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Hi Markus,
I'm a complete newbie to AP (my gear is only about 6 weeks old) so this advice may or may not be useful!. I started years ago doing visual with an old cheap Tasco 125mm Newtonian. It's mounted on a wooden tripod that vibrates so much it must be made from matchsticks. It was a source of frustration and only had limited use. In the last year I've been doing some photography with a Canon DSLR and lenses and then recently decided to do it properly.
I spent several months researching, initially quite certain I wanted a reflector of some sort, but the more I read the more I realised a refractor was the way to go. I ended up getting a Skywatcher Esprit 100ED which is a f/5.5 apochromatic triplet. It comes with a 2 element field flattener and all attachments necessary for my Canon DSLR. I don't have much to compare it with but I must say I continue to be amazed at how good the images are. My Canon has a crop sensor (22.3x14.9mm) and the stars are round and sharp to the edges of the field and absolutely no chromatic aberration. As an example I took the attached image last week and it is the full field of view with no edge crop. I was talked into buying a SW EQ6-R Pro as the mount which is probably overkill for the ATO but one day I hope to get something with a longer focal length (maybe a large aperture Ritchey-Chretien if my bank account ever recovers).
The setup so far seems really good for DSO but I guess not the best for planetary although when Mars get closer I will swap out the DSLR for my guide camera (ASI 120MC) and a 2x Barlow and see what happens.
I've got to say, if your budget can stretch to an apochromatic triplet you won't be disappointed.
Cheers, Kevin
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