Esprit 120 vs SharpStar 130

[MarcusG]

Hi all,

I currently have a 10" Skywatcher dob, but I've been looking to get a nice APO refractor around the 800-900mm mark to use with my full frame DSLR (ideally would like an EF 600mm f/4 II prime, but budgets can only be stretched so far). Having an included flattener and T-ring the Esprit 120 has caught my fancy, however trawling the Astronomy Alive website (always a dangerous thing to do!) have come across the SharpStar AL-130 which is reduced to the same price as the Esprit 120, but gives a little more reach and some extra aperture. Despite the extra aperture the SharpStar also seems to be lighter overall. Of course it will be a little bit extra for a flattener and T-ring, which are included with the Esprit.

In terms of usage I'd be looking at getting a mount for it for some deep sky stuff (still haven't started looking round at them) as well as running on a gimbal head for terrestrial shooting (mostly wildlife and aviation).

Just wondering if anyone could provide any feedback about either of these scopes in terms of image quality and overall build (or if anyone has any other suggestions worth considering)? Particularly interested if anyone has used them for terrestrial shooting, as I haven't been able to find any terrestrial shots from either scope to check out.

Thanks in advance,
Marcus

[Atmos (Colin)]

I don't know thinking about the SharpStars but the Esprit series have been around for a while and there is a lot of information of them.

You'd be best just Googling up on the 130mm, if it has a good rep then the extra aperture would be nice

[dannat (Daniel)]

sharpstar is very good & sold under many diff brand names like astrotech [the big US version] -google reviews of it

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Probably worth mentioning that Stellarvue have a sale on atm, this looks like a very nice 'scope
http://www.stellarvue.com/stellarvue...limited-offer/
Cheers
Andy

[Bart]

I don't really think 10 mm of aperture is going to make a huge difference IMHO and if you use CCD Calc, the field is slightly wider with the 130 compared to the 120.

I think both scopes are good value for money, you just need to choose the one that suits your budget and proposed imaging requirements.

You can also jump on Astrobin and find images taken with both scopes and check 'em out. If you find an image, you may be able to contact the imager and get some feed back on the various scopes.

Also look at the thread in this section I started regarding the Esprit 120 if that helps.

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

100mm Esprit (550mm f/5.5) would get you relatively close to EF 600mm f/4, and unless your dslr has large pixels, 100mm Esprit might be a nicer match for a dslr than a 120mm f/7 (or 130mm) refractor.

[Eden (Brett)]

It's worth noting the difference between the glass used in each telescope. The same can be said for the aperture size, also.

[Bart]

As far as glass goes, this is all I can find

Sharpstar

●Contains 1 ED lens, Japanese OHARA FPL - 53 super ED lens

Esprit

• 3-Element Objective Lens, Focal Length 840mm (one Ohara FPL-53 and 2 x Schott lenses)