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New Purchase Suggestions
Hi all,
I'm new to all this but I want to look into buying something to get started. I hope you all can give me a few suggestions to get started. I'm willing to spend the time to learn something a bit complicated rather then buying something that I'll want to upgrade or trade in a year. Here is what I have to work with... * Spending around $2,500. * Somewhat portable, just enough to drive out the country for nice viewings. * Clear crisp pictures using my Olympus digital 5050z camera. I took two months choosing this camera becasue I wanted the best underwater pictures for the price, so I might as well try to use it for this. Not trying to brag but I do like nice pictures http://www.robert-e-morgan.com/cayma...older=bestpics * Hookup for my PC or laptop to view or control movement. * I want to see as many things as I can but I think deep space is best for my picture taking. Any suggestions appreciated! Thanks |
#2
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Any suggestions appreciated!
Thanks Hello Rob. Welcome aboard and welcome to a great pass time. You are looking for some advice, I am going to provide some, though it may not quite be what you are hoping for. I will not recommend any scope or mount or eyepieces. There are lots of different aspects to this hobby, lots of different parts of it people find that they enjoy. Some people find they are most interested in viewing the planets, seeing every last detail waiting for hours for that perfect glimspe. Some folks enjoy viewing faint deep sky objects, some enjoy star hopping, some just enjoy sitting out under the clear night sky and wandering around, seeing what they might see, some enjoy taking photos of the deep sky, some sketch what they see at the eyepiece.... Most have some balance.... And for each type, there is equipment specifically suited for that pursuit. There is no "best" telescope that will do everything, there are always compromises, trade offs... I believe that for someone who is starting out, it is not really possible to know what you will find to be the most exciting aspect, what will make you get up at 3 AM to see if the stars are out or drive 100miles to get in a few hours of pleasure. So, my suggestion really is to start simply, start with a basic general purpose scope, get some experience, discover what it is that you really like doing and then choose the equipment that will allow you to do that. This may sound harsh, but I am a firm believer that someone starting out needs a scope suited for someone starting out. When you are more experienced, you will have different needs. Used scopes are easy to sell and while they lose some value, the existence of a global marketplace, ie www.astromart.com, means that you can buy something for now and then sell it when your are ready to move on. So, here's a taste of my suggestions: 1. Before buying anything, I hope you take the time to educate yourself by joining a local astronomy club and getting some experience looking at and looking through a variety of telescopes. There are many options of sizes and types. Each has its own set of capabilities and liabilities. It is difficult to really know what will strike you fancy without spending some time under the stars. It is good to find out that one scope might take 30 minutes to setup while another of equal light gathering ability might take a minute. It is good to have some sort of idea what you will see in variety of apertures(objective or mirror diameter), the experience of looking at the deep sky in a 4 inch F15 scope is different than that of viewing it in a 5 inch F5 scope which will be amazingly different from the views provided by a 10 inch F5 scope. Issues like field of view, dewing, tracking, collimation, thermal equilibrium, coma, chromatic aberration(false color), polar alignment, periodic error correction, auto guiding, vibration.... There is just a great deal to learn and understand about operating a telescope, there is no ideal scope, no one scope that is the best value, the best deal... 2. So, I recommend that even after you get some experience, you consider something simple as a first scope, something that will allow you to discover what you enjoy and don't enjoy. Then when you have some experience, then is the time to spend some real money on the stuff that will serve your needs. 