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  #21  
Old 21-04-2008, 03:12 PM
aphelion
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Thanks Chris,

The 90x900 sounds nice! That might just be within my price range too. Though I must say, I've been pretty taken by the Maksutov-Cassegrain spotting scope idea. Compact, light, and good value..

Would a 90mm aperture, 1200mm focal length spotting scope like http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-5226...8756877&sr=8-1
be equivalent to the 90mm, 900mm focal length of the skywatcher, but with even more zoom? Sorry for being a bit naive about it all... Also I'm just starting to understand eyepieces; the celestron has a 32mm eyepiece, giving a 37.5x magnification. The skywatcher comes with an S10 and an S25 - giving 90x and 45x magnification, respectively.. If I put a 10mm on the celestron, I would get 120x magnification? But I lose my field of view..?

Also, I assume the 90mm refractor would give me more clarity than the 90mm Maksutov, due to it having fewer mirrors... But then I can't take it with me hiking as easily..
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  #22  
Old 21-04-2008, 03:17 PM
aphelion
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Did you say that the SWAT80 is a Maksutov Cassegrain?? I thought it was a refractor? That could be almost perfect for me then! But can I detach it to take it outside easily? Thanks soooo much for all the help. Although only 80mm aperture...
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  #23  
Old 21-04-2008, 03:35 PM
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Terry B
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Originally Posted by aphelion View Post
Thanks Chris,


Also, I assume the 90mm refractor would give me more clarity than the 90mm Maksutov, due to it having fewer mirrors... But then I can't take it with me hiking as easily..
This is not necesarily true. The Mak has a mirror and is essentially not subject to chromatic aberation (purple fringeing around bright objects) that cheaper refractors will have but can have slightly less contrast than a similar size refractor due to the central obstruction in the mak design.
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  #24  
Old 21-04-2008, 04:45 PM
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dannat (Daniel)
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Aphelion, yes the swat 80 is a short focal length refractor.I am not a big fan of it's tripod - the scope doesn't detach easily & the side mounting isn't very sturdy, it would not be my choice

Andrews have the celestron 90mm you are looking at for 465 and the smaller 65mm mak/cass for $160 - which is not bad seeing as though it is waterproof. I think the magnification with included ep is 30-70, and it mounts on standard phto tripod, or you can buy one of the cheap mimi tripods.

In theory a premium refractor would give a better look, but the refractor you are looking at wouldn;t be much better in my opinion. I had a small mak/ass and I could not fault it's optics, even though it was less expensive
daniel
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  #25  
Old 21-04-2008, 04:54 PM
aphelion
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Hi dannat,

Thanks, didn't think the SWAT80 was a maksutov-cassegrain... a 90-102mm mak is my object of desire.. Can't go to $465 so will have to hang out for a second hand one. I've done a search in the IIS trade pages and it seems they come up every once in a while..
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  #26  
Old 22-04-2008, 09:54 AM
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janoskiss (Steve H)
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If you have no luck getting second hand, contact shops/dealers and ask for best price on a 90mm SW Mak (OTA only, no mount) - you should be able to get one for < $300. For terrestrial use besides standard eyepieces, you'll want an erecting eyepiece/diagonal also. Few dealers I've had good experiences with (no affiliation): Telescopes and Astronomy, Myastroshop, Bintel, AOE, Telescope Shed.
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  #27  
Old 22-04-2008, 12:08 PM
aphelion
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Originally Posted by janoskiss View Post
If you have no luck getting second hand, contact shops/dealers and ask for best price on a 90mm SW Mak (OTA only, no mount) - you should be able to get one for < $300. For terrestrial use besides standard eyepieces, you'll want an erecting eyepiece/diagonal also. Few dealers I've had good experiences with (no affiliation): Telescopes and Astronomy, Myastroshop, Bintel, AOE, Telescope Shed.
Thanks janoskiss - I've already begun but I have to say I don't think the customer service so far has been anywhere near as good as the advice on this forum - and you are all doing it out of the goodness of your hearts!! it's a sad world. I saw the york optical 20% sign which ran until the 20/4/08 so rang friday, the guy said he didn't know the SW MAK90, even though it's listed on his page, said he would ring back and still hasn't. Andrews didn't know if they had it in stock, if they could sell it OTA and how much cheaper it would be, and said to call back later because they're busy... anyway they have great prices and free delivery on skywatcher so I'm definitely calling back. The shops with the lowest margins always have basic customer service and I know I'm small-fry for these shops but if I really get into it one day I might buy a $10k meade or something..
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  #28  
Old 22-04-2008, 12:35 PM
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New update- bintel, who were up for a chat and very helpful - said the mak is not a design they like to sell, and suggested the sw708 for $379 - but andrews have this model massively discounted at $149 delivered... am I mad not to grab it?

