My Gear
When I started learning about AP, I found it super frustrating when I couldn’t find anything on cameras, mounts, scopes, etc., that I owned or wanted to own in the combinations that I had. Even more frustrating when I found something and it was not in English, heh. I figured, if nothing else, posting my setup, how I got it working, problems I ran into, and results might help a few people with similar setups. In this section, Ill go over my gear, both that I own now and as I get new gear. So here we go!
Meade 6000 70mm APO refractor f/5
This is my favorite toy. It is a 350mm petzval quadruplet refractor. With the crop sensor on my 294, I believe it gives an additional 1.5x focal length. The focus knobs make it easy to bring your target into focus because the blue knob in the pic allows you to make fine tune adjustments. There is a retractable dew shield on the front. It also has a focus lock down on the bottom but I couldn’t use it because the dovetail got in the way when I was trying to balance this on my mount. Not a big deal. With this scope, you do not need an additional field flattener. You just hook up your camera with the right spacers and focus and you’re good to go. A 2” filter will thread right onto the back. I haven’t gotten to shoot much with it but the images I have shot are crisp. The only downside to this scope is that it is for AP ONLY. You cannot do visual viewing on it.
>>Click the photo to be directed to OPT where you can read more on this scope.
ZWO mini guide scope and ASI 120mm-s
Here is my guide scope and camera set up. This scope is one of the smaller guide scopes out there and I’ve had success with it at the focal lengths I have shot at (350 - 500). It has a 30mm aperture and a 120mm focal length. The scope has a helical focuser and a lock so you can lock your focus in.
The camera is an ASI120mm-s. I have only used this camera for guiding. It is a monochrome sensor so it only shoots a grayscale image but monochrome sensors are known for being more sensitive so they are perfect for guiding. I hope to use this as a planetary camera with filters in the future. I don’t know if this is possible but I will definitely try it out and report back with images!
Rokinon 14mm f2.8
Everyone who has researched shooting the milky way should know about this lens. It is one of the best lenses at its price point for shooting untracked and tracked images of the milky way. At f2.8, it is extremely fast. It is also a very wide lens. I have a crop sensor so I will not get 14mm but at 21mm, it should still be a pretty nice frame. I hope to be posting some pics with this camera VERY soon from a VERY dark location. Stay Tuned!