Which 127 APO for imaging?

[reddoss]

I will be coming into some inheritance soon and am thinking of buying a good 5 inch APO for imaging. I want it to be a good quality APO which will last me a lifetime and will always remind me of my parents, who made every effort to encourage my interest in astronomy as a boy.

I am thinking along the lines of an Explore Scientific 127 mm carbon fibre triplet APO (version 2), with the dedicated 3 inch reducer & flattener. The OTA is only 6.8 Kg and the reducer flattener brings the F ratio down to 5.25 from 7.5,

The S@N mag reviewed a version 1 model, and although it gave it the thumbs up, it  did state that the focuser struggled a bit at high angles with the weight of the attached DSLR and that they had to tighten everything up. Is this likely to be a problem or do you just have to remember to tighten it up hard at the start of a session?  I am just wondering if this has been sorted out with the version 2 model? 

I would be grateful for any comments 1) from any one who already uses one for imaging or 2)  alternative good quality  5 inch triplet APO's in a similar price range around £2000 to £2500 (with reducer/flattener).

Many Thanks,

                     Justyn

[ollypenrice]

Lasting a lifetime might be a tall order for anything but the premium brands. Takahashi, TeleVue, Astro Physics, etc. Will Chinese Crayfords last a lifetime? If they slip with a lightweight DSLR they won't like a big CCD rig. You might not, in the circumstances, wish to buy second hand but this is what I'd do. I've bought a premium apo now only once. The rest have been used (TEC, TeleVue and Takahashi.) They are so well made as to inspire total confidence and will, I believe, truly last a lifetime - or several. They are also made to be disassembled, adjusted and repaired. This is important. I think you'd find something on budget.

Olly

[todd8137]

Hi there i have the acenssion 127mm edt carbon fibre ,its a good scope i brought it new ,they are all made by one company and rebranded,the focuser is useless even with a dslr atached it will not rack in i upgraded to a steel track ,its a great scope i found i did not need a reducer i may in the future ,i have owned it about 2 years and used it about 15 times ,i do the moon most of the time but for visual its a good scope i brought it to split doubles,(bit of overkill for doubles but i wanted a good colour corrected one which this really is )then used it to image and its great but has i said for imaging you may need ro either tinker with the said focuser or upgrade it asap dew heaters are a must overall when we have had a crowd here every one was happy with the views it gave it has lots of pros and cons but i like it and when we have viewing nights every one wows but sadly i hardly ever use itsorry about the naff pic ad cam is pants all so will attach another image which is around 6 hours worth with a dslr and idas hute h filter i used noels tools in ps6 and was happy

Pat

[reddoss]

Thank you for the advice Olly and Todd. 

After some thought I think that I would be prepared to up the budget a bit and go for a higher quality scope, probably the Williams Optics FLT 132 triplet. I know that when it first came out that there were some teething problems with the clips holding the lens cell and with the focuser, but I am assured that these have been sorted out on the new version. I have read some very good reviewers from owners about the quality of the optics in this scope.