Digi Camera setup for Celestron NexStar 8 SE Telescope?

Hi all, I just purchased a Celestron NexStar 8 SE Telescope and was wondering how I would go about getting it setup to take some nice images with a digital camera. I'm a newbie to this kind of thing and don't know what I need to set it up or what brand/make of camera to go for and/or any kind of adapters I may need.

Thx in advance for any help and recommendations.

Hi

Are you talking astrophotography or daytime photography? Huge difference, here. The good news, though, is that you've selected a nice scope, either way. Also, what kind of digital camera will you be using? If it is astrophotography you want to do, the most popular choices are either a CCD imager or a DSLR with some astronomy imaging software to process the images you collect. If you don't already have a DSLR and just want to do astrophotography, I would opt for a CCD imager. Anyway, let us know what specific kind of photography you had in mind.

Thanks for the reply Jne.

And yes, I'm talking about strictly astrophotography. I don't have a DLSR or any astrophotography equipment yet. So I guess getting a CCD imager is the way to go for me. Where do I start looking? What's a good make/model? And besides the imaging software is there anything else I need to go along with it? I got some imaging filters for my scope, I hope those help.

I literally know nothing about astrophotography so any help is awesome, thanks.

Hi

You can start off with a basic, no frills planetary and lunar CCD imager, such as the Celestron NexImage or go with a model that provides more sensitivity for deep-sky objects, such as one of the Meade DSI II (or go crazy with the super expensive SBIGs and so on). These come with software, so no need to add anything, there. The Celestron and Meade will get you started without breaking the bank.

You can use your 8SE, as is, for a lot of imaging, though if you plan to do long exposures on the very faint stuff, you might want to add a wedge Celestron #93658 for equatorial tracking, though I would try it without the wedge, first..

Awesome, thanks for the all the info Joanie. I think I'm going to with the Meade DSI II for now, maybe I'll get a "super expensive" one some time down the road

You are very welcome. I think you'll find the DSI II to be capable of doing just about anything you need to do, too.