3. Astrophotography is an expensive and tedious task. It is one part of this hobby where dollars really make a big difference, having the correct equipment, really does make a big difference, especially when imaging the deep sky. A good rig starts at the bottom with a solid tripod, a solid mount that has accurate tracking, auto-guiding, and then one adds a scope or two and a camera or two as well. Deep sky imaging is possible with general purpose digital cameras such as your C-5050, it does allow exposures up to 16 seconds and it does have noise reduction, both of these make it possible. With your camera you would be able to image the planets, starfields and some of the brighter Deep sky objects. But in general, deep sky photography requires exposures much longer than 16 seconds and requires cameras that cool the CCD chip because otherwise. Such cameras are expensive, though getting cheaper. A 5 mega pixel AstroCamera would be probably be over $10,000. Fortunately one does not need a 5 megapixel camera and under most circumstances those pixels are wasted. A couple of good sites for photography are www.astropix.com Lots of photos and a good section that is basically a primer in all aspects of Astrophotography. www.astro-physics.com Lots of nice astrophotos take by a variety of folks, most all with Astro-Physics scopes with a variety of cameras. So, I hope I haven't discouraged you. Joining a club and getting in some time with experienced folks ought to be exciting and at the same time help you discover what this is all about.... Best wishes, jon isaacs |
#3
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Thank you for the suggestions! What's poplular? I mean are there any
particular produts that most people, who have been doing for a while, tend to lean towards? "Jon Isaacs" wrote in message ... Any suggestions appreciated! Thanks Hello Rob. Welcome aboard and welcome to a great pass time. You are looking for some advice, I am going to provide some, though it may not quite be what you are hoping for. I will not recommend any scope or mount or eyepieces. There are lots of different aspects to this hobby, lots of different parts of it people find that they enjoy. Some people find they are most interested in viewing the planets, seeing every last detail waiting for hours for that perfect glimspe. Some folks enjoy viewing faint deep sky objects, some enjoy star hopping, some just enjoy sitting out under the clear night sky and wandering around, seeing what they might see, some enjoy taking photos of the deep sky, some sketch what they see at the eyepiece.... Most have some balance.... And for each type, there is equipment specifically suited for that pursuit. There is no "best" telescope that will do everything, there are always compromises, trade offs... I believe that for someone who is starting out, it is not really possible to know what you will find to be the most exciting aspect, what will make you get up at 3 AM to see if the stars are out or drive 100miles to get in a few hours of pleasure. So, my suggestion really is to start simply, start with a basic general purpose scope, get some experience, discover what it is that you really like doing and then choose the equipment that will allow you to do that. This may sound harsh, but I am a firm believer that someone starting out needs a scope suited for someone starting out. When you are more experienced, you will have different needs. Used scopes are easy to sell and while they lose some value, the existence of a global marketplace, ie www.astromart.com, means that you can buy something for now and then sell it when your are ready to move on. So, here's a taste of my suggestions: 1. Before buying anything, I hope you take the time to educate yourself by joining a local astronomy club and getting some experience looking at and looking through a variety of telescopes. There are many options of sizes and types. Each has its own set of capabilities and liabilities. It is difficult to really know what will strike you fancy without spending some time under the stars. It is good to find out that one scope might take 30 minutes to setup while another of equal light gathering ability might take a minute. It is good to have some sort of idea what you will see in variety of apertures(objective or mirror diameter), the experience of looking at the deep sky in a 4 inch F15 scope is different than that of viewing it in a 5 inch F5 scope which will be amazingly different from the views provided by a 10 inch F5 scope. Issues like field of view, dewing, tracking, collimation, thermal equilibrium, coma, chromatic aberration(false color), polar alignment, periodic error correction, auto guiding, vibration.... There is just a great deal to learn and understand about operating a telescope, there is no ideal scope, no one scope that is the best value, the best deal... 2. So, I recommend that even after you get some experience, you consider something simple as a first scope, something that will allow you to discover what you enjoy and don't enjoy. Then when you have some experience, then is the time to spend some real money on the stuff that will serve your needs. 