I have to tell you, I just came in from using my 10” dobsonian and I was so discouraged after hooking my camera up to it. After watching this , I understand the limits much better thank you so much for making this video! Subscribed!
i dont think you guys understand what is stacking... i have a 3" refractor that is a piece of crap and still get good results, you guys need to learn a bit about stacking and processing...
@@T0ly113 Tomas is talking star trails though, not resolution. Stacking allows (indirectly) for shorter exposure times, which minimizes/eliminates trails. So yeah, it is possible to get good images with proper processing from a smaller 'scope, better than overexposed blurry raw images from a larger one.
@@KatorNia yeah, you can take like 1000 shorter exposure images of andromeda, stack them all with the flats and darks, and get a really clear picture, processing matters a lot to the final image.
Your videos are soooo incredibly helpful and I miss having you on here this past year. Your step-by-step, tips, tricks, and keeping it simple, while viewing and talking/discussing/explaining.... I just LOVE sky watching with you. I always come back to your videos when I forget something.
My favorite part: "Can you use the 8" dobsonian for astrophotography? Yes you can...but no you really cant" :) Thank you for your video and information, really enjoyed it.
What if we follow this approach: We use the 500 rule to avoid star trails, with a telescope of 1000 mm focal length and a camera with a crop factor of 1.6 (Canon APS-C), the effective focal length becomes 1600 mm. This gives a maximum exposure time of approximately 1/3 of a second (500 / 1600 ≈ 0.3125 s). To play it safe, you could use a slightly shorter time, like 1/4 of a second. While individual exposures are limited, you could take between 150-200 images with this setup and stack them using specialized software like DeepSkyStacker which is free. This would simulate a total exposure time of around 38 to 50 seconds, gathering enough light to capture deep space objects, albeit with some limitations in the final image quality.
I was curious about what could be done with a telescope and what size to look for. I appreciate your candid statements so expectations are kept real. It gives me a better understanding of what equipment I would likely want. I appreciate the time you took to make this video available.
Thank you for sharing your photos with us! I just got an 8" dobsonian and have been trying to figure out what to expect from it with a camera. I really appreciate how much you covered. Can't wait to get some planetary shots!
Planets imaging are achieved via lucky imaging. You basicly record a video (or a series of low exposure images) and then combine those images using lucky imaging algorithms. A single exposure image will result in a fuzzy object (high exposure time is not needed as the solar system's planest are very bright)
Awesome video! I started out with my 10" Dobsonian and the visuals I got were amazing. I captured a lot of great lunar images with it too. I also tried the Orion Nebula and I got the same results as you showed today. Keep up the awesome work and clear skies!
So the visual you get from just using your eyes or eye is amazing? Just the photos he's capturing are average? Looking at buying 1 just to look at galaxys and stars but all the videos I've watched are discouraging
I have the Skywatcher Goto 200P and man what you can do with that is incredible. The GoTo mount allow you to push the exposure up to 30seconds before star trail starts to affect the image. With 30seconds exposure you get the hell amount of details. Stack 80/100 frames and the pics that you get out of a Dob are really amazing! Great video that shows what you can do on a budget! Subbed ;)
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing I do believe with a traverse base ring gear and a window wiper motor out of an old car, along with a worm gear driven elevator motor, and a way to mount them, you could then use a raspberry pi or even an old laptop to control the motor voltages and amps at varied magnifications, you could track stars for medium-long exposure shots. If you could get it to work well enough, deep sky shots could maybe be possible on a dob. It's what I am going to be trying to do, anyway. Wish me luck!
@@davidbentley1391 well if understand correctly in what hes saying. You will only be able to track movement in Right Ascension. And thats _only_ if you polar aligned perfectly, and then even so were talking a dobsonian which is alot heavier then say a refractor so after it tracks however long it can, it then will have to be repositioned to accurately track the object again. And depending on the motor you salvage it could track to slow or fast or even not smoothly. Im just saying to accurately track the motion of the stars you need a guide camera or else your going to get elongated stars; regardless of what motorized mount you have(even the best motorized mounts, polar aligned perfectly, will be off somewhat especially with long exposures). But hey im not disowning the idea, more power to whomever can actually make this work, besides people have created the barn door method for tracking stars a D.I.Y. project for less then all of our ideas. Literally under 10 dollars. Clears skies everyone!
Great video. I am quite new to astronomy and I have the same telescope and love it. One of the things I love about it is that I HAVE TO manually find objects. Thanks for the video mate.
Heh yeah, it can be tough at first finding new objects. But it help out so much in the long run learning the night sky! Good luck with the new scope, and clear skies.
that's the same attitude i had when buying my first scope. it would almost be embarassing for me to have just bought a goto and then if it broke or the batteries died, for instance, i would have no idea what i'm doing. with my dob i'm aquiring a new skill, getting to know the sky, and spending quality and peaceful time just stargazing and getting in touch with the creation and my thoughts.
I know this is a old video and i dont know if your gonna read this comment , but this is one of the best astrophotography videos for a complete beginner to watch , actually answered alot of my questions i had. Now im confident im going to buy a telescope and DSLR.
Excellent information! I have the same scope, and I will definitely try using a camera on it after seeing this video. Keep posting your experiences with the Dobsonian!
I really enjoy watching your videos, its refreshing to watch someone that hasn't spent £1000's on there set up and talks in a easy to remember way. Any chance of a Rosetta nebula tutorial at all?
Thanks for this video,.. I was just about to buy this telescope for deep space photography. Just like music, there is a reason to buy quality gear if your gonna get serious about photography. Huntsville, Alabama home of NASA
How do you do the automatic crop thing, the square that you move across the screen with the buttons? I have a Canon 250d, not sure what this function is called
Question: Because a 3-4 sec exposure is causing a star trail, why can't we do a 1-2 sec exposure pictures, then stack multiple of them in DSS and maybe get a better result?
