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Gareth,
kia ora and haere mai.
I typed a long response which curiously disappered when I tried to post.As a first scope I reckon a dob is the way to go - great for learning the sky. Jumping straight into astrophotography is not for the faint hearted. It's costly and can be frustrating - there's a steep learning curve too.An 8" dob gives you plenty to see, costs are reasonable and they have good resale value.I started with a dob and graduated to photography with a very modest set-up. Almost everything I have I purchased here secondhand.So, if you're unduanted here's my setupED80 on a HEQPro5 mount (secondhand from here for about $1500)Canon 350DQHY5 camera and adapted finerscope for guidingautofocusser (not essential but bloody handy)various cables, widgets and thingosall up I reckon there's $2000 and that's a very modest setup.Clive makes a good suggestion too. Piggybacking your camera on someone else's setup will give you a who;le bunch of photos you'll be really happy with without the big investment just yet. A local astro club would help you out there.
cheers
niko
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