General Suggested additions than basic camera & lenses (1 Viewer)

[Tracy]

If getting into astrophotography, I've already discovered one thing that I missed on my list.

A simple rotator for the setup. I was playing around with KStars and it showed, based upon my camera alignment, the capture box for my camera. Only problem... what I wanted to capture was more vertical and my camera was more horizontal to the object. Instead of messing with the entire camera train, a rotator would have solved that problem.

 

[OhNo]

Auto focuser first.

 

[Tracy]

Yes, auto-focuser is a very good piece of equipment to have...

That's what this thread is to discuss, things that many beginners don't think about. For me, an auto-focuser is a nice "to-have" after you learn the basics. But again, I've always been a nuts & bolts type guy. Want to learn the "hard way", then I can branch off to the easy way. The auto-focuser is a classic case... what if your auto-focuser takes a dump on itself? If you haven't learned to manually focus your rig, you are probably going to be out of business for the night at the least.
It's kind of like teaching someone to drive, but doing it in a vehicle with an automatic transmission... if they ever had to drive a manual in an emergency, they are lost.