Amazing that even though I've never met you, you come across as a very gentle, honest and trustworthy person. I don't meet many of those. Thanks for a very informative video. I'm looking around but was lost in the maze of what to buy. This helps a great deal. A big thank you from me and others in the same situation, as in looking to buy a scope.
mainlymusicman, I assume this comment wasn’t meant for me. I read what I wrote and umm...saw nothing wrong. If it ‘was’ meant for me, then I can only assume you have a complete misunderstanding of the art of being complimentary. In fact, reading what you wrote, I think you’ve commented on the wrong video. After all, 95 likes for what I wrote, so I think you’ve misread what I wrote or as said, replied to the wrong RUclips video.
Forest was one of the first people I started watching before I got into this adventure. It's nice to come back and watch him again. What a great job he did with these videos!
Really awesome, I might just save up some extra money for a nice telescope. Just what I need, another expensive hobby! Thanks for the extremely informative video.
Absolutely the best video of this nature I have seen yet. Very interesting, very knowledgeable just a joy to listen to you. Thank you so much, I learned a ton already.
Thank you !!! This was like finding the mothership :) EXACTLY the simple, structured and pedagogic info I was looking for. As a wannab/newbie hobby astronomer I now know what to look for. Of course I pressed "subscription".
Thanks for letting me know! And thanks for the comments. To everyone, I’ve finished scripting Part 2 on mounts, and I’ve even filmed a couple scenes, but there’s still a lot to do on it.
Utterly fantastic video, truly in depth whilst simultaneously being entirely understandable and down-to-earth, devoid of an excessive use of technical language for the most part which is fantastic for beginners. Thank you very much for taking the time to make this video!!
The amount you move the mirror depends on how far out of focus your camera is. Put your camera on its adapter and focus to the middle of your focus range. Measure the distance between your scope’s tube and your camera’s bayonet (or something easy to measure). Now remove your camera adapter and your scope’s focuser. Turn on Live View, point your scope at something and move your camera with your hand until it focuses. Measure the new distance. The difference is how much to move your mirror.
This video is great! I recently got two relatively cheap refractor and reflector telescopes and have noticed the aberrations that you summarize in this video. It was driving me a bit crazy but now that I understand the limitations that are built into the designs I feel much better about them and can not only accept these issues but can actually appreciate them. Thanks!
Dobs are great for visual astronomy because you can get so much scope for not much money, but not many of them come with motorized star trackers so they'd be rough to use for astrophotography. Even the ones that do, by definition, don’t have equatorial mounts, so you’d get some amount of rotation of the object you’re shooting.
If you watch on the RUclips website, an ad runs there. It’s confusing, and I wish I knew of a better way to handle it. On Hulu, I don’t like ads at the beginning, but don’t mind ones in the middle of a show, so that’s what I do here, but it’s awkward because the ad doesn’t run everywhere.
Without a telescope you mean? Sure! At that focal length you can take very-wide-field photos large sections of stars for probably 10 seconds without star trails. Or you can take star-trail photos if you stop down and have a remote shutter release.
Great video...learned a lot...thank you very much... Love to stare at the stars ... I have a 10 inch Juno optics on a home made Dobsonian mount/stand - I call it the kid huger. My friends son would huge the scope all night or hog as well...I watch with a 5-1/8" or 130 mm night watcher...
Wolfgang Dibiasi based on the notes I took from this video, APO's are reflectors. To do solar photography, you'd need a refractor. I believe refractors are better for deep sky, too. HTH
What a beautiful introduction to astrophotography. I have just started the video but the way you started explaining differences in telescopes, is very impressive. Very well done sir specially for a more techie brains like mine :)
Oh, and I should mention, if you do see complaints about the focuser, they can usually be swapped out for a good one, like one made by MoonLite. I had a horrible rack-and-pinion one for my newt, so I swapped it for a MoonLite, but it cost as much as I paid for my entire scope (granted, my scope is over 40 years old).
Thank you Mr. Tanaka. You made a very informative video. Lots of excellent telescope information. I'm an astronomy beginner with some celestial navigation experience. Now that GPS has made the sextant obsolete, I want to look at celestial objects in greater detail. I want to do astrophotography. Mostly deep space. A Meade 14" LX200-ACF would be nice, but the OTA weighs 125 pounds. I can't lift that onto the tripod. For portability, the Celestron CGE Pro HD looks like a better design.
That’s very non-normal. The secondary should be so wildly out of focus that you can't see it at all, though it does cut down the amount of light you get. The only time I've been able to see my secondary is when I didn't have an eyepiece and looked straight down the focuser.
The lens in a Bird-Jones newt is to cure spherical aberration, so I’d guess (never used one) that during night observing without the corrector lens, you'll see some significant aberration everywhere except the very center of the field. If you cut the tube and used the corrector lens, you might have some success. You may want to ask this on places like the Cloudy Nights forum or the Stargazers Lounge.
