love to go a little further ..

thanks for advice in advance

Guy

Click to expand...

You can get mounts that will just track the sky with your camera and lens, allowing longer exposures, but you get the lens reach you already have. For example:

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/reviews/mounts/ioptron-skyguider-pro-tracking-mount/

Others are available at a variety of price points, just check they can handle the weight (and if you need counter-weights).

If buying a telescope then as mentioned you may want to also get a camera specifically for it (most of the cheaper ones use the same Sony sensor) rather than adapting a FF body.

Thx.. I think I am coming to the decision I am going to save up for the 600 f4.. will sell some stuff and sell some toilet rolls and plant a money tree !

Guy Churchward said:

Thx.. I think I am coming to the decision I am going to save up for the 600 f4.. will sell some stuff and sell some toilet rolls and plant a money tree !

Click to expand...

Forget the 4/600 mm and practise night sky photography with what you have. Eventually get a star tracker for a start. Will keep you busy for a long time and you will get some valuable first hand experience with the night sky and shadowy activities.

Money trees can be handy but they are of little value for smart ones. No chance to harvest rewarding fun or experience or skills or knowledge or other things that matter...

Trollmannx said:

Guy Churchward said:

Thx.. I think I am coming to the decision I am going to save up for the 600 f4.. will sell some stuff and sell some toilet rolls and plant a money tree !

Click to expand...

Forget the 4/600 mm and practise night sky photography with what you have. Eventually get a star tracker for a start. Will keep you busy for a long time and you will get some valuable first hand experience with the night sky and shadowy activities.

Money trees can be handy but they are of little value for smart ones. No chance to harvest rewarding fun or experience or skills or knowledge or other things that matter...

Click to expand...

600 isn’t for Astro.. sorry, didn’t make that clear.. basically decided not to spend money on equip for Astro as I would rather save my coins for a 600mm f4 for birding... will therefore just play and practice with tech gear I have .. basically concur with you

Guy Churchward said:

Trollmannx said:

Guy Churchward said:

Thx.. I think I am coming to the decision I am going to save up for the 600 f4.. will sell some stuff and sell some toilet rolls and plant a money tree !

Click to expand...

Forget the 4/600 mm and practise night sky photography with what you have. Eventually get a star tracker for a start. Will keep you busy for a long time and you will get some valuable first hand experience with the night sky and shadowy activities.

Money trees can be handy but they are of little value for smart ones. No chance to harvest rewarding fun or experience or skills or knowledge or other things that matter...

Click to expand...

600 isn’t for Astro.. sorry, didn’t make that clear.. basically decided not to spend money on equip for Astro as I would rather save my coins for a 600mm f4 for birding... will therefore just play and practice with tech gear I have .. basically concur with you

Click to expand...

Well - astronomers have their birds too. Aquila (the eage) and Cygnus (the swan). More in the 50mm than the 600mm range if wanting it all in one image... ;-)

Got a chance to take a few more snaps of the moon last night .. getting there .... tried a pile of different settings,quite interesting to see what combos work best..

My vote is for the Star Adventurer. Good price/value.

Got mine last summer and love it. 1 night in my back yard to feel out,

then shot M31 and was very happy with my first try under less than great conditions.

Packs on my motorcycle trips and any other travel I may do.

Happy to answer any questions about it.

I am shooting with a Canon 7D mkii and 300mm f4 lens and most times a 1.4TC.

With crop factor it equals 672mm.

Wish I lived under dark skies!

Cheers

BTW for the Moon you don't need a tracker, but stacking can noticeably improve the results. I've been writing a long Cookbook on doing this, if you want to be a beta tester I could post it...

Dr_Jon said:

BTW for the Moon you don't need a tracker, but stacking can noticeably improve the results. I've been writing a long Cookbook on doing this, if you want to be a beta tester I could post it...

Click to expand...

I can’t stack on an iPad so I haven’t played with that yet... am trying to see if I can stay off the Mac... I will likely get there once I have some more time and would like to take a look but won’t be very valuable for a few months yet...

thank you though

"We fortunately live in the middle of nowhere where the sky is super black and stars are abundant..I have gotten into taking pictures of the moon phases and now would love to go a little further ..

you are very lucky to have super black sky . you need nothing special for the moon .( or sun ) for the rest you will need a tracker .

i started with a Pentacon Six 300 mm lens on Sony A7RII , all these on a Skywatcher Adventurer but ended with a skywatcher ED 72 on an I Optron Cem 25 . the ED 72 ( +flattener) has a 2" focuser and there is some vignetting ( what is not a big problem : you have enough pixels to crop a bit , and you have not to buy a second camera)

note that a Skywatcher ED 72 is very cheap and there is practically no color aberration . the focuser + Bahinow mask will give you sharp photo's .

for the Moon ( and Sun) the 420 mm focal length of the ED 72 is to wide . something as 1000-1500 mm will be better : Mak or RC scopes , as well as Smith -Cassegrain . these will need something heavier than an Adventurer !

quality photo tele lenses are very expensive .


Guido