skywatcher explorer 200pds - confused =(

[AweSIM]

hi all.. i finally got hold of my explorer 200pds which was stuck with airport customs for a while.. well.. to the level best of my judgement.. the telescope has suffered no damage while in their possession.. anyways.. i have a couple of issues with it.. and im at a loss for answers.. =(.. please help me out..

ive collimated the scope to my ability.. followed each step from astrobaby's collimation guide to the letter.. and im pretty sure its spot on.. i dont have a mount for it yet.. but the initial observations ive made with it have revealed to me the following things..

1. the stock 28mm EP is BAD!.. i mean really BAD.. the field suffers from so much coma.. only things in the center of FOV are sharp.. everything around seems like blurry / double images.. i know stock EPs are of low quality.. but are they this bad? or was i unfortunate enough?

2. how can i use the scope for prime-focus photography? when i look thru the focuser, i can see the central obstruction clearly visible as a dark disk.. i think it wont be visible if the scope is focused properly.. but i need guidance as to how to accomplish this..

thanks..

awesim..

pakistan..

[Deneb]

Maybe this will help you Sohail

Collimating a Newtonian

Nadeem

[AweSIM]

@deneb.. hey bro.. ive stumbled across this site too.. and its great.. =).. learnt a lot from it.. =)..

scrap the second question.. i just did a test of the setup.. removed the lens of my DSLR and held it to the focuser without an EP (i had ordered the wrong T-ring =( ).. anyways.. like id read.. when out of focus.. you can see the central obstruction.. but when in focus.. you dont see it and the image gets sharp.. well that answered my second question.. but the first one remains..

how bad is the quality of the stock EP usually?