Jez

Thanks for all the replies! I am going to try and answer everyone with one answer as I'm away from home for a couple of days and only have access to my phone. Equipment so far: SW Eclipse 80ED Triplet Advanced VX im down to two options for autoguiding but have plenty of information on this so feel confident enough. At the moment I live about two hundred metres away from the cities old observatory, however it is currently being converted into a cafe as the society couldn't afford the rent anymore (that's as far as I know). The Astronomical Society are in the process of moving to a different part of the city that has great clear skies. So I have a places I can drive to within 15 minutes. i also have an international dark sky reserve (Brecon Beacons) about 40 minutes drive from me. i work for myself at home so am flexible on the time I work. I have a multiple monitor setup/Mac Pro so have the equipment/time to process. i don't have a dslr, I thought about buying one but I wouldn't use it for anything apart from AP and that's why I started looking into CCD/CMOS. i don't have any AS/processing experience but know I really want to get into it. I have been working abroad until recently but now that I'm home I think it's time to purchase the equipment. I will be going to my local astronomical society stargazing nights when they start again but as I said above they are busy setting up the new location. initially I was keen on the celestron nightscape 8300, more recently looking at the asi1600mm-cool. however, like I've said I don't have any experience and obviously it's going to take time to learn so don't know if these are good for a first time camera? also I don't want to rock up the the stargazing night being the guy who has spent all this money just for the hell of it ? All the gear no idea! i can afford these cameras but just don't know if they are best for my setup/learning curve. now that you know about my setup hopefully it will be easier to recommend. sorry if this reply is all over the place, I'm using my phone and it's not ideal! thanks Jez

I have pretty much decided on the equipment I want as a first time AP setup. (Thanks to some great feedback on this page). i am still undecided whether to go Mono or Colour though with my first time dedicated camera? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Jez