My CHEAP Widefield Astrophotography Setup | Under £1k!

We all know that astrophotography is an expensive hobby! In this video I walk you through my portable, cheap widefield astrophotography setup. This whole setup cost less than £1000, and I share some handy tips for how to save money when buying astrophotography gear.
Manfrotto 055 tripod: amzn.to/3KetYLX
Sky-Watcher Tripod for Star Adventurer: bit.ly/3tBHjIm
Buy second hand cameras from: www.mpb.com/
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*The equipment I use*
Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED: bit.ly/3gBOKVO
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer: bit.ly/2QvQZ2f
HEQ5 Mount: bit.ly/31zmW08
ZWO ASI533MC Pro: bit.ly/3I7jNXK
Field flattener for 72ED: bit.ly/32wiP48
Canon camera adapter: bit.ly/3joCh9P
Dew strap & controller: bit.ly/2QwHuAb
US based viewers. Buy your gear at HighPoint Scientific here: bit.ly/3rvTvqU
US based viewers. Buy your gear at OPT here: bit.ly/3gAcee8
Disclosures: All opinions are my own. Some links in the description are affiliate links that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.

[@MaciejWiniarczyk]

For that kind of wide field astrophotography there is really no need for a tracker. Just change lens to Samyang 10mm f/2.8 on a crop sensor and you can do up to 30 seconds exposures without a tracker, which should be good enough even for single exposure. For better quality you can stack 2-3 single exposure (in Sequator to preserve foreground) to get quite clean (regarding noise) image. All Milky Way time lapses in videos on my channel are made that way (from fixed tripod) as single 30 exposures at ISO 3200/6400.

[@jezrougan]

Hi Nick, another great video, I have spent the morning dismantling my Meade LS"6 and removing the OTA from the mount it was married to... I'm now just awaiting the new mount HEQ5 Pro as I'm quite sure my skywatcher star adventurer can't handle a 6" OTA + dslr payload...

[@AstroExploring]

Yeah that might be a bit much for a star adventurer 😃

[@peterturner1919]

Great vid I have almost the exact set-up, my 650 isn't modified yet,I've had some great results. How is the building going on over your fence...talk about a pain

[@AstroExploring]

We actually moved house recently!

[@everetttremblay3003]

Nick....great video. I have the Star Adventure as well but no Dec bracket. But it still works well even with my 75-300mm lens. Was easily able to get 2 mins exposures. My camera doesn't have the articulating screen. But it does the job I hook it up to my computer.

[@AstroExploring]

Sounds like a great setup!

[@astrophotonics9470]

I use a AS90C carbon fiber tripod while pricy its worth it and keeps a W.O. ZenithStar 61mm nice and solid.

[@paulmckeown5672]

Any thoughts on using a Sky-Watcher AZ GTi WiFi Alt-Az GOTO mount with the equatorial firmware update and an equatorial wedge? It's still lowish cost but to my mind does more than the star adventurer

[@AstroExploring]

I’ve never used one but with the added benefit of a goto capability it’s definitely worth it

[@harrison00xXx]

well im using a heavy EQ5 tripod on a EQ3-2, i dont have anything else to compare except for the typical "barn door" tracker which is obviously no comparison. The tripod is definately too heavy for a mobile setup, but perfect for a 24/7 setup on the balcony.

[@harrison00xXx]

And i mean, i get the point where you said „under 1k“, but any nice astrocamera is already close to 1k or much higher priced. same here i paid like 300€ for the 150/750mm F5 newton, EQ3-2 mount+ Synscan goto+motors and another 300€ for off axis guider ring/adapter and a ZWO Asi 120MM Mini as guiding cam The 300€ for the OAG+ cheapest „regular“ guiding cam solution made me questioning the astrophotography hobby already a bit when it comes to amount of money you need. I still consider this setup as 600€ (excluding mirrorless camera), not cheap anymore but still far away from expensive. I easily try to get as good results as possible with this „cheap“ setup so im prepared if i ever upgrade to proper telescopes, astrocams (color or mono+filters, idk) and mounts. Actually i lean a lot with a „poor“ working EQ3 mount which is basically only limited in worm gear/guiding precision quality so i can get experience how to work around problems. Like this i learned that the very huge declination jump which occurs every 5-8 minutes in DEC guiding i can even abuse as „automatic dither“ if i plan the longer exposure times only BETWEEN the Dec jumps so at 300s exposure time are possible. What i really enjoy… searching in the finderscope and camera live view for any target i want to „explore“, go to the PC and lock on star/guide with PHD2… waiting for the first DEC error/jump. Start any long time exposure at Iso100/200 and wait for the image to be processed by the cam and sent to the PC. Easy „single shot“ high quality image, no stacking needed at all. If i find any interesting spot/galaxy i want to explore deeper, i go for a focus check (in 95% of the cases its still on point!) and go for mostly anything like 30s-120s Iso 6400 and 50-100 lights to stack (mostly nebulas/galaxies, what else…)

[@qwertyu2387]

I'd like to point out that if idea behind this sort of kit is portability you'd need also power supply of some kind.

[@AstroExploring]

The Star Adventurer runs on AA batteries

[@qwertyu2387]

@@AstroExploring how long one set of batteries will last for?

[@AstroExploring]

@@qwertyu2387 they last several imaging sessions at the very least

[@qwertyu2387]

@@AstroExploring that's interesting. I was wondering if I could exchange my gear for something easier to move around. Thanks for your informative video. Clear skies mate !!!

[@TelfordO]

I use a mixture, Batteries and a charge pack 12000Ma used for charging Phones, Tablets. as well as my lens heater, :

[@TelfordO]

I use a Surveyors tripod with a slight modification so that the Star Adventurer fits using a Bolt from Screwfix £1.15p, Tripod from Amazon cost around £40 sturdier than other tripod i have used.

[@AstroExploring]

Great idea!