Thanks to everybody for there great advice and very encouraging photos.
I like what Meru is saying about mastering the hard yards and maybe upgrading once I've earnt the right to own an expensive scope.
I'm going for an EQ 6 for a mount and it's tempting to say OK you've got a half decent mount now why not a decent scope as it makes sense to do it right the first time so everyone at the shops keep telling me.
I just think maybe until I get used to guiding, processing ,polar alignment so on I should just go with a cheap frac with a bit of appature and a smallish F number and work my way up slowly.
the images everyone has posted gives me a lot inspiration and maybe my money is best spent on a guide scope, photo shop so on.
Once again thanks to everybody who took the time to help out a newbie I will bug you all again when I try to set up my new mount.
Cheers Brad
PS look forward to seeing the comparison shot with the filter Meru.