I’ll show polar alignment in Part 2. Aligning with Polaris works for visual astronomy, but it’s not really accurate enough for astrophotography. I’ll be showing how to do drift alignment using the mount’s GoTo function and the camera to help really nail it down. If you have the motor drive for the EQ3, you should be able to do drift alignment with that, though it may take more time without the GoTo function.
Thank you! €1000 can buy you a nice starter setup for AP. Look at the Celestron Advanced VX for US$800 or the older CG-5GT for as little as US$600. Then an astrograph or some very nice small Cassegrains can be had for a few hundred. Celestron also has some Advanced VX / OTA packages that might be good deals. Not sure about pricing in Europe though.
Seems like a pretty good deal. Some things I would look for in researching it is making sure you can focus with a camera attached to it. Their ad talks a lot about astrophotography, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can focus without a barlow lens. Crayford focusers can be great (that’s what I have), but they can also be really bad, not able to hold a camera without slipping. So make sure you see no complaints about that.
Hi from Algeria,H'e searched many sites during 20 ans,like this,I'have not found it.thank's for this video very very very.......much.excuse my english.
some telescope still can't get focus to DSLR even if using barlow, if you got this problem then you have to modifies the barlow and it is quite simple, just check on my channel.
Forrest, I thank you for these videos, they've been useful to me in making my decision. I'd like to add a 'Wish List' of things to see. Maybe a follow up video where you take comments from your followers. 1. GSO is now making a 6" Ritchey Chretien for $400! As a dedicated AP scope, this would be an awesome scope to review. 2. Explore Scientific is making a Mak-Newt for under $1,000, the 'David H. Levy Comet Hunter.' Good for both AP and visual use, although not as fast as the Orion Astrographs. 3. I've watched this first video and your guiding video, but not your Mount video, I'm about to go watch that, but if you haven't covered it, maybe a look at the iOptron Chinese Equatorial Mount versus the German Equatorial Mounts, and how they differ to perform the same job. My desire, and plan, is an iOptron ZEQ25GT, that GSO 6" RC to go along with my Sony A58 and A77, and probably an 80mm APO (one of the Orions, I think) for wide field, although I was also thinking about the Explore Scientific AR127, even though it's an Achromat. The CA didn't seem to be that bad on it. All I need is a little money. :D
Excellent video ... Love it ... Could you release a video about the pros and cons of different type of cameras used. ie Webcam, DSLR ... does full frame cameras make a difference? Many thanks Ethan Perth, Australia.
Hi Forrest, Just wondering are you saying, if you want to take Astrophoto`s with a Reflector Telescope,you only get 50-50 for you`r $$$ P.S you can use a Camera !but you Can`t look through it with eye piece`s, with you` Reflector Telescope once the prim focus is moved ! Like you`r Videos .......cheers mate .
Great video! I have an Orion SkyView Pro 127mm EQ. I am almost done setting it up so I'll ask you questions. Is this scope only good for moon and planetary? I have VERY easy access to 10,000ft or higher (I live in Colorado) and do you think I can pick up deep space objects?
Very explicit. Great video. If I may? I would like to ask on regards my first telescope to get. Yes, I would like to see planets, constellations, galaxies deep space and definitely photograph. My afford range it is not so large, although I can say, I rather save more and purch for ONCE and for all something that I will be satisfied. I looked some Newtonian and Cassegrain telescopes and I came up with: "Skywatcher Dobson telescope MC 90/1250 Heritage Virtuoso DOB" if you can advice, guide me on this particular matter I will appreciate. Thanks.
Great descriptions on Newts and prime focus Astrophoto. I have a Celestron G-8N Newtonian and have struggled with how to add my DSLR in prime. I have a T-mount and a Canon 400D. Do you recommend any Barlows that will aid in my succeeding in prime focus?
I use Live View to get a live feed from my telescope to my laptop all the time, but you have to be looking at something pretty bright; Live View isn't very sensitive, so even something as bright as the Orion Nebula wouldn't show up, except for maybe a couple Triangulum stars. Planets show up well though. I’ve showed Saturn on Live View on my laptop at star parties.
Hey, great to see you here! I have a Nexstar 4" as well, and actually had better astrophotography results with the motors turned off than when it was tracking. Can't beat an EQ mount, in the backyard at least. Keck has an AltAz mount, and I’m guessing they use a computer to rotate their imaging sensor to compensate.
WOW!! I wasted last few days to satiate my newcomer taste for astro-photography and I must say, in last half an hour, I learnt much more. That's efficiency for a huge learning curve facing me. Thanks, from Land Down Under, Mr. Forrest Tanaka!! Huge respect!!
Ah…hmm. I know some use mylar sheets for shooting the sun with DSLRs and telescopes, but I haven’t heard many good things about them. I use stacks of ND filters for solar photography with my DSLR, and was thinking of doing one for adapting an actual solar filter for use with a reflector.
Hi Forest ! Tx for your video…. I have a question for you. For the deepsky, i can get a nikon d3000 or canon 7d for that. These cameras are they correct for the deepsky ? Should I to buy instead a new camera ? (The cameras are very expensive 800 up to 2000 $).