3. Astrophotography is an expensive and tedious task. It is one part of this hobby where dollars really make a big difference, having the correct equipment, really does make a big difference, especially when imaging the deep sky. A good rig starts at the bottom with a solid tripod, a solid mount that has accurate tracking, auto-guiding, and then one adds a scope or two and a camera or two as well. Deep sky imaging is possible with general purpose digital cameras such as your C-5050, it does allow exposures up to 16 seconds and it does have noise reduction, both of these make it possible. With your camera you would be able to image the planets, starfields and some of the brighter Deep sky objects. But in general, deep sky photography requires exposures much longer than 16 seconds and requires cameras that cool the CCD chip because otherwise. Such cameras are expensive, though getting cheaper. A 5 mega pixel AstroCamera would be probably be over $10,000. Fortunately one does not need a 5 megapixel camera and under most circumstances those pixels are wasted. A couple of good sites for photography are www.astropix.com Lots of photos and a good section that is basically a primer in all aspects of Astrophotography. www.astro-physics.com Lots of nice astrophotos take by a variety of folks, most all with Astro-Physics scopes with a variety of cameras. So, I hope I haven't discouraged you. Joining a club and getting in some time with experienced folks ought to be exciting and at the same time help you discover what this is all about.... Best wishes, jon isaacs |
#4
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On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 04:52:55 GMT, wrote:
Hi all, I'm new to all this but I want to look into buying something to get started. I hope you all can give me a few suggestions to get started. I'm willing to spend the time to learn something a bit complicated rather then buying something that I'll want to upgrade or trade in a year. Here is what I have to work with... * Spending around $2,500. * Somewhat portable, just enough to drive out the country for nice viewings. * Clear crisp pictures using my Olympus digital 5050z camera. I took two months choosing this camera becasue I wanted the best underwater pictures for the price, so I might as well try to use it for this. Not trying to brag but I do like nice pictures http://www.robert-e-morgan.com/cayma...older=bestpics * Hookup for my PC or laptop to view or control movement. * I want to see as many things as I can but I think deep space is best for my picture taking. Any suggestions appreciated! Thanks I don't think your camera is suitable for taking deepsky pictures. You need to be able to expose for a long period of time, at least five minutes and show little electronic noise in the pictures to be able to do this. Your camera (like my Olympus C-3040) is limited to 16 second long exposures and will have considerable electronic noise in shots that long, it looks like little coloured speckles. This is why people are now primarily buying Canon digital SLRs (long exposure and low noise capability)or dedicated astronomical CCD cameras. However, you will be able to take good pictures of the Moon, planets, etc. The good news is that companies like Meade are coming out with very inexpensive deepsky capable CCD/CMOS cameras. The Meade unit costs $299 so it can be incorporated into your telescope package. IMO, the best scope for you that provides decent aperture (mirror/lens size for picking up the light of deepsky objects) and fits into your budget would be a Meade LX-200 GPS 8", Meade LX-90 or Celestron's Nexstar 8" GPS. These scopes have good aperture, are portable will Goto objects and track them. Scopes in the market tier below this tend to need some attention when it comes to doing those tasks well. Above this market tier, your looking at several thousand dollars for something equivalent or better. |
#5
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No matter what price range your looking to buy, may I suggest at lest a
glance at : Telescope Buyers FAQ http://home.inreach.com/starlord Some good scope makers listed in there too. -- The Forgotten http://home.inreach.com/starlord/forgotten.htm --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.779 / Virus Database: 526 - Release Date: 10/19/04 |
#6
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Yeah, I went though this a few days ago and book marked it. It seemed like
a good start. "starlord" wrote in message ... No matter what price range your looking to buy, may I suggest at lest a glance at : Telescope Buyers FAQ http://home.inreach.com/starlord Some good scope makers listed in there too. -- The Forgotten http://home.inreach.com/starlord/forgotten.htm --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.779 / Virus Database: 526 - Release Date: 10/19/04 |
#7
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Thanks! I've read a little about taking pictures with shorter exposures and
