Beginner setup, tracker and lens / telescope advice

[north rampart]

I've got a Canon M50 Mark II camera that I have used to it's limit for astrophotography. Looking to dig deeper with a tracker and either a different lens or a telescope. Have been doing DSO with a 32mm (effectively 50mm) lens, and have been enjoying taking photos of Andromeda, Orion's nebula and the Pleiades - so would be happy to continue doing these sorts of objects.

Ideally would like to spend as little as possible as a first setup. Bonus if the tracker is portable. I have found these as options for the tracker, but would like some general opinions on them:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/star-tracker-astronomy-mounts/skywatcher-star-adventurer-astronomy-bundle.html
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/star-tracker-astronomy-mounts/ioptron-skytracker-pro-camera-mount-with-polar-scope.html
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/star-tracker-astronomy-mounts/move-shoot-move-nomad-star-tracker.html

The lens / telescope option is a little more difficult for me to know. Worth bearing in mind the Canon M50 is a APS-C cropped sensor. I was thinking of sticking to a decent prime lens for doing fairly-wide (I think?) stuff, like the rokinon 135mm or maybe even a samyang 85mm given the crop factor. Otherwise, please suggest if there's other good alternatives for lenses or telescopes with similar capability (bearing in mind if these will work fine for a camera with an APS-C sensor). I also see telescopes often come with tripods as well, if there's a telescope you'd recommend that comes bundled with a decent tripod please let me know. Thanks in advance!

[gleaming hatch]

Get the star adventurer, the two others won't work for anything more than milky way photography.
You can ignore crop factor when it comes to astrophotography

[north rampart]

Thanks, I’ll get the star adventurer then.
Won’t the crop factor change the FoV though?

[gleaming hatch]

For AP you have to think only with fov and pixel scale, so just use a site like astronomy.tools to determine your fov for a given camera and optics and go from there when choosing targets and stuff

[north rampart]

Ah I see, cheers

[north rampart]

Looking at lenses and telescopes, it’s easy using that tool to see the FoV with various focal lengths. But do you have any advice on the maximum capability of the SA 2i considering the focal length and weight? Do you recommend sticking to say a Samyang 135 rather than going for a telescope in a more concrete example?

[gleaming hatch]

It's a good idea to stick below 200mm, it's more forgiving

A telescope is possible but it would require guiding and possibly some tuning of the mount, it gets more frustrating as you have to manually frane the target

[north rampart]

If I may ask one last question, I have a 55-200mm lens, is it still worth going for the Samyang 135mm for the f/2 and other qualities?

[gleaming hatch]

usually prime lenses are a good idea, no slippage of the zoom and optics tend to be way better

also the roki is fast as hell

[pastel lion]

One of my friends has a roki135 on it and gets some insane images

[north rampart]

Yeah everyone seems to recommend it. I am a cheapskate though 😂. I’ve been looking at vintage lenses now such as the Pentax 135mm. If anyone’s got any recommendations or any they want to sell on please let me know.

[ornate charm]

vintage lenses are great

[north rampart]

@ornate charm taken these with my M50 and 32mm

Untracked

[ornate charm]

Nice

I recommend you look into getting a SMC Pentax Takumar 200mm f/4

[north rampart]

Thanks I will look into that

[ornate charm]

Thats what ive been using with my GTI and have gotten good results

My personal favorites

[gleaming hatch]

I remembered now about the tair 3s, farly popular pick for AP

300mm, heavy as hell but good sharpness

[north rampart]

Assuming that would be too much for the SA 2i?

[north rampart]

These look fantastic

[gleaming hatch]

nah 300mm is alright

[ornate charm]

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/404803-the-tair-300mm-f45-for-astrophotography/

what an abomination

[gleaming hatch]

funky looking setup

[ornate charm]

I bet the focuser is worth more than the lens lol

[gleaming hatch]

for sure, the lens sells for below 150

[ornate charm]

Thanks. I stop my lens down to f/5.6 or else the CA is pretty bad

[north rampart]

Do you remember roughly how long you had to expose the frames for?

[ornate charm]

2 min 30 sec, 1 hour total. Im in Bortle 5 and it was a New noon

For the flame and horsehead ^

[north rampart]

I’ve found a second hand Star adventurer for an ok price, but it’s version 1. I don’t think the wifi is useful but is there any reason I should go for the 2i instead?

[ornate charm]

How much?

[north rampart]

It’s £200 for the pro pack but will probably offer a little bit less

[ornate charm]

I’m not familiar with that model. If the 2i with wifi is like the gti, the wifi is used to control the mount in rather than a hand controller.

WiFi is very handy. A 2i shouldn’t be that much more than that

Can you send a link, if it’s an online listing?

[north rampart]

https://www.facebook.com/share/19kD1rPmM9/?mibextid=wwXIfr

[north rampart]

I think I read that there’s not a lot to control besides some Timelapse settings which you wouldn’t use for tracked AP

[ornate charm]

With wifi?

[north rampart]

Yeah

I can imagine it useful on the gti for goto

[ornate charm]

Yea the gti uses the SynScan app.

Tbh the star adventurer models before the gti confuse me

There’s a mini and 2i.

[ornate charm]

This might be this

https://www.skywatcherusa.com/products/star-adventurer-pro-pack

Which is the 2i with wifi

Idk though

[north rampart]

I believe the one for sale is the V1, the precursor to the 2i

I think it doesn’t come with a finder scope?

Do you have any recommendations for that?

[ornate charm]

You mean polar scope?

[north rampart]

Yeah

[gleaming hatch]

should be built in

[ornate charm]

Yea

Although I think the 2i polar scope illuminator isn’t build in.

[north rampart]

Is the Illuminator necessary?

[gleaming hatch]

it's handy but not a must

depends if you're going to end up doing alignment with the camera or by eye

[ornate charm]

I think people used to shine a red light into the opening of the polar scope for the 2i, but I can’t remember

[north rampart]

The guy selling it has a laser, could that be used for the same purpose?

[gleaming hatch]

it helps getting a rough alignment

[ornate charm]

be careful if you live near an airport though lol