130pds or 150pds as a first imaging OTA?

[CosmicOrangutan]

Good Morning Everyone,

I will be able to afford my new set-up after the Easter bank holiday and am looking for some advice. (Currently using a very basic 60mm refractor)

For the mount I have finalised that I will get the HEQ5 with Syntrek. This I will upgrade with the GOTO handset as I build up funds. 

I am just trying to finally decide on the actual OTA I will purchase. I have seen some of the recent threads regarding the 130pds and the images some other members have achieved are incredible. I will be taking unguided subs to begin with just using the Skywatcher Syntrek system built into the mount. I have asked how long subs I can expect to obtain just using this system and people have suggested anything from 30 - 90 seconds depending on what i'm photographing and polar alignment etc. I'm happy with this as a starting point as it will be a good starting point on some of the brighter DSO's and will also help me to start learning post processing and stacking techniques while i start to save up for guide scopes and other bits and bobs needed to obtain subs of a few minutes each.

Basically I would like to know if its worth spending slightly more to get the 150pds over the 130pds. I will mainly be trying to photograph DSO's but I will also take a few snaps of the Moon and Planets. I will be using a Canon 600d (Unmodded) as my camera. 

I have taken a few snaps of the Moon through my tiny refractor and have found obtaining crisp focus is one of the main challenges as the image is shaking around in the viewfinder as my clumsy mits fiddle about with the primitive focusing dial. I'm hoping the 130 or 150pds has a better focuser and it should be very stable on an HEQ5.

Thanks in advance to anyone able to give me a bit of advice. Please feel free to post some images from either the 130 or 150 to give me some sort of idea on the differences. Or throw a spanner in the works and suggest a completely different OTA, just to bear in mind my budget will be £250 for the OTA as i'm blowing all my cash on the mount.

George 

[nightfisher]

The focuser on the pds range is really nice and smooth, dual speed, i think if you can afford it get the 150 pds, it will be very stable on the HEQ5

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Both OTAs are f/5 so will perform similarly. The 130 will have a slightly wider field of view. You can use 12dstring or Blackwater Skies Imaging Toolbox to compare views of different targets with your chosen OTA/sensor combination:

http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm

http://www.blackwaterskies.co.uk/p/imagingtoolbox.html

The dual speed focuser works well and both will be quite happy on an HEQ5, although I do find I have to throw out a few subs from my 150PDS when it is windy. I would think the 130 would be a little less affected. 

[lensman57]

Good Morning Everyone,

I will be able to afford my new set-up after the Easter bank holiday and am looking for some advice. (Currently using a very basic 60mm refractor)

For the mount I have finalised that I will get the HEQ5 with Syntrek. This I will upgrade with the GOTO handset as I build up funds. 

I am just trying to finally decide on the actual OTA I will purchase. I have seen some of the recent threads regarding the 130pds and the images some other members have achieved are incredible. I will be taking unguided subs to begin with just using the Skywatcher Syntrek system built into the mount. I have asked how long subs I can expect to obtain just using this system and people have suggested anything from 30 - 90 seconds depending on what i'm photographing and polar alignment etc. I'm happy with this as a starting point as it will be a good starting point on some of the brighter DSO's and will also help me to start learning post processing and stacking techniques while i start to save up for guide scopes and other bits and bobs needed to obtain subs of a few minutes each.

Basically I would like to know if its worth spending slightly more to get the 150pds over the 130pds. I will mainly be trying to photograph DSO's but I will also take a few snaps of the Moon and Planets. I will be using a Canon 600d (Unmodded) as my camera. 

I have taken a few snaps of the Moon through my tiny refractor and have found obtaining crisp focus is one of the main challenges as the image is shaking around in the viewfinder as my clumsy mits fiddle about with the primitive focusing dial. I'm hoping the 130 or 150pds has a better focuser and it should be very stable on an HEQ5.

Thanks in advance to anyone able to give me a bit of advice. Please feel free to post some images from either the 130 or 150 to give me some sort of idea on the differences. Or throw a spanner in the works and suggest a completely different OTA, just to bear in mind my budget will be £250 for the OTA as i'm blowing all my cash on the mount.

