Tiny Clanger

Get the scope , use it a bit, see if the included eyepiece is enough for your needs before buying extras.

I'd email the seller, and maybe skywatcher too if you don't get a satisfactory reply , it could be a regional difference, it could be a mistake, or it might be a dodgy dealer ... Does the seller advertise a big stock of bargain skywatcher 'super' long eye relief 10 and 25mm eyepieces ?!

By the way, another photographers trick to steady a telephoto without a tripod : tie a long string to a bolt put in the tripod socket under the camera, drop the string, stand on the bottom end of the string, and pull the string taut as you lift camera to eye. It was surprisingly effective, I'll have to try it with the binos now I've remembered it .

What really matters ? Instrument magnification, weight, balance, grip. User strength, stance , steadiness, grip, heartbeat, breathing Target angle of altitude, local conditions of wind , security of footing etc. The steadiness is a result of interplay between all the above, but magnification is the simplest, most easily quantifiable factor. In the days before image stabilization, photographers like me had to learn how to hold a camera steady by using similar methods to those of competitive rifle target shooters and archers. We had a reciprocal rule of thumb : for a 50mm lens , most people's longest hand held exposure without camera shake spoiling the photo would be 1/50th of a second, for a 200mm lens, 1/200th of a second, and so on. Out of habit, I still bring a DSLR to my eye , one hand under the lens, one on the camera body, elbows tucked in, back of camera pressed firmly to nose and eyebrow, and breathe out before pressing the shutter. I could manage 1/30th with a 50mm lens back then , and these days quite often turn the stabilization off on my current lenses (which is recommended when using them on tripods) , forget to turn it back on, and see no difference until I really push the camera in low light. And, at last, I've found a use for the monopod which became redundant when stabilized telephotos became available ... to hold my binoculars steady !

I was just about to say exactly what Zermelo did , thanks, saved me the trouble ! Note the O.P. is in Hungary though, perhaps the importer gets a different specification package there ?

I endorse everything Cosmic Geoff said above . Be absolutely certain that you can change the 45 degree prism on the C90 and that it can take standard eyepieces , much better to try and track down the model intended for astro use rather than waste money trying to make the spotter scope what it isn't. The mak is not big or heavy, so any decently made photo tripod which is tall enough should be fine . Benro used to be top of the range and expensive decades ago, I've no idea if they still are, I seem to recall the original specialist company and brand name name got sold . Don't bother with exotic lightweight tripods unless you are hiking up mountains, a heavy cheap basic model will be fine. Try to find something with minimal plastic and thick metal tubes , the heavier and chunkier it is, the more stable a platform it will be. If you can get it to around head height without extending the central column much (which will add wobbles) even better.

Ah ! Oh dear. The problems you will encounter when observing out of an upstairs window have been thoroughly explained very recently here : https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/367504-bedroom-astronomy/ I'll leave you to read those pages of reasons why it's a bad idea . If you have a good sized balcony, that might work, but the dob. tube might make it difficult to work around the angles you need to be at. If there's a garden or a park you can use, you might want to reconsider and think about something portable ... Heather

I noticed that 'laying down' orientation too, but for years I've had expensive Nikon camera lenses stored vertically in deep alu. cases , and never had a problem despite them being bigger and more delicate ( many more moving parts) than telescope eyepieces. As long as the case is deep enough to still have some padding top and bottom, vertical storage seems fine to me. I've a small but deep peli lookalike case for my eyepieces, and store them vertically, I used a bit of metal tube of the correct diameter sharpened one end with a file, and used it to cut neat cylindrical holes to take the EP lower barrels, the lower cap stays put in the base of the foam when I pull an EP out too, so I don't need to faff with those . I could of course be wrong (or labouring under a common misconception) but I guessed the 'lay the EP down' orientation was probably popular because folk with a lot of EPs find it an easier way to distinguish between them in use , plus some of the huge EPs would need a very deep box to stand upright . Having just 5 cheapies to my name , two of which are of a distinctively different design , I don't have that problem . Yet. Heather

Dobsonians are great, rather than trying to produce a package of tripod, mount, and telescope at a price point , and making compromises with a flimsy tripod and cheaply made but complicated mount, a dobsonian design puts the telescope on a cheap, heavy, sturdy wooden cradle. So most of your money goes to the telescope itself, and you get a bigger mirror. They are also simple to set up and get used to using. The downsides are the size of the thing , be sure you appreciate just how tall the telescope is , the size of its base, and the weight. As long as you are confident it won't get in the way indoors, and will be easy for you to carry outside to use, it's a great choice. Collimation is not the nightmare some accounts suggest, as long as you are cautious and careful . I bought a 150 dob as my first proper telescope 6 months ago, I don't have the space to store a full sized one, so bought a SkyWatcher heritage 150 which closes down to half length, and has a tabletop dobsonian mount. It works very well for me, I'm glad I chose it.

