Astrophotography Equipment Recommendations for Beginners
As I’ve begun my own path back into Astrophotography, I’ve been purchasing new equipment to take the kind and quality of images I want to take. I’ve been posting the results of those test images, and it’s sparked several people to ask me about how they could get started in astrophotography, too. I’ve decided to write my advice up as a blog post.
First, much of this advice is based on “common advice” from the excellent forums at Cloudy Nights. I spend a lot of time there reading, especially in the “Beginning Deep Sky Imaging” forum, as well as some of the equipment specialty forums.
Second, all of the advice here is just my opinion. Ask a dozen astrophotographers, you’ll get 15 different opinions on the topic of good starter gear. Maybe more. There’s no one right answer. I encourage anyone who thinks they want to get into the hobby to really read up at different sites and talk to multiple people. This hobby is a big commitment of time and money, and it’s not one to rush into!
Expect a starting budget of roughly $2500 or more. Expect to spend a lot of time doing research on the best gear for you. There’s no one right answer. Also expect each image to take many hours to acquire, and likely just as many hours to process.
Third, please note that I tend to make recommendations of things that have good long term value. Getting started quickly but hitting equipment limits almost immediately isn’t something I’d recommend, and I also don’t want to recommend cutting corners in ways that limit long term enjoyment or potential. The reality is this is not a cheap hobby, and it’s definitely one where often the only way to get a better result is to spend more money. But not always.
Lastly, please note there are different kinds of astrophotography, here are just a few:
Deep Sky Widefield
Deep Sky Narrow field
Wide Field Milky Way / Full sky
Planetary
Lunar
Solar
This list is geared primarily around the first on the list, Deep Sky “widefield” imaging of targets like nebula, larger galaxies, star clusters, etc. It’s the kind of photography I do and know. I’ll touch a little on “narrow field” for smaller targets like small galaxies and planetary nebula, but mostly in terms of why they’re bad beginner targets. I’ll touch briefly on wide field milky way shots as an easy point of entry. Solar, lunar, and planetary imaging take fairly different equipment, and I won’t get into those here. Just know that you need to understand what kind of photos YOU want to take, and then be sure you’re buying the best equipment to get you to that goal.
If your goal is narrow field deep sky images such as small galaxies, I STRONGLY suggest starting with widefield deep sky images. It’s far easier to learn faster, and build good habits with easier to use equipment.
I’ll list some brands and link to some online shops. I’m not affiliated with any of them, and I’m not saying “only buy this brand”, I’m just listing brands, shops, and equipment I’ve had personal experience list. Shop around, and read comparisons. Use these as a starting point!
So, let’s get in to the equipment you’ll need to take some photos!
Location
Ok, not a piece of equipment. But location is somewhat important. You can do astrophotography from in the middle of a city, but it’s not easy and takes a lot longer. You want dark skies and a clear view of the sky. If you can drive to a location in a reasonable amount of time, it’s doable. All astrophotography equipment can run on 12v, so you can use a battery to power it from a field. I strongly recommend getting to someplace darker and not starting from a city if at all possible. If you have to travel to even get somewhere with a clear view of the sky and out of light pollution, think about if you’ll want to do that on a regular basis before you spend any money!
You can see what kind of light pollution you’re dealing with, and how far it is to a darker site here with the Light Pollution map
Mounts
I listed mounts first on purpose. An astrophotography mount is more than a “tripod” - it’s a motorized platform that tracks the stars as they move through the sky. The mount is THE place to put most of your potential budget. Probably half or more. If you skimp on your mount, you’ll either get frustrated because it isn’t up to the task, or you’ll outgrow it quickly. In either case, most people who stick with the hobby end up above the “bottom of the barrel” mounts fairly quickly. I started with a Celestron AVX. While it did last me for a while, moving on to a better mount was a GREAT investment, and will make the hobby much more enjoyable.
What are you looking for in a mount?
German Equatorial Style
Weight rating (divide the mfr listed rating in half for astrophotography)
Quality (accuracy)
Portability (If you have to travel, see the section on location)
So what do I recommend?
A minimum weight rating of 25lbs, bare minimum, will carry a light scope + camera for starting. If you get one that small, expect to need to upgrade if you stick with the hobby. Personally I consider a ~35lbs or higher weight rating as a better starting point.
The current recommendations I would make are either:
Both of these come with an electronic assist to help with Polar Alignment, which is VERY important for imaging.
The 40G comes with a guider built in, which is required for long exposure imaging, and I strongly recommend for any imaging.
