Indecision!!

[adh325]

You know, I've made decisions about new cars, and even houses in a fraction of the time its taken me to decide on what scope set-up to go for!!

I've done loads of research, which to be honest has been interesting and fascinating - thanked by the fact there is so much good information on here.  It's great everyone is willing to share their expertise and ideas - so thanks for that.

I'm at the stage where I'm about to 'push the button' on my preferred set-up - and wanted one last chance to run it past the experts for their thoughts.  For my use, I'll primarily be imaging deep sky, and perhaps the odd planet depending on the scope I end up with.

• Mount - initially I was looking at the HEQ5 pro synscan, but it doesn't seem to cover potential future expansion to a bigger scope, so have decided the extra £200 for the NEQ6 is probably worthwhile.  Decision made. 
• Camera - I've looked at various DSLR camera bodies etc, but have pretty much come to the conclusion that a CCD would suit me better.  It's arguably less fiddly in terms of actual integration / exposures etc, and also gives me the ability to image planets etc if I want.  After lots a research the QHY8L seems about the best value - would that be a good assumption?  At £1k, its quite a bit more expensive than I would have liked, but If I'm taking an image at all I'd like it to be worthwhile, and decent quality.  The images I've seen on Astrobin using this camera are very impressive.
• Filter - I live in Edinburgh.  Although I'm willing to travel for a darker sky, there will be instances where I want to do a bit from home.  The area immediately outside my house has a light density of orange street lights which I understand can be filtered out fairly easily.  But then the council have just announced they're replacing all other street lights with LED's!  Is it worth starting out with a cheapish filter like the skywatcher LP and see how it goes, or dive straight in for an IDAS (or similar) one?
• Scope.  This is the tricky bit and it seems to be a common theme among people starting-out like me.  I had previously absolutely made my mind-up on a 200pds.  After lots of research, for general deep sky (providing you aren't expecting massive magnifications) a scope with a smaller aperture, i,e. a APO refractor would produce arguably better results - richer images.  My wife has offered to buy me a scope for Christmas with a budget of about £500, so I'm thinking an Equinox 80 would be the best-bet....or should I stick to my original idea?  Also, the 250pds isn't much more expensive - but then it's quite a leap in terms of weight - and less manageable for frequent lugging around.  Eventually, I would aspire to an Equinox, or ED 120 - when I could afford it!
• Guide scope.  One thing I'm not sure about - is why a guide scope is actually required with a CCD imaging camera connected to a laptop.  As the CCD is taking an image anyway - cant this be used for picking a point for guidance back to the mount?  Or doesn't the software allow that?  If I do need a guide camera, I quite like the look of these little QHY5 'mini guide scopes' which I've only seen on QHY's facebook page so far.  Not on sale yet?
• Other bits - I'm aware I'll need other things too like field flatteners, barlows, power supplies, cables etc etc, but I want to decide on the scope first!

So, sorry for the long-winded post - but would really appreciate any further guidance to stop me wasting money on the wrong thing - or potentially a bad combination of components.

Many thanks,

Andy

[bruno]

you don't say how much knowledge you have with imaging, but  if you are doing it from your own back garden  then a NQ6 is a good the option,if you are going to go further afield then you would something abit lighter  + power supply. but first  learn how to align the mount (its not as easy as looks if your beginner).

then learn to take images with your ccd camera with anything from 1min to 3min exposures ( inbetween learning this you also get to learn stacking & processing your images rip your hair out & also invent new swear words).

then you want to learn how to take longer exposures this where the guide scope comes in & the cost of your qhy5 or something similar & yet more learning with a guide program like PHD (you can use your new swear words )

I'm sure someone else will along & tell you to buy a book called every photon counts buy it it will answer a lot of your questions.

To conclude all this all that i'm saying is learn to walk before you can run otherwise  it will cost you loads hope this helps

[Charic]

I've done loads of research,  - but would really appreciate any further guidance to stop me wasting money on the wrong thing - or potentially a bad combination of components.

Many thanks,

Andy

+1 as bruno mentions....... http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

I have the very  book and it does answer most, if not all my questions, but as you can see, from my signature, I'm a visual observer.

If I get stuck, I get more answers here, but funny old thing, the author also resides here as a forum member, therefore new/fresh information is straight from the horses mouth, Neigh! not that Steve is or has any horse like features!