I'm new to astrophotography and I'm about to buy a telescope, which focal length do you recommend? I want to take pictures of galaxies (I imagine that a wider focal lenght would be better), and I will be using a full frame DSLR. Thanks
Thanks for sharing this wonderful video. I got more and more information what i really expecting now a days, and you explained it in very well. Ones again thanks a lot. The main thing is you explained everything what the beginner astrophotographer (like me) is really wanted to know. Already subscribed you channel.. Expecting more video from you!!! :)
I am thinking of upgrading. For astrophotography, do I need an expensive Meade cassegrin with starlock ? Or could I do with a cheaper and bigger Reflector ?
I have been wondering for years why certain stars have the 'spikes' and others don't. Its the struts in the Reflector telescopes causing defraction spikes distorting the stars image! Thank you very much for a great tutorial of astrophotography. Also, in my quest, I have found FASTAR type scopes that claim to be able to see deep objects with 25x shorter exposure times. Does it live up to the claim? Do you still think that Object Tracking for hours at a time is the best way to go?
thanks yeah in euro im looking at around 1300 dollar and as i would love to do deep sky stuff especial intrested into other galaxys. the better contrast the better maybe its possible to do it with filters? on planets maybe even with an pol filter? what do you think of this one Orion Teleskop N 203/1000 Sirius HEQ-5 GoTo or would you more go toward something like an Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain Teleskop SC 152/1500 Advanced VX AVX GoTo thanks so much sir
love love love love your videos allways been intrested in whats out there so since i had a tlescope when i was little and was able to look a bit at the moon but that was about it and since years im into photography i thought why not combine all at once.so here is the deal, i want to look at the galaxy and combine my camera into it and im looking at around 1000 euro to spend on the telescope at max. what could be a good recomentation from your side,
This really depends on your scope. Where it's focal point is. For my scope, I hook my camera up without a barlow, directly on to the focuser with a 2" coma corrector which screws onto my T-ring. I had to push my mirror in as far as it could go with the collimation screws for my dslr to achieve focus, with the focuser set all the way in. Using a 2x barlow pushes the focal point out more. I just put my barlow directly onto the T-ring on the camera. Just made a simple adapter with tape as padding.
Bought my first telescope in january ( F/5 newt. ) with a coma corrector, ready for astrophotography. Without knowing much about it at the time, I thought something was wrong cause I wasn't able to get my dSLR in focus. Turned out, it was enough to just use the collimating screws to push it in as far as it could go. *Phew* Quite the feeling of relief as this was my first ever telescope, and I bought it specifically for ds photography. Now, if only we could get some clear skies again!
Depends which nebula you’re looking at. I can see the gas clouds of the Orion Nebula (M42) visually with my 8" newt - granted it doesn’t look like the photos of M42; just some fuzziness around some stars. I can also barely see the ring nebula (M52) visually. But I can’t see the gas clouds of the Pleiades visually at all, but I can with enough exposures with my camera.
as you mentioned with a newt or cassgrain i dont mind if you cant use the eyepiece anyone once its modded but therefor my question is can i use the video or live view/preview function on my eos 5d to get the live picture on my computer; without having the need of taking a picture very time i want to look into the galaxy?
Hi Forrest, I love this video, can you help me on wich camara is appropiate for Astrophotography?, what should I buy first, the camara or the Telescope? Regards
I would recommend a 80 or 100 mm ED APO refractor (as fast as you can afford) for deep sky astrophotography. Newtonians are good, but because of their size, they tend to be very unstable when it's even a little bit windy. They are like giant sails.
You just answered my Post above...Some say Reflector and others say Refractors (all things being equal) for Deep Sky Astrophotography.....I ordered a 152mm refractor for Deep Sky...and you made me feel better about ordering the Refractor vs. Reflector...thank you
+Robert Sutherland 152 mm? I said to get 80 or a 100 LOL. That's going to be very big and heavy. I hope you have a mount that can handle it for AP. Here is my work if you are interested www.flickr.com/photos/129535844@N04/
Mr. Gumusayak...Thank you so very much for your response...and you did state apo ed 80 or 100..I thought I would be better off with a 152 MM (typical Newbie)...Yes..The non-ed 152mm is 23 lbs..and I have a Celestron VX Mount which states 30 lb...but after reading more...I understand I should count on much less since Celestron has a tendency to overstate..some say 20 lbs would be the limit and I have a camera and auto guider to consider...I will send back my 152mm non-ed unopened for an APO ED 100 refractor...Thanks again Sir...and I will go to your site to LEARN MORE..thank you
Interesting point. I'm getting into astrophotography, no telescope yet, but I could see Jupiter and four of its moons last week, close to a nearly full moon, with a half-second exposure. It was the first time for me! This was using a vintage 400mm Pentax Takumar lens (on a m4/3 camera body). ..... Wind is something I'm taking into consideration in building up my kit. ..... Stacking numerous shorter exposures (a minute or two each, often using DeepSkyStacker) from an equatorial mount tracker ($300-500US) is what most amateur astrophotographers do to avoid slight polar misalignment, airplanes, wind/bumping the camera, etc. However, I wonder why people aren't using *wind barriers* more often. This would be more difficult with a bigger telescope, but the closer you can mount your camera/telescope to the ground, the less the wind AND the easier it is to make some kind of shielding against the wind. ..... I *think* I'm going to end up using some kind of knee-high barrier and a heavy, mini-tripod, maybe with some kind of sloping edge on part of the top of the "fence" to send the wind sailing over the camera (similar to those small windshields on motorcycles and convertibles). *I have not found a good solution yet.* It needs to be relatively light, foldable or capable of easy disassembly/assembly, and I would want to isolate its base/anchoring from the tripod inside it.
