good telescope for beginner ?

[sharpie78]

Hi

I'm looking into getting a new (probably 2nd hand) telescope to dedicate to imaging but with all the choice out there I'm not sure what to go for.

refractor ?

reflector ?

catadioptric ?

I would like to mainly do DSO imaging but obviously do a bit of planetary imaging too.

I have a reasonable budget of £600-£700 so I'm thinking 2nd hand might make a bit more sense as I may then have a little cash left over for extras (ccd camera or dslr, filters etc)

Budget will have to include a decent tracking mount.

Anybody got any recommendations please ? I know I want as much aperture as I can afford and a "fast" f/ratio but portability would be helpful as I live in the city but I have a friend, who is also into astronomy, who lives in a good dark field site and lives pretty close. Should I lean towards catadioptrics or reflectors with 800-1000mm fl and 200mm aperture ? The catadioptrics I've seen appear to be "slow" f/ratios but very portable and the reflectors seem to be "fast" but less portable.

HELP !!!!! lol

I've had a look on astrobuysell.com and seen a few possibilities but I don't want to end up with a pig I'm gonna want to trade in not long after buying it.

Any help whatsoever would be greatly appreciated.

side note........anyone going to the kelling heath star party 1st w/e of october ??

thanks in advance and clear skies

[emadmoussa]

I'm just goinna stick around and wait for somebody to mention ''dobs''...

[sharpie78]

now there's another question..........don't think I want to go down the dobsonian route. I've got used to EQ mounts already and as far as i understand........they track better than "dobs"

[poogle]

First of all you should be focusing on the mount, then decide on what tube to get depending on how much money you've got left The mount is the most important part in an imaging rig.

If I had started out today knowing what I know now I would have gone for a HEQ5 och Celestron Advanced VX. The AVX is quite new and it might be easier and cheaper to get a HEQ 2:nd hand. I don't know the second hand prices in the UK, but I'm guessing you could find one for £4-500.

After that I would get an ED80 refractor with reducer or a 150mm reflector with coma corrector.

There's alot of choices to do, but the book "Making every photon count" will guide you through the decission process. You can get it here.

/Patrik

[emadmoussa]

I think the SW 80ED is your best bet - it's a brilliant powerful little refractor and the ideal solution for imaging. It retails at about £450 with all necessary accessories included. There's a deal here.

[sharpie78]

cheers guys. helpful points in the right direction