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epistle,
if i where you i would rethink your idea if you havn't already laid out the $$$. A eq6 will not control a 12" for anything other than visual. they are just far to big to do the job properly unless the night is completely windless to run a scope of that size your looking a Losmandy titan as a minimum (yes that is a 8k or so mount).
This age old question comes up time and time again, with some people trying to get everything for half the cost. Eventually you get either frustrated to the point of selling everything and getting out of it, or selling everything you purchased and spending double what you initially spent.
If you are going to be a pure visual man. get a massive dobsonian slip a argo navis and for high power views put a servo cat on it. tracking, aperture, push to. you'll never look back.
If you are going to be a photography man on a budget, get a 8" and slip it up on a eq6 minimum. You can still do a lot of visual work with this setup. you just have to be a little bit nimble or get yourself some rotatable rings. but this setup will allow you to start expanding into astrophotography.
If you have a bit of a budget to work with look at Losmandy G11 or takahashi em200 series of mount and put your 8" on it. far better tracking and the scope will do you untill you want to upgrade your optics in a few years time and at that youll have a lovely 8" dob to roam around while your photography setup is flogging out images for you.
the mount in AP is and i cannot stress this enough the most important piece of kit you will ever purchase... if you cant hold a star in the same spot you might as well swing your telescope from a piece of rope slung around the branch of a tree. the outcome will be about the same.
As it is my 10" is the absolute boarder of the eq6's capacity. i have tuned it to within a wisker of death, upgraded just about everything i can upgrade to the point that its only the head that i bother using most of the time as even the tripod is very flimsy (i often use a Meade 12" LX200R HD field tripod) when your slipping 25kgs+ of load and the 25kg of counter weight.
hope that helps
Brendan
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