You can. It's called Lucky Imaging; you take as many images as you can, and have software parse the data and remove any frames with heavy atmosphere or trails, etc. I have GoTo function on my 12" dob and it's alt/az tracking will hold long enough even for DSO imaging. For planets, you can hold for quite a while. And that's just the OEM GoTo for tracking. If you opted for a custom EQ base I'd imagine it would hold track for hours.
@@fubar5884 Stacking differs from Lucky Imaging in its purpose. Stacking aims to decrease noise by combining multiple images, whereas Lucky Imaging focuses on capturing only the sharpest images.
When I mount my phone on my dobsonian, to get 10+ second exposures I determined how fast the stars move. I then take the picture but ever so gently apply a light tough to my scope in the direction that the subject is moving and it decreases the star trailing by a significant amount.
I also have this telescope and I tried also to photograph deep sky objects. I have to go under 0.5 seconds. This means the pictures aren’t bright enough. But to photograph the moon it is very good in my opinion. I also photograph planes and the photos are useful. For visual astronomy the telescope is good.
Still looking into buying one of these for my 14 year old son and myself. I've had an interest for years however never been in a position to buy one. Now my son is showing an interest it seems a good time to purchase as it his education that matters now! A great video BTW. I've watched a few now!! A big thumbs up!!!
I also have a 6" dob, no canon. I am trying to get my android phone (a oneplus), a ROM to allow me to set exposure time and other settings to exactly what I want, and build or buy a star tracker for my scope. Why not? Maybe I am onto something. Not needing a DSLR to get decent astro shots, just a decent smartphone camera and a mount, would lower the bar for entry into astrophotography for a lot of people. Good luck with your astronomy :)
@@williamaudet1235 I got a oneplus 7 pro, used, it has a 48mp camera and a pro mode where you have access to all the standard settings you'd expect from a DSLR. I got an amazing shot of the Centaurus arm of the Milky Way with the setup last year.
@@Gun4Freedom Nice man, I just ordered a mount for my pixel 3a, but I don't think I can change any camera settings on the pixel. My father has some old cameras he let me borrow, a nikon D300 and D70s, I can probably do something with those. The biggest lens he has is a variable 70-210mm or something like that so maybe I can take picture without any telescope. My other option would be to mount it directly on my 6 inch dobsinian but don't know if its possible.
Great honest and useful video. I’ve got a similar problem with an 8” SCT. Great for planets, moon, double stars but not so great for deep space. Mostly due to its really long Focal Length of over 2,000mm. I know I can do some updates to help such as a focal reducer but for deep space it’s still gonna be tricky. I really think DSO photography requires a great equatorial tracking mount and a refractor or shorter focal length reflector scope.
You can do plenty of deep sky with an AltAz mount. Just keep your exposures to 30 seconds and under and you won't even notice it. Then stack the photos.
@@wondermom2five Thanks! Yes, I did get the focal reducer and did some DSO imaging with decent results. Found up to 20 secs was optimum and live stacking works well. I have recently added a wedge so now I have an equatorial mount. I haven’t done very long exposures yet but will try soon.
You can make an equatorial platform for it for cheaps. Loads of explanations on the web and also tutorials on youtube. Check out the channel of Tiago Fereira. He uses a dob, at mostly 6" exporsures. And then do live stacking using sharpcap. You can then make photograps of loads of DSO's
Great videos dude. I've an orion 8xt dob and looking to do the exact same. What adapter did you need and what camera are you using. Sorry for the total noob questions. I've just subbed too. Great content for those starting out in an easy to follow way. I was very impressed with the 1 second shutter speed. I didn't expect such a good shot.
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing i can respect that brother i get it but it doesn't hurt to wish my friend keep them coming great work!! You are doing stuff I can only wish that I could do!!
I understood that this telescope wasn’t going to be great for astrophotography but before I blew 1.3k on a William Optics Redcat auto tracking mount setup I have bought this one to see if it inspires me further. I do have a t-mount to try a little bit of photography but it’s mainly for human viewing.
I have the 12 inch zhumell. It's just like the Dobsonian telescopes. I'm trying to find a t ring for it. I have used a clamp for my phone and got some cool pics.
I put Magic Lantern on my Canon EOS 1200D(aka. Rebel T5), and it enables one to completely control the exposure settings when making a video, conduct time lapse photography with user dictated intervals, and extremely long exposure times for photographs. I was nervous to add it on, as it's an add on firmware. But it's worked very well, and it doesn't really load onto the camera, or replace the camera's firmware, it lives on the SD card. So if I put in an SD card that I didn't load it onto. . . then it's like it's never been loaded. Which is useful if I don't want to use it. I mean, you can also hold down a button and make it not load, but it's nice to just be able to switch cards and have it off or on. Anyways, excellent video. Thank you for sharing what you know and do.
I honestly thought contrast would be a problem and would be much lower than a camera lens or APO, and since we already have to stretch out contrast so much it’d make it too hard to do. But looks like if you solve tracking it should be quite fine.
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing I remember seeing wedges that you can place the mount on that would track the whole scope and mount. They were motorized and required orienting.
Nice, practical information. I am hoping to be able to do some EAA with a reflector, still trying to work it all out. Thank you. Is your DSLR modified? What model is it? Can it feed live video to a PC?
I'm using a Canon T3i/600d. It's currently not modified, but I'm thinking about changing that before long... I can't honestly say if it'll feed to a PC or not. It's something I have never tried, but I don't see why it wouldn't with the correct cables/programs!
Greetings from the uk.ive just bought a 200p flexitube goto.my question is would I need a barlow attached to the dslr with it being a goto? I imagine using a barlow with the goto would get me a closer image of the same trapezuim.great videos.keep them coming I'm subbed. Oh and was that photo an instant shot or did you photoshop the pic then edit it in to the video.it looked pretty instant to me?
