Beginner

[MarkH]

Hi everyone I'm new to the society and when I see the right person I can pay my subs and become a member. I'm a total beginner to astrophotography and am unsure how to start. I have a Meade lx90 8", an Olympus e500 or Orion starshoot and have downloaded deepskystacker. At the moment I don't have an equatorial mount. I am unsure what asa/shutter speed/f stop/ how many exposures. Any simple pointers for a beginner?

[mickw]

Hi Mark
I believe the LX90 mount can be tilted to to replicate an equatorial mount (although not as rigid or stable)
If you're using the camera with a T mount adapter, the Olympus should work with ASA 800 at between 30 - 60 secs unguided
The manual for the starshoot should explain it's use.

This will give a reasonable start into the money pit of astrophotography 

[Mac]

Greetings Mark.

As mick said welcome to the money pit.
Have a quick read of this it should give you an idea of what to expect,

http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=6334.0

If you do have any further questions just ask,

It dosent matter how silly you think the question is, we were all standing in your shoes once.

You may well get more then one answer to your question as there normally more then one way to do something,
but it should help guide you in parting with your well earned money.

Advice is always free. Acting on it is the expensive bit. 

Mac.

[Jim]

Hi Mark

I think we met at the open evening?. I initially started with an E500. It's really not a good camera to use, most people use Canon's with liveview but from my experience:

1. It's a noisy chip and doing master darks never really worked well due to temperature differences. Switch NR (noise reduction) ON and the camera will automatically take a dark exposure after every light exposure and subtract incamera. This works OK but of course will double your exposure lenghts
2. It's almost impossible to focus accurately using the small LCD so get Olympus Studio v2.3 which allows you to control the camera with a usb connection and download pics to screen. I can give you a key to unlock the software.
3. The battery will not last long so I rigged a external power supply. Still have it so you're welcome to borrow it.
4. Do short 30-60 sec exposures. If you've polar aligned well you can do without guiding.
5. Start with a bright object like Orion Nebula, 30 60 sec exposures should give you a nice pic.
6. Get some processing software to bring the image to life. I use Maxim but there's free stuff around depending how computer literate you are.

Do this for about 5 years, then give up and buy a QSI583 like did!!

Good luck
Jim

[The Thing]

Hi Mark
I believe the LX90 mount can be tilted to to replicate an equatorial mount (although not as rigid or stable)
If you're using the camera with a T mount adapter, the Olympus should work with ASA 800 at between 30 - 60 secs unguided
The manual for the starshoot should explain it's use.

This will give a reasonable start into the money pit of astrophotography  

Hi Mark,

I have a LX90 8" UHTC and have a Meade standard wedge and adaptor plate that I no longer need sitting in the garage if your interested in making an offer . You tend to accumulate bits in this game and people are always happy to move them on to help out someone just starting out. Its a good scope for imaging a whole variety of objects. I started with just a webcam doing planets from the back garden, and I'm going to be doing that again as soon as we get a clear night as Jupiter is starting to put on a show and Mars will be in a month or so. Your Starshoot would be great for that purpose. Download a copy of Registax for planet processing.

Clear skies and welcome,

Duncan a.k.a. The Thing

[MarkH]

Wow what a response, thank you all very much guys. All sounds like excellent advice. Yes Jim that was me, I take it the "noise" you refer to is all the red and blue blobs in the background? And Duncan yes defintely interested in your wedge and adaptor plate how much are you looking for?. A couple more questions ... what is the better option slr images or video images? And is the general consensus to use an SLR with infrared filter removed....... and what are "flats" and "darks".....

[MarkH]

Mac, that's a fantastic write up, already answered lots of my questions, what a sense of humour RTFM  excellent. I'm starting to get the idea.

[Carole]

Mark, welcome to the slippery slope of astro imaging.  It's a long learning curve and you will be tearing your hair out on the way, but once you start producing images it will be really rewarding.

Duncan is well experienced with using a fork mount and I think Mac uses one (or used to use one) too. 

DSLR cameras are best for deep sky imaging and long exposure.  Video images (with a webcam or planetary camera) are best for Moon and planets. 

You don't really need flats and darks for video images, though if your sensor is mucky flats might help. 
Flats and darks are used on long exposure.  The darks are used to remove noise from images, but see Jim's advice on your particular camera.  Flats are quick images of the light train (leaving your scope and camera set up exactly the same as when you took the images) and these are used to flatten out optical imperfections.

Carole

[MarkH]

Thanks Carole, I certainly won't be pulling any hair out, ain't hardly got none , but I think I do need to get a new dslr. I have an orion imager. Comming to terms with some of the terminology is a bit daunting and I can't afford one of those super duper imager things that Jim refered to. I have had a look at some of your work in the gallery...... highly commmendable. What worries me is the ammount of time this is going to take.

[Mac]

Duncan is well experienced with using a fork mount and I think Mac uses one (or used to use one) too.

I did have, Duncan has it now,
Ive got an EQ6 in bits.

Mac