Quote:
Originally posted by ballaratdragons
Too hard to see in the EP at some of the angles! Got to be a contortionist.
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A valid point - rings are a bonus, but my setup's pretty finely balanced, so yes, regularly do have to be a bit of contortionist.
For me (as an astroimager) the choice was simple - I wanted a fast (f5) scope, something that would track for 4 hours without me needing to be there, enough aperture to pick up dim targets and less than £800 (2000 oz dollars?) which was all I had available at the time. I couldn't afford an LX90 or LX200 and anyway I'd have needed a wedge to avoid field rotation and the focal ratio of scts was generally not good enough for what I needed. An achromat wasn't going to be up to the job either which left either a semi-apo or a newt (either on an eq mount). Simply on the bang for your buck factor, I chose the newt. I've supplemented it with a 80mm semi apo for widefield shots since - and I've been through a few - but I've never been unhappy with the Newt or the eq mount.
Visually, I've looked through a few big dobs and they are unbeatable, but for photography, the best mounts are still considered to be EQ's - i.e., Losmandy, AstroPhysics and Paramount. Virtually every astroimager I know uses an EQ - OK some use LX200s on wedges.
This is a shot of my setup, being guided for a shot of M109 I posted in the image gallery.
http://www.coxellis.pwp.blueyonder.c...te/kitpic1.jpg
The scope is a SkyWatcher 200 on an HEQ5. As it comes it doesn't support PEC, guiding and GoTo, but I moddified it using a kit I bought from Germany for £120.
Andy