Yeah, all the barlow will do is get you closer in on whatever target you're looking at. The goto will be a fantastic feature to help you learn your way around the night sky as well! The shot of M42 was an instant shot. I'm sure there is some magic that can be done to it and make it look tremendously better heh. Good luck with that new scope!
thanks for another great video answered a lot of questions did you do research into a deep sky telescope yet? if so can you do a video or explanation? thanks Tom
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing Perhaps so. The skies are clear now so hopefully we will have clear skies tonight. I am attempting to find the Crab nebula.
Cheers from Brazil! Great video dude, you got a new sub. I'm still starting, and all I got for now is a 10x50 bibocular and a tripod. I got a question about the astrophotography though, what if you stack lets say 300 pics with 1" second exposure, wouldn't it be the equivalent to 300 seconds exposure time?
Stacking is used for enabling you to edit photos aggressively without destroying data from image and overall better quality, so stacking has nothing to do with collecting more light on your camera sensor. So basically stacking=indestructible image for editing, exposure time=more light collected on pic so stacking + 300 1s exposures ≠ "better image". Hope this information helps you, have a clear skies!
@@reab111 Thank you!! And yes, I have stacked a few pictures taken with my canon bridge camera since that comment, and realized, it basically helps reducing the noise, making it easier to post edit. Thank you for your information!!
i just got one just like this last week for 250 woth a telrad and all! i love it! i wondered if i could take pictures on it, tried to take one of jupiter and its moons with my phone lastnight, jupiter was way too bright, couldnt get saturn to look like anything other than an oval, not sure how to balance that out, it looks great through the eye piece
time. shorten up the time. or change expo if you can. do one thing at a time . lil hint tho.. video them. then make image from it.. theres tons of vids on here so i wont go over it. its kind of best way to do planets is videon them .
Very informative video. Im Bran spankin new to Astronomy and im trying to figure out what setup i should go with to learn. I want to be able to take pictures of everything. lol But at the same time i dont have thousands of dollars to spend on the proper equipment in order to do deep space photography. Im going to watch the rest of your videos. thanks dave
Thank you! Do you have any suggestions for getting objects in focus? I am adjusting the focus knobs on the telescope with the camera in place but I just see the telescope cross pieces.
Awesome video! Thanks for putting it up. I have a question, would a higher iso on the camera help with the shorter exposure to shoe the could of the nebula better? Thanks again
Yeah! The t-ring and t-ring adapter I use are both Celestron brand. The t-adapter is the universal 1.25” one. As for barlows I use the Celestron Omni 2x Barlow, and sometimes the Orion Trimag 3x.
Hi my name it's Andrei and I want to get into astrophotography but I don't know what camera that you attach to your telescope are you using. Can you tell me please ?
I’m using a Canon t3i/600d. I bought it used a couple of years ago and it’s served me well! A good camera for the used price. Good luck and clear skies!
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing Backyard Astronomy recommends that as a great starter camera primarily because there are a lot of them available used around $150
Crazy question: how much utility could you get out of a GoTo dob like the xt8g, with a camera field rotator? Would you reckon tracking is accurate enough to avoid star trails? What would you guess is the upper useable limit on exposure time with such a setup?
Eh it's hard to say really... I've heard of guys getting upwards of 30 second exposures on the automated dobs. My guess is that would be the upper limits. Certainly better than the results I can get, but nothing close to an actual EQ setup.
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing There are equatorial bases upon which dobs can be placed. They're effectively a polar aligned tilting table, very close to the ground. They're motor driven, and have a roughly one hour tracking time, before the tilt angle becomes precarious and the table needs to be reset. But that just takes a few moments. They can track just as accurately as any equatorial system out there. It all depends on how precisely the equatorial base was manufactured and polar aligned.
The only significant restriction, is that they're generally made for a specific latitude, and can't be adjusted much in that regard, or at least not as much as a German equatorial mount can.
Great video , couple of newbie questions for you: for a zhumell z8 and a canon T2i all I would need is the T ring or do I need a “T adaptor” as well? What is the magnification when you hook a dslr up like this? You said your focal length is 1200 and I think the camera is a 50mm so that would work out to 24x ? Is that correct? Can you attach the camera to individual eyepieces for different magnification levels ? Thanks
If your scope has some threads on the outside of the focus tube, then you won't need a t adaptor. The SkyWatcher dobs have these threads on them allowing you to attach the camera directly to the scope. If your scope doesn't, then you'll need an adaptor as well. I have a t adaptor so I can use my barlow lenses... so if you're planning on using a barlow you will need a t adaptor. Here's another video of mine showing these threads on the focus tube to make it easier... check ~1:38 in the vid: ua-cam.com/video/8607YGFG12Q/v-deo.html As for the focal length, the focal length of the scope becomes your actual fl. So with just the camera my fl is 1200mm. Adding in a barlow lens or focal reducers changes your fl. Hope this helps!
Hey, nice video. I always wondered why i never saw people use dobsonians for astrophotography. Would an 8inch dobsonian be worth $470 (apertura AD8) for deep space objects? I won't be using it for photography but for naked eye viewing. Im worried about it being underwhelming as I've seen videos of 8 inch dobs being used on UA-cam and the views are not great. Could this be because dobs are simply not made for cameras (as shown in the video) so they look worse when shown on youtube than they would in person? I just want to make a safe purchase (: I hope to hear your input, thank you
It's a tough call really telling someone if they may be underwhelmed or not. It is tough to show exactly what you'll see through one of these scopes. Planets & the Moon through this thing is awesome. DSO's are a different animal. The best way I can describe something like the Orion Nebula through this scope is this... It's a blue/green cloud really. You can certainly see the gases present, but some of it is rather faint. Not much color there at all. The same goes for the Andromeda Galaxy as well. It's more or less a large dense smudge in the sky. For the most part, you can make out what DSO you're viewing. This may sound rather underwhelming, but I feel much of the excitement comes from actually seeing that object with your own eyes, rather than a very long exposure. On top of that, tracking the object down via star hopping, etc is a blast as well. As for the Apertura, it's a killer scope package. All the little accessories it comes with are a life saver at times. Maybe check out the Zhumell Z8 as well as it's a similar package. Hope this helps, and clear skies!
