Hi Aaron and
back to the madhouse.
You obviously realise that visual and photographic requirements are not necessarily good partners.
Visual and the big DOB is the usual recommendation for most newbies and is an easy and excellent way to see lots and learn star lore.
Astrophotographry requires the EQ mount and usually a smaller refractor plus other hardware and a lot of trials and patience to get it working for DSO objects.
I'd suggest starting with the big DOB as it is probably the one scope that almost everybody has and never gets rid of because bang for buck it will give you and your family viewing pleasure for a long time. It is possible with short exposures and a bit of persistence and patience to get astro pix of fainter objects with it, it has been done. It is certainly possible to do stacked video or even single frames of lunar views and planetary pix and these are good practice in moving on to later equipment upgrades.
Photographically if you can motorise your small EQ mount and balance it with the DSLR you can take surprisingly good widefeild shots. I started exactly that same way and still have it for trips away to dark sites. (I use a UPS to provide the 240v 50 hz it needs ). A lens upgrade is easy but you will find the alignment and tracking accuracy it requires will be a bit problematic. There are commercial camera EQ mounts available but weight capacity can be a limit and if you grow further then you need bigger gear. After that it an EQ5 or better an EQ6 ( or similar ) and a small APO.
It really comes down to budget and time. With a young family to entertain I'd go with the big DOB to start with to get their buy-in. Long term it would pay off. There is always some pretty good deals here in the For Sale section and you will get excellent support and probably a few extras and pointers from them all. Enjoy !
Keep us all posted, we love spending other peoples money.