Thanks for the video, I am a novice and I have recovered from friend garage what was called in the video `Classic cassegrains` or just don't compensate with spherical mirrors...exactly what you said it is hard to find in retailer, it's an early `80ies `telescope line` about 200mm diameter, 900mm long with eye piece far at the back . I would like to clean it but I am scared to remove the mirror and then find it impossible to realign the mirrors.
August 2021, I can see below that this video was first placed here on RUclips over 8 years ago and today Its still relevant and very useful thank You Forrest Tanaka for your incite into the world of Astrophotography. .
Hello. I have a question for which i cant get a straight answer anywhere on google. I know it is possible to attach a mirrorless camera to a telescope considering I found A Micro Four Thirds T-mount adapter online, i just dont know if the two systems are optically compatible. Like will the focal plane be thrown out of wack, or will the image circle be all tiny or something weird like that.. I dont know. Thanks for any help you can provide. Good day. BTW, I use a celestron newtonian.
You use a Prime Focus Telescope for viewing Deep Sky..i have not seen this type of telescope....Where can I go to view this style of telescope? Thank You...
Any thoughts on the Celestron 8SE for astrophtography? This will be my first telescope and I am primarily interested in photographing deep space objects.
If anyone is looking for a great deal on a maksutov Newtonian check out the comet hunter David levy scope by explore scientific. After some research this is definitely the scope I want to buy when I finally make the jump to doing some astrophotography. Its inexpensive and high quality. It also includes a sturdy focal extender for visual use, best of both worlds.
Hey, Forrest. I checked out Telescopes.com on the Orion you talked about at time marker 18:25 and near as I can tell all you get is the OTA- no tripod or mount. A solid mount/tripod setup can easily run another $500. So, it's really not that good of a deal money-wise. Just saying...
Fantastic videos! I am interested in astrophotography and your videos are providing me with lots of really useful, detailed information! Thank you very much!
Thank you for the great video. Pushing mirror in Newtonian reflector is pretty scary. Aren't you worried about the risk of mirror getting miss aligned? My telescope have 3 knobs at the back. I read somewhere "never touch those 3 knobs"
Amazing that even though I've never met you, you come across as a very gentle, honest and trustworthy person. I don't meet many of those. Thanks for a very informative video. I'm looking around but was lost in the maze of what to buy. This helps a great deal. A big thank you from me and others in the same situation, as in looking to buy a scope.
I am probably going for a truss design dob 16" reflector, but I haven't heard to much good about how well they function as astrophotography scopes.
Dylan Larking
What did you end up doing?
man, what a creepy comment. really no need of comments like that to someone you don't know and never will.
mainlymusicman, I assume this comment wasn’t meant for me. I read what I wrote and umm...saw nothing wrong. If it ‘was’ meant for me, then I can only assume you have a complete misunderstanding of the art of being complimentary.
In fact, reading what you wrote, I think you’ve commented on the wrong video. After all, 95 likes for what I wrote, so I think you’ve misread what I wrote or as said, replied to the wrong RUclips video.
forrest tanaka should have his own tv show
8 years later and still extremely helpful!! Thanks so much
Extremely helpful and well-made video. Subscribed, looking forward to your next videos.
Forest was one of the first people I started watching before I got into this adventure. It's nice to come back and watch him again. What a great job he did with these videos!
Very informative video. Clear skies everyone!
Really awesome, I might just save up some extra money for a nice telescope. Just what I need, another expensive hobby! Thanks for the extremely informative video.
Absolutely the best video of this nature I have seen yet. Very interesting, very knowledgeable just a joy to listen to you. Thank you so much, I learned a ton already.
Postman Buy Celestron From SOUTHMINSTER School Caravan Birthday CHILLDREN ENGLAND
Thank you !!! This was like finding the mothership :) EXACTLY the simple, structured and pedagogic info I was looking for. As a wannab/newbie hobby astronomer I now know what to look for. Of course I pressed "subscription".
Thanks for letting me know! And thanks for the comments. To everyone, I’ve finished scripting Part 2 on mounts, and I’ve even filmed a couple scenes, but there’s still a lot to do on it.
