OK the learning curve in this hobby starts from the time you decide to have a go. I have posted a few times in this forum about equipment purchases. My learning curve just steepened. I assumed .. BAD BAD .. that purchasing the MAK180PRO and the Canon 40D wouldn't provide any headaches as far as astro-photography went (knowing that to do it I had to bring the scope F/12 down as low as I can) .. well at the moment that is wrong. My reading and suggestions from you good folk have detailed that to successfully do any deep space imaging I will need to have a focal reducer. All attempts at buying this stuff for a MAK180PRO setup with a Canon 40D have proved fruitless. In fact one reply from an Australian supplier said he doesn't think its ever been done. I have put the cart before the horse a little here I feel. I can buy a T-Ring for the camera .. no problems .. but cannot, it seems, find anyone who has a suitable focal reducer and device to hook all that to the telescope. So once again I'm afraid, its over to asking the community for suggestions/advise.
as far as l know the thread on the Mak is different from any other scope so fitting a f/r directly is a no go. l am assuming it has a 2" visual back, if so get an Orion 2" adapter from Bintel for about $35.00 and that will do the job.
There is an Alan Gee Telecompressor Mark II on the Alpine Astro website that is said to work with SCT's? Maybe drop them an e-mail and find out if any of their customers have adapted it for use on a Mak?
The standard thread for SCT's i.e. Meade, Celestron et al have a 50.8mm O.D. X 1mm pitch thread while the Sky-Watcher Mak series such as the their 127mm,150mm,180mm have a 45.6mm X 1mm pitch thread which is very odd indeed. I have a C6/f10 SCT Celestron which has the 2" visual back yet my Sky-Watcher Mak150/f12 Pro has the 45.6mm O.D. thread. The Celestron has a 26mm visual opening while the Sky-Watcher has a 24mm visual opening. An adaptor can certainly be made with the two differing threads but I wouldn't like to say how the Mak would work with a focal reducer/flattener or focus properly, a case of try it and see.
My Celestron C6 accepts the Meade/Celestron f6.3 focal reducer/flattener with a 2" diagonal and focuses with ease on any eyepiece you can throw at it.
Yes the 180 has a non standard thread, you will need an adapter for most standard SCT accessories. I got one of these mainly for my Mead Microfocusser, it works just fine.
