WO Zenithstar ZS71 ED vs Altair Astro Starwave 70 ED

[Levster]

Hi, I'm new here and I am interested in getting into Astrophotography after playing with my camera (Olympus EM-10) and a Polarie Vixen tracker. My main target so far has been Orion's Belt and nebula, I am not particularly interested in the planets just yet. I have a budget of around £400 for a scope and have identified the following ones so far:

WO Zenithstar ZS71 ED

Altair Astro Starwave 70 ED

Both scopes work out around £460 with field flatteners. I have seen the Sky At Night reviews of both and the reviews are good, but although I have seen a few shots taken with the WO, I can find very few taken with the Starwave and very little user opinion. Has anyone here had any experience with the Starwave? The Starwave tempts me more because it is lighter.

[iksose7]

As i am not sure the Polarie will take a scopes weight i would advise you look into buying a EQ mount first. Most new comers dont realize it is the most important part of any imaging rig, and well worth spending a bit more on it than you may a scope.

Callum

[Levster]

I have looked at buying an EQ5 scope, would this be a good start?

[Levster]

I have looked at buying an EQ5 scope, would this be a good start?

Sorry, I meant to write mount!

[iksose7]

Im not too familiar with the EQ5, it may need certain upgrades but i'm not 100% on that. Most recommend the HEQ5, you can pick up a second hand one for under £600 nowadays, do a search on here and you will find a few bargains: http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php

Callum

[Roy Challen]

I Have the Starwave ED 70, and love it! It's compact, well made,  is easily carried by my EQ3-2 and didn't cost a fortune (£290 without flattener, got that later at <£70). It's good for both visual and imaging although I still need more practice with imaging. I haven't any experience with the WO, but I'm sure there isn't much difference.

[Marky1973]

Like Roy, I have the Starwave 70ED on a motorised EQ3-2 and love it, I think it is a really nice little scope. I got the "package" that is about for £400 that includes the diagonal, finder and eyepiece etc, but it can be had cheaper without all that. I am still learning, but have attached a couple of images that I have managed with it. I have also added the flattener and a LP filter as shown in this thread:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/234757-skywatcher-light-pollution-filter-first-use/

Some efforts on Orion here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/235224-getting-there-step-by-step-orion/

An attempt at Orion, with two sets of images - longer exposures for the nebula and shorter ones for the core - stacked in DSS and fiddled with in GIMP

And a recent go at Bode's and the Cigar. Slightly cheated with this one as re-used some old darks/flats/bias frames as I ran out of time!

Both taken with an unmodded Canon 1100d.

As I said, I am learning, and have a long way to go, but I am happy with what it has done so far and am sure any issues with the photos so far are to do with my processing, rather than the scope.

No experience of WO scopes to compare, but I do believe they are nice bits of kit!

In short, it has been a great little scope for learning the ropes, it is very light and, obviously, very portable. I am sure the EQ5 will be able to carry it with aplomb! It gives nice crisp views when using it visually, although it doesn't compare to the light gathering power of my 200p Dob! (But then I didn't buy it for that reason!)

[lensman57]

Like Roy, I have the Starwave 70ED on a motorised EQ3-2 and love it, I think it is a really nice little scope. I got the "package" that is about for £400 that includes the diagonal, finder and eyepiece etc, but it can be had cheaper without all that. I am still learning, but have attached a couple of images that I have managed with it. I have also added the flattener and a LP filter as shown in this thread:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/234757-skywatcher-light-pollution-filter-first-use/

Some efforts on Orion here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/235224-getting-there-step-by-step-orion/

An attempt at Orion, with two sets of images - longer exposures for the nebula and shorter ones for the core - stacked in DSS and fiddled with in GIMP

2nd 24th stack core and nebula.jpg

And a recent go at Bode's and the Cigar. Slightly cheated with this one as re-used some old darks/flats/bias frames as I ran out of time!

bodes3.jpg

Both taken with an unmodded Canon 1100d.

As I said, I am learning, and have a long way to go, but I am happy with what it has done so far and am sure any issues with the photos so far are to do with my processing, rather than the scope.

No experience of WO scopes to compare, but I do believe they are nice bits of kit!

In short, it has been a great little scope for learning the ropes, it is very light and, obviously, very portable. I am sure the EQ5 will be able to carry it with aplomb! It gives nice crisp views when using it visually, although it doesn't compare to the light gathering power of my 200p Dob! (But then I didn't buy it for that reason!)

Seems to have a bit more CA than my sample of ZS71 but overall not too bad.

A.G

[Levster]

Thank you, that's great info! I really don't want to be spending £600 on a mount straight away! I've had some success with just my camera and super zoom lens mounted on a Polarie Vixen tracker (examples at bottom of post).

Roy, where did you find the scope on its own? I'm not all that interested in observing so the full pack would be a bit of a waste for me.

Orion-Nubula-Flat-PS-3.jpg by -the-levster-

post-dss-flats-darks-edit-2.jpg by -the-levster-

[Roy Challen]

It took ages to locate just the OTA, this was last June when there seemed to be no stock anywhere in the UK (I think Altair were preparing for an updated version?). Anyway Peak2Valley Instruments had one, you could try there. John there was very helpful.

[Levster]

I've searched on quite a few sites but they all came with accessories. I'll check out Peak2Valley, cheers!

[Marky1973]

I've searched on quite a few sites but they all came with accessories. I'll check out Peak2Valley, cheers!

