Equipment

My setup is the result of an evolving dance between my abilities, budget, available time, interest and loads of fumbles and foibles trying to get some good shots.

I started out like many others with a Meade fork mounted LX50 and thoroughly enjoyed visual observing for a couple of years. I quickly started dabbling in piggyback and prime focus film astrophotos and discovered autoguiders and a better german equitorial mount were truly the way to go given I'm no expert in customizing my equipment or building my own. This lead me to my current setup seen below.

My latest set up has been to use a high quality TEC 140 refractor much more dedicated for astrophotography with great optics, a flat field and less issues common on large reflectors such as mirrors that move during exposures or focus that shifts more easily over temperature etc. I've also recently switch from film to a Canon Rebel XT (350D) DSLR camera that has been modified for better sensitivity to deep sky objects.

Current Setup:

Scope - TEC 140 APO f7 Refractor

Mount - Losmandy G11 with Gemini GOTO

Autoguider - SBIG ST-4

Guiding Controls - MaximDL on laptop

Guide Scope - Televue 85

Camera - Canon Rebel XT (350D) (Hutech modified - Type 1a filter)

Lenses -

28mm f2.8 Sigma

50mm f1.4 Nikor

105mm f2.8 Nikor

Sky Mapping/Scope Control - SkyMap Pro

Old Setup:

Scope - Meade 10" SCT