Wonderful work of explaining the differences between the scopes. Thank you very much! BR
Hey Forrest. What a awesome set of tutorials. Being an absolute starter you have given so much more confidence to get out there and use my mount.
Utterly fantastic video, truly in depth whilst simultaneously being entirely understandable and down-to-earth, devoid of an excessive use of technical language for the most part which is fantastic for beginners. Thank you very much for taking the time to make this video!!
The amount you move the mirror depends on how far out of focus your camera is. Put your camera on its adapter and focus to the middle of your focus range. Measure the distance between your scope’s tube and your camera’s bayonet (or something easy to measure). Now remove your camera adapter and your scope’s focuser. Turn on Live View, point your scope at something and move your camera with your hand until it focuses. Measure the new distance. The difference is how much to move your mirror.
This video is great! I recently got two relatively cheap refractor and reflector telescopes and have noticed the aberrations that you summarize in this video. It was driving me a bit crazy but now that I understand the limitations that are built into the designs I feel much better about them and can not only accept these issues but can actually appreciate them. Thanks!
Dobs are great for visual astronomy because you can get so much scope for not much money, but not many of them come with motorized star trackers so they'd be rough to use for astrophotography. Even the ones that do, by definition, don’t have equatorial mounts, so you’d get some amount of rotation of the object you’re shooting.
I wish you could should some samples of your images with your telescope
Luba Luba samples of images PLEASE
Google his name, Forrest Tanaka. He has 500px, Flickr, and several other pages showing his photography.
If you watch on the RUclips website, an ad runs there. It’s confusing, and I wish I knew of a better way to handle it. On Hulu, I don’t like ads at the beginning, but don’t mind ones in the middle of a show, so that’s what I do here, but it’s awkward because the ad doesn’t run everywhere.
Without a telescope you mean? Sure! At that focal length you can take very-wide-field photos large sections of stars for probably 10 seconds without star trails. Or you can take star-trail photos if you stop down and have a remote shutter release.
Really great work, Forrest, one of the web's best photo channels is consistently eye-opening
Thank you so much for the lessons. Your videos are great!
This is really an excellent, professionally done tutorial series. I don't think I have seen one this good on youtube before.
Not sure what you mean. Most telescope components last for decades. My Newtonian is 42 years old, though I am seeing some degradation of its mirror.
nice level of detail there Forrest and well presented. I shall move through the series with eager anticipation
Great video...learned a lot...thank you very much...
Love to stare at the stars ... I have a 10 inch Juno optics on a home made Dobsonian mount/stand - I call it the kid huger. My friends son would huge the scope all night or hog as well...I watch with a 5-1/8" or 130 mm night watcher...
Great Video, It was very informative. Great Job!
I've learned so much from your videos. Thank you so much!
your videos are some the most informative and easy to follow on the internet- you rule
I just wanted to say thank you for your excellent videos. I am working through them and learning a lot. Much appreciated Forrest.
So if i would like to do deep sky photography and also take pictures of the moon and the sun, i should buy an apo i think... thank you very much!
Wolfgang Dibiasi based on the notes I took from this video, APO's are reflectors. To do solar photography, you'd need a refractor. I believe refractors are better for deep sky, too.
HTH
+David Frette Actually APO's are refractors (use lenses), not reflectors (use mirrors).
Great video, I really enjoyed it!
Excellent and very instructional video! Thanks!
You sir, are gifted at conveying complex topics in concise and understandable ways. Thumbs up and a sub. Thank you.
What a beautiful introduction to astrophotography. I have just started the video but the way you started explaining differences in telescopes, is very impressive. Very well done sir specially for a more techie brains like mine :)
It's funny how I look at the newest videos and don't get much info compared to the oldest videos with intelligent people.
7 years ago? WOW!
Nobody changed opticall laws yet, not even Trump.
@@akronymus XD
Oh, and I should mention, if you do see complaints about the focuser, they can usually be swapped out for a good one, like one made by MoonLite. I had a horrible rack-and-pinion one for my newt, so I swapped it for a MoonLite, but it cost as much as I paid for my entire scope (granted, my scope is over 40 years old).
Thank you Mr. Tanaka. You made a very informative video. Lots of excellent telescope information.
I'm an astronomy beginner with some celestial navigation experience. Now that GPS has made the sextant obsolete, I want to look at celestial objects in greater detail. I want to do astrophotography. Mostly deep space. A Meade 14" LX200-ACF would be nice, but the OTA weighs 125 pounds. I can't lift that onto the tripod.
For portability, the Celestron CGE Pro HD looks like a better design.
That’s very non-normal. The secondary should be so wildly out of focus that you can't see it at all, though it does cut down the amount of light you get. The only time I've been able to see my secondary is when I didn't have an eyepiece and looked straight down the focuser.
The lens in a Bird-Jones newt is to cure spherical aberration, so I’d guess (never used one) that during night observing without the corrector lens, you'll see some significant aberration everywhere except the very center of the field. If you cut the tube and used the corrector lens, you might have some success. You may want to ask this on places like the Cloudy Nights forum or the Stargazers Lounge.
