Request by Beginner: Photography through Binoculars

[krthik]

Hi Singastro, First of all, thanks a lot for such an wonderful forum on Astronomy.

I am a complete beginner and infact i have started to explore this stargazing for my wife. I have no clue where to start with. I am more interested in Photography and when i googled on star gazing and photography, i realized combining both of these together would be much more fun.

So, to begin with, i understand its better to start with the binoculars. I have no clue what kind of binoculars to buy and where to buy. I wanted to buy one a start point and a gift to my wife, hence would really appreciate to get a worthy binocular or reflector for the beginner.

Appreciate your experts suggestions to start the journey.

[Mariner]

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=12814

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12860

As a reference, astrophotography requires long exposures. Something not possible with just a pair of binoculars and your camera. And be warned, astrophotography is an expensive hobby, both in terms of patience and $$$

[cloud_cover]

Hello and welcome to the forum!
Binoculars are very good for beginners because they are extremely easy and intuitive to use and also because they offer very wide field of views, which means finding targets in the sky is much easier than with a higher powered telescope.
However, because binoculars are designed for visual use only and are generally hand-held, they are not suitable for astrophotography. Also, adapters are difficult to come by and most binocular eyepieces are not removable, making digiscoping the only option.
I'd suggest hanging around some of the sidewalk sessions and trying out some scopes before making your decision

[CuriousOrion7]

Hi, I am totally new to this forum and I am not too sure if I am posting under the relevant thread/topic. Btw I am a beginner in astrophotography or should I say attempting. I have a Celestron 80eq and a Sony SLT A65 DSLR camera. The problem that I face when I try to mount the dslr to the telescope via a t-ring and t adapter,(especially when object of interest is at 90degrees) I can't seem to balance the scope due to the camera's weight. Is there any way that I can rectify this problem?

And apart from that, does the milky way galaxy rises in Singapore after 5am?

[krthik]

Hi, I am totally new to this forum and I am not too sure if I am posting under the relevant thread/topic. Btw I am a beginner in astrophotography or should I say attempting. I have a Celestron 80eq and a Sony SLT A65 DSLR camera. The problem that I face when I try to mount the dslr to the telescope via a t-ring and t adapter,(especially when object of interest is at 90degrees) I can't seem to balance the scope due to the camera's weight. Is there any way that I can rectify this problem?

And apart from that, does the milky way galaxy rises in Singapore after 5am?

Hi Curious Orion, i am a beginner too, hence i won't be able to guide you much. Try to read this article and you will get a better idea.

http://www.justinngphoto.com/2014/05/16 ... singapore/

[Sivakis]

Hi, I am totally new to this forum and I am not too sure if I am posting under the relevant thread/topic. Btw I am a beginner in astrophotography or should I say attempting. I have a Celestron 80eq and a Sony SLT A65 DSLR camera. The problem that I face when I try to mount the dslr to the telescope via a t-ring and t adapter,(especially when object of interest is at 90degrees) I can't seem to balance the scope due to the camera's weight. Is there any way that I can rectify this problem?

And apart from that, does the milky way galaxy rises in Singapore after 5am?

Hi Orion

I believe this is your scope?
http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/as ... -telescope

Pictures say a thousand words, so this video is pretty helpful in learning how to adjust, balance and align an EQ mount.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plx6XXDgf2E

In Singapore, our latitude is approximately 1 degree North (1.35 or thereabouts). If your mount does not allow you to reach this, you might have to use a wedge. If this makes the counterweight hit the tripod leg, you might want to consider a 'pier' extension to make the mount-head higher so that the counterweight clears the legs.

Also, the longer the focal length, the more time-restrictive it becomes when shooting before star-trails appear, unless you have a way of guiding the scope along with the rotation. Your 80EQ is 900mm, so that should be between 0.44 sec or 0.66 sec (using 400/FL or 600/FL ratio).

Depending on your A65 lens (I believe it's either 18-55 or 18-135 kit lens), you could theoretically just use that lens and start shooting some stars. Use the FL ratio above and apply it to the lens FL and it should give you an idea of how long you can shoot for without getting star trails, or just a bit.

Hope this was helpful!

[antares2063]

Hi curiousorion7
Your query on the timing of milky way rising, the answer to that is no. the sky has a sidereal motion that causes constellations to rise (roughly) 4mins earlier each night as the days pass.

the milky way core is at sagittarius..u can see or make out the main stars (or teapot asterism) around 10pm facing south east and slowly approach zenith. One month later it will be (roughly) 2 hrs earlier so on and so forth. hope this helps.

[Gary]

Hi Singastro, First of all, thanks a lot for such an wonderful forum on Astronomy.

I am a complete beginner and infact i have started to explore this stargazing for my wife. I have no clue where to start with. I am more interested in Photography and when i googled on star gazing and photography, i realized combining both of these together would be much more fun.

So, to begin with, i understand its better to start with the binoculars. I have no clue what kind of binoculars to buy and where to buy. I wanted to buy one a start point and a gift to my wife, hence would really appreciate to get a worthy binocular or reflector for the beginner.

Appreciate your experts suggestions to start the journey.

Hi Krthik. Welcome to the forum. Husband buying astro gear for wife. Now that is new!

In case you didn't click on the links Mariner posted, this is a good book on binocular stargazing which is available for loan at selected public libraries: http://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/cgi-bin/spy ... binoculars

Good luck with your research.

[Gary]

Hi, I am totally new to this forum and I am not too sure if I am posting under the relevant thread/topic. Btw I am a beginner in astrophotography or should I say attempting. I have a Celestron 80eq and a Sony SLT A65 DSLR camera. The problem that I face when I try to mount the dslr to the telescope via a t-ring and t adapter,(especially when object of interest is at 90degrees) I can't seem to balance the scope due to the camera's weight. Is there any way that I can rectify this problem?

And apart from that, does the milky way galaxy rises in Singapore after 5am?

Hi CuriousOrion7. Welcome to the forum.

Even if you find a way to balance your DSLR, ultimately, the Celestron Powerseeker 80EQ mount is not sturdy enough to do "serious" astrophotography(AP). So before you buy any additional AP accessory for it, do entertain the possibility of getting a better mount if you are serious enough about AP. Join a few local AP sessions and learn firsthand from those AP veterans there first.

How to find the milky way: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12850&p=86959 .