I'm taking the plunge!!

[lineout]

Well after much research, soul searching, pleading to the gods and justifications to the finance committee :D , I have deicded to take the plunge & treat myself to my dreasm birthday present. I've placed an order at Bintel to buy a SW Black Diamond ED80 & SW AZ-EQ6 GT mount & tripod.

I pick it up this Saturday. Over the coming days & weeks I'll post my impressions of the rig, good & bad.

Stay tuned

Rene

[rustigsmed]

Congrats Rene!
that's a good scope/mount combo.
I guess the Sydney area can anticipate some more cloud and rain now...

Cheers


Russ

[lineout]

Don't even get me started on this weather. The minute I decide to pull the trigger the weather turns bad. I think it's suposed to be cloudy/rainy for the next week. :mad2:

[pluto]

Don't feel too bad, we've had about 2 good weeks out of the last 6 months here...

And congrats on the purchase, that's a great combo :)

[lineout]

Thanks. I can't wait to get my hands on it and play. :)

The bad weather will at least give me time to use it indoors and get used to the controls.

[rustigsmed]

yep its been a bad run for most of the country weather wise i'm afraid! must be a lot of astro gear being purchased!

Good idea, getting used to it, i'd update the firmwares while you're there too.

http://www.skywatcher.com/downloads.php?cat=4

looks like there is a motor controller update from late 2014 then of course the handset update.

[lineout]

Thanks. I'll be sure to do the update this weekend.

[Dealy]

Well done Rene,

I have the same outfit and it works great. The AZ-EQ6 GT is a very nice mount and easy to use.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it :thumbsup:

Kev

[Eratosthenes]

Rene, I am currently in the same boat as you, but haven't decided on the set up and total outlay of cash. Can I ask why you went down the refractor pathway rather than say a reflector which tend to be far cheaper for the same aperture? The AZ-EQ6 GOTO mount is also the mount I am looking at purchasing, but I may need to wait until I get the extra cash together.

Also, did you consider the SW Black Diamond ED100 refractor? At BINTEL it is only about $150 more expensive than the ED80? (and gives you about 56% more light collection ability). Was is the speed of the scope? (ie Focal ratio)

cheers

Peter

[lineout]

Hi Peter,

All good questions. The refractor gives me a much shorther focal length (600mm) than my current Meade 8inch SCT (2000MM) which should allow me to auto guide much easier. I also had to balance cost with portability with storage with performance.

I already have a reflector which I plan to de-fork (scary!!!!), attach an adaptor plate to and use on the SW AZ EQ6, and the reflector is to complement this. I'll use the Meade for plentary astro-photos and the ED80 for more deep sky photos.

And you are right the ED80 is a faster scope (f7.5 vs f10). The ED100 is also a consideration and no doubt I will make a decision when I pick it up.

I'm sure there are other ways I could have done this but after speaking to a number of people and doing my research online this worked out best for me.

Hope this helps.

Rene

[lineout]

Hi Kev,

So you have the same scope/mount combo? How do you find it for astrophotography? What are images like?

Rene

[Camelopardalis]

Congrats on deciding on your new mount, I'm sure it'll serve you well, they're a great mount!

Regarding the scope...save yourself the trouble and get the reducer/flattener while you're there ;)

[lineout]

I'm settled on the scope as I have a specific purpose in mind for it, but thanks for the advice.:thumbsup:

[Camelopardalis]

Np, I wasn't suggesting an alternative scope, just that unless you're going to be doing narrow field imaging or spectroscopy then you'll be wanting a field flattener :D even at f/7.5 the field isn't flat enough to escape the gaze of a APS-C sized sensor.

[lineout]

Ah yes. I've already got a f6.3 reducer.

[Eratosthenes]

thanks Rene

clear skies

[lineout]

I did a comparison of the ED80 & ED100 and I couldn't justify the extra cost for the following reasons:
- it's bigger by a good 30 cm making storage and portability an issue
- it's an f9 scope compared to the ED80 which is f7.5
- Faintest Stellar Magnitude is almost identical (12.2 for the ED80 vs 12.7 for the ED100)
- ED80 could become my guide scope in the future where-as the ED100 is a bit too big for that.

So all up I decided to go with the ED80.

I pick it up tomorrow, so stay tuned and I'll post my experience with the scope & mount.

Rene

[Camelopardalis]

I think you're missing my point...you will need a flattener that's matched to the scope. If your f/6.3 reducer is for your SCT, it won't work (well) with your ED80.

[rustigsmed]

Hi Rene I think Dunk is referring to something like these?

http://www.bintel.com.au/Astrophotography/Reducers--Correctors--Flatteners/Orion-Field--br-Flattener/679/productview.aspx

http://www.myastroshop.com.au/products/details.asp?id=MAS-016B

[raymo]

I can't argue with most of your reasoning re the 80mm versus the 100mm, but some points to consider are that the limiting magnitudes are
most certainly not almost identical; compare the view of a starfield through an 8" and then a 10", the difference is quite large. A 12.2
star is nearly twice as bright as a 12.7 one. Also, the 100mm has markedly better resolution. If you can move/and/or store that chunky great mount, I would have thought the difference in length of the two scopes would be insignificant. You might also get frustrated before too long with the lack of focal length for smaller objects.
raymo

[lineout]

Appreciate the advice thank you. I'll stick with the 80ED for now and see how it goes.

If I don't like it I can repurpose it as a guide scope.

Rene

[lineout]

Hi all,

Well I picked up my AZ EQ6 mount and SW ED80. Due to a busy weekend I wasn't able to play too much, but here are my early impressions:

ED80:
1. Very securley packaged
2. Beautifully constructed scope.
3. Very happy I went with the ED80 (based on size alone)

AZ EQ6
1. Very securely packaged
2. Pardon the French but holy crap is this thing built. Word of warning, if you are going to buy one and not have it permanently mounted, hit the gym. The mount is HEAVY.
3. Beautifully constructed. Looks like it was built from a girder from the Sydney Harbour Bridge, it is that solid but is so smooth to operate.

Tonights task is to update the firmware, which is about all I'll have time for. Hope to get it out in the field this weekend. I'll post more later.

Rene

[rustigsmed]

Good to hear everything is running smoothly and good plan with the firmware updates :thumbsup: Fingers crossed for some clear skies.

yes I went all in and went straight from a dob with no equatorial experience to a 12" scope :eyepop: those first few months I had wish I started with an ED80! Balancing / polar aligning etc not knowing what i was doing and with all that weight up high was scary!!