guide scopes

[outwestwa]

Could anyone suggest good ED80 to buy or perhaps another scope? To be used mainly as a guide scope for DSLR astrophotography with some wide field photography, planetary & lunar Observing
I really want to get this right from the start this time. I’m seeing some good prices on sky watcher PROED80 setup (Tube Rings, Dovetail, 90 Deg Diagonal, 9x 50mm Finder scope 20mm and 9mm eyepieces aluminium carrying case ) or is there some better options I need to be looking at.
Laurie

[marki]

Hi Laurie

It really depends on what your main imaging scope setup is and whether you want to use the guide scope for wide field shots as well. I have a LX200R 10" and have been using a meade 80mm apo as a guide/imaging scope for quite some time. I recently bought a williams optics zenithstar 66 ($595)to use as guide scope as it weighs about half as much as the meade and is about 1/3 the size. It operates at F5.9 which is close enough to the F6.3 I usually use. Turns out the scope has very nice optics as well and I will try some wide fields with it when this cloud buggers off. If you are using it for guiding alone then any acromat will do as long as the focal ratio is not too much different then the imaging scope. There is a small skywatcher 80mm acromat that sells cheapley and would do the job. Equally the pro 8o ED would do very well and could double as an imaging scope as well. I have seen some great images from these scopes when mated to a DSLR.

I lived in Tom Price for a while back in the early 1990's. I have always wondered what it would be like to observe the stars from the top of that bloody great hill that overshadows the town. Will have to try it one day :).

Ciao Mark

[outwestwa]

Hi Mark
Main use for the ED80 is guiding and a little bit of wild field imaging.
I have being up to the top of Mt nameless a couple of times a lot of light comes from the mine so you have to be viewing north /north east if you go to far east you get the light from town & you have to put up with the wind as well
THX Laurie

[marki]

Hi Laurie

What is your main scope and mount?

[outwestwa]

Hi Mark
This is for a totally new set up, what i'm looking at is a Losmandy G11 eqatoral mount with a Takahashi TOA 130 as the main scope but the may change as i do more research. i would like to get the setup right this time around so the more ideas and veiws the better from the people who have any good working system
Laurie

[marki]

Hi Laurie

The G11 will have plenty to spare with the 130 so I would go the ED 80 or better.

Ciao Mark

[Merlin66]

The pro ED80 is an excellent scope! A bit heavy as a guide but is very versatile. I just replaced mine for guiding with the much lighter, shorter ST80 ( added a 2" Crayford focuser). This is proving to be a winner!
The combination with the QHY5 guide cam works very well for me.

[outwestwa]

Hi Merllin66
I will be setting every thing up with 2” Crayford focusers as yet I have not looked at guide cams but I will check out the QHY5 that you are using I don’t mined if it’s a heavy setup I just want the whole thing to work straight out of the box with out having to spend to much time setting thing up or spending more money on motor drive , gears etc as with some setup that are being sold
THX Laurie

[marki]

The QHY 5 is an excellent guide camera. It uses the ST4 protocal and can be plugged directly into the guide port on many mounts. Lots of small pixels to keep things lined up.

Mark