Setup Help.

[BEYOND EARTH]

So I've been looking for a new setup for some time now, and was going to originally get the Meade 80mm LX80 Multi-Mount ED APO Telescope to get started with astrophotography. But after adding up all the accessories it became out of my budget, so my second choice is the Meade 6 Inch LX80 Multi-Mount SC Telescope. I would like to know if the 6 Inch SC would be good for a beginner to get started in astrophotography.

[ollypenrice]

Here's what you want in a beginner's imaging setup;

An accurate equatorial mount more than strong enough for the scope, camera and guidescope. The mount must be upgradeable to autoguiding later.

A small apo refractor, not an achromat. It should have a fast f ratio and a short focal length. (Fast means shorter exposures so more tolerance of tracking error. Short focal length means more tolerance again of tracking error.) You see, the tracking accuracy of the mount is everything. Keep the optics short and fast.

A good way to begin is with camera lenses on a tracking mount. These can be very fast and have very short focal lengths. Perfect!

Olly

[BEYOND EARTH]

Thank you Olly, there is so much information floating around that is hard to find a straight answer.

[red dwalf]

i`ve seen some of Olly images, he knows what he`s talking about, me i know nothing but still enjoy it L.O.L

[BEYOND EARTH]

I know Ollys images are breathtaking. I would love to take images as good as him one day. On a different note, I've put together a package you might approve of Olly. In this package I have a Sky-Watcher Pro 80ED APO with a Focal Length of 600 mm focal length and a Focal Ratio of (f/7.5). This optical tube comes in at 12.61 lbs (5.72 kg). Now the hard part.. I dont know which mount to get I have a Celestron CGEM Computerized Mount and the other is a Meade LX80 Multi-Mount. Now the Meade can be a EQ mount and from what I see EQ mounts are the way to go. If you could let me know which would be better that would be great, because I cant seem to find a good mount.

[BEYOND EARTH]

Please disregard my previous post. I just remembered you posted your recommendation in a previous post. But again thank you all for your help.