Definately the Dob is the best bang for you buck. If you want to do astrophotography you can do it with a dob, but its not the optimal setup, even with an equatorial platform. If you find yourself loving this hobby, which you probably will
, then when you do decide to go for photography, then get a dedicated setup. You can get going with an excellent quality GSO Dob (GS 580, 680, 880) relatively inexpensively and save up the thou$and$ needed for astrophotography