One of the first questions that probably comes to your mind when starting astrophotography is what kind of telescope you should buy at an affordable price. There are many types of telescopes on the amateur astrophotography market which can be quite overwhelming.

In my opinion, the best telescope choice to start your astrophotography is with an apochromatic refractor telescope. There are several advantages such as (a) an apochromatic refractor produces high-quality images of beautiful deep sky objects; (b) the smaller apochromatic refractors up to 80mm are relatively affordable; (c) refractors are lightweight and therefore easy to set up and use, and (d) refractor telescopes do not require any maintenance. As there are many different types of telescopes available, I will break down this blog into three parts where I discuss what the most important criteria are to look for when buying your first astrophotography telescope; what types of telescopes fit those criteria; and what affordable telescopes are available on the amateur astrophotography market today.

What beginners should look for when buying their first telescope for astrophotography

There are several things to take into account when buying your first astrophotography telescope, and I’ll mention the ones that I find most important. First of all, your telescope should produce a high-quality image of deep-sky objects. Second, your telescope should be ‘relatively’ affordable. Third, your telescope should be easy to set up and use, and fourth, your telescope should not require any maintenance. Before I start discussing these criteria in more detail, I have to warn you that your telescope is only one piece of the astrophotography puzzle. You will also need other gear such as a good tracking mount and a camera. It will also take time to master all of the astrophotography skills needed to accurately track and capture deep-sky objects. In short, mastering astrophotography is like running a marathon, it’s not a sprint.

1. Choose a telescope that produces good color-calibrated images of the night sky.

The first requirement is that you want a telescope that is able to produce high-quality pictures of deep-sky objects such as galaxies, star clusters, or nebulae. At least two problems may occur when you buy the ‘wrong’ kind of telescope that is unfit for astrophotography. The first problem is that some (refractor) telescopes will suffer from chromatic aberration, also known as “color fringing” or “purple fringing”. This is a common optical problem that occurs when a lens is unable to bring different wavelengths of the light spectrum onto the same “focal plane” – which in astrophotography is your camera sensor. As demonstrated in the picture below, chromatic aberration may occur when the red, blue, and green parts of the visible light will hit your camera sensor at a slightly different angle.

Chromatic aberration will result in colors that do not resemble the actual colors of the deep-sky object you want to capture. On top of that, chromatic aberration may result in nasty purple halos around your stars, something you want to avoid at all cost! Let’s compare my very first picture of the horsehead nebula taken with a telescope that suffers from chromatic aberration to another picture of the horsehead nebula I took with an apochromatic refractor that didn’t suffer from chromatic aberration so you can see the difference. So when looking for a lens-based, refractor telescope (further explained below) I would always advise you to look for an apochromatic refractor telescope.

There may also be other problems besides chromatic aberration, such as off-axis coma, field curvature, or astigmatism. I’ll explain the most important issue that dominates in the more affordable, mirror-based Newtonian telescopes, which is coma. Newtonian telescopes often have a parabolic mirror at the base of the telescope. As a consequence, stars at the center of your picture will be nice and round, but towards the edges of the picture, the stars will be oval-shaped. Equipment such as coma correctors for mirror-based telescopes, or flatfield correctors for lens-based telescopes can be bought separately and used in combination with your telescope to eliminate off-axis coma (or field curvature) in your pictures.

2. Choose an ‘affordable’ telescope to start your astrophotography hobby

Although astrophotography is quite exciting as a hobby, it comes with some steep learning curves. As such, it may not be the best idea to spend your precious money on the best astrophotography telescope all at once. What if you don’t have the time or motivation to develop all kinds of skills such as how to set up and polar align your mount, how to auto guide and track the stars, how to connect software to your gear to effectively capture, stack, and post-process your images? You could end up with a very expensive telescope that may be hard to sell. Be advised, I will recommend telescopes that are nowhere near the cheap kind of telescopes you find in a toy store. As you will see, a decent beginner astrophotography telescope will already cost you about $500 to $1000! Of course, affordability depends on your financial situation and price may be more or less of an issue for you.

