I am now ready to buy...I think?

[Arushin]

Hi everyone,

After several months without a scope I am now ready to take the plunge again and am looking for a reasonable visual/planetary imaging set-up with a little bit of deep sky thrown in now and again.

I am not looking to go OTT with this, I am just looking for a reasonable improvement on imaging with my last set-up which was a SW Mak 127 & Philips webcam.

I have the SW EQ6 pro mount in mind and have been offered an Intes 7" Mak for the visual/planetary and after reading Making Every Photon Count I am pretty interested in the SW ED80 for deep sky.

I managed to speak to a few people at Astrofest and they all seemed to think that the Russian optics on the Intes would serve me well for visual/planetary imaging and it seems that a lot of top imagers use and recommend the ED80. If I do go for the 3 items above, I will left with between £1000 - £1500 of my budget. What I need now is recommendations for cameras and any other kit that I will need to get up and running. I have a huge problem with storage space which is what has put me off of going for a larger APO or large aperture reflector.

I really need help here as there seem to be pros & cons with the different scope/camera types and I need to know if my choice of kit will do the job or should I go back to the drawing board?

This will probably be the only time I will have the funds to buy this sort of kit, so I want a set-up that I can stick with for a fair while and maybe build on.

Any advice would be greatly received.

Regards and thanks in advance

Tony

[Caldwell 14]

Its an expensive game you're getting into now so you want to get it right first time. I think most first time imagers go for the ED80 and that certainly would be my first choice, the same advise has been offered more times than I can remember on here. I had one for a short time as a grab and go kit so I do have a litttle experience of them and they are a very nice little scope, however I don't image, other will help.

[nightfisher]

EQ6 good move

intes mak good move

ED80 good move, looks like your setting up a very good outfit

[pete_l]

... What I need now is recommendations for cameras and any other kit that I will need to get up and running

Don't forget software costs and maybe a dedicated PC/laptop too!

Although there is a lot of free stuff knocking around, you'll probably still end up buying some packages. Whether that's something like AstroArt at 129 euros or Photoshop CS5 at £600 (tho' that's probably overkill) or something else, there's still a cost - though the good news is that it won't take up any of your limited storage space.

[Arushin]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

It would seem that the OTA's & the mount get the thumbs-up.

I have a dedicated laptop and the software already so now I need advice on cameras etc. Do I still need an autoguider? DSLR or dedicated CCD? Mono or colour? Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!