


I will be talking only about the mounts from SkyWatcher, but at least now you know what to look for if you are researching Celestron brand. If you want EQ2 mount from Celestron, it is CG3. Now, it becomes confusing because CG2 is not EQ2. SkyWatcher is using these tags, but Celestron is using CG2, CG3, etc. Most common names are EQ1, EQ2 up to EQ8.

All the mounts from different brands are basically the same thing with a different name (and color :)).

Usually, the more expensive mount is, the better it is for astrophotography. There are so many EQ mounts to chose from but not every one of them is right for astrophotography. But even the comfy chair, pair of binoculars and the six-pack will do the job:) Equatorial Mount(EQ) – The Best Mount For Astrophotography And the waiting is boring so having a big Dobsonian telescope for visual astronomy can, and you can enjoy the skies. It takes hours to photograph even one object when you are doing long exposures. It is actually a good idea to have one with you when you are doing the astrophotography with your main EQ mount. Why? Dobsonian mount can handle really big Newtonian scopes, and the mount is very simple. They are an excellent choice for visual astronomy and perfect for beginners because you will get a lot of telescope for the money. Only a few of them are equipped with the GoTo system. These mounts are made with Newtonian telescopes and are altazimuth mounts, so everything that I mentioned above applies for Dobsonian mounts too. AZ motorized mounts are less expensive than EQ mounts, and you can find used DSLR for around $100.
#Best telescope for astrophotography 2019 how to#
It is also the cheap way how to start with astrophotography. In this case, AZ mount is sufficient enough, and you will be surprised what great results you can get in combination with the DSLR. I like to use 300mm camera lens with my Canon EOS 1000D. However, what you can do is to use AZ mount with DSLR camera only (without the telescope) to take wide-field long exposures of the milky way or even some deep sky objects with the right camera lens. I had some success with AZ mount and video astronomy because it is a real-time thing and I didn’t need to take long exposures. However, stars are moving in the equatorial direction. The AZ mounts are moving in altitude and azimuth directions. You can do maybe 20-second exposure with AZ mount, but longer exposures will suffer from star trailing because of the field of view rotation. I mean you can, of course, do pictures of the moon and planets but to do long exposure photos you need EQ mount. Altazimuth(AZ) MountĪZ mounts are very common for visual astronomy, but they are not suitable for astrophotography even with the tracking. Because the earth is spinning, the skies are spinning as well, and if you point the telescope at the object with no tracking (when making long exposure photos), you will end up with star trailing on the image. Some nebulas are very dim, and we need hours of exposure. So, for astrophotography, it is essential to have a motorized mount that is tracking the stars automatically so we can do long exposure photos. AZ and EQ mounts can be motorized or GoTo and manually controlled. The most commonly used mounts for astrophotography are EQ mounts. We have two main types of the telescope mounts, altazimuth(AZ) and equatorial(EQ). Probably the most important and most expensive piece of the astrophotography setup is the mount. I will also give you cheaper options how to do astrophotography on the budget.
#Best telescope for astrophotography 2019 pro#
The most common mounts for astrophotography are HQE5 Pro and NEQ6 Pro.īut let’s take a look at all types of mounts, and I’ll explain why they are good for astrophotography and why not. The best telescope mount for astrophotography is the German equatorial mount with GoTo controller. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. This site contains affiliate links to products.