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing Thank you for the information! I appreciate it. I'll give this some more thought before purchasing one as I want to be sure I'll use it often. I'll keep your comment in mind.
Good photo! Question for you, I have also got SkyWatcher 200P Dobsonian Telescope and would like to attach my Nikon D3300 camera to it. So do I need a t-ring as well as a t-adapter to attach on it? Will you please let me know for my information?
Did yr camera have the iron cut filter removed? Or is that a stock camera. I just moved to an heq6 mount and 1000m 200p SW. hoping to get some AP done when I can get to grips with the polar alignment. Quite daunting at first.anyway massive thankyou for putting up this vid.
very nice. Seems like the Dobsonian works fairly well for deep space images. If the tracking motion control was used this would give new life to these pictures. 😎 Thanks a lot.
The Orion Nebula has some subtle color to it. As for other dso, they mostly appear colorless to the eye. A true dark sky site may have different results!
Hello - I need some general advice. I am going to buy an Dobsonian - either 6 inch or 8 inch to enjoy with my family. How long do planets such as mars or Jupiter stay in frame with the 28 and 10 mm lens? 5 minutes? 30 seconds? Also - what do you think of the Orion Starshoot V 3 mp camera? I don't want to locate a planet and then say "look kids" and there is only black space after they put their eyes to the lens or look at the laptop screen. I also don't want to locate a planet only to see a bright dot on a laptop screen or in the lens. Thanks for the videos. These are a huge help.
Nice. I am thinking about dobsonian Teleskop with goto because of you want shutter speed more than 4 seconds than it will be impossible. Also for planets. But for short shutter speed and no planets it's fine.
Dobsonians are not good for deep Space photography but what if someone has Dobsonian which is a goto telescope like "Skywatcher 14 inches goto telescope", will i still have same issue of star trailing??
Unfortunately you will still have star trailing with the go-to system. All the go-to does is point the scope in the right direction... but it does not track. A big help when you want to find a certain object, but that's about it.
Thanks for this! Great video! BTW has anyone tried take a whole bunch of half or quarter second exposures with a DOB and stacking em? Something like a couple of thousand.
That's why you take a lot of short exposure photos and stack the images and process it to bring out the colors
I have to tell you, I just came in from using my 10” dobsonian and I was so discouraged after hooking my camera up to it. After watching this , I understand the limits much better thank you so much for making this video! Subscribed!
i dont think you guys understand what is stacking... i have a 3" refractor that is a piece of crap and still get good results, you guys need to learn a bit about stacking and processing...
Lupl
@@guliver21 i don't think you understand how stacking works. It only increases signal to noise, it doesn't create new detail.
@@T0ly113
Tomas is talking star trails though, not resolution.
Stacking allows (indirectly) for shorter exposure times, which minimizes/eliminates trails.
So yeah, it is possible to get good images with proper processing from a smaller 'scope, better than overexposed blurry raw images from a larger one.
@@KatorNia yeah, you can take like 1000 shorter exposure images of andromeda, stack them all with the flats and darks, and get a really clear picture, processing matters a lot to the final image.
Simple and passionate. This is the best astronomy. Greetings from Argentina
Thank you so much!
Argentina,... wow, I would love to star gaze there
Your videos are soooo incredibly helpful and I miss having you on here this past year. Your step-by-step, tips, tricks, and keeping it simple, while viewing and talking/discussing/explaining.... I just LOVE sky watching with you. I always come back to your videos when I forget something.
My favorite part: "Can you use the 8" dobsonian for astrophotography? Yes you can...but no you really cant" :) Thank you for your video and information, really enjoyed it.
What if we follow this approach:
We use the 500 rule to avoid star trails, with a telescope of 1000 mm focal length and a camera with a crop factor of 1.6 (Canon APS-C), the effective focal length becomes 1600 mm. This gives a maximum exposure time of approximately 1/3 of a second (500 / 1600 ≈ 0.3125 s). To play it safe, you could use a slightly shorter time, like 1/4 of a second.
While individual exposures are limited, you could take between 150-200 images with this setup and stack them using specialized software like DeepSkyStacker which is free. This would simulate a total exposure time of around 38 to 50 seconds, gathering enough light to capture deep space objects, albeit with some limitations in the final image quality.
I was curious about what could be done with a telescope and what size to look for. I appreciate your candid statements so expectations are kept real. It gives me a better understanding of what equipment I would likely want. I appreciate the time you took to make this video available.
Thank you for sharing your photos with us! I just got an 8" dobsonian and have been trying to figure out what to expect from it with a camera. I really appreciate how much you covered. Can't wait to get some planetary shots!
I'd love to see a 'normal' picture of jupiter and saturn using this telescope. Including shutter speeds and such. This is really informative, thanks.
Planets imaging are achieved via lucky imaging. You basicly record a video (or a series of low exposure images) and then combine those images using lucky imaging algorithms. A single exposure image will result in a fuzzy object (high exposure time is not needed as the solar system's planest are very bright)
Awesome video! I started out with my 10" Dobsonian and the visuals I got were amazing. I captured a lot of great lunar images with it too. I also tried the Orion Nebula and I got the same results as you showed today. Keep up the awesome work and clear skies!
didnt expect to find you here haha
Thank you so much 🙏 Heh I’m pretty jealous of that 10”. For the time being though mine will have to do! Clear skies!
So the visual you get from just using your eyes or eye is amazing? Just the photos he's capturing are average? Looking at buying 1 just to look at galaxys and stars but all the videos I've watched are discouraging
Just ordered a 6" Dob so excited to start using it. Great video showing what is and isnt possible.
