To Newt or not to Newt that is the question

[stanlite]

i would like to ask peoples opinions on Bintel's 8" newt that has been optimized for astrophotography work. Is it a decent beast or am i better saving up the money for GSO RC 8" i currently run a old 8" newt that is well past its used by date. I run a QHY8L with a zenithstar 66 as my guidescope on a EQ6 mount. likewise with if i decide to go for the GSO RC 8" what sort of field flattener would i need? Thanks for any help you guys can offer.

[mill]

Depends on what you want to capture, the bintel newt is 800mm and the GSO 8" is 1650mm focal length.
With the RC 8 you could use a flattener/reducer to get a shorter focal length so it is a bit more versatile.
I use a short refractor flattener on my RC 6 and it is working amazingly well for the cheapest flattener Bintel sells.
I also use a Pflat3 that is a 0.85 reducer/flattener and that works good too.
I am waiting for a 2" 2X reducer to see if i get a good field with pinpoint stars at almost 800mm with the RC8.

Martin.

[strongmanmike]

Hi Grady

These seem to be quite different sorts of scopes to me...?

One will be excellent for wider field shots that will fit heaps in and capture it very fast, the other much slower but higher image scale for smaller objects like galaxies and smaller nebulae etc?

Generally an RC is more forgiving in the area of flexure and I think there is more examples of successful results using the RC8 though..but I haven't really looked for GSO 8" F4 images that might be out there? I imagine some modifications will be necessary to upgrade the 8" F4 Newt to take top class images least of which is a good corrector.

There is no doubt that having the speed at your finger tips is a god send when skies are limited and time is of the essence.

If you have the ability to save a little further you may consider an Orion Optics 8" F4? (http://www.orionoptics.co.uk/AG/agrangeand(ota)t.html) These are excellent high end instruments, very well made and will give great results compared to the cheaper GSO 8" F4 and need no further modifications even for very large sensors sould you upgrade cameras in the future.

I have the AG12 and the ability to gather serious photon quantities in a very short time really is useful for a portable and sky time starved imager like myself :sadeyes:

The 8" F3.8 would have a wider field and obviously a smaller aperture would make a difference but just to illustrate, this is just 1hrs worth of Ha using just 5min sub exposures from a light polluted sky with the AG12:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/140517179/original

Peter Shah (http://www.astropix.co.uk/) in the UK has some great examples of AG8 images at his web site too.

Just some thoughts :thumbsup:

Mike

[jjjnettie]

Grady, you are welcome to borrow my 8" F4 for a couple of weeks to get the feel of it before deciding.

[adman]

saving a little further won't quite cover it - they are more than 10 times the price!

[strongmanmike]

Yes you are quite right AU$5000 v AU$429 :lol: big difference huh? :eyepop: (hmmm I wonder why?)

Going from $429 to $5000 sounds ridiculous but such increases in budgets have been known to happen before once the mods, alterations and accessories required to improve the cheaper unit are really examined ;)

Having said that the 8" Bintel job may well make someone very happy too :thumbsup:

Mike

[midnight]

Mike,

I have a 8"SN (Meade LXD55) and visually great & fantastic on lunar work and planets but I am really struggling with things like flex (its on a Losmandy D plate) and weird stuff occuring on the outer edges. I collimate it everytime I use it. I use a Baader MPCC but also controlling internal reflections (eg Alnitak) has unfortunately put this scope aside for now.

Would be very interested if you had some opinions (good or bad) of this scope from your vast knowledge :D (don't hold back if it's a dog!). I don't see many 8"SN images to compare with.

Grady, my LXD55 8"SN is about 8yrs old now but would fall into your question I suppose (no longer can be bought new as far I am aware). Good luck with your choice!:thumbsup:

Darrin...

[CoolhandJo]

Grady, I purchased a bintel f4 8inch newt. For 500 dollars there hard to beat.

Her is my first image
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=77807

[stanlite]

i have a Badder coma corrector but i think it is rated fo F5 how will it go in the f4?