Starting afresh - What would you do?

CoolhandJo (Paul) · #1 31-08-2012, 03:46 PM

Due to a new house being built I have had to abandon my beloved astrophotography for a while

(Until All my stuff gets unpacked!)

So, I think its time to start afresh with equipment!

Keeping my Atik 4000 mono CCD

So what next?

Budget $20k

EQ8 mount $4.5 (when released)
TAK FSQ85ed Refractor $4K
LX800 $8k (hopefully fully tested and bugs gone!)

etc etc

(Upgrading from EQ6, ED80, Skywatcher F4 astrograph)

Any thoughts?

davewaldo · #2 31-08-2012, 04:04 PM

Oooo fun! How about a setup like Strongmanmikes? An orion optics astrograph on a good mount? In your budget you might get a 12" or 14", then you need corrector and mount.

Dave.

CoolhandJo (Paul) · #3 31-08-2012, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davewaldo

Oooo fun! How about a setup like Strongmanmikes? An orion optics astrograph on a good mount? In your budget you might get a 12" or 14", then you need corrector and mount.

Dave.

Thanks Dave - But Mike (Whom I have watched with envy for years) would agree with me that there is a certain level of Skill required to run a newt at that speed! But I will definately put that down on my list!

Barrykgerdes · #4 31-08-2012, 04:23 PM

Gee Paul
With a budget like that get yourself a PMX and there should be enough left over to still buy some good gear.

The ED80 will still be a good guider and with all the other gear you already have there should still be enough for a decent OTA.

Barry

multiweb (Marc) · #5 31-08-2012, 04:25 PM

Get an FSQ-106ED and a good mount with the rest of the money. You'll never look back.

CoolhandJo (Paul) · #6 31-08-2012, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

Gee Paul
With a budget like that get yourself a PMX and there should be enough left over to still buy some good gear.

The ED80 will still be a good guider and with all the other gear you already have there should still be enough for a decent OTA.

Barry

Hi Barry miss ya mate!

I should of said that the new house doesn't lend itself to permanent mount. So need something semi transportable! So no pmx I'm afraid! Good point re ed80!

CoolhandJo (Paul) · #7 31-08-2012, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

Get an FSQ-106ED and a good mount with the rest of the money. You'll never look back.

I tend to agree Marc! That's exactly what's at the top of my mind right now!

tlgerdes (Trevor) · #8 31-08-2012, 08:39 PM

I would start by asking what do you want to image? If it is galaxies then an faq106 doesn't give many to chose from. If it is bright wide nebula, then an lx800 is going to mean lots of photo stitching.

Somewhere in between around 1000-1500mm FL might give you a good compromise.

CoolhandJo (Paul) · #9 31-08-2012, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlgerdes

I would start by asking what do you want to image? If it is galaxies then an faq106 doesn't give many to chose from. If it is bright wide nebula, then an lx800 is going to mean lots of photo stitching.

Somewhere in between around 1000-1500mm FL might give you a good compromise.

Hi Trevor! Yep what to image? Trick is to go wide and crop down if resolution is good enough. I think I will try for wide and crop galaxies if guiding and optic and ccd is up to it!

rat156 · #10 01-09-2012, 08:52 AM

Hi Paul,

Well, this is essentially what I've just done. I traded my scope and camera, but kept the PMX, which is designed to be transportable. I think that most really high end mounts are transportable rather than portable, don't use Mike as a guide here, he's a big lump. I would carefully examine the weights of all the mounts, I find the PMX to be similar in mass and portability to a G11.

I went for the ASA equivalent scope to Mike's, the ASA N12 it was (surprisingly) cheaper than the Orion AG12 and they now have a dealer in AUS so if there are problems I wouldn't have to be talking to Austria or England. Certainly an equivalent FL refractor will be easier to use, but you can't beat aperture for AP.

I have also ordered the new STT8300 camera from Peter Ward, who, again gave me a competitive price on the camera, so I decided to support the local industry. The pixel size of the 8300 chip is a good match to the FL of the scope. Until now I have always been over sampling my images, whilst not a terrible thing to do it is counterproductive. Once I get OK with this setup, I may trade up to a bigger chip.

Cheers
Stuart

cventer · #11 01-09-2012, 10:53 AM

My vote for 20k would be

Paramount MX with field tripod
FSQ106 (find a snd hand one if you can)
STT8300 or Used STF 8300 with OAG8300

You don't need a guidescope with this setup as both have oag solution.

Get best mount you afford, that way you are not limited when not if you upgrade to bigger scope.

gregbradley · #12 01-09-2012, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cventer

My vote for 20k would be

Paramount MX with field tripod
FSQ106 (find a snd hand one if you can)
STT8300 or Used STF 8300 with OAG8300

You don't need a guidescope with this setup as both have oag solution.

