First telescope

[Sisteract]

Hi all, I am thinking in buying my first telescope as a skywatcher 200p with HEQ5 Pro SynScan TM Super Heavy-Duty Computerised GOTO Equatorial Mount so I can attach my Sony a350 or *** or CCD to it. The only reason I am thinking of going for this is because of it being 8" f5. Is it any good? Is there any other that I should have a look at it. Any advice will be welcome.

[Tinker1947]

That's not a bad choice by any means....

[Sisteract]

Thanks Tinker, what would you suggest for other equipment I would need. I know that I need a power pack for the scope and a t mount for the camera. Is there anything else I need to get straight away so I don't buy something I don't need.

[Davie]

Personally I'd get the scope and have a play with it first then decide what you want/need.

Although what you want and what you actually need can differ

[Sisteract]

Thanks Davie, as I am new to this is it worth getting a dew cover from the start. The things I was thinking of is the basic stuff that you need to start of with...I really need to read up on essential stuff I need to buy....touch etc

[Black Knight]

The 200P is a great scope. If you go for a reflector though you'll need to buy a collimator tool, either a cheshire or a laser. I personally found a dew shield for my 200P essential and use it all the time. But I'd see how you get on without one to start with. You can either buy one ready made or make one yourself, for example, from a camping mat and a strip of self-adhesive velcro. It would work out cheaper!

[Catweazel]

I would +1 Davies comment, play with the scope for a while and that way you will see where you want to go with it before spending too much cash

[swag72]

If you are new to this and wanting to look at astrophotography, then your best money ever spent would be this book First Light Optics - Making Every Photon Count - Steve Richards

This will help you make some very informed choices about what you want to get and may well save you ££'s in the long run as you will only buy once. I read this from cover to cover, and it really did make many things clear and is very useful to anyone thinking of AP.

[Sisteract]

Thanks to you all.....I know I have put down skywatcher 200P, the one I am after is the skywatcher Explorer 200P not the dobsonian....sorry for the error.

With this in mind is this still a good telescope for astrophotography.

[Black Knight]

Well the 200P dob would definitely be unsuitable for AP except perhaps planetary or lunar photography with a webcam or high frame-rate camera. To do long exposure photography an equatorial mount is necessary, which the HEQ5 is, of course. The 200P Explorer would be fine for AP, but many would consider it to be undermounted on an HEQ5, especially when you consider the extra weight of an imaging camera, a guidescope, guide camera, dovetails, a filter wheel and other sundry bits and pieces. Many people would consider an EQ6 to be the best mount for 200P when using it for AP.

[Sisteract]

Thanks Black Knight.....newbie here....guide scope, guide camera etc...reasons????

[Black Knight]

A guidescope and guidecamera are used to help keep the imaging scope on target. Unguided you may be able to reach exposure lengths of a couple of minutes (or more), if your polar alignment is very good. For longer exposures, you need to be guiding.

[Sisteract]

Would you say the skymax 127, ed80 are better than the explorer 200p on a heq5 and CCD camera rather than dslr camera

[Black Knight]

The ED80, definitely yes, especially with a focal reducer. The Skymax 127 is great for planetary/lunar stuff but at f11 is not so great for DSO's or imaging. If your primary interest is deep space stuff then of those three, both the ED80 and 200P would get my vote. Actually the 200P is quite good on planetary/lunar as well

You can use DSLR's or CCDs with either the ED80 or 200P. For a newcomer with imaging, I think the ED80 would just pip the 200P, but only because as a refractor they are slightly easier to get to grips with. I had my 200P first, and when I started imaging with my 200P I encountered all sorts of problems that I simply didn't get when I started imaging with my ED80. Fracs are just very easy to image with.

[rowan46]

for imaging the ed80 works very well on an heq5 the skymax is not a suitable scope for dso imaging as it's focal ratio is too high at about f12. if you want to go down the imaging route as another poster has suggested get the book before you buy the equipment it might save you a bit of dosh in the long run.

[oriordansn]

Thank you for the note

best regards

[Sisteract]

I will have to get that book......thanks for the advice.

It is hard when you think you have found the telescope you want for certain things (8" f/5) then it might not be. Hmm

I have been looking around and reading other posts...I thought that the SW explorer200p on the heq5 and dslr camera would be ok....looks like it is not now due to the over weight of the scope and camera.

Maybe I need to look for CCD instead of dslr to sort the weight out or even change from reflector to refractor

[Black Knight]

I will have to get that book......thanks for the advice.

It is hard when you think you have found the telescope you want for certain things (8" f/5) then it might not be. Hmm

I have been looking around and reading other posts...I thought that the SW explorer200p on the heq5 and dslr camera would be ok....looks like it is not now due to the over weight of the scope and camera.

Maybe I need to look for CCD instead of dslr to sort the weight out or even change from reflector to refractor

For visual use, a 200P on an HEQ5 is fine, it's even fine on an EQ5. In imaging however there is a general rule of thumb that says a mount should not be loaded more than 50% of its capacity. The 200P weighs 8.75 kg. The load capacity for the HEQ5 is rated at 18 kg. The weight of an extra guidescope, and cameras, perhaps a side-by-side mounting bar etc, would take that load over the 50%.

It may be doable, I know some people have done it. I myself considered the HEQ5 for my 200P as an upgrade to my original EQ5 for a long time before deciding on an EQ6 instead.

[Davie]

I've just bought a HEQ5 and I'm looking out for a 200PDS and although the usual weight limits a lot of people say is half the mounts capacity plenty of people use the mount at over 50% for imaging. You can also save some weight if you start to use guiding by modding the finderscope and using that instead of a second mounted telescope.

From what I've read its not a black and white issue.

[swag72]

The CCD route is not necessarily going to be a weight saving. My Canon 1000D DSLR was lighter than my my CCD and filter wheel.