Two Items I want to buy

[jfox61]

Hi Guys

I'm only in my first day on here and the forums seem to be buzzing with activity so looks like i've joined the right one.

Anyway here goes. I posted in the welcome thread but usuallly that gets lost in the first couple of hrs so here we go.

I have a 10" Europa newtonian by Orion UK bought secondhand from my Brother in Law, lots of extras for normal viewing are included. However I want to get into Astrophotography and don't wnat to jump in at the deep end but also don't want to paddle in the kiddies end either. After hunting around for about a month I have decided I like the look of the Opticstar 336C for my camera and their PL131c for guiding.

Does anyone have any experience with either these cameras or other opticstar products? What about similar spec alternative at around the same cost?

Secondly, after I bought the newt from my B in Law I decided that whilst I would use that primarily for photography, I would like to stargaze, so I bought a Skywatcher 120 Evostar. But now I have also decided I need a grab and go short tube for just jumping in the car and going somewhere nice and dark or for when we are away on breaks.

So looking at about £150 to £200 what are my best options?

Sincerely

Confused

[ollypenrice]

If you want to image the deeps sky you need to start with the mount or, even better, with a read of Steve Richards' book Making Every Photon Count.

Imaging step number one is Equatorial Mount. For your scope the minimum is the NEQ6.

Olly

[jfox61]

I do already have the mount Olly. It is mounted on a CG5 Advanced GT and the book is on my list of to buy things tomorrow at Astrofest. I have done a fair bit of reading on the net about cameras and their uses but it's mainly the finances that are the issue here.

Her in doors ain't letting me spend 2.5k on a starlight express. So basically I have narrowed it to this one camera which looks good value for money based on it's price/specs. However I would rather hear of any positive or negative thoughts on it before I part with the best part of £700 for them.

[spaceboy]

For your scope the minimum is the NEQ6.

Ditto. The CG5 just won't be up to the task of accurate tracking for AP.

[jfox61]

Forgive me for being inquisitive, being a newbie I obviously have a lot of questions and appreciate the input from more knowledgeable people than me.

I do have a question about what you say about the CG5 GT mount though.

If the CG5 GT mount is no good for astrophotography why is there an autoguide connection on the Head? The tube is well within the load limits for the Mount and tripod, so is it the motors or something else?

Can you clarify why the mount isn't suitable. Obviously it's a lot of money to spend on a new mount if I don't really need to.

[rowan46]

Forgive me for being inquisitive, being a newbie I obviously have a lot of questions and appreciate the input from more knowledgeable people than me.

I do have a question about what you say about the CG5 GT mount though.

If the CG5 GT mount is no good for astrophotography why is there an autoguide connection on the Head? The tube is well within the load limits for the Mount and tripod, so is it the motors or something else?

Can you clarify why the mount isn't suitable. Obviously it's a lot of money to spend on a new mount if I don't really need to.

if you put a small fast refractor on the cg5gt it will work but it's not up to the job of tracking with a huge 10" and all the extras it cannot handle that sort of load accurately

[John]

I have a 10" Orion Europa Deluxe F/4.8. To be honest, it was barely stable enough for visual use when I put it on a Celestron CG5 equatorial. It was the non-GOTO version but it did have the 2" steel tubed legs.

[jfox61]

Thanks for the input guys, food for thought then. So mounting my 120 evostar on it would be fine then?

I suppose this means I need a new mount for the 10" before it is useable?

[John]

The Evostar 120 will be fine on the CG5 for visual use. You might want to consider a DIY dobsonian mount for your 10" newtonian - it's likely to be the lowest cost option for getting the scope usable. Here is a link to a simple dobsonian design:

Plans for a Dobsonian telescope

[spaceboy]

The CG5 will be a good mount for the EVO 120 but the 10" will need at least an EQ6 First Light Optics - Skywatcher NEQ6 PRO Synscan even then I think you will have to be cautious which direction you go regards guide scopes etc.

EDIT: Beat me to it John

[dmahon]

My advice would be:

1) If you're new, stick to tried and tested methods / equipment first. See what other people are using (and just as importantly, what they're not using).

2) Be prepared to spend a bit of time and a lot of money trying things out - however there is a lot of optical stuff available second hand on forums and astro buy/sell. If you get it there, you can usually sell stuff on again for the same price you bought it at, if you decide you want something else instead.

I'd start by putting a small ED80 on the CG5 mount you have, with a second hand Canon dSLR (a model with liveview).

Next step is guiding (stick with QHY5 or Lodestar). Search "finder guider".

Move on to a cooled CCD (Atik 314L and SXV-H9 are a good start) and a beefier mount (HEQ5 or NEQ6).

Not many people use the cameras you talk about I'm afraid. There is likely to be a good reason.

[E621Keith]

The 120 tube is quite long so it put quite a bit of leverage on the mount. I feel it is boarder line on my EQ4 (an old EQ5 with alu tripod) for visual, the CG5's 2" steel tripod will improve it, but I don't think enough for astrophotography.

If you want to do DSO astrophotography with the CG5, get an ED80 and expect 50% rejection rate for the subs.

[jfox61]

Thanks for the input guys Looks like I will use the CQ5 GT for my 120 Evostar and buy a new mount for the Newt.

dmahon the cameras you have specified, whilst excellent, and I don't doubt your recommendations, are out of my price league. As stated in my posts I am restricted financially by her indoors.

The fact I am going to have to buy another mount will do her head in anyway. So with that in mind and a budget of around £600 for a camera and guider I realise I am limited in my purchases but am still after something useable.

I'm not really after top notch magazine quality photos anyway, just something that I would be happy with, and would be recognisable for what it is, and not a blur of white noise.

As for a DSLR. I am reluctant to sell my current gear as it is a comprehensive setup of lenses. Being into photography, this would mean I would need to start again from scratch. I have a Sony alpha and it doesn't have liveview, but the body is image stabilised as opposed to the lenses, so replacing those would be cost prohibitive.

As you suggest, I may buy a cheap secondhand Canon body and use it specifically for Astro work.

My other choice of cameras were the imaging source range. Now these I do know are good as I have read many reviews on them. These are all within my budget too.

The only reason I discounted them was because this Opticstar 336C has such high specs. However not finding many reviews, and some indifferent reviews on some of their others in the range, led me to post here to see if anyone had experience of them.

It seems not so this would lead me back to imaging source and nowi'm confused as they have such a wide range in a similar price bracket.

[E621Keith]

If you have a Sony DSLR, just use the Sony DSLR.

I use a Nikon D50 and a Fuji IS pro. Neither have Live view, (well the fuji does, but it doesn't work at night). If I start from scratch, I'd go for a Canon, but since I already uses Nikon, I just continue to use it.

Imaging Source's cameras are high speed planetary cameras, they are not for deep sky. Basically, a planetary camera should have high frame rates, while a DSO camera should have low noise (cooling). DSLR would be in the DSO camp.