60/66mm OTA - what should I expect?

[SteveL]

As an 80mm "guidescope" would be over kill and a balancing nightmare on my NS8GPS, I am looking at a smaller OTA in the 60/66mm range. With such a small aperture, is this really only to be used for guiding? or should I also be able to get some fairly decent wild field images out of it?

Anyone here using a 60/66mm OTA for imaging and able to post some images, just so I can see?

Steve @ FLO - have any of the 66mm Skywatcher Equinox OTAs in stock?

[geppetto]

Steve

Not had the skies to use my WO 66 in anger very much but here's

a quick and dirty single frame M13 with the 66 and Nikon D40 prime focus.

Image was about 40 seconds ..

Given the skies, the little beasts should be great for widefield stuff 8)

[MartinB]

I use a William Optics ZS66 and sometimes piggy back it on my NS8. I think the focal length is probably a bit short for guiding the NS8 at F10 although I've never tried. I have also piggy backed my ED80 onto the NS8 - balancing isn't that tricky with the set up I have but I do slow down the slew speed. The ED80 is excessively bulky and a WO ZS80 would be a more managable ota.

The ZS66 is a fantastic scope for my H9 but won't be idea for your DSLR because the field isn't very flat. There is a 0.8 field flattener which is available although I think supply of this kit has been erratic. It is a short focal length for the size of a dslr chip but would be good for very large targets such as NA neb, M31, M42 running man horsehead area.

The only picture I have just shows the rails and the guide rings. The weight fits onto the threaded rod underneath the scope. It can be moved forward and back but also can be rotated to provide lateral balance.

[SteveL]

<sigh> more decisions... more money...

[MartinB]

<sigh> more decisions... more money...

Slippery slope mate

[SteveL]

Oh well, I was hoping that I was approaching somewhere near the end of the slippery slope, having been in pretty much free fall since March, but maybe I was just deluding myself

So, wanting to purchase something from Auntie FLO, my shortlist looks like this:

Skywatcher EvoStar ED80 - £295 (~£265.50 with SGL discount), but a bit bulky

Skywatcher Equinox APO PRO Fluorite - £415 (~£373.50 with SGL discount)

Meade 80mm ED APO - £419 (~£377.1 with SGL discount)

Neither FLO or Hinds do the WO Refractors. Any suggestions on any of the above, or any other options that would work as a guidescope for my f10 NS8, as well as for widefield imaging?

[russ]

Neither FLO or Hinds

Talk again to Steve, i'm pretty sure he mentioned joining the WO bandwagon. I hope i wasn't supposed to keep that under my hat

[SteveL]

Oh Really? That would be very nice

[FLO]

Talk again to Steve, i'm pretty sure he mentioned joining the WO bandwagon. I hope i wasn't supposed to keep that under my hat

No probs Russ,

FLO has been able to supply WO products for a while now, its just that business is growing at a pace far quicker than we (my wife and I) expected so I haven't listed them for fear of generating more work than we can realistically handle (FLO is only 10 months old and it's a steep learning curve!). I will be adding some software to the website soon that will track orders and communications more efficiently than the package we currently use so should be listing WO before the end of Month.

<edit> William Optics are now listed and available HERE

[FLO]

Steve @ FLO - have any of the 66mm Skywatcher Equinox OTAs in stock?

Yes, the Equinox 66 is available but delivery of the Equinox 80 has slipped back another month to sometime in August.

[SteveL]

Thanks Steve, much rather spend money with you than anywhere else.

Are 80mm WO units much better than the Equinox 80mm OTAs? How about the weight?

I`m still unsure what I should be getting... <confused>

[FLO]

Given the choice of the Equinox 80 and WO ZS80II ED APO, I'd choose the Equinox for its FPL-53 glass (the WO uses FPL-51). The WO ZS80 Fluorite APO uses FPL-53 and is a better competitor to the Equinox. Achieving APO levels of colour-correction with a doublet is not easy so the more exotic the glass, the better. The Meade 80mm ED APO is different; it achieves a high level of colour-correction and flat-field through an air-spaced triplet design using ED glass.

After saying that, the regular Skywatcher 80 ED PRO, using FPL-53 glass, is hard to beat!

To be fair, I am only just getting into APO refractors myself so am relying on optical knowledge gained from two decades in the photo-optical industry...

