Buying Telescope

[P4cm4n2000]

Hi Bros,

Anyone out there into astronomy, can give me some advice?

I intend to attach to my Canon 400D camera and take pictures of the Moon...etc...astronomy....

Some of local sites and shops can be found but perhaps I thought I should seek out some help here in DH first

http://www.astro.com.sg/

http://www.singastro.org/web/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page

my budget is about S$500 range, already got one from Carrefour at S$50 but cannot make it! it moves by itself when the wind blows,but the time you adjusted it, the move moved liao haha......and image upsidedown one

Thanks Bros!

[plug&fly]

Are you sure...

It is astronomy? and not anatomy?

[randomtask]

Hehehe, for a closer look at the Moons of Venus (at the next block)


Cheers
Adnan

[P4cm4n2000]

Hehehe, for a closer look at the Moons of Venus (at the next block)


Cheers
Adnan

haha...more like capturing Chekgu digging his nose...keke..

[Brandon Chng]

i'm in astronomy. i have a 102mm maksutov goto scope. i say wait till singastro has some good deals. the shop at sci center is too overpriced.

unfortunately, if you're expecting to take colorful photos of the galaxies and close up photos of the planets like those you see on the web, you will be in for a shock. in order to take such photos you will need to get to a very dark place(most prob in msia) and with a fairly large telescope. expect a proper astro-imaging setup to set you back at least 3k.

for $500 perhaps you can consider some secondhand 80mm refractors. however i'm not sure the included tripod will be able to take the weight of a dslr.

[jack_mav88]

The shop at Singapore Science Centre is relatively expensive due to the shipping cost it has to bear. Take a look at the Singastro's market place to find some used telescope. Its a good place to start and ppl there can give you good advices.

Taking astronomic pictures involve alot more equipment then the camera and telescopes. U got to get a proper mount for the scope for stability. If you want to auto track the object you are going to take, you will have to get a tracking mount. Other accessories includes filters, starcharts (if you want to take pics of other objects), software for editing and cleaning up the pics...etc.

$500 budget might be abit low to get you started as this hobby cost the same or even more than our flying hobby. .

Used equipments is the only way to get you started for this amount.

Just my 2 cents worth of information.

Read through the Singastro forum and you will get alot more info from there or join one of their observation session.

U might want to PM a guy call Weixing over at the singastro forum and he might be able to help you out as he is a friendly buy and always like to share information with newbies. Just tell him jackie introduce you.

Regards,
Jackie

[P4cm4n2000]

Hey Many Thanks Brandon and Jackie for sharing your experience and valuable information.

I'm will definitely read up more local forums & reseach before buying a scope.
Saw Brandon's post in 2006 how he started and almost the same questions I asked:

http://www.daddyhobby.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16564&highlight=astronomy

Agree that the shop at Science Centre have priced too expensively (rental mah and low run rate).

Some more I heard now we got to pay admin into Science Centre in order to access to that shop, not sure how true, havent check yet.

The last time I went to that shop in Science Centre with my son, saw their telescopes promotional price, very attractive, about S$400 - $700 range.

Instead I bought the cheap telescope at S$50 from Carrefour 2yrs back.
Waited till now to progress further when time permits.

Took a picture of the moon using my Canon 400D with a 300mm zoom lens.
Wish I could take closer pics using a scope and see galaxies.

Agree also its good to start from used scopes since sometimes.

BTW Brandon, how much is your 102mm maksutov scope?

Thanks man!

[flameangel]

I suggest you do a search for celestron on Amazon.com So much cheaper than getting locally.

[Cessna584]

Shopping

I suggest you do a search for celestron on Amazon.com So much cheaper than getting locally.

Ya! agreed with flameangel! Or you could also try Yahoo shopping. Also got cheap prices also.

[nixaad]

careful what you shoot at... you'll never know what'll cross your lens...

[Brandon Chng]

prices from stores in the US are very attractive, however if you include shipping the large optical tube and the very heavy tripod, your shipping + gst alone can easily run up $300+ for even a normal sized scope. and i wouldn't personally do it cos i will have to settle any issues that arise from the scope bumping around and all that glass getting out of alignment. unless you can find a good deal on shipping, i would still recommend a secondhand scope. used optical equipment does not really degrade much over time anyway. i got my nexstar 4 from its previous owner locally for $500. did the carbon tube weave myself.

if you want a good astrophoto setup thats not overly huge or complicated, look for apochromatic refractors. these are the long tube ones with special extra low dispersion glass. if you use a achromatic refractor on the moon, i think you will get severe colour fringing so an apo will help alot. a good size to start would be 80mm. 100 or 120mm if you can afford it. most importantly get a good sturdy tripod.

check these pages out

http://www.singastro.org/web/mediawiki/index.php/Astronomy_Beginners

http://www.singastro.org/web/mediawiki/index.php/How_to_buy_a_telescope_in_Singapore

astrobargains and mcgill have some reasonably good prices

http://www.mcgill.com.sg/shop/default.php?cPath=21_25

the 127mm maksutov is currently sg's most popular scope cos of its size and value for money. anything bigger is a PITA to lug around, anything smaller doesn't have alot of performance in sg's skies.

[mave]

Hey Bro,
you want to take a picture of the moon?
Just look into some website lah.. The moon shows you the same face everyday. SO nothing different.

But like what Plug&fly says, the next block venus may just show you a full moon once in a blue moon....
Hey man, just kidding.

Hi Bros,

Anyone out there into astronomy, can give me some advice?

I intend to attach to my Canon 400D camera and take pictures of the Moon...etc...astronomy....

Some of local sites and shops can be found but perhaps I thought I should seek out some help here in DH first

http://www.astro.com.sg/

http://www.singastro.org/web/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page

my budget is about S$500 range, already got one from Carrefour at S$50 but cannot make it! it moves by itself when the wind blows,but the time you adjusted it, the move moved liao haha......and image upsidedown one

Thanks Bros!

[flameangel]

For me, i'm using a Lumix FZ-10 (19x Optical Zoom) with 1.7x zoom lens to take pic of the moon (F11 & Shutter Mode). Total zoom is arnd 32X. Photo turn out pretty decent showing craters of the moon. When i pt the camera to mars, i could capture it as a orange planet. Too bad, i can't extend the zoom further. Imagine if i could have 48x zoom on my digital camera, i can even take pic of saturn ring!

A pretty good portable telescope fyi.

http://www.amazon.com/Meade-ETX125EC-Telescope-Autostar-Controller/dp/B00008IOVY/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1204696470&sr=8-3

[rc1q2w3e4r]

My Setup

Yo Yo Bro,

Share with you my setup.



Celestron C90 Mak which I picked up secnd hand for $280. We will need a T-Adapter and Ring to your 400D which should set you back around $50. Then you are set to go. These are some photos which I'm able to achieve with this setup.

And lots of patience !

[P4cm4n2000]

Wah Ken....Thanks for the info man!

where did you buy your Celestron C90 Mak from? got lobang pls tell me...

guess U must been bz....see you around soon bro!

will give you a call if need help on the Celestron C90 Mak .

hey..a few of the brightess spot on the moon seems in same position as the pic I posted...haha..