recommendations..

[cjpops (Craig)]

Hi all,

After a few years being absent from exploring the night sky, I'm looking into getting back into it and learn astrophotography with my Nikon d7100.

Can somebody advise whether this is decent setup to start with - a Saxon ED80 Refractor Telescope with GoTo EQ3 Mount? I'm debating whether to spend a little extra to upgrade to a EQ5 Mount.

Or is there a better budget-wise setup you can suggest?

Lastly, Is anybody using a dob for astrophotography? I'm getting mixed reviews and most keep pointing to a goto refractor scope.

Thanks all.

[luka]

Hi Craig,

what is your main interest, deep sky (galaxies, nebulae...) or planets? ED80 would be more suitable for deep sky imaging so I would base my answer around that.

Definitely not an EQ3. For deep sky astrophotography you want as sturdy mount as possible because you want to take very long exposures (minutes). Any tiny wobble and your images will suffer.

A HEQ5 and ED80 would be an excellent starting package to keep you busy for a long time (for deep sky AP). I know it is probably over your suggested budget (EQ5) but with AP everything is over the budget. Always

2nd hand HEQ5 can be found every now and then in the classifieds section.

I don't think that Dobs are suitable for deep sky AP.

[cjpops (Craig)]

Hi Luka, I think deep sky objects would be my main interest to start off. Thank you for your suggestions, I will keep my eyes open for a 2nd hand heq5.

I'll also look to see if there's any astro events I can attend to check out their setups and how it's done.

Thanks!

[xelasnave]

I am going the newtonian set up ( 8 inch f5)( and did a bit with a 6 inch years ago) and if the clouds ever go away I will let you know how the new set up goes.
Eq5 and 80 mm would seem the best way to start. I plan to get a eq5 and 80mm for portability reasons..
Perhaps try and get a triplet as it will be a keeper. I have a couple of ed refractors and the colour gets to you fairly quickly...Good luck you will have more fun than you can imagine and the sense of accomplishment is profound.
And dont overlook using just your camera with whatever lens you have as I think that wide fields can be most rewarding and not too hard to get satisfying results.
alex

[LostInSp_ce]

Hi Craig,
If you're looking at getting a used EQ5 then make sure that it's the HEQ5 pro. There's an older model EQ5 that's now discontinued, but if memory serves me correctly it required an upgrade for the GoTo system. I may be wrong on this but I think the pro version may have had a slightly higher load capacity too. Either way the EQ5 is better suited than the EQ3 for the scopes you're looking at.

As for the scopes both options will take great pics. A few things that might be worth considering are:

Price - The 8" will be cheaper then the ED80.

Portability - If you want to use it offsite then size and weight may be of concern.

Setup time - Depending on your environment and where you store it the 8" may take about 45-60 mins for the mirror to cool down and if you are moving it around a lot then you'll need to collimate it before every image session.
You don't need to collimate the ED80 and will cool down in about 10-15 mins.

Focal length/field of view - The 8" has a longer focal length and will gather more light. Whereas the ED80's focal length is shorter but will give a wider field of view.

Again both will take great pics but if you're looking for a biased opinion then I'll say get the ED80.

Happy Hunting.

[cjpops (Craig)]

Thanks Alex and Lostinsp_ce,

the scope will be used about 70% of the time at home (which is only 35kms from CBD so there will be some light pollution.) so portability isn't too much of an issue.

Andrews communciations is on holidays so will get in touch to find a good price on a bundle.

LostInsp_ce - when you mentioned 8" did you mean the 8" goto dob? or an 8" tube on a HEQ5?

[LostInSp_ce]

Originally Posted by cjpops

when you mentioned 8" did you mean the 8" goto dob? or an 8" tube on a HEQ5?

Sorry I should have probably been clearer. I was referring to an 8" tube on the EQ5. You can get away with the GoTo dob for planetary imaging and it will be great when observing but for imaging DSO's you will be much happier with the images from the ED80 on an EQ5. I wouldn't recommend the GoTo dob for deep sky imaging unless the budget dictated it. Unfortunately imaging is one of the more expensive sides to this hobby even at the entry level.

However spend wisely and you'll have a much harder time trying to outgrow the HEQ5 Pro ED80 setup as opposed to the 8" GoTo dob especially when it comes to imaging DSO's.