What Camreas to get for starters

[LunaSwift]

I have been observing with my LS8 for some time so have a good idea of the Heavens. I now want to branch out into AP.  I have already decided to buy a Sky watcher HEQ5 Pro Synscan mount, but have not yet decided on the OTA to go with it, I am undecided between a SW ED80  or a SW 150PDS newt, I may even go up to a SW 100 Evostar DS Pro , Where I am really undecided is to which Cameras to buy, I already have a Canon 450 DSLR which I did intend to use as the main imaging camera, but could go for a decent deep space mono or one shot colour set up.

What I need advice on is what guide camera to use. I have the option of using my Granddaughters Celestron 70mm Frac as a guide scope or maybe getting a Sky watcher ST80 as the guide scope, I think that the HEQ5 will take the weight  .

Before anyone says it, I already have the book, Make every photon count, but I believe in the edit that more than one idea is better 

I would like to keep the camera cost below a grand if poss 

Graham

[swag72]

If you only want to get a guide camera, then you can get one of those for well under a grand. I use a QHY5 as do many. You can pick one up second hand for less than £100. The other popular guide camera is a Lodestar - These don't come up often secondhand, and cost about £370. I've just picked mine up from Bern at Modern Astronomy.

[Uranium235]

In regard to your telescope options:

1) 80ED - Brilliant for the price, and can be got as an OTA only version. Had mine for years and it still gets plenty of use, a little slow for a DSLR at f6.38 when reduced (is much better with a CCD), but it gives good colour and needs no collimation. Additionally it also offers a threaded connection to you camera (when using the 0.85 FF/FR) - the whole thing works right out of the box.

2) 150PDS - To be honest, not the ideal telescope for a beginner in AP since there are various factors to take into account (something I didnt consider when I chose it as my first telescope!). Issues include: Collimation, cooldown (the 150p is 45-60min), physical size (bigger tubes catch the wind). Not an "out of the box" setup, it requires some tinkering to get the best - but its cheap and optically quite fast at f5 (even faster with the SW coma corrector).

3) 100ED - Dont go there, F9 is completely unsuitable for imaging.

On a side note, if money is an issue - there is the option of the vastly underated 130pds. If offers a similar focal length to the 80ED, and can be tickled up to a reasonable mechanical/optical standard for about 300 quid (which includes CC and adaptors). Ive got one running at f4.38 and it gives pretty good stars in the corners - slightly unintentional becuase I dont have the right spacers (would like to knock 1mm off it). The only downside is the vignetting caused by the steeper light cone hitting the 1.25" filters - so I need to upgrade filters at some point

Oh well, better off spending a couple of hundred quid rather than a grand on a sub f5 refractor - only to find that I need to fork out another £500 on 2" filters!

PS: Forgot to mention..... the 130pds is unavailable in the UK until sometime in January, OVL is out of stock and therefore every other retailer is too. Believe me, I tried everyone! Luckily though, I was able to grab one 2nd hand.

[LunaSwift]

Thanks for that , It looks like the ED80 in on the cards,, and also a big saving against the ED100, Now to research those cameras,