Thank you
Nice
I have the Skywatcher Goto 200P and man what you can do with that is incredible. The GoTo mount allow you to push the exposure up to 30seconds before star trail starts to affect the image. With 30seconds exposure you get the hell amount of details. Stack 80/100 frames and the pics that you get out of a Dob are really amazing! Great video that shows what you can do on a budget! Subbed ;)
If I have a 8" Dob. Do I just take it off the original base and put it on the Goto mount?
@@KungFuSlumm way to heavy i think
For the price of a go-to dobsonian mount, wouldn't it make more sense to get something like the 8SE?
@@KungFuSlumm yes that's all it takes. I have the 8" dob on the goto mount
@@jojag5 forgive my ignorance, what is the 8SE?
You're the only one on UA-cam showing how to take picture of Orion Nebula! Thank you very much!
Thank you for watching!
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing I do believe with a traverse base ring gear and a window wiper motor out of an old car, along with a worm gear driven elevator motor, and a way to mount them, you could then use a raspberry pi or even an old laptop to control the motor voltages and amps at varied magnifications, you could track stars for medium-long exposure shots. If you could get it to work well enough, deep sky shots could maybe be possible on a dob. It's what I am going to be trying to do, anyway. Wish me luck!
@@Gun4Freedom i think you need a guidescope with the related software from a CMOS or CCD camera. Hopefully you get it going tho! Clear skies!
@@Handles-R-Lame I like his simple style. Your ides means $$$$$
@@davidbentley1391 well if understand correctly in what hes saying. You will only be able to track movement in Right Ascension. And thats _only_ if you polar aligned perfectly, and then even so were talking a dobsonian which is alot heavier then say a refractor so after it tracks however long it can, it then will have to be repositioned to accurately track the object again. And depending on the motor you salvage it could track to slow or fast or even not smoothly. Im just saying to accurately track the motion of the stars you need a guide camera or else your going to get elongated stars; regardless of what motorized mount you have(even the best motorized mounts, polar aligned perfectly, will be off somewhat especially with long exposures).
But hey im not disowning the idea, more power to whomever can actually make this work, besides people have created the barn door method for tracking stars a D.I.Y. project for less then all of our ideas. Literally under 10 dollars.
Clears skies everyone!
New subscriber, like your astro journey. Nice to see that you've included your mistakes too, keeping it real :)
Thank you for coming along!
Thank you for answering this question. I've been trying to figure this out before buy my first telescope.
Great video. I am quite new to astronomy and I have the same telescope and love it. One of the things I love about it is that I HAVE TO manually find objects. Thanks for the video mate.
Heh yeah, it can be tough at first finding new objects. But it help out so much in the long run learning the night sky! Good luck with the new scope, and clear skies.
that's the same attitude i had when buying my first scope. it would almost be embarassing for me to have just bought a goto and then if it broke or the batteries died, for instance, i would have no idea what i'm doing. with my dob i'm aquiring a new skill, getting to know the sky, and spending quality and peaceful time just stargazing and getting in touch with the creation and my thoughts.
I know this is a old video and i dont know if your gonna read this comment , but this is one of the best astrophotography videos for a complete beginner to watch , actually answered alot of my questions i had. Now im confident im going to buy a telescope and DSLR.
The trees behind you are in PERFECT focus... lol! Nive video! thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the video! I’m looking to get into astrophotography and this video answered a lot of questions
🙏
Great content man! To the point, no beating around the bush, got yourself a new sub!
Thank you so much! 🙏
Awesome video. That is what I have and love it. My is 8 inch as well, use it to watch the sky. Take care.
Have you taken any deep space images my friend!
It's a killer scope for such a simple set up! Clear skies!
This was an exceptionally good video! I love the fact that it is right down to basics, that is MOST helpful, thank you for posting.
Thank you so much! Heh I like to keep things as simple as possible on here... glad you found it helpful! Cheers!
I have my 10" dobsonian and this was really helpful
Thank you for taking the time to put this video together. Very helpful.
Don’t forget about stacking photos and HDR.
Great job. My Dobsonian 8" is finally on its way. I just have to get a nice DSLR now
Excellent information! I have the same scope, and I will definitely try using a camera on it after seeing this video. Keep posting your experiences with the Dobsonian!
I really enjoy watching your videos, its refreshing to watch someone that hasn't spent £1000's on there set up and talks in a easy to remember way. Any chance of a Rosetta nebula tutorial at all?
Whenever I get out of quarantine I’ve got a lot planned heh. Hopefully Rosette isn’t too low on the horizon by then 😬
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing good job mate. Stay safe.
Nice video! What kind of light pollution are you dealing with? I live in Tennessee close to Nashville and I’m in Bortle 6/7 and it’s tough
I’m usually dealing with bortle 5 skies. If I’m feeling up to it I have access for some bortle 4, but it’s a lot of gear to carry around 😅
Thanks for your very helpful video using the same equipment I have basically. Good information and encouraging advice. Please keep up the good work.
Thanks for this video,.. I was just about to buy this telescope for deep space photography. Just like music, there is a reason to buy quality gear if your gonna get serious about photography. Huntsville, Alabama home of NASA
love the deafheaven shirt! really surprised to see it. Just started getting into astronomy and ordered the 6" skywatcher
Heh thanks! I actually got the shirt when I preordered their most recent album :p. Good luck with the new scope, hard to go wrong with a dob!
How do you do the automatic crop thing, the square that you move across the screen with the buttons? I have a Canon 250d, not sure what this function is called
Awesome information thanks, I have just purchased the same telescope and I love it!
Really enjoyed this, thanks from England!
Question: Because a 3-4 sec exposure is causing a star trail, why can't we do a 1-2 sec exposure pictures, then stack multiple of them in DSS and maybe get a better result?