By the way, probably still going for the mak for it's massive range and tiny footprint...i figure for land use it will be okay and it may complement any future celestial scope.. would that be fair? sorry for such a long saga..

Also, I have a Canon 20D, and am wondering how much it would cost to buy a T-ring and a T-mount - is the 'T-ring adaptor' at andrews for $29 all I need? thanks again again!

Last edited by aphelion; 22-04-2008 at 12:55 PM.
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  #29  
Old 22-04-2008, 01:57 PM
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Originally Posted by aphelion View Post
New update- bintel, who were up for a chat and very helpful - said the mak is not a design they like to sell, and suggested the sw708 for $379 - but andrews have this model massively discounted at $149 delivered... am I mad not to grab it?
70mm f/7 achromat on an AZ3 for $149 is a steal. It will probably do a good job at what you wanted it for. If it does not come with a correct image diagonal for terrestrial viewing you'll want to get one of these too (so things don't appear upside down).
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  #30  
Old 22-04-2008, 02:06 PM
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I know! I think I should get it while it lasts...there's also a 70mm x 700mm on an az2... not sure of the difference, apart from better zoom on the latter.

the news back from andrews is $230 for the 90mm mak OTA... decisions decisions..

the 70mm x 500mm comes with an erecting eyepiece and tripod, the mak would be $230 + $30 for the erecting eyepiece + $xx for the tripod, maybe a solid vintage camera tripod for $50 = $310... just doable, more than I would like, but quite taken with the 1200mm focal length, 90mm aperture, so wider field of view, and ability to connect my Canon 20D maybe later on..

edit: the difference is the focal ratio? the f/stop.. the mak-cass is 13.7, while the 500mm refractor is f7... I only know about camera lenses, but the f7 would be a lot better at night/in low light? what about during the day, would an f7 be too bright? do you get sunglasses for your telescope?

Last edited by aphelion; 22-04-2008 at 02:38 PM.
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  #31  
Old 22-04-2008, 05:11 PM
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First off: just stay away from the AZ2 mounted scope. AZ3 is not a perfect mount but infinitely better than the AZ2 and better than a camera tripod $50 or so will buy you.

Now, you are beginning to over analyse Secondly: you cannot have a <$300 scope that does everything - i.e. terrestrial scope, astronomical scope, camera lens.

If you know about camera lenses, the 90mm Mak on a camera is like a 1200mm f/14 lens, i.e. a big long telephoto lens that is very very slow (f/14) - too slow to be useful in many (most?) practical situations. You are better off getting a real camera lens IMO.

For visual, the Mak will give you higher powers (not suffering from chromatic aberration and having more aperture), while the refractor will give you wider true field of view (with shorter focal length). No f/7 is not too fast for visual. You might want to find out if the Mak is a Skywatcher or Saxon. I know the SW Maks are good scopes but I'm not sure about the Saxons..

Given your budget and initially stated requirements the f/7 70mm achromat on AZ3 best fits the bill IMO.
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  #32  
Old 23-04-2008, 09:45 AM
aphelion
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Done! I still covet the mak, but I will soon own a 70x500 refractor, which perhaps will end up being (a half acceptable?) finder scope I figure a $150 refractor plus a $300 2nd hand dob would be a decent beginner combo, for both land and sky... I can't wait to get the refractor now, and point it at the moon!

Thanks to all for putting up with my frantic decision-making... I'm going to leave up my wanted ad for a 4" mak just in case, and look out for other 2nd hand equipment..
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  #33  
Old 08-05-2008, 11:11 AM
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Andrew, have you got your new scope yet? How do you like it?
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  #34  
Old 25-05-2008, 05:15 PM
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I have a Celestron C90 Maksutov.
Very impressed with it when using it as a spotting scope, with the supplied 32mm eyepiece. You wont enjoy this with a cheap tripod though, (I have tried it on my neighbours Manfrotto tripod, sheer luxury but nearly $400 secondhand!) and as soon as I put my Pentax *ist DL2 DSLR on it, there is not enough light gathering ability even in broad daylight on a sunny day. Its ok for looking at the moon and thats about the only object in the sky that I can get a photo of without longer exposures.

I am in the lucky position of being able to afford a new mount and a new scope at the same time, so my C90 will be ganging up with a EQ6 Pro Synscan and a SW 100ED Pro. With a mount like that I *may* be able to get some night time action from the C90.

Phil.
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