The CEM26 is fine for small workloads, but expect to outgrow it quickly. The CEM40 will last for some time. Both hold good resale value.
Telescope
Telescopes are essentially a fixed focal length lens. For the kind of imaging I do, Widefield Deep Space Astrophotography, a short focal length (under 500mm) is ideal, which means you can use a small, somewhat inexpensive telescope. Keeping to a small scope is good, it’s less weight and a smaller moment arm. The shorter focal lengths make guiding easier. It’s just a nice, easy way to get into the hobby.
Taking images of small things like small galaxies and planetary nebula requires a longer focal length, 1000mm+. These are much heavier instruments, hard to guide, and require a better mount to handle them. They are NOT good for starting.
In telescopes there are a number of optical designs. Refractors are the ONLY scope I recommend to someone new to the hobby. They require virtually no maintenance. They’re small, lightweight, and easy to use. A tube with some glass. I recommend quality glass, with an integrated flattener and reducer for beginning. These scopes are designed to make getting into imaging easy, but still can take fantastic images. F4.9 - F.60, under 500mm focal length, and if possible, a “triplet” apo.
Specific recommendations below, though any similar APO refractor (with a flattener) will work.
If starting with the iOptron CEM26:
Very small, f4.9 (fairly fast) widefield scope. Will work great on the CEM26.
If starting with the iOptron CEM40:
William Optics Gran Turismo 71 APO $930 + Flat6AIII Flattener ($220)
Still a lightweight, widefield scope. Requires a flattener, but a bigger aperture and better glass. You can take fantasic images with this scope!
As noted, there are many, many scopes that could have fit in here, these are just examples. Others that are popular for beginners are the Astrotech 72 ED Doublet, Astrotech 80 ED Doublet, the Astrotech EDT triplets, or many other scopes in the 50 - 72mm aperture range with ~300 - 400mm focal length. Avoid the temptation to go bigger right away!
A quick note on “doublets” vs. “triplets” - Doublets have two bits of glass, where triplets have 3. The third element gives better focus across the full spectrum of light, and will give better color correction than from doublets. Personally I would always go with a triplet and think the extra cost is worthwhile.
Camera
For a starting camera, if you have a fairly modern DSLR, use it! Done!
I started with the Canon SL1. DSLR’s have two major downsides for astrophotography. First, they have a filter that blocks most of the HA light, which is the red light in emission nebula. If you see a big red nebula, it won’t photograph well with a DSLR. Second, they are not cooled. Heat builds up as you take long images, and that heat turns into noise. Even within those limits, you can do some cool stuff with a DSLR. If you have one, use it.
If you don’t have a DSLR, don’t spend money on one for Astrophotography, though. It’s throwing away money if you plan to stick with the hobby, because you’ll quickly want to take a photo of something with HA. Instead, get a cooled astrophotography camera. I recommend starting with One Shot Color.
There are a LOT of choices in cameras right now, but the brands I recommend are either ZWO, or QHY. For pairing with either of the above scopes, for a first camera, I’d suggest the
ZWO ASI533MC Pro $900
I’ll get some flak for this from others I’m sure. But I don’t like recommending spending money if I know the person will “outgrow” the purchase quickly. For any camera under this price, I think anyone serious about the hobby will absolutely wish they had something better. If you want to start cheaper, start with a used DSLR! The ASI533MC Pro is the camera I just upgraded to, it’s incredibly low noise, cooled, and pairs fantastically with either of the above scopes. For the price, there’s nothing else in its class! (You will also need a UV/IR blocking filter with this camera. I use the Baader 1.25” UV/IR Cut filter, $73)
Other Equipment
If you don’t start with a mount that includes an integrated guider, you’ll need one fairly quickly… but start learning the hobby without it. When you do need one, consider the Orion Thin off Axis Guider, and a ZWO or QHY guide cam. This equipment will cost you ~ $300 or more, which is why I recommend the mount with the built in guider.
You’ll need some spacers, though odds are your camera will come with one. If you’re using a DSLR, you’ll need a t-ring to attach it to your telescope. You’ll need a usb hub and maybe some power adapters. If you’re imaging where you don’t have AC power, you’ll need a battery.
You’ll need a laptop to control the equipment and camera. Otherwise, the above items really are all you need for equipment.
Software
You’ll need two primary pieces of software.
1 - something to control your equipment. I recommend Nighttime Imaging ‘n’ Astronomy - it’s open source, works very well, and will control all of the equipment above. It’ll be overwhelming at first, but there are great video tutorials online.
