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Need some opinions to get started in astrophotography

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 6:59 pm
by celeron787
Hi, I'm trying to get into astrophotography after trying some untracked shots last year.
I currently own a Sony a6000 and a 18-135mm zoom lens.

I'm looking for:
- Portable and light weight
- Reasonably priced
- Looking to take subjects like M31, M42, milky way, moon etc
- I've also read about software guiding with a laptop but I'm not quite keen to add it in

What I'm looking at:
- William Optics Redcat 51/Spacecat 51 + E mount adapter
- Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer
- Tripod with load capacity of 10-12kg

Any opinions on the above setup? I have a budget of about $2.5k.

I've read about drift alignment since polaris isn't visible here. How feasible and easy is it to do it? Any other methods of alignment?
I've also posted here and got some replies. Interested to know what you guys think since it's more in a local context.

Thanks guys!

Re: Need some opinions to get started in astrophotography

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:55 pm
by mrthomasyip
Hi, actually you have already selected your equipments and the next thing is to get your shopping cart to be filled. WO redcat is one scope which has been eyed by a numbers of imagers from what i know. As for star adventurer, yes it is quite portable and easy carrying around. With this items on hand you can get your imaging activity to get started. However i think the most ideal for you to do now before committing into the gears is to hook up with some imagers when they are doing the shooting and find out more from them too.

Re: Need some opinions to get started in astrophotography

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2020 6:54 pm
by celeron787
mrthomasyip wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:55 pm Hi, actually you have already selected your equipments and the next thing is to get your shopping cart to be filled. WO redcat is one scope which has been eyed by a numbers of imagers from what i know. As for star adventurer, yes it is quite portable and easy carrying around. With this items on hand you can get your imaging activity to get started. However i think the most ideal for you to do now before committing into the gears is to hook up with some imagers when they are doing the shooting and find out more from them too.
Thanks for your reply. Actually I was browsing through the posts in this forum and only a handful use the SA tracker, so I was wondering whether it works in Singapore. I'll probably be getting it from mcgills once they get the latest version in.

There's a session by the universe@cck coming 1 Feb, will probably be going down to see if I can find out more. Don't wanna be in a situation where I buy the stuff and end up wrong stuff.

Re: Need some opinions to get started in astrophotography

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 6:06 pm
by Subbupd
celeron787 wrote: Tue Jan 14, 2020 6:59 pm Hi, I'm trying to get into astrophotography after trying some untracked shots last year.
I currently own a Sony a6000 and a 18-135mm zoom lens.

I'm looking for:
- Portable and light weight
- Reasonably priced
- Looking to take subjects like M31, M42, milky way, moon etc
- I've also read about software guiding with a laptop but I'm not quite keen to add it in

What I'm looking at:
- William Optics Redcat 51/Spacecat 51 + E mount adapter
- Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer
- Tripod with load capacity of 10-12kg

Any opinions on the above setup? I have a budget of about $2.5k.

I've read about drift alignment since polaris isn't visible here. How feasible and easy is it to do it? Any other methods of alignment?
I've also posted here and got some replies. Interested to know what you guys think since it's more in a local context.

Thanks guys!
I am not aware of astrophotography. However my cousin can provide his thesis work material.. it would help all.

Re: Need some opinions to get started in astrophotography

Posted: Fri May 15, 2020 7:38 am
by celeron787
What is it about? Would love to have a look if it's related😁