Recommend Some Equipment

[MichaelD95]

So I'm looking to get into gazing and photography, finally

I'm looking to get some equipment and my range of price is in the area of £750-£1500 

[lonebod]

What's more important gazing or imaging? Imaging can cost a small fortune. A mount alone for imaging should cost at least £700 New (cheaper second hand) worth looking at the second hand market.

What you use for imaging might also not be what you use for gazing. The Skywatcher 200p dobsonian for instance would be good for gazing an a good price, but rubbish for imaging DSO's.

Think about what is most important to you. Read up on what in the nights sky you want to look at, and what you want to image, then write it down. The guys in here are great and will help get you the answer you need.

I started off in the same position, the. Decided to get a dobsonian to look at everything I want to see. In a few years I might get into imaging bit only once I know the sky better and that I want to image.

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[lonebod]

Just remember you could spend £1500 on a new scope and mount and have nothing left for eyepieces and accessories. For imaging a go-to mount is required, the lower tank for this could easily be £100 out your budget. You could easily then spend a good amount on accessories. I've spent over a £1100 out of my £750 budget already.

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[lonebod]

That should be power tank.

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[Jim Steele]

I'd recommend getting a copy of making every photon count by Steve Richards before spending any cash on astro gear.

Will save a lot of time frustration and cash in the long run.

Also, check out astro buy sell since there some good second hand kit from those upgrading to better gear on there.

Good luck and clear skies

[swag72]

You don't say whatyou are interested in imaging? DSO's and solar system stuff require different setups. Have you got a camera already? Is you budget to include everything?

With a little more information people will be able to offer more informed help

[MichaelD95]

You don't say whatyou are interested in imaging? DSO's and solar system stuff require different setups. Have you got a camera already? Is you budget to include everything?

With a little more information people will be able to offer more informed help

Well for now I would just like image solar system objects, then eventually go on to do deep-sky objects

I don't have any equipment at the moment, I've been using my friends scope, it isn't the best but it's nice and I guess for now, gazing would be the most important

[ChrisLX200]

Well, while not exactly mutually exclusive, Visual Observing, Planetary imaging, and DSO imaging all place quite a heavy bias on the necessary (or optimal) equipment. Trying to overlap your interests to several of these will place compromises on the performance of the hardware for each endevour. Many people have tried to cover all bases with one setup and have been disappointed in one or more aspects. So if you can possibly choose your main interest then best advice can be given - otherwise we are all going to be offering equivocal suggestions we know won't be ideal.

ChrisH

[MichaelD95]

Well, while not exactly mutually exclusive, Visual Observing, Planetary imaging, and DSO imaging all place quite a heavy bias on the necessary (or optimal) equipment. Trying to overlap your interests to several of these will place compromises on the performance of the hardware for each endevour. Many people have tried to cover all bases with one setup and have been disappointed in one or more aspects. So if you can possibly choose your main interest then best advice can be given - otherwise we are all going to be offering equivocal suggestions we know won't be ideal.

ChrisH

Well for now, whilst I'm at University, I will just like something that I gaze/image solar system objects with, if the imaging hardware can't be covered by the current budget then I'm willing to sacrifice the imaging for now, to just do gazing.

At a later date once I've finished University or started my placement year (if possible) then I'll get seperate gear for DSO imaging/gazing. 

[happy-kat]

What is your friend's scope?

It might be a whopping reflector or a tasty ED refractor that you have used and your expectations might be set based on what you used/saw.

[OscarTheGrouch]

For the imaging, you may be best looking at something with a dual purpose.  A Canon EOS digital camera will give you the option of using a T-Mount to image through the telescope as well as piggybacking the scope.  The T3i gives you 1080p video as well as 18MP sensor, plus it can connect straight to your laptop for image transfer and checking focus without the need to remove the memory card.  Also, it works quite well as a camera!! (Link) You can get one off eBay for £230 and the lenses are easy to come by too.  My T-Mount for my EOS 350D (exactly the same mount as you'll need) was £10 from eBay.  The advantage of the EOS is that it's a well established brand with lots of extras available and when you decide to upgrade to something more specific to your needs, you can either keep the camera as a camera or sell it on at a good price.

You mention that you're at Uni, so I take it you'll have some serious light pollution issues on campus and want a scope you can take out and about with you looking for dark skies rather than something to set up as a fixed rig.  For this, you're better off looking at Amazon than eBay and as previously suggested, you need to make sure it's a GoTo mount.  I have no idea whether they are any good or not, but the Celestron NexStar series seems to be within your price range.  Just make sure there's enough left in your budget for additional eyepieces.

