Upgrade advise please.

[Julian Hands]

SInce Christmas I have been totally fallen with my Skywatcher Evostar 120 with EQ5 manual mount, I would like to motorise this mount to assist in tracking and with the possibility to have some ability for imaging. If I purchase the Synscan V3 Upgrade kit , is it also worth investing in the Orion Deluxe Autoguide scope package along with the Orion Mono or colour G3 CCD camera to start taking images?

From what I'm reading on the internet and on this forum, to get any images, ideally you need autoguide, is this the case or with my scope would the Synscan upgrade be sufficient?

Last night was a fantastic oppurtunity missed and would of loved to have had some images captured from what I was viewing. Jupiter was again stunning with a cold clear sky ( the first in 2 weeks :-() , Orion M42 was also beautiful with the gas cloud beautifully defined through the scope. I couldn't get my daughter off the eyepiece with the beauty of the new moon crescent and the clarity of the Crater Morphologies, some of the Central Peak Craters were stunning through the Evostar and I started to explore around Alcyone and Merope, which again were truely stunning, when through the naked eye you just see a smudge of light in the sky, but the density and clarity of the stars last night were amazing through the scope, just using the BST 25mm eyepiece.

Any advise on setting this scope up for imaging would be gratefully received and any recommendations for CCD cameras would be a bonus, I appreciate it's not a high end scope, but I beleive this will give some nice results and don't mind investing in the mount and autoguide, as I'm sure this kit could be used on other scopes if I get the oppurtunity to invest in a larger scope in the future.

Everyones got to start somewhere, so appreciate any advise and recommendatiosn you can offer.

Many thanks,

Julian

[ronin]

Not simple.

Motors (goto) are essential to imaging, you simply have to track the object no choice.

The goto upgrade is good as it enable the mount to go to the object to image, so saves you time, and the goto motors are said to be better (more accurate).

From a post about a week back it seems the goto upgrade uses the V3 handset, not the V4 handset. That raises a concern as in general if there is a V3 and V4 eventually the V3 gets dropped or the V3 software gets the second priority. The other aspect to consider is that if sold the buyer could want the V4 not the V3 - it is one question I would ask.

The Evostar 120 is a nice scope but a bit big and heavy for imaging, you will get images but in the normal run of things there will be limitations. Owing to the weight if you start adding guiders wtc then the weight goes up and you are then pushing the capabilities of the EQ5 mount. Adding guiding means that you could need the HEQ5 immediatly. Sort of:- Get the goto for the EQ5, add guiding etc, increased weight, EQ5 not up to it, sell the EQ5 anf the new goto kit, buy HEQ5. If you do not guide the 120 then you are limited to about 60 seconds depending on how good the alignment is,.as all you will have it tracking.

Do not know the Orion imaging kit but Orion do not make ccd cameras, they are not a manufacturer as are Atik, SBIG etc.

Imaging is a bit of an unending circle, to my thinking one of the initial aspect of starting is setting a defined end point.

[kalasinman]

Sometimes the next step is a leap. Rather than stepping along and upgrading repeatedly, add up what it will really take to get good images with the 120. I'm not up on SW stuff, but the imagers always say better to overmount than undermount. If a guide scope, guide camera, counterweight and camera come near to half rated capacity, consider going up a size. CCD imaging is great, but seems more technical and requiring higher accuracy. HEQ5 or eq6 ?

[Tinker1947]

The difference between the V3 and V4 handsets is i believe just the removal of the power connector so the V3 can be upgraded by just connecting a battery, the V4 has to be plugged in the mount, so they should both run the same software, anybody have any information other that what i have type speak up know....You may be better off going for a HEQ5 there designed more towards AP, then go for a Finder Guider.  

[Julian Hands]

Thank you for this valuable info, Like the idea of upgrading to a HEQ5 or NEQ6 mount and sell the EQ5, it will probably be allot easier as well in setting up the upgrade kit, I must admit though that I thought this EQ5 mount was already sturdy enough for the scope and guidescope equipement, the counter balance weight is only positioned about 1/3rd of the way down from the top of the bar and it was supplied with 2 weights, the second is still in the box unopened?

I have seen a few you tube videos of astro photography via 80-100mm APO scopes, but that is a huge leap in cost and unfortunatley there are some financial constraints :-).

I haven't got great expectations on what I intend to image, but would like to have some basic setup that can capture the moon, planets and Orions nebulae as a basic starting point.

I've read that one CCD won't do all and will probably require colour & monochrome ccd maeras?

Again thanks for your valued help here and I'll start trawling the internet for deals.

Many thanks,

Julain