Which scope for astrophotography?

[Astronut1982]

Hi all, hope you're all well.

I'm looking to upgrade my telescope for astrophotography. I've been looking at a few & I'd narrowed it down to a f/5 Skywatcher Explorer 200P DS newtonian or a f/9 Skywatcher Evostar 100 ED DS PRO series Apochromatic refractor with a 0.85x focal reducer.

I know that the Evostar is a smaller scope but I'd been reading that apochromatic refractors give the clearest & sharpest optical images so I was thinking that would be the one & I saw that a few people on here use them for astrophotography.

So, can any of you guys help me decide which one to get or, could you could recommend another scope which would be better in my price range which would probably be about £600 max. The new scope will be going onto my HEQ5 PRO mount so please take that into account.

Any advice would be appreciated,

Cheers,

Jeff

[Bizibilder]

Go for the ED80PRO (with reducer if its within budget) as its only f/7.5 (f/6 with reducer) - much better than the 100PRO which is f/9 and really on the "slow" side for astrophotography. The 200P is an exellent choise but is pushing the weight limit for an HEQ5, especially if you add a camera, guide scope and all the other bits and bobs you will need - especially when you discover the benefits of guiding (which you can do with a webcam and finder scope and laptop/netbook to start with).

Bung a barlow in the mix and you have a reasonable Lunar/Solar scope as well (with the right filters for the Sun of course!!)

[Astronut1982]

Hi Bizibilder,

Thanks for the advice, I went with your suggestion. I managed to find an Evostar 80 ED PRO second hand with several extras for £400 so I purchased it. It certainly does look the business.

What kind of focal reducer would you recommend to go with it though? Would a 1.25x or a .85x be sufficient?

Cheers,

Jeff

[swag72]

Take a look on the FLO site and there's specific reducer for the Evostar 80ED, I would get one of those. They're 0.85 reducers.

Clicky here

[drewzilla]

Hi,

sorry to sort of hijack. im also debating between the two. whats the 80ed like for visual? i will be going into astrophotography but not to start with so thats why im leaning more towards the 200p. Also same heq5 mount. Would i be right in thinking the 200p on heq5 would be ok for unguided or finder guided setups?

cheers

drew

[Bizibilder]

The 200P is fine for visual on the HEQ5 but is pushing the mount for photography - when you add camera and guiding etc it is really too much for an HEQ5. The smaller refractors are fine on the HEQ5 even with guide scopes, cameras, finders etc etc.

The ED80 is exellent for visual, you will need a 2x or maybe 3x barlow or similar for the Moon and Planets.

[Astronut1982]

I have another question :-

Would the SW startravel 80 be a decent enough guide scope as I have found one going cheap or can anyone recommend a better one if they know of any?

Cheers,

Jeff

[Bizibilder]

The Startravel 80 is considered to be an exellent guide scope - many imagers use them.