Imaging with a dob

[WVStargazer]

I've used my 10" LX-200 on its stock fork mount and color DSI II to capture some fairly nice frames of 30 seconds or less which have stacked into decent deep sky images (stacking software yanks out the field rotation one exposure to the next). But as others rightly point out, to get headed toward publish quality images it takes polar alignment and good guiding. When I got my Obsession I also got the Argo Navis and ServoCat but still I bought it with visual only in mind. You can set a dob on an EQ platform but they're a bit expensive and have some limitations in my humble opinion.

[Spice]

I have the Orion StarShoot IV and have just begun playing with the moon and planets. I did some Registax and AVIstack work and was pleased although as a beginning I see the room for improvement and how I can do better. And just for fun I spent a good long while with both iPhone and iPad in hand holding the camera lens up to the EP and lining up shots that, to be perfectly honest, were light years (sorry!) ahead of what came out of my webcam efforts.

As others have said deep sky is pretty much out but you can have lots of AP fun with the solar system and a Dob!

[deaman49]

That is about the only drawback of a DOB.

[Phoenixrising]

All of my pics have been taken with a dob. Including the deep-sky stuff. Not the plain auto-tracking dob though, i upgraded it to a goto. Sure, some are not as good as a polar mount, but there are a few in there that i am very proud of. Advancements in software are constantly changing the game. Not to mention the new GPS attachment for pentax. The tracking is done inside the camera. Up to 2 mins of exposure with no tracking mount at all.

[TOMLINES]

Phonixrising, what can do you use for your pics?

Your dob is the 250mm10'' yeh?

Some amazing pictures there.

[TOMLINES]

cam* correction

[samgray1]

I have seen some decent deep space photos done with Dobs, but they usually make up for the need for short exposures with large aperture. On the Obsession telescopes web site they show some photos taken with their various size Dobs at the bottom of the page for the telescope. The 15" is the smallest one they show picures taken by.

Obsession Telescopes / Telescopes / 15" Classic

[ChuckWalters]

Welcome Tom! Glad you are cool with it. You can do AP with the DOB. You will just have some limitations and have to work at it.