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Old 03-08-2014, 11:38 AM
glend (Glen)
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glend is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Lake Macquarie
Posts: 7,121
Astrophotography can get expensive, and there is a learning curve, but a good DSLR can get you along way into space. Importantly for photography of fairly dim deep space objects, and for high magnification photos of planets, is a good stable motorised Equatorial mount that can track the object your looking to photograph.

A imaging newtonian might be your best bet, something like the GSO 6" imaging newt which is capable but low cost. A good stable Goto tracking mount is going to be where the money goes, although you might be able to find a second hand HEQ5 mount in the classified ads here at IIS.

I'd avoid refractors (the most expensive scopes per inch of aperture), and the lower cost ones have colour problems.

The GSO GS-500 series imaging newtonians are available from Andrews Communications for less than $400, these are 6" apertures, with good mirros, and can be used for visual observation as well with the included extension tube. I'd suggest the f5 version as it will be easier to correct for coma (check out coma correctors because you will need one for photography). These scopes have more apreture than the ones you listed. Then you will need to find a mount, again a second hand HEQ5 would be ideal but there are others as well that you might be able to find for your remaining $600 budget.

I would suggest that investing in good mount that can stay with you through the inevitable upgrade in scopes is a good idea. Ideally you want to stay within about 2/3rds of the mounts rated capacity for imaging and I don't know if those scope/mount combos have that sort of support. Maybe people using them for imaging can advise further.
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