ETX 125PE or Nexstar 5SE

[Vortex]

Well to start off I don't have much experience with astronomy. I had an 8" Tasco reflector for about 10 years but I could never get the damn thing to balance to align it no matter what I did so I only ever really looked at the moon.

Anyway i'm more of a photographer been into that for a while and love taking photos of the moon and star trails. One day decided even though I couldn't track i'd stick my SLR (now a DSLR) onto it and take some photos which worked pretty well considering there was no tracking and how relatively short the exposure had to be so there wasn't any blurring.

Anyway the mirror at the back got knocked or something and I could never get anymore sharp pictures and the thing ended up being forgotten about.

Now I wish to get back into the astro-photography side of things so am looking for a scope.

Primarily i'll be using my Nikon D70 for photos of the moon and planets but would also like to try deep space objects or something.

The past few years i've been looking at the predecessors to the above 2 goto scopes as well as all I could find on the current models.

From what I gather they still arn't that good for long exposure astro-photography as they both seem to have tracking problems over 30 - 60s which ppl seem to account to the extra weight of the camera.

So i'd just like to know with the photos I want to take if either of these 2 would be worth purchasing and which one is the better one. Of course i'll be using it to view as well but my primary focus will be on photography with it.

Even without using tracking both would give me bigger and better pictures of the moon then my 300mm Sigma lens but I would very much like to also use the tracking and gets the planets as well as some nebulae or star clusters etc.

So would these just be a waste of money or worth getting?

[Miaplacidus (Brian)]

I have an ETX and overall I love it. And in this size I think a longer FL mak you don't have to collimate might have advantages over an SCT. And I've never owned a Nexstar, nor had a close look at an SE model. And I'm pretty much a purely visual observer.

But if I was going down this route today, I probably would favour the SE provided it passed muster on close inspection, since it would allow me to use what I assume is a nice goto and tracking mount for a variety of OTHER scopes (short focal length, wide-field 80mm refractor, or a PST solar scope). Rebalancing with a camera on board would be easier, too, I imagine.

However, others might disagree, but personally I believe neither is likely to be great for astrophotography. And a single arm is likely to be less stable, I assume.

JM2cW.

Good luck,

Brian.

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Vortex.

Brian makes some good points. Can you explain why your selection is limited to those two?

What do you primarily want to take photos of? Solar system objects or deep-space objects? The equipment and techniques for either is (or can be) significantly different.

What's your budget?

[Vortex]

Well i'd like a goto scope for visual observing and except for the smaller models of these 2 these are the only ones in about the price range i'm after.

I'm looking at spending under $2000. Both these seem good for visual viewing so i figure even if they don't meet my photographic needs it wont be a total waste of money.

I was planning on getting one of these then when I had the money if I was still as interested in astronomy and astro-photgraphy look at getting something or serious like an 8" LX90 or even an LX200.

Ideally i'd like to do deepspace photography but I know I wont get anything for it under $2000 so i'm looking at just lunar and planetary photography as well as some star clusters etc.

I really liked taking photos of the moon with my reflector but on some nights the exposure needed to be 1/200th and with the scope stationary this was just slow enough to produce an unsharp image so I was hoping that either of these scope in polar alignment on tracking i'd be able to go down to even 1/500th and still get a nice sharp image of the moon.

So I guess speaking photographically i'm looking at the telescope as just a longer lens but one with tracking so i'm able to take photos of saturn etc and not just the moon.

[casstony]

A used 8"LX90 in fine condition costs around $2000 and will be more satisfying visually than the smaller scopes. If you give your location and list a wanted ad you might find someone within driving distance who has an LX90 they'd be willing to sell.

[acropolite (Phil)]

Tony is on the money, an 8 inch LX90 would fit all your requirements if you can find one second hand. If you're interested in seeing what can be done with an LX90 do a forum search for humayan's (octane) imaging posts.

[iceman (Mike)]

There's also an LX200 for sale at the moment in IceTrade that is not much more than your budget of $2000.

With a focal reducer it would be suitable for deep-sky photography (albeit still challenging), and with a webcam would be suitable for planetary/hi-res lunar photography.

[netwolf]

Certainly 8" LX90 used maybe the way to go. You can pick them up for about 2000$ used which as others have said. I recently got one and am very pleased with the view it puts up. Its fairly easy to move around by yourself and it does not break the back in doing it. Look at the images recently posted by 5ash
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...earchid=433908

Regards
Fahim

[Vortex]

I really prefer to get things new other then second hand esepcially when its something like optics as how you don't know how its been treated and there could be numerous things wrong which may not show for a while then make it nothing but a doorstop.

About the only thing i've ever bought second hand is a laptop and I regret that

[Karls48 (Karl)]

Hi
I got Meade ETX-105 for about 3 years now and I’m quite happy with it. I use it for astrophotography with frame integrating camera with maximum exposure time 2.56 sec. Then I stack the images. For this short exposure period scope tracking is satisfactory. Go To accuracy is good if the scope is set up properly and excellent if connected to computer and used with software like SkyMap. Manual supplied with the scope is poor and doesn’t explain set up procedure very well. But once you get used to it scope is easy to set up and operate.
Advantage:
Reasonably portable.
Easy to operate
Good optics
Long focus travel. 5 different cameras I used with it all reached focus. Did not try it with DSLR. I haven’t got one
Good Go To
Reasonable tracking for short exposure
Good for shorter focal length lenses in piggy back style. I use it with 50 and 125mm
No collimating required
Not expensive.

Disadvantages:
If camera is mounted in prime focus position maximum usable altitude is about 45 degrees before camera hits the mount.
If camera is mounted in eyepiece position, finder scope is difficult to use.
It takes while before the scope cools down.
Large gears backlash, fiddly to adjust to acceptable level.
F14 is quite slow for dim objects.
If used with focal reducer at prime focus, I get bad reflection from bright stars. (Mogg reducer)
It suits me as inexpensive take anywhere scope. Your requirement may be different. If you can, try one before you buy it.

[Zenton (Rodney)]

I have a ETX-125 and am very happy with it. I mainly do astrophotography using a Meade DSI-C with mine and am getting good results. I think a 0.5 focal reducer is a must if you intend to go down the same path, I use the Mogg focal reducer. Set and pack up is fast and the optics are very good.

[JohnH]

Vortex, you stated you want to image the moon and plantets with your D70 - is that right? A DSLR is not the weapon of choice for most solar system imagers - they prefer high speed webcam or specialist cameras for this work, the webcam approach is not expensive and both of these telescopes are well suited to planetary imaging...

But if you are more interested in simply getting "the best" astroimages out of my D70 then you will be happier imaging DSOs. For this you can go with the ETX or Nexstar but you are right you will be limited to 30-60s shots or piggyback (widefield exposures). There are folks out there getting more out of this kit, see:

http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html

How abut your old 8" scope - do you still have it - it sounds like it went out of collimation? If you have it still you could consider putting it on a modern goto mount (eg EQ6) for the money you are considering...

[Stephan]

Hi Vortex,

Go for the Celestron, not as much plastic. The gears in the ETX-90 are made from plastic, so I asume it is the same in the ETX-125, the Celestron gears are all metal also the fork arm itself is metal (just plastic covers on them) .

Also important on the Celestron the OTA is fixed on the mount with standard dovetail rail, so you can use the mount with other short telescopes if you get a William ED66 or a Takahashi FS60C for example Also you can use the OTA on other mounts.

The Celestron SE has an auto guider port and a port for a GPS, I don't know if this is available on the Meade.

Clear Skies!

Stephan