Starting astro photography

[singlecoil]

I'll be moving to a village near Exmoor over the next few months, and as Exmoor is an 'International Dark Sky Reserve' maybe I should take some pictures of the sky. I'm interested in all of it,but my particular interest is in the planets and the Moon.

I'm prepared to put some money into this, I don't want to set a budget because if something is well worth it then I'll find a way .

I'm thinking maybe a telescope that I can attach a camera to, with one of those computer tripod heads that can find and track stuff?

Suggestions welcome.

[dmason]

I'd start at these links and YouTube and then think very hard about whether its really worth it over just visual astronomy... (cost/time etc).

https://stargazerslounge.com/
https://www.cloudynights.com/index

Besides, you don't need dark sky's for good Astrophotography. Dark sky's are more suited to visual.

[singlecoil]

dmason said:

Besides, you don't need dark skies for good Astrophotography. Dark skies are more suited to visual.

Thanks for the links. I daresay I don't need the dark skies, but if I've got them on my doorstep I might as well take advantage of them.

[DavidY]

This

https://www.fotovue.com/shop/books/photographing-t...

Its big and heavy, but will tell you everything you need to know and more. Fantastic Book with lots of detail on technique and kit, along with inspiring images.

[Tony1963]

Skies



The problem is, as with astronomy, the best times are at night in winter. Think long an hard about how much time you’d be willing to spend on a lonely, dark, cold hill in January. And of course most of the year the clouds are against you. The wind can make it impossible. And if you work, that introduces its own limitations.

As with serious landscape photography, it’s more suited to the retired person.


But then you see some results that the extremely serious guys here on PH achieve and you forget all that!

Edited by Tony1963 on Wednesday 1st March 20:23