3. Choose a telescope that is easy to use and store

When you are just starting your astrophotography hobby, you want to practice as much as you can. For a lot of us, this means allocating some of our precious time to nights that bring us clear skies. It can sometimes take weeks or even months until this happens (in The Netherlands at least). When you do have some clear skies, you want a scope that is immediately ‘ready to go’. I mean, the telescope should not break your back when you carry it outside and put it on your tracking mount. It should also be straightforward to attach a camera and bring the telescope in focus. I often see that – at least for visual use – fellow amateur astronomers recommend a telescope with a large aperture for a low price – mostly Dobsonian or Newtonian reflectors. Although I do agree that a larger aperture is generally better for visual astronomy, I also see that lots of people end up with a big telescope that needs to be stored in the house, taking up space, and raising the eyebrows of husbands, wives, partners or whoever you live with. For many people, it can be quite cumbersome to carry a big and heavy telescope outside – let alone the efforts needed to put it on a tracking mount. My personal opinion is therefore that it is easier to start your astrophotography hobby with a telescope that is relatively compact and lightweight. Especially when starting astrophotography, it is nice to have a telescope that you can take outside, put on your mount, and attach a camera in a short amount of time without breaking your back.

4. Choose a telescope that doesn’t require a lot of maintenance

Another thing I would look for in a beginner astrophotography telescope is that the telescope requires little or no maintenance whatsoever. Let me ask you this. When you start your astrophotography hobby, do you want to spend your precious time ‘under the stars’, learning the ropes of this beautiful – and sometimes frustrating – hobby? Or do you want a telescope that can be out of alignment and requires maintenance? Of course, some of us really like to ‘tinker’ with our telescopes, and any kind of maintenance can be learned. But my point is that you probably want to spend your precious time learning how to image beautiful deep-sky objects rather than maintenance. I speak from experience as I once spend several nights under clear skies trying to collimate my telescope (get my telescope in focus). Not a nice feeling, especially not when you live in a climate like myself (the Netherlands) where weather conditions are such that we do not have lots of clear nights to go out and capture deep-sky targets, especially not during autumn and winter when clouds dominate the sky.

Main differences between telescope types: Refractors versus Reflectors

So now that we know what kind of criteria to look for in a good beginner astrophotography telescope, let me quickly explain the main differences between types of telescopes: refractors versus reflectors. Refractors are the telescopes you are used to seeing in cartoons and movies. Light enters the telescope through a lens situated in front of the telescope. The lens(es) then refract(s) that light onto either an eyepiece (for visual observations) or a camera sensor (for astrophotography). The quantity and quality of those lenses vary between refractors. Many stores sell cheap, achromatic refractors. Although these achromats are suitable for visual astronomy, I urge you to stay away from those when you plan on taking pictures of the night sky. Yes, they are very favorably priced. If you have a strong urge to buy an achromat, I urge you to scroll up and take another look at my first picture of the horsehead nebula, which should cure your urge to buy a cheaper refractor for astrophotography. Achromat refractors do suffer from chromatic aberration and produce false-color images of deep-sky objects, and will produce ugly purple halos around your stars. At a minimum, you should buy a refractor that has some Extra Dispersion (ED) glass – also known as doublet refractors. These telescopes will suffer much less from chromatic aberration as compared to achromat telescopes without ED glass. However, if you want a lens-based telescope that accurately displays the colors of the night sky without any chromatic aberrations, you want to look out for an apochromatic refractor telescope – or APO telescope in short. These refractors have three lens elements and will produce a highly accurate colored picture of the deep-sky objects you are interested in capturing. As most of the APO telescopes have three lens elements, they are also called “triplet refractors”. There is no limit to the number of lenses that can be used in a lens-based telescope. For example, you also have quadruplet refractors with four lens elements, that in addition to producing correct colors also compensate for potential coma or field curvature. However, the more lenses a lens-based telescope has, the more expensive they get. A triplet refractor – depending on its aperture – are within the $500 to $1000 price range which is far from cheap but may still be ‘affordable’ depending on your financial situation.