George 

Hi,

As I have wasted quite a bit of money on trying to get the imaging sorted out I would advise you to get the HEQ5 PRO GoTo and the 130PDS. I have the 150 and it is a rather specialised scope due to its FL of 750mm. It is neither wide enough for Nebulae nor long enough for going very deep. 130 @ 650mm of FL hits the sweet spot and with the SW cc @0.9X it becomes a wide F4.5 scope, it is also not as much as a sail wind as either the 150 or the 200 PDS. There is no point in getting the SynTrek version for the sake of £100.00 and paying £140.00 in the near future for the upgrade.

Regards,

A.G

[CosmicOrangutan]

Thanks everyone, first time i've seen 12dstring and blackwater skies, very useful sites! Good to hear the focuser seems a lot more accurate.

In a few months time I will probably get a 200 or 250p for mainly visual use but i'm assuming these would be more suited for planetary imaging? If i was just to go for the 130pds just for DSO imaging?

[Russe]

The 130pds is less wind affected. Love this little scope, but it's getting difficult to balance with camera, finder guider, dew screen. The tube is quite short. Maybe it needs some weights in the back for that.

Otherwise, it works out of the box!!

[Russe]

For planetary I'd go for long focal length - I.e. Maksutov or SCT.

[RikM]

130PDS is a better match for the smaller pixels in your DSLR.

[DoctorD]

Hi George

You could try ASCOM and EQMOD with your HEQ5 - many people say it's better than the Synscan go to as long as you have a laptop you can use.

HTH

Paul

[Russe]

+1 EQMOD with a game controller.

[Eeyarn]

hi i have the 150pds and a canon 1100d unmodded, just thought id post a couple of images using the 150 to give you an idea. im an absolute beginner so they're nothing special compared to other images on here. i would also say get the goto as i found myself imaging the same things (mainly orion nebula) as i couldn't find any of the fainter objects because of light pollution. recently got the heq5 pro so that hopefully shouldn't be a problem now. 

this was 20 second subs i think bout 30 of them with darks

m51 these were 60 second subs and i think i did 60 of them with darks

all stacked in dss and edited in either photoshop or gimp

like i said iv still got alot to learn but these are what iv got in the few months iv been imaging

also check out this thread if ya haven't already some incredible images on there   http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/210593-imaging-with-the-130pds/

iain 

[Geuse]

Hi Nukemninja,

I also have the 600d camera and after Russe's enthusiasm i opted for the 130pds instead of the 150. Albeit i have no experience of the 150 i can tell you that the 130 is superb, i have been amazed at the clarity of the images etc i have been able to produce (i am using a CG5 mount). You can see some of my pics on the thread mentioned above.

Do make sure you get the Coma Corrector though, i took some picters just to try it without and there is a big difference.

Good luck and clear skies ! 

[Russe]

Enthusiasm ... Lol

[Geuse]

I didn't want to get personal and call it an obsession  

[CosmicOrangutan]

Thanks a lot guys for all the feedback. I will definitely look into the EQMOD with a laptop set-up in the future, it seems very effective. I'm on a strict budget for this first jump into AP and i'm swaying towards getting the 130pds as its causing quite a stir and some of the images produced are spectacular!

If I get hooked further into this hobby then i can always upgrade to some larger scopes and the HEQ5 should be able to keep me steady for a couple of years  

I might start another post regarding post processing software but in case anyone can tell me would you think Deep sky stacker and Gimp would be the best free software available before I splash out on photoshop?

Again thanks to everyone its been a great help!

[Alien 13]

Im waiting for a 100mm version now that would be a giant killer.

Alan

[idigitize]

130PDS is a better match for the smaller pixels in your DSLR.

Is this just due to the 100mm less focal length or another reason? Just curious

[RikM]

Is this just due to the 100mm less focal length or another reason? Just curious

Yes. It is simply focal length and pixel size.