You can. It's called Lucky Imaging; you take as many images as you can, and have software parse the data and remove any frames with heavy atmosphere or trails, etc. I have GoTo function on my 12" dob and it's alt/az tracking will hold long enough even for DSO imaging. For planets, you can hold for quite a while. And that's just the OEM GoTo for tracking. If you opted for a custom EQ base I'd imagine it would hold track for hours.
@@fubar5884 Stacking differs from Lucky Imaging in its purpose. Stacking aims to decrease noise by combining multiple images, whereas Lucky Imaging focuses on capturing only the sharpest images.
Just starting out myself with astrophotography. Learning alot from your videos. Greetings from Ireland 👍
Thank you so incredibly much! I’m just glad to help out. Cheers!
When I mount my phone on my dobsonian, to get 10+ second exposures I determined how fast the stars move. I then take the picture but ever so gently apply a light tough to my scope in the direction that the subject is moving and it decreases the star trailing by a significant amount.
Love those pictures of the Moon. Great video 👍
Thank you! 🙏
ordinary corrupt human love and cool shots with a dobsonian.. already a perfect video. congrats!
I also have this telescope and I tried also to photograph deep sky objects. I have to go under 0.5 seconds. This means the pictures aren’t bright enough. But to photograph the moon it is very good in my opinion. I also photograph planes and the photos are useful. For visual astronomy the telescope is good.
I agree 100%! I’ve seen where people have photographed planes with their dobs... that’s something I’d like to give a shot!
Still looking into buying one of these for my 14 year old son and myself. I've had an interest for years however never been in a position to buy one. Now my son is showing an interest it seems a good time to purchase as it his education that matters now!
A great video BTW. I've watched a few now!! A big thumbs up!!!
That is some awesome work!
I've got a 6" dobsonian with a canon xs dslr. Captured some nice shots of the moon as well
I also have a 6" dob, no canon. I am trying to get my android phone (a oneplus), a ROM to allow me to set exposure time and other settings to exactly what I want, and build or buy a star tracker for my scope. Why not? Maybe I am onto something. Not needing a DSLR to get decent astro shots, just a decent smartphone camera and a mount, would lower the bar for entry into astrophotography for a lot of people. Good luck with your astronomy :)
@@Gun4Freedom hey man, what did you end up doing? I have a decent camera on my pixel and thinking of doing somthing similar
@@williamaudet1235 I got a oneplus 7 pro, used, it has a 48mp camera and a pro mode where you have access to all the standard settings you'd expect from a DSLR. I got an amazing shot of the Centaurus arm of the Milky Way with the setup last year.
@@Gun4Freedom Nice man, I just ordered a mount for my pixel 3a, but I don't think I can change any camera settings on the pixel.
My father has some old cameras he let me borrow, a nikon D300 and D70s, I can probably do something with those. The biggest lens he has is a variable 70-210mm or something like that so maybe I can take picture without any telescope.
My other option would be to mount it directly on my 6 inch dobsinian but don't know if its possible.
This is really cool! Thanks for showing that we can play around with a dob and a câmera!
Great honest and useful video. I’ve got a similar problem with an 8” SCT. Great for planets, moon, double stars but not so great for deep space. Mostly due to its really long Focal Length of over 2,000mm. I know I can do some updates to help such as a focal reducer but for deep space it’s still gonna be tricky. I really think DSO photography requires a great equatorial tracking mount and a refractor or shorter focal length reflector scope.
You can do plenty of deep sky with an AltAz mount. Just keep your exposures to 30 seconds and under and you won't even notice it. Then stack the photos.
@@wondermom2five Thanks! Yes, I did get the focal reducer and did some DSO imaging with decent results. Found up to 20 secs was optimum and live stacking works well. I have recently added a wedge so now I have an equatorial mount. I haven’t done very long exposures yet but will try soon.
You can make an equatorial platform for it for cheaps. Loads of explanations on the web and also tutorials on youtube. Check out the channel of Tiago Fereira. He uses a dob, at mostly 6" exporsures. And then do live stacking using sharpcap. You can then make photograps of loads of DSO's
@6:12 - how did the camera only capture the image in focus rectangle box? any setting?
Wonderful Job!! Really enjoyed that and it was informative.
couldn't you take a few much shorter exposures and stack them together?
Great videos dude. I've an orion 8xt dob and looking to do the exact same. What adapter did you need and what camera are you using. Sorry for the total noob questions.
I've just subbed too. Great content for those starting out in an easy to follow way. I was very impressed with the 1 second shutter speed. I didn't expect such a good shot.
Sure wish you would post more often!!
Heh I’m working on it 😉. Just don’t like to rush stuff!
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing i can respect that brother i get it but it doesn't hurt to wish my friend keep them coming great work!! You are doing stuff I can only wish that I could do!!
love the channel man, great content and I like the logo a lot too btw, thx a lot, you are a huge help for a starter
I understood that this telescope wasn’t going to be great for astrophotography but before I blew 1.3k on a William Optics Redcat auto tracking mount setup I have bought this one to see if it inspires me further. I do have a t-mount to try a little bit of photography but it’s mainly for human viewing.
I have the 12 inch zhumell. It's just like the Dobsonian telescopes. I'm trying to find a t ring for it. I have used a clamp for my phone and got some cool pics.
What camera did you use?
8 inch to start with astronomy?
I started, stoped, brought it back out years later and I am hooked again
8 inch dobsonians are perfect
I love your channel so much. Showing people the wonders of a good dob. Haha
I put Magic Lantern on my Canon EOS 1200D(aka. Rebel T5), and it enables one to completely control the exposure settings when making a video, conduct time lapse photography with user dictated intervals, and extremely long exposure times for photographs. I was nervous to add it on, as it's an add on firmware. But it's worked very well, and it doesn't really load onto the camera, or replace the camera's firmware, it lives on the SD card. So if I put in an SD card that I didn't load it onto. . . then it's like it's never been loaded. Which is useful if I don't want to use it. I mean, you can also hold down a button and make it not load, but it's nice to just be able to switch cards and have it off or on.
