This thread is carried over from the Astronomy Online Forums - I wanted to post some links to other shops, and didn't know if they'd apreciate that over there. Oh, I hope you don't mind either Mike
OK, so the scenario is this - I've already got a decent camera (Nikon D70) and a fixed tripod, but I'm getting tired of shooting star trails, and Sagittarius is under sky-glow for me at the moment. Because of budget considerations, I thought maybe buying a scope and a mount separately.
Initially I was looking at getting the mount first, or maybe a really cheap scope on a mount, but Ice suggested getting a nice Dob first. This way I could practice finding things, and still be able to do a limited bit of photography (pretty much just lunar and planetary imaging).
So... what I'm looking at now is a decent Dob or similar, between 6-12" (reminds me of something... ) and for a decent price. Looking through the latest S&T, I found a bunch of sites, and these are the scopes I came up with:
http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-10.htm - Has anyone dealt with these guys before? They seem to have a fair bit of stock at pretty decent prices? The 200x1000 sounds good, but they've also got the 150x1000 with an EQ3 mount for a similar price... is the EQ3 any good? Further down, they've got just the EQ3 mount for $200 - I could almost add that to the 200x1000 Dobsonian straight away...
And lastly I was looking at some of the Sky Watchers from StarOptics - in particular the last two on this page: http://www.staroptics.com.au/index.p...s&v=price&p=36 The second last one is a motorised EQ2 drive with a 5.5" (or so) SN?
What do people think about these scopes, or should I just win Lotto and get a 14" Meade?
No, of course I don't mind, that's what these forums are here for!
I reckon we need a bit more info first before making a proper recommendation..
1. What's your budget?
2. Is your main passion to do astrophotography, or a mix or visual and photography?
3. How portable do you need it to be? Will you mostly use it from your backyard, or do you plan to go out to dark sites much?
I got the 10" GSO Dob from bintel, it's exactly the same scope as from Andrews (as are the 6" and 8"'s too). I was able to get a good deal from Bintel, so they ended up the same price, if not cheaper, than what I would've been able to pick it up at Andrews. You just need to do your shopping around and ask the right questions, and ask if they can do it cheaper. Bintel have a better reputation without-a-doubt, and if you need service and advice, Bintel are the best for sure.. but if you want a piece of gear and you know exactly what you want and what you're getting, then andrews is generally cheaper.
I got a 10" dob because I wanted max aperture for my dollar. My budget was limited and at the time I didn't think i'd get into astrophotography much.
Now, I wish I had gotten an EQ mount for tracking, not just for astrophotography, but just because having teh object drift out of the FOV so fast all the time is most annoying, especially when you're trying to share the view with family and friends, and you have to back to the EP between each person to re-align the object back into the FOV.
But I know if I had gotten an EQ mount, I would've ended up with less aperture or would've had to wait a lot longer. I don't regret owning a dob, they're great for beginners. But now I do want tracking so i'll have to save up for a good tracking mount.
If you plan on attaching your D70 at prime focus, you'll need a fairly robust scope and mount. I just don't have any experience with those smaller 4.5" reflectors on EQ2's or 3's. I don't know how sturdy there are. I imagine there'd be a fair amount of dampening time and it just may not be accurate enough for long exposure deepspace stuff.
Give us some more info about your plans and i'm sure some other guys will be able to give some better (more experienced) advice than me!
Hi Brad , i would go with Ice and what he has suggested.
If your new to Astronomy and scopes get a Dob .
After having some time with "Saturn%25" GSO Dob I would seriously look at one of these . Get the most bang for your buck , so to speak. Then look at down the track of getting an EQ mount and put the tube on that. If you get a 10"dob an Eq6 mount would be perfect for it at a later date. Eq mounts can be a bit confusing to sort out at first and yoo need to be familiar with your scope collimination and the the sky.
Mark
Ice - budget, well initially, I wouldn't want too go too much more than about $500. Now whether I can get just a scope, or just a mount, or both for that, I'm not too fussed.
I'm primarily interested in astrophotography, but I don't think you could get at all enthused if you weren't even a little bit interested in just observing... say a 70/30 split in favour of photography?
Portability - I never really thought about that too much, but I would definitely say the more portable, the better. I'm in the defence force, so I'm rarely in the same spot for more than a few months, and living on bases doesn't leave many spots "at home" to observe.
If you want to get into astrophotography in any serious way, you'll need to multiply that budget many times.
If your a raw beginner I strongly recommend you forget about photography for the time being until you get some observing experience.
Objects that are visible usually look better to me in real time than amateur short exposure photgraphs. The first time you see 47Tuc visually will blow you away ! Then come back and have a look at the photos taken by members here. Im not in any way criticising their efforts, just illustrating the limitations of cameras vs your eyes.
The 150mm dob from Andrews at $299 is fantastic value and is THE scope I recommend to anyone who doesnt want to spend more for extra aperture.
The 200mm for $449 buys a scope that could keep an amateur happy for many years and is big enough to show good views of the heavens, whilst still small enough to be transportable by car.
