what to buy?

[graham.hobart (Graham stevens)]

8 inch dob gets my vote for ease of use and cheap, having come through the expensive route myself. Or even cheaper, banana lounger and some binoculars, spend the rest on a star atlas, a red light and some fine ale....plus mozzie spray.

If you want to go down the photography route later-it's easy to sell as Brendan says, plus you would now know what you want to photograph.
Here's my case study
I have owned (in chronological order over a few years)
6" newt
Meade ETX
Meade LX 90 8"
Meade 80mm refractor
SW 100mm refractor
GSO 10" newt
SW 8" Newt
Do you know what scope I use most, and use for photography? the 80mm refractor.
I still own the last two newts and they are great for planet/lunar stuff but my skills aren't up to others on this forum for alignment etc so I find the small refractor much easier to align, guide and use with my standard DSLR.
As folks have said, go to a star party, find what you like then buy.
The SCT's like the Meade with GPS etc are truly excellent for visual and for impressing the friends, but photography is really hard with them as the fork mount limits exposure and the long focal length really means spot on alignment if you fork out for a wedge, people do it, mainly on a pier I think.
Go cheap and resale-able, then decide if you want to dive head first in to this great hobby.
No one on here (this forum) I think regrets it, but then they have girlfriends/wives/partners who probably think that $2000 could have been a holiday or a new microwave or some personalised hankies etc.
Personally, my wife has no goddamn Idea how much I spend on astronomy!
If you buy second hand, there are a lot of people here who will help you out.
Sorry for long message, it's still not dark and I have everything set up!
Had a couple of beers too, -didn't kill that Chook though Brendan, do you think my guiding will be ok tonight if I just scuffed it with my boot and snarled at it?
Here's to swimming with bow legged women!
Graz

[Poita (Peter)]

Originally Posted by koputai

I do have both a 12" and 8" Dob (and a 10" SCT, and an ED80). The one that gets used most of the time, because it's easy to handle and use is the 8". The ED80 gets used to look at birds in the bush from my verandah, and the moon. It's useless visually for anything else.

Sorry, that's the last time I'll dare try and give a beginner my (what I thought might be helpful) opinion.

I think everything you said was extremely helpful, I was just offering a somewhat cranky alternative view

Most likely an 8" dob will suit him down to the ground.

[Poita (Peter)]

Originally Posted by Peter.M

If you were anything like me, you will have seen images on forums like this before you bought your scope and visual observations in beginner scopes will not satisfy you because a camera can capture something in 10 minutes that looks like bugger all in the eyepiece. For me planets look nice and its good to see them with your eyes. As far as DSO observing goes I prefer to take a photo and view it on my computer than look at what seems to be a cloud that dosent move in the eyepiece.

That is what I was so in-eloquently trying to say. It is so different now to the 80s when I started out, people are flooded with astounding imagery now, and are sometimes totally underwhelmed when they look through evEn a largish scope, and some of them will go straight to photography. Others will still be blown away by the moon in a 3" refractor. We are spoiled for choice, and have individual expectations, what suits me could be a waste of time for someone else.

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

keep posting chief and don't be too prescious as its these kinds of banter that really are helpful. If we all just pat each other on the back and give a reach around whats the point of a forum?

Originally Posted by koputai

I do have both a 12" and 8" Dob (and a 10" SCT, and an ED80). The one that gets used most of the time, because it's easy to handle and use is the 8". The ED80 gets used to look at birds in the bush from my verandah, and the moon. It's useless visually for anything else.

Sorry, that's the last time I'll dare try and give a beginner my (what I thought might be helpful) opinion.

Peter. its the reason why I am a 98% of the time astrophotographer, I can share what i see with my camera with my loved ones, my friends and the world. So its the only way for me!

[Poita (Peter)]

Originally Posted by bmitchell82

keep posting chief and don't be too prescious as its these kinds of banter that really are helpful. If we all just pat each other on the back and give a reach around whats the point of a forum?



Peter. its the reason why I am a 98% of the time astrophotographer, I can share what i see with my camera with my loved ones, my friends and the world. So its the only way for me!

Yeah, me too... (reaches around...)

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

... your on ya own there big boy!

[alistairsam]

I'm a beginner as well, and love AP, but I'm more a DIY person so have gone down the road of building mostly everything myself.

but for a beginners kit, have you considered the ioptron dual mounts or the meade dual mount?
they can be used as an equatorial as well as alt-az, have goto and tracking and are not that expensive either. payload capacity is low, but I'd consider it a good start for a beginner.
whichever mount you decide to buy, make sure you search for user reviews.

an 8" F5 newtonian would be ideal for both visual and imaging. its not too long, and not too slow for AP.
else you could get just the OTA and make the dob mount yourself.

as others have mentioned, what you're comfortable with taking out night after night or without hesitation is what's better sticking with.

bigger aperture is always going to be better, but size, cost, portability are factors to consider. 8" is a good start, there are some good images taken with 8", and you can view most DSO's with decent Eyepieces, some dark skies and/or filters.

for AP, the mount is the most important. you need a sturdy mount. then look at guidescopes and a guidecamera, if you are near dark skies, you might get away with the mini guider as that would reduce weight, else you'll need an 80mm short focal length refractor and a decent guide camera.
look for mounts that can be interfaced with planetarium software or ascom compatible, that way your AP journey would be a lot easier.

plenty of dslr's on ebay, you could get started with that and then move on.

good luck.

[the_red85]

well if it helps. ive already got a sony a200 sitting at home. so got my camera.