Hi Luke, and just like Ken said, welcome to the bottomless money pit of Astrophotography
The problem with the hobby is that, like Ken mentioned, there is no one scope which does it all. If you're looking at lunar and planetary pics, then the best scope to buy would be one with a reasonably long(ish) F ratio, say F8-F10, which will allow you to image the planets with a large enough image scale that you can actually see anything (planets are small targets, despite being close by, relatively speaking). The downside of the long FL/F ratio is that the brightness (contrast) of the images drops as you have a narrower FoV (Field of View) and hence less photons entering the optics of your scope. To compensate, you need a slightly larger set of optics to gather more light. With a F ratio of around F10, a good size would be around 8-10 inches...your stock standard Meade or similar SCT's would fit this bill. This scope is also very good for most DSO, but you have to remember that objects that are large in size, like Andromeda, M42, M45 etc etc, will fill or even overflow your FoV at low powers in these scopes, but your image resolution will be excellent for those parts you can see without having to pan across the object.
For most large nebulae and the big galaxies, a scope with a moderate to fast F ratio is best, say F4-F6 (or slightly more). These scopes have a correspondingly wider FoV than the other scopes and allow more light per inch of aperture to enter their optics. However, the image scale is smaller than for the slower F ratio scopes, so objects which appear large in the slower scopes will be smaller in the faster ones. A good example of one of these types of scopes would be a 80mm ED refractor at F6-F7.5 or a reflector of any reasonable size (at around F4-F6). The saving grace of the reflector is that for a similar cost to a good refractor, you can buy a scope of much larger aperture with a similar F ratio, so you have a fast scope, with a good FoV that also has considerable light gathering capacity. For example, for the cost of an average ED80 (like a Skywatcher BDED80), you could buy 2 Skywatcher 10" reflectors (OTA's = optical tube assemblies).
However, the most important thing, even for a beginner, is to have a good steady mount. Without one, it will be a litany of frustrations, one after another, trying to get good piccies. Especially when it comes to DSO, where most targets will require exposures of longer than a minute or two. Not only do you need a good solid mount, you also need one with the ability to track your targets in sync with the Earth's rotation. This is where EQ (equatorial) mounts have the advantage. They can track a target in sync with the Earth's rotation (especially where motor driven) and allow you to take long exposures. Depending on the weight of your equipment, your mount should be able to comfortably carry the weight, dampen any vibrations and have accurate tracking capabilities. Even with smaller scopes, having a good solid mount is paramount. A good start would a Skywatcher EQ6 (or even a HEQ5), which can carry a 20kg payload, although it wouldn't be advisable to load it up to that weight.
Then you have your choice of imagers...and here also, the sky's the limit. It all depends on what you want to do. Planets and lunar pics, you can get away with using a webcam or one of the smaller, cheaper CCD cameras. For DSO's, I've seen some pretty good results from webcams, video cameras etc, but to really do things justice a good CCD or DSLR camera is your best option. Here, what you choose depends on price and capabilities...even what brand you like
Some are better than others, but you pay the price for what you get. State of the Art equipment can cost up to many thousands of dollars and is not really a good place to start for someone just dipping their toes into the water for the first time. But a good example of a CCD camera that's not too dear and will suffice even more experienced users is an Atik 314L+. Nothing complicated about it and it takes great piccies. Or, you could go the DSLR route and grab yourself a camera like a Canon 400 or 350D. You can take piccies with the stock standard camera, but the red response is not so great, so most people modify their cameras for astropics by removing the UV/IR filter in the camera. This gives a better red response, for DSO's, but you need a separate IR filter if you're also going to use it of a day. You can also mod these cameras for cooling as well, but that all costs extra
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So, I hope that gives you an idea of what you need and what you're going to be getting into. What I have told you is just the basics, there's a lot more to learn about and no matter how long you do this hobby for, you're always learning something new about it.
