Nimble astrophotography telescope recommendations

[adiastro.photo]

Hi, I'm keen to try astrophotography. I've mostly done landscapes and nightscapes. I have shot milky way and aurora nightscapes with my micro 4/3 camera (Lumix DMC-GF1). Sample photos here: https://www.instagram.com/adiastrophoto.au/
I want to try to shoot the moon, nebulae and galaxies.
Keen to do planetary imaging as well but from what I read that will require completely different gear and will be more expensive due to the long focal length requirements.

So I'm looking for my first telescope, budget is $1200 max. I quite like the William Optics Zenithstar 73 APO. I'm also thinking about WO z61 or RedCat. I don't want to limit my options to William Optics but I can't seem to find other ones with the weight and form factor that I want to keep minimum. So experts, any suggestions?

However, the more I read William Optics reviews the more I think they're a bit biased. Eg. AstroBackyard mentioned good things about RedCat but anywhere else says something along the lines of "puny apeture, basically a telescopic lens or finderscope not a telescope, niche only"

I live in light polluted area in Sydney (last I checked I'm in bortle 6) and can't afford to do narrowband imaging yet as the filters are prohibitively expensive.
So I travel a bit further out of Sydney during new moon and bring my gear with me when I go overseas if I know I'm going to be in the countryside. As such, portability is key to me.
I'm looking for a setup that weighs less than 8kg in total. Any more than this will not be feasible to bring on air travel. Form factor is also key: all gear need to fit inside my luggage and/or backpack.

So far I have the following gear:
- Tripod (aluminium, will upgrade to carbon fibre soon)
- Skywatcher adventurer mini star tracker + wedge
- Skywatcher Az-GTi mount
- Counterweight (probably 600-700g)
- Lumix DMC-GF1 (no $ to upgrade) with 14mm and 20mm wide angle lenses. Not planning to invest in any telephoto lenses either.
- Plus the standard accessories like intervalometer, levels, etc.

I also want a telescope that can last for a while, instead of something that a beginner will have to part with as they become intermediate astrophotographers.

[gregbradley]

Redcat 51 is quite good:

https://pbase.com/gregbradley/image/169325610/large

Galaxies using a small refractor is a bit unrealistic unless you intend to image the Large and Small Magellanic cloud. Perhaps Sculptor would show up well enough.

Nebulae though is realistic.

The Zenithstar 73 sounds good if it meets your budget.

It would be near the limit for the Star Adventurer.But you can capture a lot by using 30 second exposures and lots of them and stack them.

Greg.

[sil]

Redcat : "puny apeture, basically a telescopic lens or finderscope not a telescope, niche only" well, yes. that would have come from someone with a bigger budget. besides its not a telescope its an OTA or a Lens, both are the same tool doing the same job both can be found in refractor and reflector construction. I use the Redcat for my DSLR shots and have never encountered a lens that gave such crisp flat shots, nothing comes close (if you want to haggle by name dropping I use Leica for most of my photography). at 250mm focal length its way out in front. plus it doesnt require you to by extra garbage to add to the optical train.

for your travel needs get rid of the counterweights. instead find your own solution of an empty container or bag you can fill with rocks at your location as your counterweight to save you carry weight and boarding costs. try a bicycle water bottle holder and cheap bottle to pop in it, then you could use liquid or dirt or rocks just fine.

[adiastro.photo]

Really useful advice and tips, thanks heaps folks.
Looks like RedCat is going to be my first scope after all.
Nebulae is definitely top of my wish list.
Great tip on the counterweight :thumbsup:

Stay tuned for first light