Bill,.

Please let me know if you find an affordable camera that you can attach to a telescope - I am looking for one to attach to a microscope..

The problem I am finding is that "consumer" cameras (my definition - cost $1000 or less) have built in lenses and little or no way to attach them to instruments. Further, most will not focus closely enough to be of use. To get a "professional" SLR-type digital camera that has interchangeable lenses will cost you at least $5000..

I remain hopeful though, things are changing so quickly and new cameras seem to be coming out weekly. Maybe soon we'll both find the camera we're looking for..

Best of luck...

This is a very old thread however still replying to it since there was no suitable answer to it..

I tried to do this sometime back..

I do not own a celestial telescope. I have a cheap russian terrestial telescope. I tried to piggy back my Nikon CP7900 on to it. Did not get any decent results. I was not able to see "anything".

I tried to shoot the Moon (lunar photography), however all I got was a blurry white circle. *sad*.

I tried to do Lunar with my Nikin D40 also. All I got was "compartively" bigger blurry while circle *more sad*.

I tried researching on what to do. Eventually, I decided that I would need a celestial telescope.. (not ready to invest in one.. not yet).

Once I decide to buy a telescope, then maybe I can invest in a T-Ring and hope to take some decent pictures...

The following might help youhttp://www.scopetronix.com/http://www.allaboutastro.com/Articlepages/shootingpiggyback.html..

Many use a Canon 350 XT (some with the IR filter removed/replaced) and connect with a T-mount. And, some use it teathered to a laptop...

You might want to do a google search on "digiscoping", attaching digital cameras to telescopes. This is normally used for photographing birds, but the equipment might be suitable for astrophotography as well.Chris R..

Here's the moon shot with a Canon A75, mounted on a tripod and pointed through the eyepiece of a telescope focused on the moon..

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Just about any camera can be used for astrophotography. It depends on how "into it" one wants to get..

For simple shots, such as consteallations, star trails, comets, etc, you can simply mount your camera on a tripod, set your focus to infinity and shoot away, bracketing exposures. If your camera supports long exposure of has a bulb mode, even better, but one can get decent results with just the basic auto exposure modes with some exprimentation..

The next step up is afocal, which is the method I used to take the moon shot above. Use a scope of some sort, focus on your object and then point your camera thru the eyepiece and take the picture. I used a tripod to increase the sharpness but for the moon it is not usually necessary as lunar exposures are typically around 1/100th of a sec to 1/300th.....remember the moon is lit by sunlight so you are basically taking a daylight exposure here to get the moon properly exposed..

The next step is to physically attach your camera to the scope, effectively using the scope as a llong telephoto lens. This requires some sort of way to attach the camera, usually using a DSLR, a t-mount ring and adapter, which replaces the eyepiece of the scope. You will also need a strong and sturdy mount for the scope as well as some sort of clock drive mechanism for anything but the shortest of exposures..

As one of the posters mentioned, you need $5k woirth of gear......nope. My moon shot was taken with a sub $200 P&S....but I did have a pretty serious 4 inch refractor for the shot. But if you schoose to just shoot star fields and constellations, a decent DSLR with a normal lens and tripod will get you started..

JohnPentax *ist-D, K100D, Fuji F20/31fd, Oly Stylushttp://www.pbase.com/jglover..

Here is a tripod mounted shot of the moon and Venus.....

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Taken with a Pentax K100d and the DA55-200mm, 1/4sec at f/8, ISO 200 with the lens set at 200mm. The camera was mount on a Bogen tripod and the image was cropped at 100% to get just the moon and Venus in the frame. Simple PP included a levels adjustment and a touch of sharpening in Photoshop Elements..

JohnPentax *ist-D, K100D, Fuji F20/31fd, Oly Stylushttp://www.pbase.com/jglover..

Another afocla shot of the moon with a Pentax *istD, DA18-55mm lens thru a 100mm refractor, 1/250th of a sec at ISO800.

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JohnPentax *ist-D, K100D, Fuji F20/31fd, Oly Stylushttp://www.pbase.com/jglover..

Last one.....straight out of the camera, no crop or PP, a Fuji 6900 at full zoom plus a Tiffen 2x converter, 1/512th sec, F/4, ISO 100, mounted on a tripod. This was taken with very basic equipment, so decent images can be had, it just takes some trial and error....I had a whole memory card full of over and underexposed images to get a few usable ones..

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JohnPentax *ist-D, K100D, Fuji F20/31fd, Oly Stylushttp://www.pbase.com/jglover..

My choice is Nikon DSLR. I've used un-modded Nikon D40, D50, and D70 DSLR. Most images taken through a telescope, as can be seen at this link:.

Http://www.barrie-tao.com/wotriplet.html.

Ciao....Barry..

OMG...that is awesome !!.

I am living in the city, too much background light. But I will definitely try it one day...