Quote:
Originally Posted by Startrek
Using only Newtonian reflectors for both visual astronomy and Astrophotography over the past 3 years, I’m interested to know how many beginner visual astronomers and beginner astrophotographers chose to buy a small to medium refractor telescope as their first telescope in lieu of considering a Newtonian reflectors merely on the basis of being concerned or worried about how to “collimate” or that collimation could be an arduous task that needed to be done all the time , or even limited understanding about the process ??
I noticed flicking through posts on other forums like CN and SGL that “collimation” seemed to be one of the key factors that determined their decision to go refractor.
I welcome comments from beginner visual astronomers and beginner astrophotographers on the above topic
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I'll take the bait...
Yes, I bought a refractor for my first scope but, not because of collimation.. not sure I even knew what that was when I started out..
I bought a refractor after weighing up other considerations such as portability & weight.. whilst I would have liked an 8" dob, I didn't feel I would use it because of it's size & weight...
Fast forward 11 years, my first experience with collimation was actually with an 8" SCT.. yep, I was worried about how hard it might be but, after obtaining good advice, I took the plunge & as long as you are methodical & patient & make small changes between looking at the results; it really ain't that hard...
I now own two Newtonians, only bought them this year.. again I had to confront that 'huge' bogey man that seems to be collimation.. yet again, I sought advice, did some reading & hey presto, after a bit of thought to understand the mechanics of what I was doing (I will point out here, I don't have a mechanically minded cell in my brain), I gave it a crack.. each time I do it, (my Dob is a custom truss, it get's pulled down between uses so, generally needs a small tweak when setup) it becomes more simple & so much more instinctive...
If you are avoiding a Newtonian purely because of 'collimation', then my advice as a newby to Newtonians, is don't... it's really not that hard...