Would a 80ed ds pro be better for me

[spacebloke]

Hi friends,

I've been pondering this for a few weeks now and wonder if anyone could give me a bit of advise.

I currently image with my 6se ota with a 6.3 focal reducer on a Heq5 pro goto mount.

I look at the deep sky images quite often and notice people use mainly refractors (skywatcher 80ed ds pro quite often) for imaging and have read some good things about them.

Would one of these produce better images than my current setup?

I know this might put a bit of a spanner in the works but I also really enjoy actually looking through the telescope aswell, and the SCT is probably the better of the two.

So.... I have a few options then.

Swap my current ota for a sw80ed ds pro and sacrifice some of the visual aspect.

Keep the current ota for visual and buy the 80ed for when I want to image.

Or

Keep my setup as it is.

I will be thankfull for any help and advice you can offer me.

Cheers, Stuart

[John]

Any chance of having both Stuart - best of both worlds then !.

The ED80 is a nice scope but for visual use the 6SE will have much more potential.

[brantuk]

I'd have both too - and probably get a big dob on top so you've got all bases covered - but that's just me lol

[Rossco72]

Keep your current setup and save for an 80mm imaging rig as a separate entity......

[spacebloke]

Keep your current setup and save for an 80mm imaging rig as a separate entity......

I thought everyone would say that .

I think it's probably going to be best to save up then.

If I did get rid of the 6se it would be very reluctantly. I never thought about imaging DSO when I first started but it was looking at all of YOUR images that's made me want to start

Keep an eye out for a wanted add around christmas then !!!!

Cheers, Stuart

[Donkeiller]

I have both the 6SE and the ED80. I love both.

The 6SE for its better light gathering capability and much better views of "feint fuzzies".

The ED80 for its instant readiness and widefield capability. It's also just about matches the 6SE for planets too.

[Whippy]

FWIW, you can buy the older ED80 models for as little as £150, they have the exact same optics as the newer models.

Tony.

[spacebloke]

you can buy the older ED80 models for as little as £150, they have the exact same optics as the newer models.

That seems quite cheap, how come the new model is £450+?

[ollypenrice]

Any incarnation (bar a damaged one) of the ED80 is a giant killing deep sky imaging scope. If you decide to join in the DS imaging madness then read up first but don't hesitate over the ED80. One bit of kit that is proven x10, though I have never personally owned one. Plenty have been down here, though, and strutted their stuff.

Olly

[Rossco72]

I don't have one either to be fair, but i do have a little 66 triplet and a Televue 85 Doublet in my arsenal....

You could always get your mount first and image with your Canon camera and a 200-300mm lens if you have access to one.

But as Olly says, if an ED80 comes up at a good price you cant really go wrong,

Cheers

[Whippy]

That seems quite cheap, how come the new model is £450+?

They've been around for a fair while now and they're very popular so I guess secondhand prices reflect that. I bought a blue colour tube'd one for that price about two years ago and for the money it's probably been the best value scope I've owned.

Tony..

[mark7331]

I have a 6SE, love it visually and have used it for imaging before I had my newt. You can do deep sky but it requires really, really long exposures to capture anywhere near the detail that a faster scope can do easily and that puts pressure on your mount and guider.

I haven't gone down the ED80 route (yet) but went for a newt with a very high quality mirror and love it because I can get good close ups of DSOs.

I agree with Stuart and Olly though. If an ED80 comes up grab it. I have a feeling I will before too long

Mark.

[spacebloke]

Sounds like the 80ed is the one to get then.

Can someone tell me what the difference is between the two scopes (6se and 80ed) in terms of imaging ability? I only ask because the with the focal reducer on my 6se the f ratio is f6.3 and the 80ed is f6.37 with a reducer.

Unfortunatly Stuart the only camera lens I have at the moment is the stock 18-55mm one that came with the camera. I would like to try some wideield shots with it.

[Rossco72]

At it's widest it would be good for Milky Way shots on ann EQ mount.

[ollypenrice]

While the 6.3 is called a 6.3 it may not come down that far in reality. I think MartinB plate solved his and found it was in the low sevens but I can't be dead sure, from memory.

The big ED80 plus is ease. No collimation, easier dew control, snappier focus, less focus drift, no mirror flop.

Olly

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have both the 6SE and the ED80. I love both.

The 6SE for its better light gathering capability and much better views of "feint fuzzies".

The ED80 for its instant readiness and widefield capability. It's also just about matches the 6SE for planets too.

This surprises me. I get FAR more detail out of my C8 on planets than out of the 80mm APM triplet. Even with slight reduction in constrast, the 6" SCT should give more detail. Wide field the 80mm rocks!

[Donkeiller]

This surprises me. I get FAR more detail out of my C8 on planets than out of the 80mm APM triplet. Even with slight reduction in constrast, the 6" SCT should give more detail. Wide field the 80mm rocks!

I'm surprised too:icon_scratch:- Have the collimation on the 6SE spot on- nice symmetrical diffraction rings inside and outside focus and (when the seeing is good) a good clear single diffraction ring at high power (star test).

Mind you- You are using a 8SE which has almost twice the light gathering capacity and a smaller central obstruction.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I'm surprised too:icon_scratch:- Have the collimation on the 6SE spot on- nice symmetrical diffraction rings inside and outside focus and (when the seeing is good) a good clear single diffraction ring at high power (star test).

Mind you- You are using a 8SE which has almost twice the light gathering capacity and a smaller central obstruction.

I am using the old black tube GP-C8, with 31.3 % central obstruction (9.8% of light lost). The 6 SE has 37.4 % (13.9 % light loss). This is hardly a significant difference, especially on planets. The 6 SE grabs 3x the amount of light of an 80mm (assuming NO light loss through absorption and reflection in the lenses). More than a magnitude of gain. On planets it might be a bit softer at the same exit pupil as the 80mm, but with 2x higher magnification. It should show more detail.

[Donkeiller]

I am using the old black tube GP-C8, with 31.3 % central obstruction (9.8% of light lost). The 6 SE has 37.4 % (13.9 % light loss). This is hardly a significant difference, especially on planets. The 6 SE grabs 3x the amount of light of an 80mm (assuming NO light loss through absorption and reflection in the lenses). More than a magnitude of gain. On planets it might be a bit softer at the same exit pupil as the 80mm, but with 2x higher magnification. It should show more detail.

That may be the problem. Here in the UK, I have yet to have a night where I could push the magnification above 200 on either scope.

Perhaps the 6SE has the potential to go to higher mags. and show more detail, but I have yet to be in the situation where that potential can be released.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

That may be the problem. Here in the UK, I have yet to have a night where I could push the magnification above 200 on either scope.

Perhaps the 6SE has the potential to go to higher mags. and show more detail, but I have yet to be in the situation where that potential can be released.

The Netherlands is not necessarily better. However, no 80mm could really hold 200x that well (depending on your visual acuity, mine is 1.6 (60% sharper than average) so I do not really go over 140x with my 80mm). My C80 holds 250x quite well on many occasions, provided I allow it to cool for between 30 min and 1 hr. On good night I can get 288x (on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) to 350x (only on Moon and Mars).