I'm surprised there are no eyecups on your EPs, I thought all the skywatcher 'scopes came with the same 10mm and 20mm starter ones. My heritagedob. did, and so did the 127 mak I bought more recently . Both pairs of EPs were identical (the mak set I checked were OK then put back in the delivery box to store) and had small fold up rubber eyecups . I saw somewhere a suggestion that you can make a cheap temporary soft eyecup from a bit of (well cleaned !) bike inner tube of a suitable diameter , so maybe you could make a temporary solution. I'd suggest a do it yourself dew shield too, closed cell foam cut from a cheap camping mat or craft shop stock should be fine : on my neat final version I stuck velcro on using a hot glue gun ( which I'd thought would melt the foam, but I experimented on a scrap bit, and it was fine ), on my prototype I just tied some string around it ! The trouble with getting a good focus is that if the 'seeing' is not ideal, Mars (or Jupiter, or Saturn ) will appear fuzzy even if your focus is bang on . Rather than expecting your view to snap into something sharp, use the apparent size of the planet's disc , it will increase as you move out of focus (either way), so aim to get the little circle as small as possible, and when starts to increase in size again, turn the focus knob back the other way. You may find you have good focus, but still Mars looks fuzzy due to atmospheric conditions here on Earth. If the Moon looked sharp, it's not a fault with you, your focusing or your telescope , and as has been said, you can focus on the Moon first if it's available. Heather

Some interesting options here https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-christmas-2020-gift-guide.html Also a torch or headtorch which gives out red light is a good astro accessory, the red light doesn't ruin your eye's adaptation to the dark as a normal white light does.

A sound investment that ! Exciting isn't it. Beware though of the 'better equipment' imps who will soon be whispering in your ear something like 'If I only had a ..... I could see ..... and photograph ....... " Heather

The planisphere can be bought from many bookshops, here's an AZ link https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Planisphere-Latitude-51-5-North/dp/1849074852/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=planisphere&qid=1607188803&sr=8-1 for a little more , there's a glow in the dark one, which may or may not be better, I've no idea, but it sounds a fun gimmick ... https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Glow-Dark-Planisphere-Latitude/dp/1849074844/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=planisphere&qid=1607189054&sr=8-3 As for binoculars, it's a huge topic, and has it's own section on here. I took the advice of one of the members via their website, specifically this page https://binocularsky.com/binoc_choosing.php I spent £70 on the Opticron 10x50s which are recommended on there, and am very pleased with them, but the Olympus 8x40 suggested at the top of the list are £55 on amazon which is closer to what you want to spend. Handily the 2021 guide book I mentioned (I've bought one as a gift, and naturally have had a peek inside before wrapping ... ) has a 4 page section on viewing with binoculars , so get another relative to get him that if you've maxed out your cash on binoculars ! Heather

Some of those names can apply to more than one telescope, as the 80 or 90 is the diameter of the optics . best give a full name or a link to get accurate responses, for instance I looked up 'Calstron 80EQ Deluxe' and got results for Celestron PowerSeeker 80 and Celestron AstroMaster 80 , two different telescopes entirely. You don't want advice based on the wrong product !

We had a couple of pupils from our year go and spend the summer hol.s on kibbutz , they came back flaunting watches with little flip over leather cover things built in, which was about as far as school uniform rebellion managed to push it at my school . No photos of me and the very first 'scope back when I was about 6 or 7, I don't think Dad had any flashbulbs (an expensive, one shot device) , and he was a useless photographer at the best of times. Many years later, after he died, my sister found a lovely wooden box neatly furnished with slots to hold 35mm slides. It was full of kodachromes, but every last image was either a fuzzy distant train, a fuzzy distant naval vessel with a wildly angled horizon, or a blurry, wonky , head amputated picture of the dog. Photography was not his forte .

Exchange and mart! I'd forgotten about that . The pre-internet , analogue version of ebay , dodgy ads and all !

I second all of the above, and add this. There are major problems at the moment (and have been for many months) for retailers to get hold of stock, as most reasonably priced telescopes are made in China. The pandemic has caused delays all down the line , and very little is in stock . There's a helpful page here https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html where you can see the heritage 76, but (at the moment) the delivery date is 15-20 days ... I've found FLO estimates of delivery pretty accurate, and if you buy now, you reserve one of the instruments they expect to arrive from China within that time, but there can be no guarantees, and there are only 20 days 'till xmas ... If you can find one in stock elsewhere snap it up. Best avoid anything sold in the £50 ish price range by catalogue stores, big camera chains or amaz. , they are more toys than telescopes. If you can't find a heritage 76 anywhere, and don't like the voucher idea, how about some binoculars and/or a book or a planisphere ? Philips 2021 stargazing month-by-month guide to the night sky is £6.99 (sometimes discounted online ) and is a decent little book to guide observing through the coming year. Heathetr

