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Camera For Telescope

Question
Hello everybody, I’m an enthusiatic amateur photographer of wildlife and birds. For some time now, I’ve been interested in using a telescope attached to my camera to make real close-ups of my subjects. But I don’t really now anything about telescopes. Do any of you know some sites where I can see the general schematics of a telescope? And can anyone tell me how I can calculate what camera-lens a telescope would be equal to? I’ve heard when attaching the camera-body to a telescope, the occulair should be removed. What consequences does this have on the enlarging-capabilities of the telescope? I really hope you can help me.
Anwser
The telescope without an occular will behave essentially like a camera lens of the same focal length. Using an occular is called eyepiece projection amongst other things. Look at Michael Covington’s book/website at http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/astro/ for a start. Never heard of anyone doing the eyepiece projection for terrestrial — may not result in very good quality. On the other hand, people do simply put a camera to a telescope eyepiece and snap away, which is essentially the same kind of thing, so perhaps its good enough.
Associated Question:I am in the market for a digital camera, and would like to determine what I would need to be able to get into astro-photography, as a hobby. I need the camera for other purposes, and would like to get one that can grow into this hobby as well. I would eventually like to take pictures of various objects, like planets, galaxys, nebulae, etc. I understand that I can piggy-back a camera on my telescope tube, but to be able to take advantage of the telescope’s magnification, I need n SLR camera. I would think that I also need features like long exposure times, and the ability for the camera to mount to the telescope (using a T-ring adapter?). Can anyone provide some suggestions on what camera I can use for this? I’m expecting to need to spend around $1000US, but am interested in hearing what others think. $1000 will get you a top-of-the-line camera; you can probably spend half that and put the money towards gadgets – spare memory cards, spare batteries, etc. You want a camera that can do long exposures, and even then noise is going to be a problem – you will need to add together a lot of 30 second exposures to capture a galaxy, for instance. Unless you buy a digital SLR with interchangeable lenses you won’t use a T-ring – you need one of the rings that screws into the filter thread and grips the eyepiece (Scopetronix). There are also adapters that screw into the camera tripod bush. You don’t really need an SLR because the camera will have an LCD screen that acts as a finder and also replays the image.

Anwser:I thought I would need SLR so the camera would be able to use the magnification power of the telescope. If the camera is not SLR, then won’t it just be piggy-backed on the telescope tube, taking the picture through its own lens? Am I wrong in thinking that I want to take my picture through the telescope, rather than using the telescope simply as a guide scope? Another question: If I use a camera that adapts to the focuser on the telescope (via T-ring?), how does one adjust the magnification? It seems to me that the camera is placed in the focuser assembly in place of an eye piece, and the camera’s lens is also not used. Thanks for the help!
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