Anyways, excellent video. Thank you for sharing what you know and do.
I honestly thought contrast would be a problem and would be much lower than a camera lens or APO, and since we already have to stretch out contrast so much it’d make it too hard to do.
But looks like if you solve tracking it should be quite fine.
I agree. It could definitely happen if you could track with it. Heh maybe one day...
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing I remember seeing wedges that you can place the mount on that would track the whole scope and mount. They were motorized and required orienting.
Nice, practical information. I am hoping to be able to do some EAA with a reflector, still trying to work it all out. Thank you. Is your DSLR modified? What model is it? Can it feed live video to a PC?
I'm using a Canon T3i/600d. It's currently not modified, but I'm thinking about changing that before long... I can't honestly say if it'll feed to a PC or not. It's something I have never tried, but I don't see why it wouldn't with the correct cables/programs!
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing Thank you, appreciated.
Lovely video, thank you for sharing ❤️🙏😀
Very interesting. Thank you so much. I like your videos.
Thanks for vid. Did you go somewhere where light polution was low or you took it from city?
Greetings from the uk.ive just bought a 200p flexitube goto.my question is would I need a barlow attached to the dslr with it being a goto? I imagine using a barlow with the goto would get me a closer image of the same trapezuim.great videos.keep them coming I'm subbed.
Oh and was that photo an instant shot or did you photoshop the pic then edit it in to the video.it looked pretty instant to me?
Yeah, all the barlow will do is get you closer in on whatever target you're looking at. The goto will be a fantastic feature to help you learn your way around the night sky as well!
The shot of M42 was an instant shot. I'm sure there is some magic that can be done to it and make it look tremendously better heh. Good luck with that new scope!
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing thanks for reply.was your camera modded.?
Excellent video. Super informative. Subbed.
Were you using an adaptor and an eyepiece? Or did you just plug the camera into the eyepiece socket on the telescope?
'Simple & clean', great job man!
Awesome video, thanks for sharing the journey ......................... peace
Thank you for watching!
thanks for another great video answered a lot of questions did you do research into a deep sky telescope yet? if so can you do a video or explanation? thanks Tom
I just got a 10in Dobsonian just recently but with the skies here lately in middle TN I have not been able to use it. Its been sucky lately.
I’m convinced that clouds come along side the scopes in those big boxes.
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing Perhaps so. The skies are clear now so hopefully we will have clear skies tonight. I am attempting to find the Crab nebula.
hey subbed ! im currently waiting (up to 2 months !) for the same dob as you ! cant wait to get out and actually see through the eye piece in person .
Cheers from Brazil! Great video dude, you got a new sub. I'm still starting, and all I got for now is a 10x50 bibocular and a tripod. I got a question about the astrophotography though, what if you stack lets say 300 pics with 1" second exposure, wouldn't it be the equivalent to 300 seconds exposure time?
Stacking is used for enabling you to edit photos aggressively without destroying data from image and overall better quality, so stacking has nothing to do with collecting more light on your camera sensor.
So basically stacking=indestructible image for editing, exposure time=more light collected on pic so stacking + 300 1s exposures ≠ "better image".
Hope this information helps you, have a clear skies!
@@reab111 Thank you!! And yes, I have stacked a few pictures taken with my canon bridge camera since that comment, and realized, it basically helps reducing the noise, making it easier to post edit. Thank you for your information!!
@@brunobbll No problem glad to help!
i just got one just like this last week for 250 woth a telrad and all! i love it! i wondered if i could take pictures on it, tried to take one of jupiter and its moons with my phone lastnight, jupiter was way too bright, couldnt get saturn to look like anything other than an oval, not sure how to balance that out, it looks great through the eye piece
time. shorten up the time. or change expo if you can. do one thing at a time . lil hint tho.. video them. then make image from it.. theres tons of vids on here so i wont go over it. its kind of best way to do planets is videon them .
Very informative video. Im Bran spankin new to Astronomy and im trying to figure out what setup i should go with to learn. I want to be able to take pictures of everything. lol But at the same time i dont have thousands of dollars to spend on the proper equipment in order to do deep space photography. Im going to watch the rest of your videos.
thanks
dave
Thank you! Do you have any suggestions for getting objects in focus? I am adjusting the focus knobs on the telescope with the camera in place but I just see the telescope cross pieces.
Awesome video! Thanks for putting it up. I have a question, would a higher iso on the camera help with the shorter exposure to shoe the could of the nebula better? Thanks again
For visual they cannot be beat, but for astro I’m using an SCT or ideally, an apo refractor.
Hello ! Do you have references of all pieces between telescop and your canon EOS ?
thanks a lot !!
Yeah! The t-ring and t-ring adapter I use are both Celestron brand. The t-adapter is the universal 1.25” one. As for barlows I use the Celestron Omni 2x Barlow, and sometimes the Orion Trimag 3x.
Hmm you didn't really tackle stacking. If you stack 50 or 100, 2 second orion nebula exposures with this wouldn't the results be amazing?
Hi my name it's Andrei and I want to get into astrophotography but I don't know what camera that you attach to your telescope are you using. Can you tell me please ?
I’m using a Canon t3i/600d. I bought it used a couple of years ago and it’s served me well! A good camera for the used price.
Good luck and clear skies!
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing Backyard Astronomy recommends that as a great starter camera primarily because there are a lot of them available used around $150
Crazy question: how much utility could you get out of a GoTo dob like the xt8g, with a camera field rotator? Would you reckon tracking is accurate enough to avoid star trails? What would you guess is the upper useable limit on exposure time with such a setup?
Eh it's hard to say really... I've heard of guys getting upwards of 30 second exposures on the automated dobs. My guess is that would be the upper limits. Certainly better than the results I can get, but nothing close to an actual EQ setup.
