G'day.

[Simo87]

G'day everyone,

I'm new here. My name is Simon, I'm deaf and very keen to buy a telescope for astrophotography/planets viewing. So I have been looking for telescopes and I will spend more than $900. Can anyone recommend a few? :-)

[Somnium]

welcome to the forums Simon

$900 is probably not nought to get into the guts of astrophotography. for long exposure photography you will need, in the following order

camera (DSLR is fine)
eq motor driven mount
telescope
autoguider package

for planets, you will also need

Barlow lens
dedicated planetary camera

you can do things on the cheap, i.e. use a web cam for planets but at a minimum you are looking at a DSLR, HEQ5 and a 6-8" Newtonian telescope .

if you have a camera and want to get started, i suggest you pick up the mount first and image with standard lenses off that, you can get great results from that.

[chuckywiz]

Just my 2 cents worth here mate, and welcome. I went to big to fast with a 10 inch newt as a dobsonian then converted it to fit an eq6 mount. Whilst i still have it i have downgraded to a Skywatcher ED80 scope on the same Neq6pro mount.

I am getting 10000% more fun out of the ed80 whilst i learn, it was a cheaper scope, is more Grab - N - Go so i actually get out on work nights more often for 3 - 4 hours and is generally easier to setup and use.

Ed80's come up regularly and are fairly cost effective allowing you to spend more on a mount that wont need upgrading.

good luck on future purchases.
Ben

[brian nordstrom]

:)Hi , my 5c here is this. , save another $100 and grab that Heq5 and 100ED in the classified,s , this will suit your needs perfectly. .Have a look.
Brian.

[Somnium]

+ 1 to this, i started with an EQ6 and an ED 80 (got the EQ6 to upgrade the scope later) and it was fantastic. on the size front the set up you use frequently is the right one for you. i will say that if you are getting an Achro rather than an APO because of the price, it can be a little frustrating to see chromatic aberration in your images wondering why you cant get images like you see on this forum, but that is the price of price i guess.