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KrayzieFox

By KrayzieFox
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KrayzieFox

KrayzieFox

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Hi all, I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. I'm getting ready to purchase my first telescope and found this site while doing some research. I'm thinking about a 10" Dobsonian, the Zhumell Z10 in particular. I like the Apertura AD10 as well, but I think I can perform a lot of the upgrades it comes with for less money than the price difference of the two scopes ($230). And I've also picked up an Xbox Live cam to try doing some very basic astrophotography, which I plan on modifying as outlined by Cliff on this site. 

So what are everyone's thoughts on this setup? Any alternative suggestions?

Also, whenever I click a link on this forum it always just takes me to the Forum home page.. and never to the link destination. Do I have to post a certain number of times before I can click on links or something?

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swag72

swag72

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Hi and welcome to SGL - As an imager, what I know about visual stuff can be written on a very small pinhead! But I understand that dobs are great value for money and work well for visual. Not so for imaging unfortunately.

Look forward to seeing you around :)

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi CrayzieFox and welcome to SGL your Dob will be fine for observing, but as far as I am aware, photography, which is in a different league, would be limited to quick exposures.

A little information on post counts for you...

  • Access to change signatures - 10 posts.
  • Access to the Buy and Sell section - 50 posts to view, 250 posts to place an advert.
  • Edit posts - 250 posts.

Enjoy the forum :)

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swamp thing

swamp thing

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Hi and wel;come to the forum.

As has been said Dob's rule for visual observing but are not suited to astrophotography. 

Some people think a 10" Dob is enormous too, might be best for you to have a look at one in the flesh before putting any money down. 

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KrayzieFox

KrayzieFox

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Wow, a lot of responses.. thank you all for the warm welcome :)

And thank you for the feedback as well. I'm well aware of the size of the telescope, but I think I can live with it. I do plan on visiting a local observatory this weekend where should be able to spend some time on a number of different telescopes, various Dobs included, so that should give me an idea of what I like. A 10" is probably the biggest I would consider, as it should still fit in my vehicle and be somewhat manageable to move around. The way I see it, a 10" isn't too much bigger or heavier than an 8", and collects a significant amount more light. However, I am definitely new to astronomy and telescopes so correct me if I'm wrong in my assumption that I should go with the biggest aperture I can afford/handle. 

As for the astrophotography, I'm also relatively aware that it's quite hard to do with a Dob due to lack of tracking. But that's why I picked up a cheap $10 Xbox camera. All I'd like to do (at least in the beginning) is snap a few photos of the moon and/or nearby planets, which should be feasible with a webcam on a Dob from what I've seen on this forum and others. I'm just looking for a fun hobby that I can share with my family and friends :)

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damnut

damnut

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Hi There,

Warm welcome to SGL. I am a visual only observer, however when talking imaging, your kit is heavily biased towards the mount, and the mount.  Then the optics and capture device.

Do get a copy of 'making every photon count' this will save your hard earned cash in the long run.

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  • 2 weeks later...
KrayzieFox

KrayzieFox

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Well guys, I went ahead and did it.. I pulled the trigger and am officially a proud owner of a Zhumell Z10 Dobsonian telescope! This is my first scope ever, I'm pretty excited! :) It should be here tomorrow so I'm hoping to spend some time this weekend learning how to use it, but unfortunately the forecast is showing rain all weekend :( Maybe I'll spend the time installing the collimation upgrades I got from Opticsmart and learning how to collimate it instead.

I also go myself a cheap Xbox camera ($10 off eBay) with a 2x Barlow and eyepiece adapter that I'm hoping to use for super basic photography of the planets, so we'll see how that goes as well. I know I shouldn't expect much from anything beyond Saturn, but I'd be pretty happy with just some nice images of the Moon at first. Plus for $10 I figured it's at least worth a try.

One other thing I wanted to run by you guys is the possibility of adding on a  solar filter. I'd love to be able to use the scope for both night time and day time observing, but I'm not too keen on spending $150+ on a full aperture glass solar filter. Instead, I really like the idea of an off-axis solar film filter, and in particular I'd love to be able to do it by applying a filter onto an existing dust cap as seen here.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/179405-solar-viewing-filter/

However, I don't think the Zhumell comes with a dust cap that has a removable insert, so I was wondering if you guys could point me in the right direction on where I could purchase just a dust cap for a 10" Dob? I'd like to avoid using cardboard to build the base if I can.

Thanks for all your help so far :)

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  • 1 month later...

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