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing There are equatorial bases upon which dobs can be placed. They're effectively a polar aligned tilting table, very close to the ground. They're motor driven, and have a roughly one hour tracking time, before the tilt angle becomes precarious and the table needs to be reset. But that just takes a few moments. They can track just as accurately as any equatorial system out there. It all depends on how precisely the equatorial base was manufactured and polar aligned.
The only significant restriction, is that they're generally made for a specific latitude, and can't be adjusted much in that regard, or at least not as much as a German equatorial mount can.
Great video , couple of newbie questions for you: for a zhumell z8 and a canon T2i all I would need is the T ring or do I need a “T adaptor” as well? What is the magnification when you hook a dslr up like this? You said your focal length is 1200 and I think the camera is a 50mm so that would work out to 24x ? Is that correct? Can you attach the camera to individual eyepieces for different magnification levels ? Thanks
If your scope has some threads on the outside of the focus tube, then you won't need a t adaptor. The SkyWatcher dobs have these threads on them allowing you to attach the camera directly to the scope. If your scope doesn't, then you'll need an adaptor as well. I have a t adaptor so I can use my barlow lenses... so if you're planning on using a barlow you will need a t adaptor.
Here's another video of mine showing these threads on the focus tube to make it easier... check ~1:38 in the vid:
ua-cam.com/video/8607YGFG12Q/v-deo.html
As for the focal length, the focal length of the scope becomes your actual fl. So with just the camera my fl is 1200mm. Adding in a barlow lens or focal reducers changes your fl.
Hope this helps!
Stacking like 300-500 pictures will help get a bit more light in the orion nebula.
Hey, nice video. I always wondered why i never saw people use dobsonians for astrophotography. Would an 8inch dobsonian be worth $470 (apertura AD8) for deep space objects? I won't be using it for photography but for naked eye viewing. Im worried about it being underwhelming as I've seen videos of 8 inch dobs being used on UA-cam and the views are not great. Could this be because dobs are simply not made for cameras (as shown in the video) so they look worse when shown on youtube than they would in person? I just want to make a safe purchase (: I hope to hear your input, thank you
It's a tough call really telling someone if they may be underwhelmed or not. It is tough to show exactly what you'll see through one of these scopes.
Planets & the Moon through this thing is awesome. DSO's are a different animal. The best way I can describe something like the Orion Nebula through this scope is this...
It's a blue/green cloud really. You can certainly see the gases present, but some of it is rather faint. Not much color there at all. The same goes for the Andromeda Galaxy as well. It's more or less a large dense smudge in the sky. For the most part, you can make out what DSO you're viewing.
This may sound rather underwhelming, but I feel much of the excitement comes from actually seeing that object with your own eyes, rather than a very long exposure. On top of that, tracking the object down via star hopping, etc is a blast as well.
As for the Apertura, it's a killer scope package. All the little accessories it comes with are a life saver at times. Maybe check out the Zhumell Z8 as well as it's a similar package.
Hope this helps, and clear skies!
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing Thank you for the information! I appreciate it. I'll give this some more thought before purchasing one as I want to be sure I'll use it often. I'll keep your comment in mind.
If you have a motor for your dob, does that make it decent ? 🤔
Obrigada por postar, o vídeo ficou muito bom 🇧🇷
Does one need to use a Barlow lens for the planets?
Thank you so much for your videos btw
Great video! Look forward to more!
Thank you! 🙏
Hi great video, can I ask what the adaptor you used was called for the camera to telescope, new to this!
Good photo! Question for you, I have also got SkyWatcher 200P Dobsonian Telescope and would like to attach my Nikon D3300 camera to it. So do I need a t-ring as well as a t-adapter to attach on it? Will you please let me know for my information?
Yes but for nikon
Did yr camera have the iron cut filter removed? Or is that a stock camera. I just moved to an heq6 mount and 1000m 200p SW. hoping to get some AP done when I can get to grips with the polar alignment. Quite daunting at first.anyway massive thankyou for putting up this vid.
So the pictures you are taking look way better with the naked eye mate? Looking at buying 1 just to view not photo . but not sure after seeing images
Thank you very much for this video :)
Thank you for watching!
very nice. Seems like the Dobsonian works fairly well for deep space images. If the tracking motion control was used this would give new life to these pictures. 😎 Thanks a lot.
Are you able to see the colors of galaxies and deep sky objects with your eyes? Is it just difficult to get the colors of them with cameras?
The Orion Nebula has some subtle color to it. As for other dso, they mostly appear colorless to the eye. A true dark sky site may have different results!
@@AmateurAstronomyStormchasing thanks for the reply! I ordered an 8" Dobsonian as my first telescope and should be getting it in a couple days.
Hello - I need some general advice. I am going to buy an Dobsonian - either 6 inch or 8 inch to enjoy with my family. How long do planets such as mars or Jupiter stay in frame with the 28 and 10 mm lens? 5 minutes? 30 seconds? Also - what do you think of the Orion Starshoot V 3 mp camera? I don't want to locate a planet and then say "look kids" and there is only black space after they put their eyes to the lens or look at the laptop screen. I also don't want to locate a planet only to see a bright dot on a laptop screen or in the lens. Thanks for the videos. These are a huge help.
Nice. I am thinking about dobsonian Teleskop with goto because of you want shutter speed more than 4 seconds than it will be impossible. Also for planets. But for short shutter speed and no planets it's fine.
Dobsonians are not good for deep Space photography but what if someone has Dobsonian which is a goto telescope like "Skywatcher 14 inches goto telescope", will i still have same issue of star trailing??
Unfortunately you will still have star trailing with the go-to system. All the go-to does is point the scope in the right direction... but it does not track. A big help when you want to find a certain object, but that's about it.
Thanks for this! Great video! BTW has anyone tried take a whole bunch of half or quarter second exposures with a DOB and stacking em? Something like a couple of thousand.
So just from an observational standpoint, how does observing deep sky objects compare to the photos?