Advice on first camera

[Thunderpete]

Hi I am looking into doing astrophotography. Been a visual observer for a long time.

Current kit is Meade LX200 F10 10” permanently mounted on super wedge inside a dome.

Budget is around £3500, but don’t want spend that much if possible.

Being that the LX200 is a F10 I think I’ll need Focal Reducer?

My first thought is a Starlight Xpress SXVR-H18 + filter wheel + OAG + Focal reducer F3.3.

Setup will look like: Telescope – Zero shift focuser – Focal reducer – filter wheel - Camera

Any help would very appreciated.

[ollypenrice]

The 3.3 reducer is an old thing intended for webcam chips and will not cover anything larger. Why are they still selling it?

The 6.3 will give a reasonable result but will struggle to give a good field on a large chip.

Many people fail to get the LX200 to deliver but some do. I'm pretty sure Ken will jump in here and point out that he does well with his! And I don't doubt it.

However, there are (roughly speaking) no images posted on SGL from LX200 scopes yet there are thousands of LX200s in captivity... so I see this as evidence, of a sort, that all might not be well for many people.

I simply started again with an imaging dedicated GEM and small fast refractor. It was like breathing pure oxygen. I remember Ian King saying to me, a propos running imaging courses when I had the LX200, that such a setup could not reliably support an imaging course. He was right.

I like the Atik 4000s but that is less contentious! Back to back, the cooler and the softwae out perform the SX in my experience.

Forgive my plain speaking on this thread. It's just that the investment is large and when you get it wrong, as I initially did, it hurts. I'm just passing on experiences.

Olly

[DeadMan]

The 3.3 reducer is an old thing intended for webcam chips and will not cover anything larger. Why are they still selling it?

The 6.3 will give a reasonable result but will struggle to give a good field on a large chip.

Many people fail to get the LX200 to deliver but some do. I'm pretty sure Ken will jump in here and point out that he does well with his! And I don't doubt it.

However, there are (roughly speaking) no images posted on SGL from LX200 scopes yet there are thousands of LX200s in captivity... so I see this as evidence, of a sort, that all might not be well for many people.

I simply started again with an imaging dedicated GEM and small fast refractor. It was like breathing pure oxygen. I remember Ian King saying to me, a propos running imaging courses when I had the LX200, that such a setup could not reliably support an imaging course. He was right.

I like the Atik 4000s but that is less contentious! Back to back, the cooler and the softwae out perform the SX in my experience.

Forgive my plain speaking on this thread. It's just that the investment is large and when you get it wrong, as I initially did, it hurts. I'm just passing on experiences.

Olly

Well this answers a lot of questions for me also as I am in the same position, I have an LX200 F10 8", just purchased an F6.3 focal reducer and I am on the verge of buying the QHY8L +QHY5 for autoguiding.

As this investment is going to cost me the best part of £1200 are you saying its best to leave the LX200 as is and buy a small refractor instead for imaging?

I guess I could mount it on the LX200 and still use its guide port.

Or I could use my ETX90 as a guide scope?

[ollypenrice]

Well, I'd hate to be a prophet of doom but I won't ever again be trying to image with an LX200. As I said, some succeed and some don't.

Would you be better working with a small apo? Yes. Just my opinion.

Could you mount a small apo on the LX200? Yes. The 200 makes a lousy guide scope but it does work, I've done it.

Guiding with an ETX90 wouldn't be great. For guiding you want, above all, a fast F ratio.

Do sound out other opinions though, I'm only one voice.

Olly

[DeadMan]

Doh!

[DeadMan]

Well it all went together rather well in the end:

First light:

A little processing later: