Just got an eight inch Orion Dobsonian and found your videos. Your method for attaching a DSLR works fine on the Orion with the following adjustment. Attached as you described, I could not drive the focus down far enough to get in focus. Very close but not quite enough. I put a 2X barlow lens in between the camera and the telescope and that solved the issue. Don't ask me why I did this - I just did it and it worked. Of course choosing the correct camera exposure is just a guess since the camera has to be on manual. Fortunately with a DSLR you just throw away the mistakes. Thanks for your help - you saved me much time.
pro tip Helena - when changing lenses on your DSLR, do it with the lens facing down (and of course, be careful not drop the camera or lens!) - this uses gravity to help dust settling on your mirror assembly in the DSLR (and from there, onto your sensor of course). SkyWatcher and Orion both use GSO dobso;nians (GSO is the OEM manufacturer), so this should work for all dobs from these brands...I have a 60D and a 6" Saxon (GSO oem too) dob and can't reach prime focus correctly and sharply... edit: my Saxon dob has a weird focuser with a flange assembly adaptor for going from 2" to 1.25" eyepieces, so a t adaptor doesn't fit (tried it for the lunar eclipse mid last year).
Hey Helena! I need help, I’ve got a sky watcher and a dslr however when I put it onto my telescope it doesn’t take the photos I’m looking for, it’s got the same sensor as yours and I just don’t understand, any help would be appreciated! Have a great day
What’s the lens adapter bit called? When I removed it to try and use 2inch collimating laser and also any other 2 inch accessory it’s about 6mm to small Measures 56mm where as 2 inch accessories are 50mm Hope that makes sense
Thanks Helena. Thats a cool dome you have - I won’t show my son as he will want one too. Can you drop a link to the T Ring you have and also can you show some of the shots you achieved with the Canon. I have a pretty old Canon 20D which is a great camera but somewhat limited in some ways. Thanks.
Hi Chris. Whatever works for you really! With eyepieces it depends on the magnification. The smaller the number, the bigger the magnification. In my case, the 7mm is my highest. Taking photos is actually more complicated but just attach your camera with the t-ring straight onto the dob and you’ll be all set!
Wow you have a backyard observatory! Can you tell more about how you got that built, with the dome & openings. Maybe you can post a video about the operation.
Hiya! It depends on your camera. I would assume that it would be the same as mine. I would double check online though and check if any additional adapters are needed for your Dobsonian - clear skies!
Hi, Helena and everybody here..I have an 10 inch collapsible skywatcher dobsonian..can you please suggest what camera will be suitable to do astrophotography??my max budget is 500USD..Please give 2-3 options if possible..thanks..clear skies!!!
Yes, the T-rings are brand specific. Most Amazon listings will have options for all major brands + you can also check the description of the product to make sure the T-ring matches your exact camera model and not just the brand.
Thanks for video which I found useful. I got bought the Skywatcher Explorer 130m with eq2 mount and motor drive which I plan to do deep sky astrophotography with it this winter (orion) . Just noticed one of the ring tubes that you can attach my Canon 700D on too for piggyback astrophotography. Still got alot to learn to do astrophotography with telescope. I use camera to photograph the constellations and the international space station but now I'm entering whole new world astrophotography. I have list of objects I want to photograph in a year like M42 M31 north american nebula and M16 the eagle nebula. I want to use my Hauwei p20 smartphone and recently went to dark sky area of Glencoe near Fort William and took fantastic shots with phone camera on tripod!
you have to buy a adapter for orion like Orion xxg12 they don't come ready like the sky-watcher, also you need a tripod for your cameras so you can use both hands i would have dropped the canon lens using one hand so well done
Hi Craig, yeah there are specific t-rings for specific brands. For example, a Canon t-ring might not fit a Nikon camera. It just depends on the make. 🙂
Think you will find that you can't focus the camera. The reason is that the focal plane is too narrow, you will need an adapter or barlow x2 to gain focus.
With my Orion x10g, I can't achieve focus with my Canon EOS t4i. I tried f couple of prime focus adapters to cut down the optical path as much as possible, but it was still too long to achieve the focus. So, I ended up using 2x barlow. With 2x barlow, FOV is too small for a lot of DSOs such as M42. Otoh, I found it nice to have 2x mag for planets. For DSOs, I'm thinking of buying a mirrorless camera or a low profile focuser to cut down the optical path length. Anyway, I'm curious how you achieve the focus with your skywatcher.
This might sound really stupid, but surely you’re just going to be able to get some photos of the secondary mirror, as if just looking through the viewfinder with no eyepieces?
You can get special attachments to rig up a camera and a Barlow lens to make your observations much bigger and clearer. This, however, needs thought through as depending on the scope, you will need a certain number of adapters (very specific measurements). This is the issue I had when I tried the first time and I had a back focus issue.
Ok I wasn’t sure how people get some shots. Thank you for the info and the reply! I am new I have a 90mm achromatic refractor and try to get photos with my iPhone it’s hard lol. I have always wanted a dobsonian and a DSLR those are my next purchases one day
It doesent matter if you have an Orion telescope, any telescope can do. You just need a 1,25" adapter on the t2 ring for your camera. If you have a 2" Like SkyWatcher 10" that you have you just use the adapter.
Great topic Helena! A lot of people want to know how to do this :) Congrats on over 100 subs and keep up the great videos!!!
Thank you so much Trevor! 🙂
15.2k now wow
Just got an eight inch Orion Dobsonian and found your videos. Your method for attaching a DSLR works fine on the Orion with the following adjustment. Attached as you described, I could not drive the focus down far enough to get in focus. Very close but not quite enough. I put a 2X barlow lens in between the camera and the telescope and that solved the issue. Don't ask me why I did this - I just did it and it worked. Of course choosing the correct camera exposure is just a guess since the camera has to be on manual. Fortunately with a DSLR you just throw away the mistakes.
Thanks for your help - you saved me much time.
That's great! A really helpful practical tutorial.
Glad it was helpful!
pro tip Helena - when changing lenses on your DSLR, do it with the lens facing down (and of course, be careful not drop the camera or lens!) - this uses gravity to help dust settling on your mirror assembly in the DSLR (and from there, onto your sensor of course).
SkyWatcher and Orion both use GSO dobso;nians (GSO is the OEM manufacturer), so this should work for all dobs from these brands...I have a 60D and a 6" Saxon (GSO oem too) dob and can't reach prime focus correctly and sharply... edit: my Saxon dob has a weird focuser with a flange assembly adaptor for going from 2" to 1.25" eyepieces, so a t adaptor doesn't fit (tried it for the lunar eclipse mid last year).
Thank you. This hasbeen extrmly useful after searching through lots of other videos, this one has been the only clear one!
I love the kettle there on the floor. An essential piece of kit that is..
It is the backbone to my setup.
Just the video I needed. I have an 8” Dob and I’m looking forward to getting a t-ring.
Hi Helena. Nice video. I have a question, what's the brand of that dome?
Hey Helena! I need help, I’ve got a sky watcher and a dslr however when I put it onto my telescope it doesn’t take the photos I’m looking for, it’s got the same sensor as yours and I just don’t understand, any help would be appreciated! Have a great day
Brilliant! Thank you for this tutorial, it will definitely come handy once my Sky-watcher 250mm dobsonian arrives! 😃😊
Oh, by the way, your backyard observatory looks amazing, it must be a great place to observe from. And congrats for the channel!!
What’s the lens adapter bit called?
When I removed it to try and use 2inch collimating laser and also any other 2 inch accessory it’s about 6mm to small
Measures 56mm where as 2 inch accessories are 50mm
Hope that makes sense
Thanks Helena. Thats a cool dome you have - I won’t show my son as he will want one too. Can you drop a link to the T Ring you have and also can you show some of the shots you achieved with the Canon. I have a pretty old Canon 20D which is a great camera but somewhat limited in some ways. Thanks.
Excellent, but I'm still not sure if I should use the eyepieces - sounds more complicated but presumably you can get a bigger, clearer image?