I’ll show polar alignment in Part 2. Aligning with Polaris works for visual astronomy, but it’s not really accurate enough for astrophotography. I’ll be showing how to do drift alignment using the mount’s GoTo function and the camera to help really nail it down. If you have the motor drive for the EQ3, you should be able to do drift alignment with that, though it may take more time without the GoTo function.
Thank you! €1000 can buy you a nice starter setup for AP. Look at the Celestron Advanced VX for US$800 or the older CG-5GT for as little as US$600. Then an astrograph or some very nice small Cassegrains can be had for a few hundred. Celestron also has some Advanced VX / OTA packages that might be good deals. Not sure about pricing in Europe though.
Seems like a pretty good deal. Some things I would look for in researching it is making sure you can focus with a camera attached to it. Their ad talks a lot about astrophotography, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can focus without a barlow lens. Crayford focusers can be great (that’s what I have), but they can also be really bad, not able to hold a camera without slipping. So make sure you see no complaints about that.
I'm considering starting with the ES 152mm refractor. It's $749 with diagnal, and finder scope. So many things to think about.
What a great video.
Thank you for this helpful info! I had no idea where to begin!
Homeboy KILLED IT with this vid. Answered all my telescope questions. Just clicked Subscribe.
Sorry..Google explained the Prime Focus...I was using Prime Focus and did not know it...
Hi from Algeria,H'e searched many sites during 20 ans,like this,I'have not found it.thank's for this video very very very.......much.excuse my english.
Nice video, Forrest. In fact, all of your videos are well-produced, informative and enjoyable. Clear skies!
Thanks! Yup; used my newt on the Advanced VX mount many times now. But if I do replace it with an SCT, it’ll mostly be to save weight :)
Just wonder is Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ Telescope is a good one to buy to see the stars surface?
some telescope still can't get focus to DSLR even if using barlow, if you got this problem then you have to modifies the barlow and it is quite simple, just check on my channel.
Great video! Now I know what my problem is with my setup. Thank you
Forrest,
I thank you for these videos, they've been useful to me in making my decision.
I'd like to add a 'Wish List' of things to see. Maybe a follow up video where you take comments from your followers.
1. GSO is now making a 6" Ritchey Chretien for $400! As a dedicated AP scope, this would be an awesome scope to review.
2. Explore Scientific is making a Mak-Newt for under $1,000, the 'David H. Levy Comet Hunter.' Good for both AP and visual use, although not as fast as the Orion Astrographs.
3. I've watched this first video and your guiding video, but not your Mount video, I'm about to go watch that, but if you haven't covered it, maybe a look at the iOptron Chinese Equatorial Mount versus the German Equatorial Mounts, and how they differ to perform the same job.
My desire, and plan, is an iOptron ZEQ25GT, that GSO 6" RC to go along with my Sony A58 and A77, and probably an 80mm APO (one of the Orions, I think) for wide field, although I was also thinking about the Explore Scientific AR127, even though it's an Achromat. The CA didn't seem to be that bad on it. All I need is a little money. :D
This guy is the Chuck Norris of astronomical photography! Extremely informative video!
Excellent video ... Love it ...
Could you release a video about the pros and cons of different type of cameras used.
ie Webcam, DSLR ... does full frame cameras make a difference?
Many thanks
Ethan
Perth, Australia.
Hi Forrest, Just wondering are you saying, if you want to take Astrophoto`s with a Reflector Telescope,you only get 50-50 for you`r $$$ P.S you can use a Camera !but you Can`t look through it with eye piece`s, with you` Reflector Telescope once the prim focus is moved ! Like you`r Videos .......cheers mate .
Great video! I have an Orion SkyView Pro 127mm EQ. I am almost done setting it up so I'll ask you questions. Is this scope only good for moon and planetary? I have VERY easy access to 10,000ft or higher (I live in Colorado) and do you think I can pick up deep space objects?
Very explicit. Great video. If I may? I would like to ask on regards my first telescope to get. Yes, I would like to see planets, constellations, galaxies deep space and definitely photograph. My afford range it is not so large, although I can say, I rather save more and purch for ONCE and for all something that I will be satisfied. I looked some Newtonian and Cassegrain telescopes and I came up with: "Skywatcher Dobson telescope MC 90/1250 Heritage Virtuoso DOB" if you can advice, guide me on this particular matter I will appreciate. Thanks.
Great descriptions on Newts and prime focus Astrophoto. I have a Celestron G-8N Newtonian and have struggled with how to add my DSLR in prime. I have a T-mount and a Canon 400D. Do you recommend any Barlows that will aid in my succeeding in prime focus?
Excellent video. You have helped make my decision to stick with Cassegrain telescopes
Very good video! Informative and good quality and a pleasant voice! Thanks!!
I use Live View to get a live feed from my telescope to my laptop all the time, but you have to be looking at something pretty bright; Live View isn't very sensitive, so even something as bright as the Orion Nebula wouldn't show up, except for maybe a couple Triangulum stars. Planets show up well though. I’ve showed Saturn on Live View on my laptop at star parties.
