Is the Orion ED80 APO good for astrophotography?

[Galen Gilmore]

The Orion ED80 APO is a very cheap APO refractor, which costs $430 (£331) but it is f/7.5, is this too slow for deep sky photography or is it ok?

http://www.telescope.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=9895&gclid=Cj0KEQjwi7vIBRDpo9W8y7Ct6ZcBEiQA1CwV2O1o5WL2Oy6bQkHzU1z8_r-dndSh0UxC15EKs2aB2NMaAlbU8P8HAQ

[UKJay1971]

Plenty of people imaging DSOs on ED80 scopes at F7 / 7.5 

What is more important is the quality of your mount. A decent mount should take precedence over the scope on it if imaging. Plus you can get much faster Newtonian's for less money than the refractor (e.g. Skywatcher 130 P-DS) which is F/5.0

 

[Galen Gilmore]

9 minutes ago, UKJay1971 said:

Plenty of people imaging DSOs on ED80 scopes at F7 / 7.5 

What is more important is the quality of your mount. A decent mount should take precedence over the scope on it if imaging. Plus you can get much faster Newtonian's for less money than the refractor (e.g. Skywatcher 130 P-DS) which is F/5.0

 

How much does the skywatcher Newtonian weigh? it doesn't say on the website. Because the mount I want to get, the skywatcher star adventurer, can only hold 11 pounds. That is why I wanted a lighter refractor, but if the skywatcher is light enough than that is a better option.

[UKJay1971]

I hate to break it to you but that mount isn't going to hold any scope, not least and be able to guide with it. It's for DSLRs as far as I can make out.

General rule of thumb is to take what the manufacturers advertise as maximum payload and then half it. 

A decent mount is pretty much a necessity - I appreciate how daunting the money can be but you can't dodge it (or we'd all be doing it!). 

 

[tooth_dr]

40 minutes ago, Galen Gilmore said:

The Orion ED80 APO is a very cheap APO refractor, which costs $430 (£331) but it is f/7.5, is this too slow for deep sky photography or is it ok?

http://www.telescope.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=9895&gclid=Cj0KEQjwi7vIBRDpo9W8y7Ct6ZcBEiQA1CwV2O1o5WL2Oy6bQkHzU1z8_r-dndSh0UxC15EKs2aB2NMaAlbU8P8HAQ

I've been using my ED80 for the past few nights for DSO, even with an Ha filter, using a DSLR, see below.

Its a heavy enough scope, compared to say the ST80. I have an EQ6 but it's OTT for that scope. 

[Galen Gilmore]

16 minutes ago, UKJay1971 said:

I hate to break it to you but that mount isn't going to hold any scope, not least and be able to guide with it. It's for DSLRs as far as I can make out.

General rule of thumb is to take what the manufacturers advertise as maximum payload and then half it. 

A decent mount is pretty much a necessity - I appreciate how daunting the money can be but you can't dodge it (or we'd all be doing it!). 

 

Oh, I was under the impression that the star adventure was able to hold a small telescope and had a guiding port. Based on what others said from a previous post I made.

Also, why is the maximum payload only half of what it should be? To many vibrations? tracking gets less accurate?

[UKJay1971]

2 minutes ago, Galen Gilmore said:

Oh, I was under the impression that the star adventure was able to hold a small telescope and had a guiding port. Based on what others said from a previous post I made.

THIS ONE?

[Galen Gilmore]

2 minutes ago, UKJay1971 said:

THIS ONE?

This one.

[UKJay1971]

Quote

The new Skywatcher Star Adventurer provides an excellent route into astrophotography for those using DSLR cameras with wide-field and medium focal length DSLR lenses

Quote

 The optional Dovetail L-Bracket used in conjunction with the optional counterweight shaft/counterweight also allows small telescopes (e.g. Skymax-90)

I can't see it coming close to supporting an ED80 I'm afraid. Keep saving!

[Galen Gilmore]

2 minutes ago, UKJay1971 said:

I can't see it coming close to supporting an ED80 I'm afraid. Keep saving!

Ok, so what would work with the ED80 or 130pds? An Eq3-2?

[UKJay1971]

Not sure on your budget but this is closer to the mark - 

 

Still not ideal for imaging but the mount is ok and the scope, albeit a longer f/l will get you onto DSOs at a decent F5 speed

 

[UKJay1971]

Just now, Galen Gilmore said:

Ok, so what would work with the ED80 or 130pds? An Eq3-2?