then overlaying them. Any idea how well this works? I've also seen a few web pages that shows how to modify different web cams. That also seems interesting. Your suggestion about the CCD/CMOS camera is a good option. There seems to be a lot of information on the web about using the CCD. That $299 Mead camera seems resonable and the results look pretty nice at times. The Meade LX-200 GPS 8", Meade LX-90 and Celestron's Nexstar 8" GPS are the very ones I've been looking at. I'm considering buying used to try to get in the 10" or 12" range. Seems a lot of people like the popular Mead LX200 GPS and I see why. Then the Dobsonians seems nice but probably not a good idea for me to start taking up half the garage space yet. I also like the Refractors so I found one I liked, 130mm f8 STARFIRE, thenl I saw the price Now I'm back to the Schmidt-Cassegrain but I think I can do without the GPS stuff in order to get something larger. "RichA" wrote in message ... On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 04:52:55 GMT, wrote: Hi all, I'm new to all this but I want to look into buying something to get started. I hope you all can give me a few suggestions to get started. I'm willing to spend the time to learn something a bit complicated rather then buying something that I'll want to upgrade or trade in a year. Here is what I have to work with... * Spending around $2,500. * Somewhat portable, just enough to drive out the country for nice viewings. * Clear crisp pictures using my Olympus digital 5050z camera. I took two months choosing this camera becasue I wanted the best underwater pictures for the price, so I might as well try to use it for this. Not trying to brag but I do like nice pictures http://www.robert-e-morgan.com/cayma...older=bestpics * Hookup for my PC or laptop to view or control movement. * I want to see as many things as I can but I think deep space is best for my picture taking. Any suggestions appreciated! Thanks I don't think your camera is suitable for taking deepsky pictures. You need to be able to expose for a long period of time, at least five minutes and show little electronic noise in the pictures to be able to do this. Your camera (like my Olympus C-3040) is limited to 16 second long exposures and will have considerable electronic noise in shots that long, it looks like little coloured speckles. This is why people are now primarily buying Canon digital SLRs (long exposure and low noise capability)or dedicated astronomical CCD cameras. However, you will be able to take good pictures of the Moon, planets, etc. The good news is that companies like Meade are coming out with very inexpensive deepsky capable CCD/CMOS cameras. The Meade unit costs $299 so it can be incorporated into your telescope package. IMO, the best scope for you that provides decent aperture (mirror/lens size for picking up the light of deepsky objects) and fits into your budget would be a Meade LX-200 GPS 8", Meade LX-90 or Celestron's Nexstar 8" GPS. These scopes have good aperture, are portable will Goto objects and track them. Scopes in the market tier below this tend to need some attention when it comes to doing those tasks well. Above this market tier, your looking at several thousand dollars for something equivalent or better. |
#8
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On Tue, 02 Nov 2004 01:18:25 GMT, wrote:
Thanks! I've read a little about taking pictures with shorter exposures and then overlaying them. Any idea how well this works? I've also seen a few web pages that shows how to modify different web cams. That also seems interesting. Your suggestion about the CCD/CMOS camera is a good option. There seems to be a lot of information on the web about using the CCD. That $299 Mead camera seems resonable and the results look pretty nice at times. The Meade LX-200 GPS 8", Meade LX-90 and Celestron's Nexstar 8" GPS are the very ones I've been looking at. I'm considering buying used to try to get in the 10" or 12" range. Seems a lot of people like the popular Mead LX200 GPS and I see why. Then the Dobsonians seems nice but probably not a good idea for me to start taking up half the garage space yet. I also like the Refractors so I found one I liked, 130mm f8 STARFIRE, thenl I saw the price Now I'm back to the Schmidt-Cassegrain but I think I can do without the GPS stuff in order to get something larger. There are other apos out there to buy, from TMB, TEC, Takahashi, TeleVue. Funny how they all begin with T?? But they all sport high prices, around $5000+. That's without a mount of course. But the Meade camera looks pretty foolproof, no clunky outboard power supplies needed, etc. -Rich |
#9
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Jon always gives answers like that. He's too good for us. Nice sermon
though. Doink "Jon Isaacs" wrote in message ... Any suggestions appreciated! Thanks Hello Rob. Welcome aboard and welcome to a great pass time. You are looking for some advice, I am going to provide some, though it may not quite be what you are hoping for. I will not recommend any scope or mount or eyepieces. There are lots of different aspects to this hobby, lots of different parts of it people find that they enjoy. Some people find they are most interested in viewing the planets, seeing every last detail waiting for hours for that perfect glimspe. Some folks enjoy viewing faint deep sky objects, some enjoy star hopping, some just enjoy sitting out under the clear night sky and wandering around, seeing what they might see, some enjoy taking photos of the deep sky, some sketch what they see at the eyepiece.... Most have some balance.... And for each type, there is equipment specifically suited for that pursuit. There is no "best" telescope