Hey, great to see you here! I have a Nexstar 4" as well, and actually had better astrophotography results with the motors turned off than when it was tracking. Can't beat an EQ mount, in the backyard at least. Keck has an AltAz mount, and I’m guessing they use a computer to rotate their imaging sensor to compensate.
WOW!! I wasted last few days to satiate my newcomer taste for astro-photography and I must say, in last half an hour, I learnt much more. That's efficiency for a huge learning curve facing me. Thanks, from Land Down Under, Mr. Forrest Tanaka!! Huge respect!!
Tanaka-San, could you please suggest a mount for Orion 8" f/3.9 Newtonian Astrograph Reflector . I am very new to astrophotgraphy.
Hello Forrest,
i would like to know that, can i attach DSLR camera to my Celestron FirstScope Telescope?
Ah…hmm. I know some use mylar sheets for shooting the sun with DSLRs and telescopes, but I haven’t heard many good things about them. I use stacks of ND filters for solar photography with my DSLR, and was thinking of doing one for adapting an actual solar filter for use with a reflector.
I really enjoyed watching your video! Thanks. :)
Really great video packed with good info, thank you sir 🤙🏻
Hi Forest ! Tx for your video…. I have a question for you. For the deepsky, i can get a nikon d3000 or canon 7d for that. These cameras are they correct for the deepsky ? Should I to buy instead a new camera ? (The cameras are very expensive 800 up to 2000 $).
I'm new to astrophotography and I'm about to buy a telescope, which focal length do you recommend? I want to take pictures of galaxies (I imagine that a wider focal lenght would be better), and I will be using a full frame DSLR.
Thanks
Awesome videos! Very helpful info for a beginning newbie astronomer. Much mahaloz from Hawaii!
Thanks for sharing this wonderful video. I got more and more information what i really expecting now a days, and you explained it in very well. Ones again thanks a lot. The main thing is you explained everything what the beginner astrophotographer (like me) is really wanted to know. Already subscribed you channel.. Expecting more video from you!!! :)
I am thinking of upgrading. For astrophotography, do I need an expensive Meade cassegrin with starlock ? Or could I do with a cheaper and bigger Reflector ?
I have been wondering for years why certain stars have the 'spikes' and others don't. Its the struts in the Reflector telescopes causing defraction spikes distorting the stars image! Thank you very much for a great tutorial of astrophotography.
Also, in my quest, I have found FASTAR type scopes that claim to be able to see deep objects with 25x shorter exposure times. Does it live up to the claim? Do you still think that Object Tracking for hours at a time is the best way to go?
Dear Tanaka, why did you stop doing videos? You've no idea how much helpful you've been for beginners like me. Please get back to RUclips. Thank you!
ok, i want to take picture of deep sky objects....... But my budget is about 1000........................ someone help me pls
thanks yeah in euro im looking at around 1300 dollar and as i would love to do deep sky stuff especial intrested into other galaxys. the better contrast the better maybe its possible to do it with filters? on planets maybe even with an pol filter? what do you think of this one Orion Teleskop N 203/1000 Sirius HEQ-5 GoTo or would you more go toward something like an Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain Teleskop SC 152/1500 Advanced VX AVX GoTo thanks so much sir
love love love love your videos allways been intrested in whats out there so since i had a tlescope when i was little and was able to look a bit at the moon but that was about it and since years im into photography i thought why not combine all at once.so here is the deal, i want to look at the galaxy and combine my camera into it and im looking at around 1000 euro to spend on the telescope at max. what could be a good recomentation from your side,
This really depends on your scope. Where it's focal point is.
For my scope, I hook my camera up without a barlow, directly on to the focuser with a 2" coma corrector which screws onto my T-ring. I had to push my mirror in as far as it could go with the collimation screws for my dslr to achieve focus, with the focuser set all the way in.
Using a 2x barlow pushes the focal point out more. I just put my barlow directly onto the T-ring on the camera. Just made a simple adapter with tape as padding.
Bought my first telescope in january ( F/5 newt. ) with a coma corrector, ready for astrophotography. Without knowing much about it at the time, I thought something was wrong cause I wasn't able to get my dSLR in focus.
Turned out, it was enough to just use the collimating screws to push it in as far as it could go. *Phew* Quite the feeling of relief as this was my first ever telescope, and I bought it specifically for ds photography.
Now, if only we could get some clear skies again!
Excellent video. I am looking for my first telescope and was wanting to mount a DSLR to it. This really helps.
Depends which nebula you’re looking at. I can see the gas clouds of the Orion Nebula (M42) visually with my 8" newt - granted it doesn’t look like the photos of M42; just some fuzziness around some stars. I can also barely see the ring nebula (M52) visually. But I can’t see the gas clouds of the Pleiades visually at all, but I can with enough exposures with my camera.