Get best mount you afford, that way you are not limited when not if you upgrade to bigger scope.

Most of your budget should go into the mount/autoguiding solution. Without a solid well performing low QE mount/autoguiding solution you've got nothing no matter how great your scope is. You'll spend all your time trying to get round stars and having great difficulty.

Forget the FSQ85 its bugged. FSQ106ED for widefield is a solid well known performer. Or if widefield is not your thing a 2nd hand 6 inch APO and PMX should be attainable for $20K. Or one of these AP1200's that are going cheap on Astromart for $8500 + shipping and GST = $10K.

You can add larger aperture later on. The corrected Newts like Mike's are hard to beat. Perhap the 200mm F2.8 Power Newt may be good. Its certainly good value.

Greg.

CoolhandJo (Paul) · #13 01-09-2012, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rat156

Hi Paul,

Well, this is essentially what I've just done. I traded my scope and camera, but kept the PMX, which is designed to be transportable. I think that most really high end mounts are transportable rather than portable, don't use Mike as a guide here, he's a big lump. I would carefully examine the weights of all the mounts, I find the PMX to be similar in mass and portability to a G11.

I went for the ASA equivalent scope to Mike's, the ASA N12 it was (surprisingly) cheaper than the Orion AG12 and they now have a dealer in AUS so if there are problems I wouldn't have to be talking to Austria or England. Certainly an equivalent FL refractor will be easier to use, but you can't beat aperture for AP.

I have also ordered the new STT8300 camera from Peter Ward, who, again gave me a competitive price on the camera, so I decided to support the local industry. The pixel size of the 8300 chip is a good match to the FL of the scope. Until now I have always been over sampling my images, whilst not a terrible thing to do it is counterproductive. Once I get OK with this setup, I may trade up to a bigger chip.

Cheers
Stuart

Thanks. I will research the asa.

CoolhandJo (Paul) · #14 01-09-2012, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Most of your budget should go into the mount/autoguiding solution. Without a solid well performing low QE mount/autoguiding solution you've got nothing no matter how great your scope is. You'll spend all your time trying to get round stars and having great difficulty.

Forget the FSQ85 its bugged. FSQ106ED for widefield is a solid well known performer. Or if widefield is not your thing a 2nd hand 6 inch APO and PMX should be attainable for $20K. Or one of these AP1200's that are going cheap on Astromart for $8500 + shipping and GST = $10K.

You can add larger aperture later on. The corrected Newts like Mike's are hard to beat. Perhap the 200mm F2.8 Power Newt may be good. Its certainly good value.

Greg.

Thanks Greg

CoolhandJo (Paul) · #15 01-09-2012, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cventer

My vote for 20k would be

Paramount MX with field tripod
FSQ106 (find a snd hand one if you can)
STT8300 or Used STF 8300 with OAG8300

You don't need a guidescope with this setup as both have oag solution.

Get best mount you afford, that way you are not limited when not if you upgrade to bigger scope.

Thanks looks like the pmx is popular choice

davewaldo · #16 01-09-2012, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolhandJo

Thanks. I will research the asa.

Remember Mike had a fair share of troubles with the ASA, hence the orion optics UK scope....

rat156 · #17 01-09-2012, 09:04 PM

Yeah, I asked Mike about it, he wasn't very forthcoming, but mentioned that there were problems with communications back and forth to Austria. The Orion scopes have their detractors as well. Hence I went with the one that has an agent in Aus. Tom Davis has used the N12 to some success.

Will be able to tell you in a few weeks hopefully...

Cheers
Stuart

Peter Ward · #18 01-09-2012, 10:45 PM

Position, position, position. The best optics in the world will give you a blurry image on wobbly mount.

Hence, half the budget...maybe more ... should go on the mount...you need to think Benz here...not Great-Wall

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #19 01-09-2012, 11:13 PM

Easy one Paul. Paramount MX ($11,000) and Tak TOA-130 ($9,000) - a good imaging rig. You can operate the TOA at 3 focal lengths with a reducer and the 1.6 extender (750, 1000 and 1600mm) - very versatile. You'd need the flattener as well.

You can go second hand with an APO as Greg says too.

Cheers, Marcus

Poita (Peter) · #20 04-09-2012, 09:38 AM

I'd go the MESU mount and a LOMO scope, or a TAK if you get a test report for it.

Or even a Mach1 if portability is king and your largest scope isn't going to be insanely large.

I know Brett had a monster RC scope on his Mach1 and it didn't miss a beat, and it is extremely portable.