It's available here:

http://astronomia.co.uk/index.php/starwave-70-ed-refractor-telescope-ota.html

[Levster]

Now I am tempted by the new Altair Lightwave 72ED-R! It seems better suited to astrophotography. It's all so confusing!

[lensman57]

Now I am tempted by the new Altair Lightwave 72ED-R! It seems better suited to astrophotography. It's all so confusing!

Seems to be a resurrection of the WO Megrez 72 but with  unspecified Glass, ED just means Extra low Dispersion.

A.G

[Levster]

Before buying a field flattener what do you use to attach the camera to the telescope? I want to stick with 2", so on my shopping list is a M48 to EOS adapter, a mu43 to EOS adapter (I own an Olympus EM-10 and can't find any native M48 to mu43 adapters) and then what do I buy to attach the M48 thread to the eyepiece hole?

I'm still weighing up the 72ED against the 70ED. The price difference is £70 in favour of the 70ED, but the 72ED has a rack and pinion focusser which is supposed to prevent focus slippage when a camera is attached. Both scopes received favourable reviews in Sky at Night so I should be happy with either. Is focus slippage a problem with the 70ED?

[Roy Challen]

I haven't experienced any slippage with the Starwave, I have a Canon 60D which I use with a battery grip - yes, it adds weight, but saves having to change battery half way through imaging - I attach it using a standard t-ring straight to the field flattener which goes in the focuser tube. The focuser itself is really nice and smooth and the tension adjuster on the bottom works well - it only needs a slight turn to guarantee non-slippage even when the telescope is pointed almost straight up.

[Roy Challen]

I just read the specs of the Altair Lightwave 72ED-R on Astronomia's website and I would probably go for that if I were buying now. The focuser does seem to be more heavy duty than the Starwave's, the glass is ohara (I'm not sure what it is on the starwave, but it's not ohara), and you get a much better case. It is slightly heavier though, although still within the capability of the EQ3-2. Whether thats worth the extra £70 is up to you to decide.

[Levster]

Cheers Roy, I've now bought a T adapter, t ring for EOS and a mu43 to EOS adapter. I'm now tempted by the EQ3 Pro mount, which is significantly increasing the budget!

[lensman57]

Cheers Roy, I've now bought a T adapter, t ring for EOS and a mu43 to EOS adapter. I'm now tempted by the EQ3 Pro mount, which is significantly increasing the budget!

If at all possible stretch it to EQ5 Pro, much the same head gear but the tripod is much more solid and rigid and not wobbly as the EQ3 pro which has hollow Aluminium square tubes. It may not seem obvious now but once you start putting heavier and bulkier scopes on it does make a difference.

A.G

[Alien 13]

I use the WOZS71 with canon DSLR/battery grip on an EQ3-2 and to me its a perfect match for unguided AP the mount is portable enough to take to a dark site it doesnt need a lot of heavy accesories (power tank, laptop) and is also well suited to wide field AP.

The WOZS71 with the FF/FR does make the whole combo better balanced as the drawtube extension is much less and the 330mm effective FL has the ability to capture those nice wide images that i like.

Alan

[Marky1973]

Had a look at the Sky at Night Review and it looks like a nice scope. Whether there is much difference I don't know, but the money you save one the 72 can be used for the flattener if you need one. If not, and you have the cash then the 72 looks nice. I'd probably buy it....but there is also, always, something new around the corner and you can drive yourself mad wondering if you should buy the next one coming along!

[lensman57]

Had a look at the Sky at Night Review and it looks like a nice scope. Whether there is much difference I don't know, but the money you save one the 72 can be used for the flattener if you need one. If not, and you have the cash then the 72 looks nice. I'd probably buy it....but there is also, always, something new around the corner and you can drive yourself mad wondering if you should buy the next one coming along!

Not had trouble with the focuser on the 70 either....apart from the time my neighbour's cat attacked the USB cable....

New does not mean better, I much prefer my Megrez 72  FD DDG to my ZS  71 as it has almost negligible CA for an ED doublet, the focuser on the ZS 71 is a much better proposition even though my Megrez has the upgraded focuser with the steel base.

A.G

[Marky1973]

Oh yeah, I don't necessarily mean better, but we often fool ourselves into thinking if we wait, something better will come along. So I'm just really saying get what you want/can afford and enjoy it. Don't panic about small changes. My other major hobby is home cinema and everything changes all the time, and you could end up never buying anything if you were waiting for the next thing to arrive.....if that makes any sense.....it does to me.....but then I've been out in the cold for a while.... :-)

[Roy Challen]

If at all possible stretch it to EQ5 Pro, much the same head gear but the tripod is much more solid and rigid and not wobbly as the EQ3 pro which has hollow Aluminium square tubes. It may not seem obvious now but once you start putting heavier and bulkier scopes on it does make a difference.

A.G

This is true, however, I filled the lower sections of my tripod with concrete and the uppers with silicone sealer. It made approx 35% reduction in vibration damp-down time

[lensman57]

Oh yeah, I don't necessarily mean better, but we often fool ourselves into thinking if we wait, something better will come along. So I'm just really saying get what you want/can afford and enjoy it. Don't panic about small changes. My other major hobby is home cinema and everything changes all the time, and you could end up never buying anything if you were waiting for the next thing to arrive.....if that makes any sense.....it does to me.....but then I've been out in the cold for a while.... :-)

Very true.

A.G