OAG for 80mm apo?

[MG1]

The back focus requirements of the DSLR at 55mm can cause issues (especially if you're also considering flatteners/ reducers and filters)...every set-up is different.

As said above...It's worth considering the spacing of your system as a whole...and possible future needs.

I'm using at OAG with a DSLR, but the read headache came when you add in a filterwheel and also are trying to get the optimal distance for your field flattener/ reducer.

With the 132 it just about works with the SX filterwheel and OAG (they attach direct and cut out another adaptor) but I do need quite a few CS spacers to enable the lodestar to come to focus at the same plane as the DSLR. Although I'm waiting to get a custom m48 spacer made to posution the field flattener more accurately.

I've tried to thing of the system as a whole...this arrangement has shaved around 3KG off my setup by using less mountings and one less scope...and it should also be easily adaptable to the move to a CCD.

The one slightyly annoying thing is that I do get a little vignetting on the full frame sensor, but this shouldn't be an issue for most targets as I use flats and can crop most if needed.

[cgarry]

I am looking into getting a very similiar setup to this to run on my 8" LX200 F10.

Would this also work well on a 14" F4.5 Newtonian?

p.s just realised I live just up the road from you

I believe the LX200 is on an alt-azimuth mount, this would not be great for deep sky imaging as field rotation would be a problem. Not to mention F/10 is very slow for this type of imaging. This set-up would be great for planetary imaging though, but that is a completely different setup.

I don't have much experience of Newtonian scopes but I think it would be one impressive mount that could hold a 14" scope steady enough for DSO imaging!

Cheers,

Chris

[DeadMan]

I believe the LX200 is on an alt-azimuth mount, this would not be great for deep sky imaging as field rotation would be a problem. Not to mention F/10 is very slow for this type of imaging. This set-up would be great for planetary imaging though, but that is a completely different setup.

I don't have much experience of Newtonian scopes but I think it would be one impressive mount that could hold a 14" scope steady enough for DSO imaging!

Cheers,

Chris

My LX200 is equatorial mounted using the meade 8" wedge mounted onto of an AC421 pier in my observatory so that wont be a problem, but i guess F10 will be too slow, I guess using an focal reducer either F6.3 or F3.3 may help although would probably destroy my visual observing.

My 14" Newt is currently a Dobsonian and I was thinking of getting the dobsonian tracking platform from here: equatorial-platforms-uk

Thoughts?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

My LX200 is equatorial mounted using the meade 8" wedge mounted onto of an AC421 pier in my observatory so that wont be a problem, but i guess F10 will be too slow, I guess using an focal reducer either F6.3 or F3.3 may help although would probably destroy my visual observing.

My 14" Newt is currently a Dobsonian and I was thinking of getting the dobsonian tracking platform from here: equatorial-platforms-uk

Thoughts?

The 0.63x focal reducer can be used visually (with 1.25" EPs) and do not illuminate the full frame of a DSLR. 0.33x are really for small CCD chips.

[Earl]

Another issue with adding a OAG is weight and the focuser been able to cope with it all.

[kookoo_gr]

I also went from a 9x50 finderscope/guidescope to an OAG when i bought my new scope and i will never go back to a guidescope as DF is virtually gone, the setup is lighter and i can achieve large exposure times. It is mportant to have a good focuser so it won't sag from the weight of the whole imaging system. As i imaged for a period with a dslr i would mention that if the prism of the oag can be rotated then it might hit at the body of the camera so you will have to place spacers to get around this snag. As for balancing the scope i found out that if the prism of the OAG along with the guide camera is rotated at a some angles then it can bring havoc at the balance of the system, in order to get around this problem i am thinking to place some small counterweights at the thumbscrew of the OAG to negate the effects of bad balance