Reddit mentions of Orion 9055 Min-EQ Tabletop Equatorial Telescope Mount

First issue you'll have will be in getting it focused right. The lenses can focus past infinity so that the AF feature can operate. What you're going to be doing is roughly akin to doing shots of city streets for car-light streaks but with the iris wide open. Not moving the camera at all is very important.

Try not to use ISO over 1600 as it generates heat and messes with image quality.
Get a true black-cap for the lens so you can do a couple bias shots while taking each set of pictures - this helps with noise and hot pixels. Remember to turn the camera off and on between shooting segments to save on battery charge. If you have some kind of remote timer control for the camera that can be used for shutter duration you'll want it. Also check to see if you can get a copy of BackyardEOS on trial to use over the weekend. It can help with focus etc but requires a laptop/computer to use - which may be a complication considering battery life on a laptop.

That 50mm f/1.4 looks interesting tbh it produces http://www.lonelyspeck.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/ian-norman-orion-processed-1400.jpg (not mine) images when used with a tracking mount. ( http://www.lonelyspeck.com/astrophotography-101/ scroll down to "What Is Astrophotography" ) and is likely the go-to lens of your kit for 16 to 20s exposures that are then stacked.

This shot http://www.alexnail.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/f4-stars.jpg was made with the 16-35 f/4 at 16mm at ISO6400 for 30 seconds. It has star streaks you can see but produces a beautiful amount of detail.

What you should do to start with is go for the beauty of it, see what you like to see.
Right now we have a mean and nasty moon up in the evenings 8( Which may make the whole deal a problem.

If you end up getting a sky tracking mount I can see you using the 16-35 f/4 a lot. Its overall image quality all the way to the edge of field is excellent but that big 50mm f/1.4 is your stronger light gathering lens. For the most part you'll be operating in the 14 to 24s range of exposures depending on which lens with a fixed mount BUT you don't have to spend a lot of money to get a simple tracking mount. A used german equatorial mount from a garage sale, the kind you have to turn by hand, with a simple telescope on it can be used as a reliable guiding mount. Many of the old ones can be had for $25 or so and come with an attached piggy-back screw in place. For even the 50mm lens a 40 second exposure with simple polar alignment will produce stunning results and the coolest thing is you can get a little "tangent head" to mount on the garage-sale toy which lets you aim at bright stars while the camera is aimed elsewhere. Time is money, a little old tasco EQ mount is light and easy to move around.

https://www.amazon.com/Orion-9055-Tabletop-Equatorial-Telescope/dp/B0000XMX8O/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1465991481&sr=8-3&keywords=manual+equatorial+mount and https://www.amazon.com/Orion-7826-EQ-1M-Electronic-Telescope/dp/B0000XMWBW/ref=pd_bxgy_421_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=BDGVXK5F7TQPJ47R0PN9 combined can give you good 90s tracks for the 50mm. You can find equipment like this used for very very little cash.

I have dabbling in Astrophotography for about a year now. Here's some pointers that I've learned along the way.

The biggest thing is to get to a location away from city lights with minimal light pollution.

Use this light pollution map to help you: http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/

Use this to help you read and understand it: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_Dark-Sky_Scale

Take multiple exposures at a high ISO (make sure to shoot in RAW!), then use a program to calibrate and stack them. Like this one: http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html

Also, try not to shoot exposures over 30 seconds at 18mm or else star trailing will occur. Even more so the closer you shoot towards the zenith. Barn door trackers, or a real bona-fide equatorial mount with motorized tracking are used to neutralize star trailing.

Barn door tracker: http://www.astropix.com/BGDA/SAMPLE2/SAMPLE2.HTM

Entry level EQ mount: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0000XMX8O

For $170 with this tripod and this drive you can do a whole lot more than the K-5 can do.

Hey all! I want to get my dad some sort of intro to wide-field astrophography gift for Christmas.
Is this thing a good idea? http://www.amazon.com/9055-Min-EQ-Tabletop-Equatorial-Telescope/dp/B0000XMX8O/ref=sr_1_6?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1449868135&sr=1-6&keywords=star+tracker

I know this a pretty expensive hobby, but I'd like to keep the gift $100 or less.

He has a DSLR camera, a nice tripod, and a telescope... Not sure about the specs (or lenses) on any of them, though!