A reflector is a mirror-based telescope. The most popular (and cheapest) design of a mirror-based telescope is a Newtonian telescope. As the name suggests, this telescope was first invented by Isaac Newton. In a Newtonian telescope, the light that falls into the tube of the telescope is reflected by a mirror – also called the primary mirror – that sits at the base of the telescope, after which the light is reflected again by a secondary mirror, onto either an eyepiece (for visual use) or a camera sensor (for astrophotography). Mirror-based reflectors come in many shapes and sizes and they have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, one advantage is that they generally do not suffer from chromatic aberration, as compared to some of the cheaper lens-based telescopes. Also, they generally offer a bigger aperture as compared to refractors at a similar price. some disadvantages are that the curved mirrors in many reflectors produce coma – oval stars at the edges of your images. A coma corrector can be bought and used in combination with your reflector to correct for this effect. Also, some of the more expensive reflector designs have parabolic secondary mirrors that counter coma and produce a nice ‘flat’ starfield across your picture (e.g., Richey Cretien telescopes). Another disadvantage is that the primary and secondary mirrors need to be perfectly aligned to capture high-quality pictures of deep-sky objects. When the mirrors are out of alignment, you will need to perform ‘maintenance’ on your telescope, also called collimation. Collimation basically is the process of aligning the mirrors of your telescope to bring light to its best focus on either your eyepiece (visual) or camera sensor (photography). Reflector-based telescopes come in many shapes and sizes, from the cheaper Newtonian designs to Richey Cretien, Schmidt Cassegrain, Maksutov and RASA telescopes.

Which affordable beginner telescope should you consider?

When taking into consideration all of the above, I would advise you to start your astrophotography hobby with a 50mm to 80mm apochromatic (APO or triplet) refractor which varies in price from about $500 to $1000 dollars, depending on the aperture, brand, and design. If the price is an issue, you could also choose a cheaper, Newtonian telescope. One of the advantages of buying a Newtonian (mirror-based) telescope is that Newtonians usually have a larger aperture and focal length as compared to similarly priced APO refractors, which is a plus when you want to capture some of the smaller objects in the night sky. Do take into account, however, that the ability to zoom in on smaller objects also makes potential tracking errors of your (equatorial) mount more visible in your pictures when taking long exposures of the night sky. Moreover, Newtonian telescopes are relatively ‘fast’ meaning that they have a low F/ratio (often F/5) which allows you to capture the photons of light from deep space relatively quickly. This being said, they do have some disadvantages that make me hesitate to recommend a Newtonian as your first telescope for astrophotography. The first thing is that Newtonian telescopes suffer from coma, so you will need to buy an additional coma corrector that can be paired with your Newtonian telescope to eliminate coma in your pictures. This will drive up the cost (usually a coma corrector can be bought at around $150). A second thing is that Newtonian telescopes will show diffraction spikes in your stars, due to the spider vanes in front of the telescope that holds the secondary mirror in place. A third disadvantage is that Newtonian telescopes need to be collimated – you will have to align the first and the secondary mirror before you’ll be able to capture sharp images of the night sky. Finally, Newtonian telescopes are usually bigger and heavier than apochromatic (lens-based) telescopes at a similar price range, making them more difficult to set up, use, and store.

Therefore, I would recommend you start your astrophotography hobby with an apochromatic refractor. The main advantages are that APO telescopes produce good color-calibrated (chromatic aberration-free) images of the night sky. Also, at the price range of $500 to $1000, they are lightweight, easy to use, store, and they don’t require any maintenance such as collimation. Much of these APO refractors have a smaller aperture and shorter focal length as compared to similarly priced Newtonians, which translates into a wide(r) field of view of the night sky. I would argue that this is a good thing when you start astrophotography. A wider field of view means that potential tracking errors produced by your (equatorial) mount will be less noticeable in your pictures. It also allows you to capture some of the bigger nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies in one single picture. Some famous examples are the horsehead nebula, the Orion nebula, the Rosette nebula, the Pleiades, and the Andromeda galaxy. This being said, most triplet apochromatic refractors do need a field corrector to get round stars across your entire field of view, which can be bought with the APO refractor (usually around the $100 to $150 price range). Below, I will mention SEVEN telescopes (two Newtonian and five APO refractor telescopes) that I would recommend to start your astrophotography hobby in 2021.