This final piece of advice trumps everything else I've said:

IF YOU'RE STUDYING ASTRONOMY AT UNI, SPEAK TO YOUR TUTUR FIRST!!!!  There is no point in buying loads of gear only to find that it's exactly the wrong equipment for your course!  If your tutor has a particular rig, see if you can copy it within your budget.  My eldest was on a photography course and we bought her the EOS 600D because that's what the tutor had.  It meant that whenever the tutor was trying to explain the set up of the camera and speaking in terms of his own equipment, she new exactly what he was on about!!

[DaveS]

Perhaps a Skymax 150 or 180 if you can stretch to it on a HEQ Syntrek, plus a few eyepieces. Then for imaging later get a good replacement focuser and a QHY5 II (Colour probably) camera. You'll want a better focuser than the internal move-the-mirror that the 'scope comes with as the camera has such a small sensor that image shift will lose your object while you're trying to focus. I said a Syntrek version, as you'll be needing a L/T (If you haven't one already) for imaging so you might as well use it to control the mount from the start.

If you want to do DSO later then add an ED80 variant and a ST80 guide 'scope and repurpose your QHY5 II for guiding..

[swag72]

If you are now looking at visual, then a dob will be hard to beat for value for money. You get bags of aperture for your money and it will keep you happy for a long time. Then when you want to get an imaging rig, you get something completely different!

[ronin]

Well the question was What to get, so my thoughts:

1) An almost standard Mak, 127 goto, and add a webcam and image planets. Simple and relatively straight forward. Align scope, locate planet, swap to webcam, focus, take movie (avi) on a laptop and process the avi file. Slight hiccup at preasent is the planets are disappearing from sight for a few months.

2) Forget imaging and get something like a 150P dobsonian and just go visual, save some more money up while deciding if you want to continue.

3) Leap into DSO imaging and throw caution to the wind. Having visited the NLO observatory and seen the imaging rigs there, the people have a selection of "budget" end set ups. Nice for a start. The basics would be an EQ5 with motors, and an ED refractor of 70mm diameter. The Sidmouth people seemed always to have a number of William Optics Megrez 72's. With this and a few adaptors you should get 2 minute subs and so build them up. Now a goto EQ5 would be better. As the Megrez is not produced for a new scope you would have to look at the WO ZS71 or look through the telescope Service site and see what they offer.

Mentioned elsewhere that there is or was a WO Megrez 90 on the used astro equipment site, ABSUK, that would be very good for imaging and at 90mm pretty good for viaual. The EQ5 should be OK for that.

Any of the 3 above would fit the budget, actually only the 3rd might come close to using it all and that is if you got the goto EQ5, the 150P dobsonian is a lot less.

For 2 of them you would need power of some sort, and 1 and 3 are not exactly lightweight.

Being at Uni I am assuming that you do not have a car ????

One would make getting around with any a lot easier.

The sensible option is 2, the next and much the same level of sense is 1. guess what that makes 3. :eek:

[inedible_hulk]

A slight tweak to ronin's excellent advice. You might consider substituting a Skywatcher Explorer 130P-DS for the Mak. You'd appreciate the wider FOV when visually observing and it's no slouch in the imaging department. It won't break the bank either

[dannybgoode]

I can't help specifically with your question however I was in a similar position to you when I first started reading up about astronomy.  As a photographer I was very interested in imaging as well as visual observing and thought I would do a bit of both from the off.

Then I read a number of threads on here and realised that there is so much more to imaging than I ever imagined and decided to spend a sensible amount on a reasonable visual set up and concentrate on that - learn the basics of astronomy, decide what areas of the hobby really interest me, find my way around the sky etc and worry about the imaging side much later on.

Look on astrobuysell.com/uk and find a decent second hand newtonian of at least 6" / 150mm aperture + a mount - easily had for £150 - £200 depending on size, invest in a couple of decent eyepieces and save the rest of your budget toward an imaging set up once you've nailed the basics of observing and throughly read up on imaging...

[The BFJ]

I bought my SW Explorer 200P on the basic EQ5 mount with the idea it would give me a decent all-rounder for visual to start me off, but also be upgradable as and when for doing A/P. I have to say, so far I'm very happy with my decision. I've yet to properly explore the A/P side of things as I'll def need to change to a heavier-duty mount before I do deep-sky but it's given me some fab views of the moon and planets and, when the weather allows, a few deep objects too. Having an EQ mount makes it quite easy to keep my chosen object in view with the hand controls but it is more expensive than a dob. So far I've found it a very good way to help me learn my way round the sky and given me some superb views as I do it.

Whatever you choose to do tho, I agree that it's worth setting aside a reasonable amount of your budget to get some eyepieces. The ones that come as standard with most scopes are basic, but not great. I went with Celestron X-Cel LX's as they seemed, from various reviews and posts, to offer excellent value for money at c£65. Once again I can happily report they haven't disappointed. No doubt there are other good value options too. I've found the guys and gals on here are always willing to offer the benefit of their experience and are well worth asking!

Good hunting and good luck!