Best OTA/Mount combination for DSLR imaging?

[bloodhound31]

Can anyone tell me what would be the best scope/mount combination for DSLR imaging?


Mount
Equatorial?
Fork on wedge?

OTA
Refractor?
Reflector?
SCT?
Newtonian?

Baz.

[g__day]

Depends what you want to image, and in what price bracket. Nothing much would beat a 20" RC on a Paramount ME mount - but if you don't have $55K to spend I guess a 80mm ED refractor on a Heq5 for wide field, a 9.25 SCT or a 10" - 12" SCT on an eq6 in the budget range for planetary nebular or other dim objects. Or for long shots, guided piggy back a 80mm ED on a 9.25 - 12" SCT on an EQ6.

Oh and yes to equatorial in my opinon.

Any idea of

1) budget
2) what you want to capture
3) how mobile it must be - or is it fixed to a permanent pier?
4) if its mobile do you have a weight limit?
3) do you intend to do any long duration astrophotography - meaning guided shots will be required?

[rsbfoto]

What about this one ? :eyepop:

http://www.rcopticalsystems.com/rc_cine.html :thumbsup:

:D

just kidding

[jase]

I would suggest you take one small step at time instead of purchasing a combination. Sink as much money as you can into the mount first. The mount is the critical piece and should provide you future growth to use just about any OTA for imaging in the future.

For the mount, you can't beat a german equatorial (GEM) from a flexibility perspective. You will note that many astrophotographers use GEMs. Forks are ok, but if you want to upgrade from an 8" to 10" OTA, then you need to also upgrade the fork mount. I think there is a thread already on IIS talking about the pros/cons of each mount. You may need to search the forum.

Forget about the RC's. Keep an eye out on Astromart, as some cheap G11's and Taks turn up now and then. Or even an AP600 - very good mount for the price.

[bloodhound31]

1 Low to nil at the moment. I have to come up with a plan. Maybey a swap? I already have a C11 on a fork (NexstarGPS). Great for visual, but the drives I fear, are too sloppy and poor manufacture for long imaging on DSO's.

2 Galaxies and Nebulae. Not too fussed over planets.

3 Fixed inside my observatory on top of a 7 foot tall concrete pillar.

4 Nil

5. Yes! Long exposure and guided shots a must!!

I paid 10k for the C11 a few years ago. I thought that was overkill at the time. Looks like I was wrong.

Baz.

[jase]

Despite what you're probably thinking, you can do a lot with a wedge mounted Nexstar 11 GPS. You are right though, you are going to struggle with tracking accuracy certainly if you want to image at greater than 1500mm for DSOs. You could always do what I did and unmount the OTA from the fork arms and mount it on a solid GEM. This gives you good optics and great tracking ready for DSOs.
The downside of mass produced SCT's is they don't hold their value very well. Your hard earnt $10k a few years ago is probably only worth $3k to $5k now. Sorry to disappoint, but having recently sold my NX11 I thoroughly investigated the s/h market to determine price. But don't let the money get to you. If you're serious about DSO astrophotography you will not batter an eyelid spending +$10k on the mount alone. Perhaps more importantly is will you continue to view the hobby as fun making such a large investment? You simply need to weigh up whats important to you.

[Garyh]

Hi Barry,
We all love to dream of a RCOS on a paramount...:D...but most of us can`t afford suce a wonderful piece of gear and only dream about it.!!!
To be realistic I would go with a equatorial mount like the Losmandy g-11 with gemini if you can afford that...or maybe a nice Tak mount would be nice...even if this leaves you short on $$$ to buy a OTA to mount on it. You will never be happy with any images if you skimp on not getting a solid and accurate mount...I am very happy with my gm-8 I just wish I had a higher payload limit!!!
As for the OTA, there are a few I would go for...C9.25 seems popular and I have seen many top pics with these..mainly using a a focal reducer...
A nice APO like one of Willam optics larger models like the Z-110mm or larger..lots pf great Apos out there but will cost you...$$$$..
I would go for a nice 10" newt myself something about f/4-f/5 with a ED80 or similar as a guidescope/widefield imager. With a good coma corrector offcause..

Anyways thats my humble opinion and there are so many ways to go for astrophotography setups.....:shrug:
Hope that gives you some ideas...
Cheers

[g__day]

I'd put your C11 on a GE mount and add a 80mm ED refractor to it.

The mounts you could consider - EQ6 around $2,300, G11 + Gemini $5,000, CGE $6000, Vixen Atlux $7,500, Tak EMM200 - $7,000 (guess on the last).

[bloodhound31]

OK, it looks like all the answers I am getting from a few forums, are leaning toward keeping the C11, but mounting it on a GEM, then adding an 80mm ED to it.

Then using the ED 80 as the imaging scope for my Canon 400D DSLR and using the C11 as a guide-scope with an illuminated reticle eyepiece.

Does that sound right? It seems like a good setup...would a Newtonian on a GEM be better or is the SCT sufficient?

Baz.

[jase]

Yes, though "usually" its the other way around - guide with the ED80 and image with the C11. BUT... there are no rules in this game. Considering you intend manually guiding with an illuminated reticle eyepiece, then guiding with the C11 seems logical considering the magnification of the guide star. In this configuration, the guiding tolerance of the C11 should ensure no trails when imaging through the ED80. With the ED80 you can image wide field nebulae, clusters etc and if seeing permits use the C11 instead (role swap).

Once you've got yourself a good GEM you can mount whatever OTA you choose. The Newt vs. SCT debate goes on for years. Both have their merits for visual and astrophotography.

[JohnH]

I'll take a half dozen of those $600 CGEs...!:rofl:

[g__day]

Bugger - $6,000 is closer to the mark! From my readings the G11 has better gears (so lower perodic error meaning its a much older design but with high quality - only I've heard occassionally if the scope and counter-weights are not balanced well then the motors can burn out?) whereas the CGE has greater weight bearing capability is more set and forget, can be used for serious imaging (but it has higher periodic erro) and some US imagers use it, but if you're serious aiming over the $5,000 and under $9,000 then the Atlux and a Tak NJP probably are by far the best choices.

Go much beyond this and your into the range of the Losmandy Titan, am astro physics 900 or 1200, the mid to begining of the high-end tak's EMM400 or EMM500 or nudging toward a $18,000 Paramount ME.

[montewilson]

Get the best mount you can for the money you are prepared to spend.

Mounts have such an easy life, you can have them for many years and they will still work as well as the day you bought them.

You can buy the best camera/scope in the world but you might as well have saved the money of you don't have the best mount.

Even if you spend a bit more now that you might have wanted too you will not regret it in the long run. Aim to have the same mount for about three or four generations of OTA/camera pairings, that is change cameras and scopes often but get a mount you will be happy with long term. This will allow you to develop your craft in stages too.

A great mount will bring out the best in your cameras and scopes but great cameras and scopes will bring out the worst in a bad mount.

I am in love with my Tak mount, the EM-200 but I have many friends with G-11's who are also very happy with theirs. Taks are not cheap but the less than 5 arc second p/e claim is true I see it all the time. For the majority of the cycle the corrections with the STV or inbuilt on the STL are less than 1". Actually I have never seen a jump (except for on windy nights) of more than about 1.2" between corrections. The 5" number is probably a range not an inter-correctional value.

Mount! Mount! Mount!