False Colour vs Apo

[Arthur Dent]

Hi!

Another newbie in search for the perfect scope... I read your recent comments about the Skywatcher ED80 and am seriously tempted (also because of the price), but on the other hand.... 80 mm seems rather limited, according to the numerous books & mags I read so far. What is the general opinion here: would you rather go for the 80 mm ED, or for a achromatic larger scope (e.g. Meade 5 AR)? I guess the question really is: how disturbing is the false colour really?

Any advice would be very welcome!

A.D. :shock:

[GazOC]

Hi DentArthurDent,

Welcome to the forum.

The false colour is a very personal thing, some people don't mind it, others can't stand the mearest hint. The best bet is to look through a few scopes if possible, you won't know how high your tolerance is until you do.

Gaz

[Jamie]

Hi Arthur

For visual work i would choose the 5" AR5 but for imaging it would have to be

the Skywatcher ED80.

Others on here can vouch for the Skywatcher.

I can vouch for the AR5 .

[Ambermile]

With a decent scope, ED or apo, you can up the magnification far more than you could with a bigger achromat. Don't be fooled by that "only 80mm" tag.

Arthur

[Jamie]

I know what you are saying Arthur but i would rather look at

say Saturn with the AR5 than the 80mm any day of the week.

I only use the AR5 for lunar and planetary viewing/imaging.

My 80mm i use for imaging wide field and nebulosity.

[MartinB]

The ED80 is great for taking out on a small mount for those moments when a brief gap in the cloud suddenly appears. Struggles a bit on Saturn but will show Cassini. great on the moon and show open clusters very nicely. I bought it to piggy back on the ns8 but have found myself using it loads on its own when its just not worth getting the bigger scope out.

Martin

[FLO]

For visual work i would choose the 5" AR5 but for imaging it would have to be

the Skywatcher ED80.

He beat me to it

[mark RD]

welcome to the forum Arthur Dent, It depends on what you want to use it for, with 80mm you could only take it up to about 160x maybe 200x so its not going to be too good on the planets as for the false colour most resonable moden refractors are quite good unless you are really fussy IMHO

Mark

[Arthur Dent]

Hi everybody and thank you very much for all your advice - I am quite convinced now that I will indeed go for the 80 ED. The only thing that is lefft to worry about now is the mount. It seems every dealer in england wants to sell you the EQ 5 - why?? Apart from the fact that it is probably a clever marketing move to enable you to quickly upgrade to a bigger scope using the same mount, it looks dead heavy to me. Why not the EQ3-2 ...... or a Manfrotto? How necessary is the equatorial mount considering that I will not attempt any photography from the beginning (it's going to be hard enough to find anything out there!!!)?

Okay...off to the dealer now....(to look at it, not to buy yet, although....weather forecast looks promising....)

A.D.

[FLO]

... It seems every dealer in england wants to sell you the EQ 5 - why?? Apart from the fact that it is probably a clever marketing move to enable you to quickly upgrade to a bigger scope using the same mount, it looks dead heavy to me.

The EQ-5 is a good workhorse that will see you well when you later want a bigger scope - thats all.

There is nothing at all wrong with the EQ-3 (well, nothing that upgrading the aluminium tripod wouldn't fix!). In fact, it punches well above its weight... Its just not an EQ-5.

PS: Welcome aboard