Guidescope set-up.....confuzzled!!!!!

[Outbackmanyep]

G'Day peoples,
I've been researching into a set-up i want to get for my Celestron Ultima PEC for a guidescope......
Now im always one to want a happy medium with quality vs price.....i dont have a big budget, although i need to find a guidescope with good quality optics...not just for guiding but also reverse guiding (taking pics through the guidescope)

My plan was to first buy a counterweight set-up, i was thinking either Losmandy or Celestron.....currently i use a home-made device which works quite well.....but i really need to go to a proper counterweight system...

Then to buy a Losmandy piggybacking system, i like their camera swivel set-up, from the photo on their website it looks quite solid in its construction and can swivel in almost any position....of course i may have to import it from USA. With this set-up i can also attach my guide rings to the rail with the piggyback mount removed.....

Then down to the guidescope itself....now i my interest always opted towards an 80mm guidescope at least.....Do i go to an 80mm ACHRO or the 66mm APO??? There is not much difference in price that i can afford.
I wanted to ask anyone who can tell me what their thoughts/reports are of William Optics Zenithstar 80 f/6 OTA, as opposed to ZenithStar 66 f/5.9 SD Doublet APO OTA, or the ZenithStar 80 II f/6.8 ED Doublet APO OTA.

Or in the Saxon range: Saxon/Skywatcher ED80 f/7.5 refractor.....

Using my C8 Ult. PEC at f/10 i'd need the guidescope to be operating at f/15 approx.........
I know its a tough question but as i have limited funds and i need to seriously consider which way to go.......If anyone had any of these telescopes mentioned id be interested to hear from you what your thoughts are.....

Any help would be most appreciated.....

Cheers! :thumbsup:

[JohnH]

Losmandy rings and mounts are $$$ - if you are on a budget have you looked at an alternate like ADM?

You do not mention your cameras, in my experiance the guidecamera resolution and sensitivity and the software you are going to use are just as important as the guidescope.

If you want to use your guidescope as a widefield imaging scope it had better be an APO. For the $$$ it seems impossible to beat the ED80 types.

And this raises the next point - the ED80 is in a 100mm tube so it is quite big and heavy compared to the wo66 I use for example - main reason for me in choosing the smaller scope - load carrying capacity of the mount - it also serves duty as a grab and go scope for holidays.

Finally you do not need to go to f15 on the guidescope, if you are autoguiding that is, sub-pixel guiding at +/-0.2 pixels or better is achieveable so assuming the pixel sizes in the imager and guider are similar you can use 1/5 of the fl of your main scope...400mm in your case.

[Outbackmanyep]

Thanks John H , i guess i better tell you that i still use film photography, its much cheaper than a DSI camera or SBIG..... i currently use a Minolta 7000 AF SLR.....and usually 800 ISO Fuji film.....
My telescope is a Celestron 8" Ultima PEC and will not support an autoguider as i have requested information through Celestron in the USA and they advised me that i would not be able to control this scope with modern equipment without modifying,which can be quite costly........
I know that Losmandy stuff costs more but they are a reputable brand and i try to cut my losses in the long run...
I do own a Meade LPI Imager to get me started into digital photography though and have had limited success, hopefully soon i'll either grab a DSI or something similar.....but i think i need to know what im doing with how to process my images before i spend more in that area.....
The worry for me is the quality of the optics, i want good quality for the amount of dollars i spend.....so thats why im looking at William Optics.....

I will check out the ADM mounts and rings.....

Cheers!

[[1ponders]]

G'day OBMY

Once you get your guiderings (I have the Losmandy setup and damn glad I do) you can still use a webcamera to guide with even though it isn't auto guiding. You can use the Drift Explorer in K3CCDTools to guide off rather than looking down through an illuminated reticle. You still have to make the corrections manually, but it is far more accurate doing it this way, not to mention a hell of a lot easier on the neck. I think the LPI will work but don't quote me on that. The DSI will work with the latest version of K3, but you might be better off with a ToUcam, that's what I normally use. It's rare not to be able to find a star to guide on. I've only had to use the DSI once, and that was more for the trial of it than anything else.


Using film your guiding accuracy doesn't have to be a exacting as with a ccd either so you have a bit of leeway there as well. Check out these two sites for film.
http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/FILM/FILMS.HTM
http://www.robertreeves.com/colslide.htm

I know it means extra cost for a scanner, but if I do film photography (and I still do. Ran off a couple of rolls during the Easter break. 1 of negative to get the settings right (cheaper to processes) and then a dozen and a half shots of slide for the final images to produce the attached composite image for a uni project) then I prefer to use colour positive slide film rather than colour negative print film.

Fujicolour Provia 100 (what I used on the project)
or
Fujichrome 400
or
Kodak Elite Chrome 100 or 200 (if you can get it)
or if you can get it (very hard to get if it is still available. I haven't been able to for quite a while now :sad: )
Kodal Ektachrome E 200 (professional)

[Outbackmanyep]

Thanks for the feedback Paul!

I have only used slide film on rare occasions with limited success, but that was only from trail shots from a fixed camera.....i havent yet tried slide film for my guided astro-photography, and now i have a fellow in a photolab in Port Macquarie that processes my films for me, and he does the right thing by me, then maybe i'll grab some Fujichrome 400 and try that....
I was pretty sure that i was aiming in the right direction with a Losmandy mount, so that'd be what i want for sure!

How do you find the Orion 80ED scope? Much optical aberrations in that for widefield photography?

Cheers!

[[1ponders]]

Bewwwdiiful!!!!, For the dollars you pay there isn't another scope within a couple of grand that comes even close. JMO (Except of course for the Saxon, Skywatcher etc clones)

[Outbackmanyep]

And that scope is an APO?? I have read some reviews on it, it seems like a good unit!

[[1ponders]]

No it's not really an apo. It is sometimes described as a "semi-apo" what ever that is supposed to mean.