best first deep space telescope

[darbyvet]

Hi Guys,
I want to start doing some deep space astrophotography and was wondering what scope you would suggest.I have a C11 edge hd on a cgem mount and a Nexstart 8SE on an ALT-Az mount.

I was thinking of putting my 8SE on the CGEM mount and getting a refractor for imaging and using the 8SE as the guide scope.If I wanted to capture smaller DSOs I could switch things around and use the refractor to guide and the 8SE to image.
I plan on using the DMK21 as the guide camera and I have a canon digital rebel DSLR as the imaging camera.

I was looking at Orion,Televue,celestron and explore scientific refractors, but I cant decide what to buy

I was thinking of a 80-102 mm triplet refractor that I could attach to the 8se.

Anyone have any suggestions as to which scope to buy or can point me towards a good article on long exposure astrophotography.
Thanks
Carl

[Poita]

A triplet from anyone would be more than adequate, but you may want to start out with a 2nd hand ED80 APO to get started, you can usually get one for less than $400, and it will keep you busy imaging for a couple of years. With an unmodified Canon, an ED80 will realistically be as good optics as you need.

I would probably just start out with the camera on a piggyback mount and shoot through its lens until you come to grips with tracking, guiding, stacking etc. That will cost you a total expenditure of about $30 and you can see how you go with DSO photography.
You could also grab a f6.3 reducer and shoot through the Celestron for some smaller objects.

I think diving straight into a triplet unless you have a lot of cash to burn wouldn't really help when starting out. If money isn't an issue then by all means grab a TAK, otherwise almost any ED80 will more than fit the bill for your first year or two, and you can always resell it for about what you paid for it. The ED80 won't be the limiting factor on the quality of your images for quite some time :)
Save that money for guidance systems, software, the inevitable camera upgrade and the rest of the things that get thrown into the AP moneypit!

[Poita]

You also have the option of going Hyperstar, and getting great deepsky on some targets, like these shot through the C11 Hyperstar and Canon 350D:
http://starizona.com/acb/hyperstar/c11_lulin_rr.aspx
Or this unguided:
http://starizona.com/acb/hyperstar/c11_m31_dgt.aspx

http://starizona.com/acb/HyperStar-3-Lens---11-Celestron-Edge-HD-P3114C773.aspx

[darbyvet]

Thanks Peter,
excellent advice.I have a camera mount on my 8se so I will start with that and my 8se on the cgem.
Carl

[Poita]

I'm about to do the same with my Nikon, C8 and EQ6, let's hope we have some clear skies and some success!