[russ]

The weird thing, having just looked at the Equinox prices, is this:

The Equinox 80 is stonking good value. Competing models using FPL53 from other manufacturers are pitched £200+ higher.

But the Equinox 66 looks to be very poor value for money at £290. Soundly beaten by the WO 66SD at £245. Strange, hows that work :?

[Whippy]

Given the choice of the Equinox 80 and WO ZS80II ED APO, I'd choose the Equinox for its FPL-53 glass (the WO uses FPL-51). The WO ZS80 Fluorite APO uses FPL-53 and is a better competitor to the Equinox. Achieving APO levels of colour-correction with a doublet is not easy so the more exotic the glass, the better. The Meade 80mm ED APO is different; it achieves a high level of colour-correction and flat-field through an air-spaced triplet design using ED glass.

After saying that, the regular Skywatcher 80 ED PRO, using FPL-53 glass, is hard to beat!

To be fair, I am only just getting into APO refractors myself so am relying on optical knowledge gained from two decades in the photo-optical industry...

... Wasn't we talking about this earlier??

Tony..

[FLO]

Yup 8)

[FLO]

The Equinox 80 is stonking good value. Competing models using FPL53 from other manufacturers are pitched £200+ higher.

But the Equinox 66 looks to be very poor value for money at £290. Soundly beaten by the WO 66SD at £245. Strange, hows that work :?

Yes, I noticed that and have mentioned it to the importers.

The William Optics Zenithstar 66 SD APO is also available with a WO 1.25" dielectric diagonal for £299.

Now available in white!

[SteveL]

arrghh... stop it... STOP IT.... my head hurts :shock:

Would we kind of (majority) agree that a 66mm OTA wouldnt be able to accurately be used as a guidescope for my 2000mm f/10 primary OTA, and that a 80mm would be a better choice? Or not?

[FLO]

I haven't earned my imaging stripes yet but isn't it the case that for auto-guiding, just about any long and narrow refractor will suffice?

Like an Evostar 90 for example?

[SteveL]

Like an Evostar 90 for example?

Not sure I could mount the tripod on top of the OTA, and flexure could be an issue

[Whippy]

arrghh... stop it... STOP IT.... my head hurts :shock:

Welcome to my world Steve, I spent days trying to decide what 80mm jobbie I want, ordered one and it's out of stock! Grrrrr keep thinking....

Tony..

[FLO]

There must be loads of long-tube achromats around pre-owned. Not as much fun as an APO but functional.

[MartinB]

I really don't know about a ZS66 for guiding the NS8 Steve. It's focal length is around 1/5 that of the main scope so it will be a bit of a push although some people reckon Maxim can cope with just about anything. I don't know how well phd copes with sub pixel guiding. Of course if you can find a reasonable guide star you can always stick in a barlow to bring it up to 800mm and that would be plenty! The zs66 certainly sits very happily on the NS8.

[SteveL]

Whiplash - which one did you go for?

MartinB - Doh! a barlow... doh! doh! of course.... why didnt I even think about that option... duh! I`m having a slow day, sorry! :shock:

[Whippy]

Steve, I'm still not decided yet :?....

I'm leaning towards the Meade as in theory, it's the best optically being a 'true' apo and I'm going to be using initially for a grab & go/learning the sky but at some point, maybe next year I'll be starting imaging so it should be worth the extra cash in that respect. But I'm not sure as there's plenty of people who produce top drawer images with the SW 80ED, which will be a lot cheaper.

Thing is, unlike virtually every other type/size of scope I think the 80ED market has so many feasible options. I've got 5 on my list all with their pros and cons....

Tony..

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

As a lightweight option, why not an ST80? You can Barlow it as well, if necessary, but it would keep the weight down if you are worried about your cogs in the fork mount. Cheap as chips as well, though not spectacular for imaging. Quite cool to be able to use a wide EP to find a guide star, centre it, then add the guide camera plus Barlow.

I've been using a T mount camera lens 500mm f/8 which can be had off E-Bay for under £50 quite often. I got mine years ago for photography so it got roped in so to speak. It weighs virtually nothing BTW. Like the one here.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/500-800-1600mm-Tele-Lens-DIGITAL-for-Canon-EOS-400D-i-e_W0QQitemZ320136540865QQihZ011QQcategoryZ30070QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Kaptain Klevtsov