[Stonius (Markus)]

Wow, such a lot of detailed responses - thanks so much guys! I haven't replied until now because all your detailed replies gave me pause to sit and have a think about what I really want to get out of it.

I have to admit, I've messed around with some photography already - going about it all the wrong way in full knowledge of that fact - using my dob. It's not even a goto, LOL! I'll post some pics if I can figure it out.

And here's what it comes down to for me. I like seeing more detail and colours that I couldn't on the night itself. Planets are great. The moon never really interested me all that much, but DSO's have always been the thing that I'd like to *properly explore.

Now I know we've been spoiled by Hubble, (the satellite, not the man, though I'm sure he was generous in his own way) and nothing you see through a telescope will ever compare, but if I want to see proper detail in some of these more elusive objects, or even some of these objects that are supposedly there, but just won't show up in my eyepiece (or just turn up as small fuzzy patch that can only be seen *maybe with averted vision'), I really have two choices.

Get a bigger Dob to tease that detail out for visual observing, or get into astrophotography. Seriously, I can't tell you how fun it was capturing those simple images, and post processing was a part I really enjoyed too. I'm not much of an engineer though. It could be frustrating figuring out if the problem was a bolt not being tight enough, or wind, or motor lag, undervoltage, bad polar alignment shutter vibration, etc etc. On the other hand, I'm not looking for too much more than what I'm getting through my un-guided Dob.

Doppler posted some great pictures in his 10: Dob project. How long does it take to get to that level? How many objects can you photograph in one evening? Is 5-6 pushing it?

Otherwise I guess I'd better get me to a star-party and have a look through some bigger (10-12"?) dobs and see if they really do make that much of a difference. I'm also thinking that maybe I should see how much of a difference better eyepieces and maybe some filters can make to my current setup.

Thanks again people.

Markus