Eq 5 for photos

[Singlin]

Happy New Year everyone!

I have the basic Eq5 mount with my Skywatcher Explorer 200p.

I am interesred in taking Astro digital pictures and upgrading to a Go to setup.

I have two options:

1. Buy the Skyscan Go To upgrade for the Eq5 tripod for about 300 pounds sterling.

2. Buy the Eq 6 Pro for 1000 pounds sterling.

Is it really neccessary to upgade to the eq 6 or can I still take photos with my digital compact camer with the updated Eq 5 setup?

Is the Eq 5 really as bad as people say it is for taking photos with?

Regards,

Simon

Italy:)

[Pete Presland]

i think the minimum you will require is a heq5 for photography,i certainly would not upgrade the eq5.but if you are thinking of bigger scopes, guide scopes ect... in the future, you might want to consider the eq6,you can get them 2nd sometimes for around £600.

[Tinker1947]

Workout what its going to cost to bring your present equipment up to scratch, whats it worth if you sold it, how much a NEQ6 will cost if you sell you present equipment, the NEQ6 is not something you will need to upgrade the HEQ5 a little later down the road will need upgrading

[ChrisThePuma]

I think it also depends on how professional you want your pictures. if you want DSO pictures will lots of detail of nebular clouds etc then you need to upgrade as much as possible because you will need long exposures and the smoothness of the more expensive setup will come into its own.

however if you want to take mostly planets then IMHO the EQ5 will be ok as shorter exposures are required so the fine tracking isnt as essential.

[rowan46]

If you are going to be using your 200p on it you need the eq6 some people have been guiiding with a cg5gt but they are using much smaller scopes

[RikM]

Happy New Year everyone!

I have the basic Eq5 mount with my Skywatcher Explorer 200p.

I am interesred in taking Astro digital pictures and upgrading to a Go to setup.

I have two options:

1. Buy the Skyscan Go To upgrade for the Eq5 tripod for about 300 pounds sterling.

2. Buy the Eq 6 Pro for 1000 pounds sterling.

Is it really neccessary to upgade to the eq 6 or can I still take photos with my digital compact camer with the updated Eq 5 setup?

Is the Eq 5 really as bad as people say it is for taking photos with?

Regards,

Simon

Italy:)

If you are going to be taking quick eyepiece photos with a digital compact camera, then your EQ5 will be fine. Tracking motors would help but you don't need the GoTo kit. You would be able to get shots of the moon and planets. Double stars are nice to capture with a point and shoot at the eyepiece and you don't need to worry so much about light pollution.

If you are thinking about long exposure deep sky photos using a DSLR on the focuser, then an HEQ5 or NEQ6 would be better but you would anyway be able to get 30 - 60 second subs with your EQ5 and a set of motors. Again, the GoTo isn't really required, because if you can't find it without GoTo, it's not really going to be bright enough to capture with short subs.

[malc-c]

The EQ6 will future proof for whatever scope you might get in the future. However the EQ5 will be OK for short exposures, web cam imaging of the planets and bright dso's. I upgraded to the HEQ5, and fitted an ST80 guidescope, which most members would say is pushing the load limit of the mount, however in testing, and under my light polluted location still managed 20min single exposure with nice round stars, as can be seen in the resulting unprocessed image below

Here's my set up.

The current price of an HEQ5 pro synscan is around £750, around two and a half times the cost of the goto upgrade of the EQ5, but you'll end up with a far more stable mount, and have twice the precision of the EQ5, IMO the HEQ5 is the better option, especially as you can either the sell the EQ5 or pick up a small OTA at a later date and have second scope for planetary work..... that's what I did

EDIT:

Just re-read your post and note that you are not using a digital SLR camera, in that case you could always purchase the dual axis drive for the EQ5 for £90 and stick to planets and the moon with your compact or use a cheap web cam

[tyke]

Malc ,are you saying the eq5 goto upgrade is not as accurate as the heq5?.I would of thought they would of been just as accurate, same software an all.Was thinking about going to goto in the near future for my eq5.

[rowan46]

the problem isn't the software it's the quality of the gears the heq5 gearing is based on the eq6 the mount itself is built to a better standard than a eq5 hence the price difference

[malc-c]

Malc ,are you saying the eq5 goto upgrade is not as accurate as the heq5?.I would of thought they would of been just as accurate, same software an all.Was thinking about going to goto in the near future for my eq5.

I have to correct Rowan slightly, in that it's not the gearing that gives the HEQ5 and NEQ6 their precision, although there are subtle differences between the three mounts, it the stepper motors used, and the software that drives them. The EQ5 motors have 32 microsteps, whereas the HEQ5 and NEQ6 motors are double, having 64 microsteps. This gives the mounts the precision for fine tracking over long periods of time

EDIT:

More info on the resolution and gearing can be found here http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/prerequisites.html

[rowan46]

the point I was making is that there is a mechanical difference in the mounts that accounts for the increased accuracy The software is essentially the same (according to synta) But I confess my answer was inexact and oversimplified. The gearing is different as a function of the different motors and Malc C is correct I do apologise

[malc-c]

the point I was making is that there is a mechanical difference in the mounts that accounts for the increased accuracy The software is essentially the same (according to synta)

No need to apologize, and yes between the three mounts the mechanical gearing is different... but the end result is still a 705:1 ratio on the RA axis. I can't argue with your statement regarding the firmware used but assume you are referring to the hand controller ? Whilst the firmware in the hand controllers are probably the same (I've used my handset on both EQ5 and HEQ5), the firmware used on the stepper control boards of these two mounts must be different to cater for the 64 micro-steps and hence the difference in resolution (0.287642 arcseconds for the EQ5 and 0.143617 for the HEQ5 and EQ6) the HEQ5 and EQ6 has to offer ?