Astrophotography Under £600

Tracking an imaging the sky using Alt/Az.

Alt/Az tracking mounts are cheaper than EQ mounts and can be used for astrophotography. As the mount tracks the sky in Alt/Az (up,down,left,right), the outer edges will show field rotation, we need to take shorter exposures to compensate for this. (10-15 seconds maximum)

What you need

DSLR Camera

There are a lot of DSLR cameras out there, but you do not need the best one. The most basic model will work just fine. In order to achieve budget, you would want to go second hand!

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USED from £90: Canon 450D, Canon 60D, Canon 1300D

Zoom Lens or Achromatic Telescope

A Zoom lens up to 300mm will be best suited for this setup, or a Achromatic Telescope.

Note: With a telescope, you will need to T ring & adaptor

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Lenses USED from £110: Sigma 70-300mm or Canon EF 70-300
80mm Telescopes from £120
T ring & Adaptors from £20

Skywatcher AZ-GTI & Tripod

This GOTO mount is portable and easy to use. With built in wifi you can connect the mount to the Synscan app, align the mount to your location and you are ready to go!

NEW from £350

Intervalometer

This is a remote control which will allow you set how many images you wish to take at a certain exposure.

You can also use the Intervalometer built in the synscan app. You just need a shutter remote cable to plug in to your camera and then the AZ-GTI

NEW from £15

Want to know how to do it? Check out the 'How to' page!

Let's Go!

Tips

Field Rotation

Alt/Az comes results in field rotation because your tracker is not tracking the night sky to compensate for the earth rotation, it is literally just following the object across the sky.