Comet Schwassmann - Wachmann 3 (comet SW3) will be passing close to earth during mid-May this year, want to photograph it? Believe it or not, you don't need any fancy equipment, the simplest of setups is a camera on a tripod with a lens of your choosing. The longer the focal length the better chance you have of picking up more detail in the tail, but even a 50mm lens should show the comet. With that said, this is one of the simplest and most rewarding solar system objects to photograph. Typically, a 30 second exposure is enough to show a reasonably bright comet. To read about comet SW3 go to sky and telescope's page http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/comets/article_1704_1.asp
You can photograph a comet through a telescope, a 50mm lens, a 200mm lens, whatever, if you have a digital camera that's capable of taking 30 second exposures, then put your camera on a tripod, point it at the comet in Mid-May and shoot. Here's a 30 second exposure I took of Comet Ikeya-Zhang in April '02 with a film camera and a 600mm lens.
I can't remember if I took this photo on a tripod or mounted piggyback, but the point is, even if you get some rotation of the stars, it's not going to be all that bad in a 30 second exposure. OK, so read the article, learn where the comet will be in Mid May, and get some good photos so I can display them here!
Here's a photo of the same comet taken with a 200mm lens (cropped to the comet):
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