Hi Chris. Whatever works for you really! With eyepieces it depends on the magnification. The smaller the number, the bigger the magnification. In my case, the 7mm is my highest. Taking photos is actually more complicated but just attach your camera with the t-ring straight onto the dob and you’ll be all set!
Wow you have a backyard observatory! Can you tell more about how you got that built, with the dome & openings. Maybe you can post a video about the operation.
Very helpful!! I have a EOS 700d and Skywatcher 200p Dobsonian do I require the same TRing? Thank you!!
Hiya! It depends on your camera. I would assume that it would be the same as mine. I would double check online though and check if any additional adapters are needed for your Dobsonian - clear skies!
@@HelenasAstrophotography thank you I will double check. Scotland certainly have dark skies tonight!
Hi, Helena and everybody here..I have an 10 inch collapsible skywatcher dobsonian..can you please suggest what camera will be suitable to do astrophotography??my max budget is 500USD..Please give 2-3 options if possible..thanks..clear skies!!!
Are the T rings specific to the brand of the camera? I saw a posting for a Celestron Canon EOS T Ring. Would this work with a Nikon DSLR?
Yes, the T-rings are brand specific. Most Amazon listings will have options for all major brands + you can also check the description of the product to make sure the T-ring matches your exact camera model and not just the brand.
Thanks for video which I found useful. I got bought the Skywatcher Explorer 130m with eq2 mount and motor drive which I plan to do deep sky astrophotography with it this winter (orion) . Just noticed one of the ring tubes that you can attach my Canon 700D on too for piggyback astrophotography. Still got alot to learn to do astrophotography with telescope. I use camera to photograph the constellations and the international space station but now I'm entering whole new world astrophotography. I have list of objects I want to photograph in a year like M42 M31 north american nebula and M16 the eagle nebula. I want to use my Hauwei p20 smartphone and recently went to dark sky area of Glencoe near Fort William and took fantastic shots with phone camera on tripod!
you have to buy a adapter for orion like Orion xxg12 they don't come ready like the sky-watcher, also you need a tripod for your cameras so you can use both hands i would have dropped the canon lens using one hand so well done
Do the t-rings come in different sizes for different lenses? Are they all fairly standard or are some brands of t-rings better than others?
Hi Craig, yeah there are specific t-rings for specific brands. For example, a Canon t-ring might not fit a Nikon camera. It just depends on the make. 🙂
Think you will find that you can't focus the camera. The reason is that the focal plane is too narrow, you will need an adapter or barlow x2 to gain focus.
With my Orion x10g, I can't achieve focus with my Canon EOS t4i. I tried f couple of prime focus adapters to cut down the optical path as much as possible, but it was still too long to achieve the focus. So, I ended up using 2x barlow. With 2x barlow, FOV is too small for a lot of DSOs such as M42. Otoh, I found it nice to have 2x mag for planets.
For DSOs, I'm thinking of buying a mirrorless camera or a low profile focuser to cut down the optical path length.
Anyway, I'm curious how you achieve the focus with your skywatcher.
This might sound really stupid, but surely you’re just going to be able to get some photos of the secondary mirror, as if just looking through the viewfinder with no eyepieces?
Do people ever set a eyepiece in front of the camera lense or does that not work? I see people use Barlow Lenses
You can get special attachments to rig up a camera and a Barlow lens to make your observations much bigger and clearer. This, however, needs thought through as depending on the scope, you will need a certain number of adapters (very specific measurements). This is the issue I had when I tried the first time and I had a back focus issue.
Ok I wasn’t sure how people get some shots. Thank you for the info and the reply! I am new I have a 90mm achromatic refractor and try to get photos with my iPhone it’s hard lol. I have always wanted a dobsonian and a DSLR those are my next purchases one day
It doesent matter if you have an Orion telescope, any telescope can do. You just need a 1,25" adapter on the t2 ring for your camera. If you have a 2" Like SkyWatcher 10" that you have you just use the adapter.
Thank you so much! 🙂
#fiddlytwiddlybits