Chromium

Ahh... Yes of course... Thanks... Weight of rig... Doh! Certainly will affect the scope choice... Shame as I was leaning more towards the 73 or 81. By the time the DSLR, flatner, Guidescope & camera, ASiair etc is added you're quite right it may add up to a considerable amount... Time to get the calculator out methinks. That will certainly affect the choices of guiding equipment. But I suppose I could mount the ASiair to the tripod leg possibly? UPDATE: following some preliminary calculations, it appears the 73 is about 600g heavier than the 61, coming in at 2.8kg, the Redcat however appears to only be 1.47kg. So that with all the other bits... DSLR, ASiair pro, 32mm Slide-base Uniguide, ASI290MM, etc. Would be 3.96 with a 73 and 3.63 with a 61... Hmmm both over the 50%. With a Redcat... 2.39 Cheees, Steve

If you were to buy a William Optics Zenithstar, or possibly a Redcat, which would you buy and why? I'm looking at the range and curious to find out why they're all fairly close in price and size. The candidates are; WO v2-U RedCat 51 APO WO Zenithstar 61 II APO WO Zenithstar 73 III APO WO Zenithstar 81 APO Ultimately I plan to build a rig using my recently purchased SWAGti, possibly with one of the above, a Guidescope and camera, all tied into a ZWO ASiair Plus 256G. I've very recently purchased an Askar FMA135 135 mm f/4.5 ED APO Astro graph and it's a great quality little scope but not had a chance to use it properly yet. As a beginner, I very much appreciate any comments, criticism, suggestions etc. Thanks, Steve

Brilliant pic PeterC65. What camera/mount was used and please let me know how many frames/exposure etc. It took to create that. Thanks, Steve

Decided on this path... Dipping my toe in using my Panasonic GH4 3/4 DSLR on the recently purchased SWA-GTI, with the older primes I have and I have ordered an Askar FMA135mm to start with The reason I've gone for the small Askar, is that when I possibly upgrade to a larger telescope, this should make a good guide scope. Before I go that way I want to get a grip on what I'm doing with capture and processing. I know I will need to understand more about guiding etc. too.

Thanks for all the advice and comments... Very much appreciated. The plan right now is to get the SAGTI and try it just with my DSLR until I get the hang of using it. I have an 85mm lens 50mm and with an M42 adapter a vintage 400mm Soligor (not expecting great results wit that, but may be interesting as an experiment). I will then buy the scope I want and possibly an autoguiding scope as like that concept Cheers, Chromium

Hi Beardt30, as I think I said above mostly interested in AP. As far as budget initially roughly about £1. 2k to start off, but planning to add to that as and when... Cheers, Chromium

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. To answer a few raised... I got rid of most of my pro photography gear before 2011 and now I'm using a Panasonic GH4 with is a mirrorless with micro 4/3rds sensor, but I don't have any long focal length lenses. I'm currently considering which direction to concentrate on, but particularly interested in capturing deep space images of nebulae and galaxies etc. I have a set of very strong Manfrotto 058B legs which are very stable, so hoping to use these as a base for my mount (opinions?), I think they may be stronger than those that come with the Sky-Watcher mounts? I'll check out the Samyang 135mm... Thanks Elp.

Hi all... First time poster. A beginner to astronomy, but otherwise an experienced photographer and professional cameraman/filmmaker (in a previous career) ... but itching to get started. Budget is fairly limited and can't afford the full kit I would like with all the acessories. So to get started do I get the mount I want and a cheaper scope (for example; Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTI mount combined with a Evostar 72ED or Askar FMA 180), or the better scope such as the William Optics Zenith star 73, Askar FMA 230 or perhaps a Redcat 51 (all 3 of which I like the specifications of) and a cheaper non-goto mount initially? My intuition says get the mount sorted first as that doesn't need loads of additional accessories like flatners, eyepiece etc. But I would like to hear any opinions before I dip my toe in. Cheers, Chromiun