2 - Software to process the images. I recommend either Astro Pixel Processor or Pixinsight
Neither of those is free, but if you’re putting all of this money into the equipment to get the photos, it’s absolutely worth putting money into the software to process them. No, photoshop and the gimp aren’t good enough. Use software made for astrophotography. Yes, Deep Sky Stacker is free. It’s just not as good. Period. Out of those, APP is easier to use, and is what I recommend people get to start. Pixinsight is more advanced, but also has a higher potential ceiling for images. I prefer pixinsight (though the learning curve is VERY steep!)
Pixinsight is not magically better - you don’t magically get better images just by using it. It’s far easier to start with APP and get really good images. Once you’ve got the hang of it, Pixinsight can let you take your images farther, getting the most out of your data.
Milky Way Shots
Ok, so if you read all that, added up the costs, and realized you can’t spend that much, there’s still hope! Consdier a DSLR plus a star tracker, and a wide field lens. This is a far cheaper way to enter the hobby, yet still get some good images.
For this you’ll want a tracker:
Sky Guider Pro $525 (there are others, I’ve not used any of them, I can’t recommend one over another)
One of those, a DSLR, and a widefield fast lens (think f2 or so). There are lots of articles on the internet on the topic, and you can do some really cool stuff. However! These shots absolutely require you’re not near light pollution. You need dark skies, preferably with a southern view with no “light bubbles” from cities.
This book is a good resource on this style of imaging.
Online Shops
Most of us aren’t lucky enough to have an astronomy shop around the corner. If you are that lucky, go buy from them. For the rest of us, we need to buy online. Astrophotography prices are fairly standardized, outside of sales, you won’t save a lot shopping around. So it’s all about reputation and support. Here are some shops I have purchased from and recommend.
Cloud Break Optics - truly a “Astronomy shop around the corner” but online. Matt and Stephanie have been super helpful. Highly recommended.
Astronomics - The sponsor of the Cloudy Nights Forum. Great newsletter with frequent deals. I’ve bought several filters from them.
Agena Astro - They tend to have the filters, adapters, etc when no one else does. Very helpful!
High Point Scientific - A wide selection of products
OPT - A wide Selection of products
There are many others, but the above cover most of what I’ve bought.
Avoid purchasing anything astrophotography related from Amazon! Fake products are very common!
My Equipment
Someone suggested I list the equipment I currently use, so I’m adding that here. This is not an exhaustive list.
iOptron CEM70G mount (includes a polar scope, guider, as well as USB hub and power ports built into the mount)
William Optics Star 71, f4.9 (I have a Celestron RASA 8 on order)
ZWO ASI533MC Pro, Baader 1.25” UV/IR Cut Filter
For software I primarily use NINA and PixInsight
Final Thoughts
The above lists are just the beginning. There are all kinds of accessories you’ll find you may need / want as you grow in the hobby. Autofocusers are great (I made my own, if you’re a maker, they’re a fun and easy project!), light boxes, power boxes, dew heaters, the list never ends! I can’t stress it enough, this is NOT a cheap hobby. That said, you could get some basic equipment, perfect the shots you get with it, and turn out some VERY impressive photos. The final quality of your images will not be limited by your budget, it will be limited by the time you put into them.
The reason a mount is so important is they enable you to take longer exposures without the stars trailing. The reason you want guiding is to keep the stars from trailing, and to allow you to dither. If you can get to the point you’re doing those two things, and you’re focusing well (either by hand, or with an autofocuser), the primary remaining ingredient to image quality is time. You’re photographing faint objects hidden by the atmosphere and some light pollution / atmospheric light. Signal to noise ratio only improves with time spent. Even on “starter” equipment like listed above, you can make magnificent images.
This hobby seems insane at times. You spend a fortune on equipment, so you can go sit in the dark, freezing, to take hundreds or thousands of photos, usually over the course of multiple nights. So you can go home and spend hours and hours processing them, to get a photo of something that thousands of others have already taken photos of. All of that lost sleep. All of that time and money spent. Yet to me I smile every time I see a new target show on my screen for the first time. The technical challenges are steep, and I’m not an artist, but the process of taking Astro photos and the experience of sharing them is very rewarding. Hopefully the above lists will help others to get started in the hobby.
I encourage anyone who’s interested in Deep Sky Astrophotography to pick up this book. If you plan to jump into this hobby, a copy of this should be your real first step!
The Deep-sky Imaging Primer, by Charles Bracken
