Is a guide scope necessary?

[Benno (Ben)]

so bringing up and old post here, but what are the thoughts on using an off axis guider with an autoguider on a 12" newt? I got a skywatcher sw-252 with a eq6 pro mount. will this be ok to use with just a 400D? also ive seen talk about wedges, so what exactly do they do in laymans terms and would one be needed?
and speaking of dslr's, if i was to get h-alpha, oIII and a neb filter, would they be able to be used in conjunction with a dslr set up for imaging or would they only be a viewing aid?
sorry for all the mixed q's
cheers

[TrevorW]

The SW-252 is a 10" scope I believe so should be fine on the EQ6. A guide scope just makes things easier although not necessary for short exposures if you have perfect polar alignment and have done a drift alignment.

No wedgie needed with an EQ6 mount, these are used with fork mounted SCT's.

Depends whether the filter is designed for imaging of visual their is a difference but I'm no expert with filters.

Narrowband filters -such as Ha, OIII, etc. It is possible to use these with a DSLR, but they require much longer exposures to get a good result (again, long-exposure tracking is challenging).

I would suggest getting familiar with the use of your unfiltered camera and tracking first, and then working with narrowband filters once you get comfortable. If your area has light pollution, you should probably invest in a broad-band light pollution filter like the IDAS LPS.

For imaging I also believe the filters only make a big difference if the camera has been modified

[Benno (Ben)]

haha yeah sorry 10"
cheers for the info Trev, appreciated.