Help With decisions

[stanlite]

I am struggling with some choices.

Going to get back in to imaging and have the basic idea of what I am going to get. But struggling with some key choices.

Decided (AKA locked and loaded):

Camera - QHY268C (don't have the time to dedicate to a mono sadly)
OAG - QHYOAG M (never had much success with finder scopes)
Mount - EQ6R (Workhorse that I can afford)
Focuser - ZWO EAF


Reasonably sure about:

Guide cam - A 290MM (although I am toying with a 120mm)

Heisenberg principle (The agony of choice):

Scope (always the way).
1. Esprit 120mm (most expensive of the lot but local support)
2. TS Optics 130mm Photoline (About the same as the Esprit $$ wise but a known quantity for me)
3. Saxon 127mm triplet (Cheapest but I am not sure of quality and suitability for AP).

The Esprit comes with a flatner while the others do not. Another consideration is the adaption of the focusers to the EAF.

Primary image focus will be nebula and bright galaxy stuff.

Trying to squeeze everything in under $12k.

Thoughts? Ideas?

[multiweb]

#1 Esprit . Any day of the week.

[gregbradley]

Your mount and camera choices seem good. I would also consider the QHY 268mc alternative as it has read out modes the ASI does not but ASI has a built in hub. I have an ASI290 for a guide camera and its by far the best guide camera I've ever used. Highly recommended.

As far as scopes go best to check images taken with each of them on astrobin to get a good feel for what they are capable of.

Esprit seems to have a good reputation. There are a few who are using the TS 130 Photoline as well. 10mm extra aperture is worth something too especially for galaxies where a small GSO RC seems to work better than an APO. 120-130mm is a bit small for that sort of work. You can pick up a GSO carbon fibre RC pretty cheaply 2nd hand so that may help get the galaxies you want to image or perhaps a 10 inch F4 Newt.

Greg.

[Startrek]

Camera 268C - excellent choice , I have the ZWOASI2600MC

OAG - can’t help there , I use an Orion 60mm guide scope and have no issues at all using PHD2 Multistar guiding

Mount - EQ6-R pro , excellent choice , I have 2 off them at different locations

Focuser- I use the ZWO EAF , excellent choice

Guide Camera - I use the 120MM-S USB3, great camera

Telescope - I solely use solid tube newts 6” and 8” and early next year a 10” CF , don’t know if your interested , sounds like you prefer refractors but with newts a budget of only $8k would be more than adequate

Good luck !!

[glend]

First stay away from GSO RCs (I have owned one), a good refractor or Newt is way less trouble. Refractors usually never need collimation, in my experience, and I consider that a big benefit.
I have owned a TS 115 Photoline and it was a wonderful scope for the years I had it, I eventually sold it to Alex here on IIS. The Photoline series from TS have excellent specs, and a high quality focuser and general build quality. So i believe the TS130 looks good. Service and delivery from TS is first class, and trouble free. Scopes are shipped via UPS, with triple shipping boxing with foam padding. UPS handle all inbound clearance and it can take as little as a week for delivery from Germany (and with TS things are usually in stock), no waiting).
These days, I retired from imaging and switched over to EAA, using an ED150, which is a great value scope for that purpose,.

Good luck.

[multiweb]

There are two Helix in the deepsky section at similar FL with two different refractors both listed here. This is the Esprit shot: https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=1533327&postcount=1
Just check and compare star profiles, field flatness and details. As I said I'm still to see a bad shot taken with an Esprit refractor.

[AdamJL]

Hi Grady

Looks like we'll have a similar setup.

1. Your camera is the QHY version of the ASI2600MC with a better frame rate (and arguably worse drivers :D... keen to hear how you get along with it!)
2. Mount? Solid workhorse. Easy to clear the backlash as well.
3. OAG, well I'm with Martin on this. I use a guidescope, but learning OAG now will set you up for future use when you need to shoot galaxies
4. Guide camera. Go the 290MM Mini. It's very very sensitive and provides excellent images to guide from.
5. Scope? Well I spent over 6 months weighing up my options. In the end it came down to the Esprit 120 and the Sharpstar 121. I ended up with the Esprit, mostly because the Sharpstar is not in stock locally.
- Focuser is fine, but expect some backlash that you need to cater for, and you'll also have to modify your Esprit to use it. I didn't like that idea, and instead opted for the Sesto Senso 2. Yes it's more expensive, but it's got almost zero backlash (so little that I don't even cater for it in software), fits to the fine focus knob and works a treat.

Things to note about the Esprit
- it's heavy. Bigger refractors are actually lighter than this thing.
- make sure you check the rings. Mine came with felt that didn't hold the OTA in place. Quickly replaced, but be careful
- the dew shield is rubbish, haha. It always droops. Doesn't impact imaging, but wait until you see it. I don't know how they thought it was a good design.
- the included field flattener is very good. If you get the dedicated reducer (0.77) it doesn't come with a manual, and it's not always clear how to fit it to the scope. I can take pictures if you buy it and need some advice.
- because of the weight, you might need another counterweight on your mount. You can use the extension pole that comes with the EQ6-R to get around it, but I don't trust those.

Here's my scope setup last night in my tiny backyard. Make sure you spend time cable managing!!!

[h0ughy]

Grady this has popped up
https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=193897

[LewisM]

It's a pretty simple fix, but still SW shouldn't have cheapened out here in the first place. You need to make the felt on the cell ring thicker (another thin layer - thin sheet self adhesive felt can be bought in Bunnings in rolls in the non-slip accessory aisle - when Bunnings reopens fully or click and collect)

SW aren't the only ones - Stellarvue does it too as well as most Chinese manufacturers. All easy fixes - take off dewshield, slide ring back, refelt.

[LewisM]

Its indeed a pretty darned good deal. I'd change the guidescope setup (those SW guide adjusters are pretty craptacular) and go guide rings, or better, just a smaller 50 or 60mm guidescope with helical focuser.