Forget eq2,3 or even eq4 if you want to do long exposure astrophotography. Rock solid stability doesnt come cheap.
I should've pointed out that that's not my budget for my complete rig - this is just something I want to get in the meantime. When I get the setup I'm after, the budget will probably be closer to $3-4k. This is just something to keep me amused in the meantime
That's why I was thinking get a cheap Dob now, but I wanted something that I could also get *some* sort of photos with, which is why I looked at Lunar and Planetary images.
Hey another quick one - say looking at that 6" Dob, just as something to play with between now and then... that would be sufficient for making a decent mosaic of the moon? And I'd be able to capture planets that vaguely resemble what they're supposed to look like? And if I did buy extras (filters, eyepieces, T adaptors, etc) I'd be able to transport them over to another scope?
A 6 or 8" dob sounds like it fits perfectly for your short-medium term needs then. Portable, easy to transport and setup for 1 person, and will give you great views of the sky.
The moon and planets will look excellent in it, and you WILL be able to take photos with your D70, either afocally or at prime focus. You'll see plenty of detail, no worries there.
Whatever accessories you buy for the dob will most likely be transportable between it and your next bigger purchase, including eyepieces, filters etc. If you get an SCT next, the adapters may not fit but that's only a small part.
I'd recommend as per Starkler then, the 6" or 8" dob sounds perfect for you.
Let us know what you get and be sure to post photos and first light reports!
Excellent Brad, glad you've now decided on what you want.. your story and research and end result is very similar to my own.. I did lots of research and decided on the 10" dob, but had to wait 2-3 months before I'd saved up enough for it.
Having a wife and 3 young kids and a mortgage meant I couldn't just go and buy it straight away.. well, mainly the wife
Hey Loopy, just a bit of advice on the EQ2 and 3 mounts for photography.
*Dont do it*.
They are just not sturdy enough. I have a 102mm celestron refractor on a modified EQ2/3 (no one seems to be able to tell me exactly which one it is ) and if my neighbours f**t in bed the thing shakes. And thats after I've stripped it down, cleaned, smoothed rough gears and bearings, regreased and tightened as far as I dare (thats the mods as per http://www.astronomyboy.com/cg5/index.html guide for EQ4/CG5 mounts).
Its ok for quick photos of the moon, as long as you have a prefire or mirror lock on your camera (or using digital) especially for exposures slower than 1/90 sec. Exposures longer than 1 sec I have to use the timer and set long exposures, 6 - 10 sec and use the black hat teqhniques to help reduce the shakes showing up in the image. I'd hate to see what these mounts are like with a 5" or 6" refactor on them.
Visually they hold the scope well, but expect quite a few seconds for the shaking to stop after every time you try to refocus, which is a challenge in itself. Part of the problem is the "tinny" aluminium legs and partly the internal mount engineering and construction, and partly they are just too small for even a modedrate refractor. Reflectors may be lighter but I think you would be disappointed
There are also RA drives available but the Periodic Error is terrible (the one I have any way). However to be fair the poor performance may simply be from the difficulty getting accurate polar alignment. I've gotten fairly good at visually polar alignment using this scope (forget about trying to get a polar scope for it, I tried for months and could only get Northern Hemisphere scopes that would fit), and once I have gotten a relatively good alignment I would slew to a star only 30 - 50 degrees away and slew (manually using the clutches, RA and DEc drives only have 2X an 8X guide rate unless you modify one) only to find I was then degrees away from polar alignment.
Having said all that if you do get one I guarantee that you will very quickly learn how to recognise a good mount and a poor one and how to work within the limitations of your mount.
I guess having opened my mounth I should post a photo of what results can be achieved whith an EQ3 Mount and very simple basic camera equipment from someone that only started astrophotography 10 months ago.
Photo has no touch up apart from contrast and brightness in Photoshop
Thanks Paul, that's handy info... I'm thinking maybe a year down the track when I do get an EQ mount that it's important to get a good one, like you say. I'd probably be looking at an EQ5/6 or something from Losmandy... of course a year is a long way away
A nice pic too!
I was very tempted to put an LX200 OTA on a Losmandy when I was thinking about a new setup. At times I still wish I did, but I must admit that I am happy with the Meade Smartmount, and I wll get used to the wedge arrangement. I do public tours at the Mapleton Observatory and the observatory has a Losmandy mount on their Celestron SCT So I guess I get to play with both worlds
Post process away Iceman. Post process for me at the moment is when I have time I'll learn the programs more intensly. I've got plenty of information and progams on it, its simply a matter of parking my backside for longer and using them. Taking a bit of a backseat though to learning new telescope, lpi for autoguiding, ToUcam for imaging (yadda yadda)
) and for a decent price. Looking through the latest S&T, I found a bunch of sites, and these are the scopes I came up with:
![[1ponders]'s Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar45_9.gif){kind=avatar}
Post process away Iceman. Post process for me at the moment is when I have time I'll learn the programs more intensly. I've got plenty of information and progams on it, its simply a matter of parking my backside for longer and using them. Taking a bit of a backseat though to learning new telescope, lpi for autoguiding, ToUcam for imaging (yadda yadda)