In answer to the original question : I think the shoe for the 'finder is usually placed at the front of the newt. tube because the simplest RDFs which are often bundled with 'scopes need some distance between eye and dot to use. On my heritage 150 ( 😀 there, I said it !) it absolutely has to be at the front because it's the only solid bit . I bought a RACI after two months or so of observing to get over the whole 'can see Messier object with binoculars, can't get the thing lined up for the telescope view' problem, as well as the annoyance of having to do weird crouching or interested budgie head tilting to use the thing . I have no trouble at all translating from newtonian eyepiece view to RACI all-correct view or vice versa, and have the RDF there too as it is sometimes handy for targets I can see with the naked eye. . It never even crossed my mind that the disparity in orientation of views might be a problem, after all the RDF is always right way round, right way up ... I bought a shoe (£5) from FLO for the RACI, and have experimented with where on the (half length heritage ) tube to put it : best place I've found by shifting it around (using sticky ads for a temporary fix) is by the balance point of the 'scope , which is convenient for balance as well as looking through. Now I just need to gather the courage to drill holes in my lovely little 'scope to mount the shoe properly ...

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/268057-binomate-binoviewer-instructions/ has some instructions if that helps . This thread talks about them too https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/691376-binoviewer-problem/

This certainly is a nice place to be, due to you and people like you contributing in a thoughtful and kind way. It stands out from most discussion platforms because of that, so thank you for your long and continuing innings. Heather

And that's how to make a telescope die of embarrassment ...😀

I love my heritage150 dob, but I think from what you say a dobsonian would not be a good choice for you. It sounds as if you really want something very compact and portable, the advantages given by a newtonian telescope (dob.s are a subset of newtonians , having a specific type of simple base) are all to do with them having a big mirror, which means a big tube, which means a heavy strong support ... A refractor or a maksutov will be more compact light and transportable. When I was thinking about buying a telescope to supplement my dobsonian I read this detailed account of a small 'scope which might be a good match for your requirements http://www.waloszek.de/astro_sw_mak102_e.ph It costs under £200 in the uk, for example https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-102-ota.html There is also a smaller version for £130 https://www.firstlightoptics.com/all-telescopes/skywatcher-skymax-90-ota.html That's 'OTA' i.e optical tube alone , no support, but it looks from the other link as if a camera tripod (easy to buy and transport,relatively inexpensive ) may well be sufficient to hold it. A proper alt az mount ( cheapest about £100 ) would be better and allow fine adjustment though. I have not researched into refractors, so can't comment on those, I'm sure someone else will . Good luck with your search, and eventual viewing Heather

Yep, stellarium oculars plug in is a very handy tool : input your 'scope and eyepiece info for visual and camera stats for imaging and select your target, then you can run through your equipment and get a good idea of what you will see. Run the time forward to see how it changes too. Heather

I mentally went through a very similar course to malc-c. when considering astronomical photography. I may be a relative beginner (have owned my first proper scope for only 6 months) but have the starting position that astronomy was part of my degree course (long ago), and been a serious photographer for over 30 years, worked as a full time professional photographer for a decade too. So I'm familiar with optics, cameras, lenses, photo software etc. as well as the basics of astronomy. I already have DSLRs , hefty tripods, an intervalometer and a laptop which I reserve solely for imaging use. But ...many hours of investigation showed me that to get, set up, and maintain the extra kit I'd need for a rig to do astro photo properly I'd have to sell my house to afford it. I read up on other folk's attempts and learned from them, so I didn't need to repeat their missteps and frustrations. I got hooked on visual astronomy for an initial cost of just £200 though, and that's enough of an obsession for now. I can stick a Nikon awkwardly on a telescope and take a souvenir snap of the moon when I feel like it, or do some landscape pics of a comet with a camera lens and stack them to get a vaguely acceptable image ,and that's enough for now. I might buy a star adventurer at some point in the future to park a DSLR on top of, but that is as far as I expect to go . Yes, I'm out too !

Yes, I think the skymax maks all ship with what is called an erecting prism diagonal, I guess because they are popular for birdwatching etc as wel as astronomy. This means the view is the right way up, but reversed left/right. It may be good for daytime use, but if you are used to a newtonian reflector (which flips the image upside down) it's a pain to adjust to , my Moon map is the wrong way up ! (most Moon maps have S at the top , not N) I have a 'star diagonal' on my wishlist to turn the view in my mak the right (wrong !) way up. As valleyman said, you won't notice the left/right when observing the skies other than when using such maps,. The red dot finder is just a light superimposed on the sky by a sort of optical illusion, it , no lenses , mirrors or prisms involved, so appears correctly, left=left , up=up etc. I recently bought the 127 mak , and have not had much time with it yet, too many clouds ! However, I have managed the Moon (which is stunning) , and Mars too, you are right, they are easy to get lined up with the red dot. Saturn and Jupiter are very low in the sky for me , so the view is not great, but you may be able to at least see them, just not in much detail. I bought the mak specifically to use for planets, my first telescope is a heritage 150 dobsonian which has a wider field of view and is better for DSOs, but I have sneaked a peek at the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula with the mak and both are easy to find in the sky and as you can see them with the naked eye, they are easy to line up with the RDF. Sorry, I can't comment on the eq mount, I use alt/az ! Good luck , hope the sky clears for you !