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Hi Carlton
I think there is no perfect set up and like to think of set ups more like a set of golf clubs...you need a few☺
I have a variety of scopes that I have used for photos ... 6inch reflector, 6 inch refractor, 12 inch reflector, 8 inch reflector, 80mm refractor and just a cheap camera lens (70/200mm).
I have an eq6 and an heq5. I have a old mount that substitutes for a star adventurer.
I am most impressed with the heq5 as it manages the 8 inch which I am very happy about.
If I had to cut back I would go for the 80mm on the heq5 and the old mount (the Bojan Wide Field Mount).
I was not really happy with the 80mm when using it with my Nikon D5500 (24meg) but when I went with the ZWO 1600 and all the filters☺ it became amazing.
I have yet to take a proper narrow band image which points to the main problem I find which is you need just so much time as oppossed to dslr approach.
I hope to run both the 8inch(carrying the Nikon) and the 80mm and the BWM in the future mainly because the time you get a decent sky these days needs to be used to the max.
The 80mm with the zwo takes a while to set up because of the need for a lap top and a power supply (12vlt battery inverter leads and solar panel desk and chair...big deal with poor legs).
Having the BWM is a real treasure as you put on the camera plonk it down do a ruff PA set the intervalometer and bang away..the belt jumps off the gear but when I fix that it will be care free. ..and although I planed it for under 50mm it manages much longer fls using short exposures.
What has surprised me is the short exposures and high gain I can get away with using the zwo.
Not up to what experts would tolerate but I get results that I am happy with...my last Spider shot was using 30 to 40 second captures and max gain even with Ha...
I find the 8 inch much easier to handle than I expected and very good value..I cant remember but about $500 for the scope and nearly as much again for a coma corrector. A wonderful scope for the money.An f5 so it is forgiving.
The focuser could be better but I will tolerate it.
The 80 mm is near perfect and very easy to handle.
Anyways good luck and really just work with what you end up with...the real challenge is getting the most out of what you have and the satisfaction comes from looking at your image, good or bad, and knowing what a huge effort that you personally had to make to get it... my recent Spider was not flash to others but I knew what a momumental effort it was and so I was more than happy given all the rules I broke to get something.
Anyways just remember ...you can never have to many golf clubs or telescopes☺ or bikes or boats☺
Alex
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