Thank you for you clear and informative video! :-)
as you mentioned with a newt or cassgrain i dont mind if you cant use the eyepiece anyone once its modded but therefor my question is can i use the video or live view/preview function on my eos 5d to get the live picture on my computer; without having the need of taking a picture very time i want to look into the galaxy?
Hi Forrest, I love this video, can you help me on wich camara is appropiate for Astrophotography?, what should I buy first, the camara or the Telescope?
Regards
Wait, are you shooting in front of a green screen? That background is oddly still. :S
I would recommend a 80 or 100 mm ED APO refractor (as fast as you can afford) for deep sky astrophotography. Newtonians are good, but because of their size, they tend to be very unstable when it's even a little bit windy. They are like giant sails.
You just answered my Post above...Some say Reflector and others say Refractors (all things being equal) for Deep Sky Astrophotography.....I ordered a 152mm refractor for Deep Sky...and you made me feel better about ordering the Refractor vs. Reflector...thank you
+Robert Sutherland 152 mm? I said to get 80 or a 100 LOL. That's going to be very big and heavy. I hope you have a mount that can handle it for AP. Here is my work if you are interested www.flickr.com/photos/129535844@N04/
Mr. Gumusayak...Thank you so very much for your response...and you did state apo ed 80 or 100..I thought I would be better off with a 152 MM (typical Newbie)...Yes..The non-ed 152mm is 23 lbs..and I have a Celestron VX Mount which states 30 lb...but after reading more...I understand I should count on much less since Celestron has a tendency to overstate..some say 20 lbs would be the limit and I have a camera and auto guider to consider...I will send back my 152mm non-ed unopened for an APO ED 100 refractor...Thanks again Sir...and I will go to your site to LEARN MORE..thank you
Interesting point. I'm getting into astrophotography, no telescope yet, but I could see Jupiter and four of its moons last week, close to a nearly full moon, with a half-second exposure. It was the first time for me! This was using a vintage 400mm Pentax Takumar lens (on a m4/3 camera body). ..... Wind is something I'm taking into consideration in building up my kit. ..... Stacking numerous shorter exposures (a minute or two each, often using DeepSkyStacker) from an equatorial mount tracker ($300-500US) is what most amateur astrophotographers do to avoid slight polar misalignment, airplanes, wind/bumping the camera, etc. However, I wonder why people aren't using *wind barriers* more often. This would be more difficult with a bigger telescope, but the closer you can mount your camera/telescope to the ground, the less the wind AND the easier it is to make some kind of shielding against the wind. ..... I *think* I'm going to end up using some kind of knee-high barrier and a heavy, mini-tripod, maybe with some kind of sloping edge on part of the top of the "fence" to send the wind sailing over the camera (similar to those small windshields on motorcycles and convertibles). *I have not found a good solution yet.* It needs to be relatively light, foldable or capable of easy disassembly/assembly, and I would want to isolate its base/anchoring from the tripod inside it.
Thanks for the video, I am a novice and I have recovered from friend garage what was called in the video `Classic cassegrains` or just don't compensate with spherical mirrors...exactly what you said it is hard to find in retailer, it's an early `80ies `telescope line` about 200mm diameter, 900mm long with eye piece far at the back . I would like to clean it but I am scared to remove the mirror and then find it impossible to realign the mirrors.
August 2021, I can see below that this video was first placed here on RUclips over 8 years ago and today Its still relevant and very useful thank You Forrest Tanaka for your incite into the world of Astrophotography. .
Great great video, but the biggest telescope today is GTC in canary islands with 10.4m of aperture
Hello. I have a question for which i cant get a straight answer anywhere on google. I know it is possible to attach a mirrorless camera to a telescope considering I found A Micro Four Thirds T-mount adapter online, i just dont know if the two systems are optically compatible. Like will the focal plane be thrown out of wack, or will the image circle be all tiny or something weird like that.. I dont know. Thanks for any help you can provide. Good day. BTW, I use a celestron newtonian.
You use a Prime Focus Telescope for viewing Deep Sky..i have not seen this type of telescope....Where can I go to view this style of telescope? Thank You...
Any thoughts on the Celestron 8SE for astrophtography? This will be my first telescope and I am primarily interested in photographing deep space objects.
If anyone is looking for a great deal on a maksutov Newtonian check out the comet hunter David levy scope by explore scientific. After some research this is definitely the scope I want to buy when I finally make the jump to doing some astrophotography. Its inexpensive and high quality. It also includes a sturdy focal extender for visual use, best of both worlds.
Hey, Forrest. I checked out Telescopes.com on the Orion you talked about at time marker 18:25 and near as I can tell all you get is the OTA- no tripod or mount. A solid mount/tripod setup can easily run another $500. So, it's really not that good of a deal money-wise. Just saying...
Fantastic videos! I am interested in astrophotography and your videos are providing me with lots of really useful, detailed information! Thank you very much!
Thank you for the great video. Pushing mirror in Newtonian reflector is pretty scary. Aren't you worried about the risk of mirror getting miss aligned? My telescope have 3 knobs at the back. I read somewhere "never touch those 3 knobs"