that will do everything, there are always compromises, trade offs... I believe that for someone who is starting out, it is not really possible to know what you will find to be the most exciting aspect, what will make you get up at 3 AM to see if the stars are out or drive 100miles to get in a few hours of pleasure. So, my suggestion really is to start simply, start with a basic general purpose scope, get some experience, discover what it is that you really like doing and then choose the equipment that will allow you to do that. This may sound harsh, but I am a firm believer that someone starting out needs a scope suited for someone starting out. When you are more experienced, you will have different needs. Used scopes are easy to sell and while they lose some value, the existence of a global marketplace, ie www.astromart.com, means that you can buy something for now and then sell it when your are ready to move on. So, here's a taste of my suggestions: 1. Before buying anything, I hope you take the time to educate yourself by joining a local astronomy club and getting some experience looking at and looking through a variety of telescopes. There are many options of sizes and types. Each has its own set of capabilities and liabilities. It is difficult to really know what will strike you fancy without spending some time under the stars. It is good to find out that one scope might take 30 minutes to setup while another of equal light gathering ability might take a minute. It is good to have some sort of idea what you will see in variety of apertures(objective or mirror diameter), the experience of looking at the deep sky in a 4 inch F15 scope is different than that of viewing it in a 5 inch F5 scope which will be amazingly different from the views provided by a 10 inch F5 scope. Issues like field of view, dewing, tracking, collimation, thermal equilibrium, coma, chromatic aberration(false color), polar alignment, periodic error correction, auto guiding, vibration.... There is just a great deal to learn and understand about operating a telescope, there is no ideal scope, no one scope that is the best value, the best deal... 2. So, I recommend that even after you get some experience, you consider something simple as a first scope, something that will allow you to discover what you enjoy and don't enjoy. Then when you have some experience, then is the time to spend some real money on the stuff that will serve your needs. 3. Astrophotography is an expensive and tedious task. It is one part of this hobby where dollars really make a big difference, having the correct equipment, really does make a big difference, especially when imaging the deep sky. A good rig starts at the bottom with a solid tripod, a solid mount that has accurate tracking, auto-guiding, and then one adds a scope or two and a camera or two as well. Deep sky imaging is possible with general purpose digital cameras such as your C-5050, it does allow exposures up to 16 seconds and it does have noise reduction, both of these make it possible. With your camera you would be able to image the planets, starfields and some of the brighter Deep sky objects. But in general, deep sky photography requires exposures much longer than 16 seconds and requires cameras that cool the CCD chip because otherwise. Such cameras are expensive, though getting cheaper. A 5 mega pixel AstroCamera would be probably be over $10,000. Fortunately one does not need a 5 megapixel camera and under most circumstances those pixels are wasted. A couple of good sites for photography are www.astropix.com Lots of photos and a good section that is basically a primer in all aspects of Astrophotography. www.astro-physics.com Lots of nice astrophotos take by a variety of folks, most all with Astro-Physics scopes with a variety of cameras. So, I hope I haven't discouraged you. Joining a club and getting in some time with experienced folks ought to be exciting and at the same time help you discover what this is all about.... Best wishes, jon isaacs |
#10
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Jon Isaacs wrote:
Any suggestions appreciated! Thanks Hello Rob. Welcome aboard and welcome to a great pass time. You are looking for some advice, I am going to provide some, though it may not quite be what you are hoping for. I will not recommend any scope or mount or eyepieces. ................................ A couple of good sites for photography are www.astropix.com Lots of photos and a good section that is basically a primer in all aspects of Astrophotography. www.astro-physics.com Lots of nice astrophotos take by a variety of folks, most all with Astro-Physics scopes with a variety of cameras. So, I hope I haven't discouraged you. Joining a club and getting in some time with experienced folks ought to be exciting and at the same time help you discover what this is all about.... Best wishes, jon isaacs lurker says, Jon's post is an outstanding example of the good and proper responses that are so few, and far between. imho |
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