[Poita (Peter)]

Thanks to the many wise heads here, I'm gaining a proper understanding of what is needed to embark on imaging of the night sky, and all of your advice has saved me from making some costly mistakes buying equipment that I would grow out of almost immediately.

It appears that the mount is really the crucial piece of kit, and the one to get right from day one to save on frustration and buyer's remorse later!

I am surprised that so many mounts appear to be a bit too dodgy for photographic work, consensus seems to be that the LXD75, CG5, EQ3 are not up to imaging past small lenses on a piggybacked camera, and definitely no good for prime focus or eyepiece projection.

So my question is, what *is* good enough for some deep sky and moon and planetary photography? Is there anything decent under a grand, or is the EQ6 at about $1500 really the 'bottom end' for doing this kind of imaging?

Thanks so much for everyone's advice and patience with my learning!

-Peter