To be honest, it's generally accepted that a HEQ5 is the minimum but I also understand that you won't necessarily have that budget

[Galen Gilmore]

2 minutes ago, UKJay1971 said:

To be honest, it's generally accepted that a HEQ5 is the minimum but I also understand that you won't necessarily have that budget

what about this thread?

[UKJay1971]

Sure you can shoot DSOs without an EQ mount - but it isn't easy. You are doing the right thing by asking questions - I'll make way now to let others give you their thoughts. 

[Galen Gilmore]

2 minutes ago, UKJay1971 said:

Sure you can shoot DSOs without an EQ mount - but it isn't easy. You are doing the right thing by asking questions - I'll make way now to let others give you their thoughts. 

Ok thanks for your information, I'll keep everything you said in mind. 

[Galen Gilmore]

Another thing is that the photos don't have to be good, I would be happy if I got color in the Orion Nebula. Then I could upgrade to an HEQ-5 when the time comes.

I was thinking of the skywatcher 130pds on an EQ 3-2 mount. Or do I need either a better mount, or lighter scope.

[sharkey93]

26 minutes ago, Galen Gilmore said:

Another thing is that the photos don't have to be good, I would be happy if I got color in the Orion Nebula. Then I could upgrade to an HEQ-5 when the time comes.

I was thinking of the skywatcher 130pds on an EQ 3-2 mount. Or do I need either a better mount, or lighter scope.

I've been thinking the same thing on the EQ3 for my Esprit that I'm getting but like UKjay is saying and I'm learning this today as well we can't dodge the money bullet on the Mount I'm currently looking at the HEQ5 thanks to the advice of many here

[Galen Gilmore]

26 minutes ago, sharkey93 said:

I've been thinking the same thing on the EQ3 for my Esprit that I'm getting but like UKjay is saying and I'm learning this today as well we can't dodge the money bullet on the Mount I'm currently looking at the HEQ5 thanks to the advice of many here

 

This person is using the setup I described above, if I could get results like this I would be happy. 

It all depends on what kind of results you would like to get though, if you would like images with pinpoint stars and noise free, then it is worth spending the extra coin.

[sharkey93]

Yeah I'm hoping to get Similar results too  Even with working its when you look into this stuff and think oh god at the money its gunna cost. Thankfully my girlfriend is fine with me Spending Money xD

4 minutes ago, Galen Gilmore said:

 

This person is using the setup I described above, if I could get results like this I would be happy. 

It all depends on what kind of results you would like to get though, if you would like images with pinpoint stars and noise free, then it is worth spending the extra coin.

 

[Singlin]

I took this image with the Orion Ed 890

[sharkey93]

7 minutes ago, Singlin said:

I took this image with the Orion Ed 890

I'm ordering an Esprit 80 with F.5 and I've got a Cannon 5D so I'm hoping to get some good pics once I've sorted my Mount decision

[Galen Gilmore]

20 minutes ago, Singlin said:

I took this image with the Orion Ed 890

Nice! What mount were you using? I'm also now debating whether to get the ED80 or the Skywatcher 130-PDS

[Galen Gilmore]

27 minutes ago, sharkey93 said:

Yeah I'm hoping to get Similar results too  Even with working its when you look into this stuff and think oh god at the money its gunna cost. Thankfully my girlfriend is fine with me Spending Money xD

 

You should be able to get much better results than that with an Espirit and an HEQ-5, the Espirit is quite a scope from what I've heard! 

 

[sharkey93]

2 minutes ago, Galen Gilmore said:

You should be able to get much better results than that with an Espirit and an HEQ-5, the Espirit is quite a scope from what I've heard! 

 

Aye I've got good range on Magnification too as with its 80mm and 400mm FL with a 2x barlow I can get 120x zoom or a 200x zoom with 5x barlow

 

thats using a 6mm ish eye peice

[Galen Gilmore]

1 minute ago, sharkey93 said:

Aye I've got good range on Magnification too as with its 80mm and 400mm FL with a 2x barlow I can get 120x zoom or a 200x zoom with 5x barlow

Are you doing deep space photography or planetary? Because for deep space you will most likely will not need that much magnification, besides some of the planetary nebulas. Most DSOs are very large in the sky, for example the Andromeda galaxy is three times larger than the full moon in the sky.

Not sure if you already knew this, just wanted to make sure...