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Originally Posted by AstroJunk
There is no such thing as the right scope - only the least wrong one under your current circumstances. If you find you have the astrophotography bug, then you will start hemorrhaging money like a Knight in a Monty Python film and you will find that you only look at the edges of images for defects, not the at the subjects themselves!
Spider vanes will be the very least of your worries as soon as you notice that the top left corner of your image has distortion due to an off square focusser and you can no longer live without spending three grand on a bellows...
Run now before it's too late
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bigjoe
I second astrojunks opinion. Unless your imaging planets and bright dsos run for your
life.Youll be at the soup kitchen in no time!
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Hahahaha! You're supposed to be encouraging me to spend the money! I can't do it myself!
Quote:
Originally Posted by clive milne
Blake, if you want to do imaging, spend the lion's share of your cash on the mount. A 10" GSO newtonian on an EQ8 is conceivably within your budget. If you are lucky you might be able to pick up a Losmandy Titan for a similar amount of coin second hand (rare, but preferable).
To appreciate what can be done with such an instrument, go here:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=107812 |
Wow. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed!! An EQ8 would be unreal, heavy, but unreal. I can see this getting expensive already
haha
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
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Awesome pictures! Black and white is unique. Different from the usual colour filter approach, but I like it. Gives a sense of realism. The stars look good too. I'm no expert, but it doesn't look to have much/any coma or field curvature anywhere.
Perhaps a 2 scope approach is the way to go. Maybe a Mak-Cass with an 80mm apo refractor on an AZ-EQ6 GT mount, piggybacked for imaging and side by side alt-az for visual. Or I could just go for a Mak-Cass and an imaging/standard newt and choose which one to mount up for whatever imaging work I decide to do on the night. The newt would cost a bit less than the refractor.
Either way, I'll have a mak-cass with a long focal length for killing planets (if anyone thinks a rumak is the go and knows of a good one around the same price as the SkyWatcher let me know), then a scope for wide field dso's. Exposure times compared to the newt I'm guessing will be longer with the refractor because of the smaller aperture, but at least I can mount them both at the same time.
Hmmm decisions, decisions, decisions...
I'm appreciating all the feedback though! Helps a lot to get opinions from the pros.
