need info on upgrading

[Danny_86 (Danny)]

Hey Guys,

I've only recently got into Astrophotography about 4 to 5 months ago. I own a 10 inch Black Diamond dobsonian with a goto, I was looking at upgrading but wondering if I can still use my 10 inch tube & change it so that it can go onto a EQ mount instead of a dobsonian base?

I been taking some great shots but know I can get better but need to expand my equipment, I'm pretty big on photography so this is a new challenge for me. The down fall is that it has bad rotation on the dobsonian. I still need to organise a autoguider as my tracker is not perfect

So I was wondering if anyone has got a dobsonian before then used the tube on a EQ mount if so which one is the one to go for?

Cheers

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Danny
Welcome to IIS

Your dobsonian is best left as a visual telescope as the cheapest equatorial mount that would support it for astro photography would cost you much more than an arm and a leg.

If you are good at photography and you want to try your hand at astro photography your cheapest way out would be a EQ6 mount with a 5/6" newtonian, ED80, an orion autoguider. You can then use a cannon EOS of some sort as a main camera.

Later you can progress to a better mount eg G11, EQ8, PMX, PME that can take a larger OTA like an 8" short tube newtonian or a 8" SCT if you want to do planets. A specialised CCD with cooling will also be the way to go.

Barry

[Danny_86 (Danny)]

Cheers Barry,

So what would a that set me back at around? atm getting ok astro shots but only really the nebulas like Carina & The Lagoon, to get the smaller nebula I need abit more exposure time & with the rotation in the scope on a dobsonian base only feels like I can't achieve all deep sky objects.

[omegacrux (David)]

Hi Danny
Have a Google on wedges for dobs
One sold on Icetrade a while ago , someone else might know if they are any good for AP with the goto
Just another option and if your handy you can probably build one

David

[Danny_86 (Danny)]

cool cheers David, I'll check it out

[Barrykgerdes]

Originally Posted by Danny_86

Cheers Barry,

So what would a that set me back at around? atm getting ok astro shots but only really the nebulas like Carina & The Lagoon, to get the smaller nebula I need abit more exposure time & with the rotation in the scope on a dobsonian base only feels like I can't achieve all deep sky objects.

The prices could vary a lot but if you look at Bintel's site they sell them all. Put all your money into the best mount you can afford. It is surprising what can be done with small shorter telescopes on a good mount. DSO's need the longest subs you can get away with and they don't need long focal length OTA's. We use a G11 with a short tube 8" newtonian, an ed80 with an orion auto guider. PHD for alignment and processing, QY10 CCD. I suppose all up around $12G's

Barry

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Danny,

I put my 10" GSO newt on an EQ6 and got some reasonable results. Not easy but it can be done. I still image through the 10" however I've now got a G11 (still got the EQ6 too). All of the images I did in 2011 were using the EQ6 setup.

http://www.astrobin.com/users/peter_4059/

[Danny_86 (Danny)]

Hey Barry, I thought it would be a good idea to instead of spending a couple thousand on a new setup I could spend that on a EQ mount

[Danny_86 (Danny)]

Hey Peter,

The 10 inch tube I've got is a collapsible tube so I'm not sure if I could put it on a EQ mount, but on the website I got it from it does say I can get it on a EQ mount, So what needs to be done to put it on a EQ mount, do you just need the rings?

[Lee]

Can't you sell the goto dob, and then buy a mount/OTA??

[g__day (Matthew)]

For a 10" OTA I'd be thinking the EQ8 around $4.5K is a decent option, add good quality mounting bars ($200 - $400), an Off axis guider ($250) guide camera ($500) a modded DSLR ($600) and a decent PC controlled focuser ($550) and you're at around $7K to carry that size tube.

The cheaper option is to go a faster 4" refractor + good focuser (say $3K - there's a Williams Optics FLT 110 Triplet + Moonlight focusers on the for sale pages that meets this spec) + and eq6 $2K + cameras and once again you are scraping up towards $6.4K. But this option allows you to sell your old OTA or now have two.

So it depends if you want deep field shots or wide field, which may depend on your quality of night skies and what you like imaging. The fast refractors are alot easier to get results from than a larger Newt or SCT.