Top 7 Telescopes to Start Astrophotography in 2021

7. SkyWatcher Explorer 200P

Check price and availability: SkyWatcher Explorer 200P Newtonian Telescope

A very affordable Newtonian telescope to start your astrophotography hobby. You’ll get a large aperture (200mm) and focal length (1000mm) that allows you to zoom in on some of the smaller deep-sky objects for an affordable price. Note you’ll probably want an additional coma corrector to get round stars across your entire field of view, and a collimator to align the telescope.

6. Orion 8″ F/3.9 Astrograph

Check price and availability: Orion 8″ F3.9 Newtonian Astrograph

One of the fastest, affordable Newtonian telescopes on the market today to start astrophotography (F/3.9). This telescope will collect light at a very fast rate, resulting in a shorter exposure time needed to capture beautiful deep-sky objects. Note you’ll probably want an additional coma corrector to get round stars across your entire field of view, and a collimator to align the telescope.

5. Sharpstar 61mm Triplet Refractor

Check price and availability: Sharpstar 61mm Triplet Refractor

The perfect travel scope to start astrophotography. At about 2 kg (5 lbs) and only 235 mm, this telescope is easy to carry around and set up. The three lenses will provide you with a good color-calibrated picture of deep-sky objects and the focal length of 335mm is perfect for wide(r) field pictures of the night sky.

4. William Optics Gran Turismo 71 APO Refractor

Check price and availability (USA/WW): William Optics Gran Turismo 71 APO Refractor

Check price and availability: (EU/WW): William Optics Gran Turismo 71 APO Refractor

The WO Gran Turismo has a high-quality FPL-53 glass element and is pretty fast for a refractor (F/5.9), enabling you to capture good color-calibrated pictures of the cosmos at a fast rate. It is also very portable at 2.8kg (6.1 lbs) and a focal length of only 420mm, making it easy to travel and store this telescope.

3. Explore scientific 80mm f/6 triplet refractor

Check price and availability (USA/WW): Explore scientific 80mm f/6 triplet refractor

Check price and availability (EU/WW): Explore scientific 80mm f/6 triplet refractor

Explore Scientific is famous for producing high-quality telescopes at an affordable price. This air-spaced APO telescope has a generous 80mm aperture and a 480mm focal length (F/6), which is an ideal focal length used by many astrophotographers (including myself) to take good color-calibrated images of some of the famous deep-sky objects. Also, it is quite portable at 7.5 lbs (about 3.5 kg).

2. TS Photoline 80mm triplet f/6 refractor

Check price and availability (EU/WW): TS Photoline 80mm triplet f/6 refractor

Check price and availability (USA/WW): TS Photoline 80mm triplet f/6 refractor

Teleskop Service is famous in Europe for its affordable, high-quality refractors. Joseph Ritter von Fraunhofer would have been jealous at the aberration-free images this telescope is able to produce with glass that includes the famous, high-quality FPL-53 lens element. This APO refractor telescope offers a generous 80mm aperture and 480mm focal length, which is ideal for many of the famous deep-sky objects amateur astrophotographers want to capture.

1. Orion 80mm (ED80T) Triplet f/6 refractor

Check price and availability (USA/WW): Orion 80mm (ED80T) Triplet f/6 refractor

Last but certainly not least, the Orion ED80T refractor telescope has been a popular telescope on the amateur astrophotography market for many years, and with good reason. The carbon fiber used means that this lightweight telescope at 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg) is easy to carry around, while offering a generous 80mm aperture and 480mm focal length. The telescope includes the low dispersion FPL-53 glass, producing razor-sharp and color aberration free images of the night sky.