Skywatcher Heritage 90 Virtuoso Telescope

[gareth6233]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone owns the Skywatcher Heritage 90 Virtuoso Telescope, if so, is it any good for DSLR photography?

thanks,

Gareth

[ronin]

Answer is going to be No.

THe mount is Alt/Az so tracks incorrectly.

The scope is a Mak so a long focal length which needs a good accuratly tracking mount and also requires longer exposures (long focal length = bigger prime image = dimmer image = longer exposures).

Also the whole setup will not easily take the additional weight of a DSLR attached to one end, it is not exactly a heavy weight mount.

For AP it is basically the wrong scope on the wrong mount.

You could drop a webcam in and image Saturn and Jupiter.

[Alien 13]

As above, the scope with a camera wont work for anything other than lunar/planetary however the camera can be mounted independently so with a wide angle lens up to say 50mm you could get up to 30 second exposures before field rotation becomes to obvious.

Alan

[gareth6233]

Thank you, so it would be ok to add the dslr for the moon then?

[cutepetgroomer]

There's a YouTube review of the scope in question. I viewed it as I am interested in this scope myself. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oySbet53cnI

[gareth6233]

Thank you for the link

[cutepetgroomer]

Not a problem at all, I found the review really helpful.

[MrMiniMoto]

Hey people,

I've got one of these little scopes.

I'm no pro, nor have I used it for photography but I am pretty happy with it. I hung an iPhone on the eyepiece which gave a good pic considering it's an iPhone.

I'm happy with the mount too, again I can't comment on how it would cope with long exposure shots but if it's set correctly I can point it at something, go away for 10 mins and when I get back the something is still there. Also the fact you can move it by hand and the mount still knows it's position is pretty clever. Example: point it at Jupiter and store it's position, spin it round by hand to see what ever else there is, press the appropriate memory button and it shoots back to Jupiter. Very handy if someone comes to see what your looking at, you can kinda give them the highlights of the night just by pressing the buttons.

For me the bottom line is for what it cost this is a great little toy!

[cutepetgroomer]

I like that you can potentially upgrade it to a "true" goto mount with adding one of those keypad computers that allow you to do so. I can't think of the name but a syncscan is one that comes to mind for them. I also like that it's a reasonably priced catadioptric / compound telescope and can be easily stored.. Something I am looking at, one I can store easily when not in use. Right now I've got one scope in a bag, one in a corner and one under the bed.

[MrMiniMoto]

I like that you can potentially upgrade it to a "true" goto mount with adding one of those keypad computers that allow you to do so. I can't think of the name but a syncscan is one that comes to mind for them. I also like that it's a reasonably priced catadioptric / compound telescope and can be easily stored.. Something I am looking at, one I can store easily when not in use. Right now I've got one scope in a bag, one in a corner and one under the bed.

I have see the goto add on key pads too, I was tempted but though it would be better to try and figure out how to find things myself before relying on the technology to do it for me (it's wishful thinking if nothing else) also if I remember right they were quite expensive, at least at the time.

And yes it is easy to store. I'd even go as far as saying it's quite good looking and my doesn't mind it so much being "left out" in the lounge or dining room, as long as it's not in the way of course.

[gareth6233]

Many thanks everyone, I think I shall be ordering one shortly!

[cutepetgroomer]

Given I own three refractors with simple altaz tripods, I'm pretty good at finding objects. I can hop around when I know the relative position of the planets and certain stars I can remember the name of. I'm actually a bit keen on this one still myself.

[bingevader]

Thank you, so it would be ok to add the dslr for the moon then?

Your only consideration would be the weight of the camera on the back of the 'scope and the added stress on the mount.

Other than that, why not give it a go!

I've managed some fairly mediocre afocal shots of the moon in the past, with a small digital camera and my etx90 (very similar to the vituoso!) without really trying very hard at all. 

I'm sure if you put in some more effort you could achieve better and I'd be happy to see the results.

[Astrosurf]

Have a look at our sponsor's site for info about the scope. Plus they have a Q&A tab if you want to ask them questions.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/skywatcher-heritage-90-virtuoso.html

Alexxx