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A scope or a polemaster?


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Hi,

I am planning to use my mount soon, but i keep waiting to find a better way for polar alignment and sounds many talked about a Polemaster, so i added that to my soon order list.

But, there are some members keep telling me to just hold on that polemaster and try to use the attached Polar Scope in my mount, until i figure out things then i can get that Polemaster to make life easier, so if i will go that route then the price of that PM i can buy a scope instead, should i do that or i better keep PM purchasing soon?

Which is important for you, to buy a scope for different purpose even you are starting or getting a Polemaster so you don't miss up with aligning by ordinary or standard methods?

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scope , if you already have a guide cam the polemaster can wait ,buy a guiding cam first if you havent already got one  ,you can use this for PA in sharp cap  using a finder scope adapter and also for guiding and also for planetary capture ,where as the polemaster is PA only

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1 hour ago, bottletopburly said:

scope , if you already have a guide cam the polemaster can wait ,buy a guiding cam first if you havent already got one  ,you can use this for PA in sharp cap  using a finder scope adapter and also for guiding and also for planetary capture ,where as the polemaster is PA only

No I don't have a guide cam, and I don't know which one to get, but if the guide cam is almost same price of a polemaster then I can't get the scope anyway, so I have yo check out which guide can and how much it is.

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It depends a bit on what mount you have and what you want to do. For example, I've never considered a polemaster, as my iOptron mount has a quite accurate polar scope which gets me to within an arcmin or so from the NCP in just 30 seconds worth of effort (using my own Polar alignment app on an iPhone of course, good even for less precise polar scopes), an alignment that is plenty for 1-2 min unguided exposures (depending on the focal length) and more than enough for guided exposures of virtually any duration. In fact, with the pole master costing much more than a decent guide cam + guide scope, I don't see how it could be on the shopping list for someone with a tight budget, it's what I'd call "luxury". Then, again, everyone is different ;)

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Well, I am trying to spend around $400, maximum $500, and the polemaster itself is $300, and I have other some items so there is no room for a scope I look for unless I take out that polemaster, and if I bought a scope then other things I need to add with so definitely polemaster is out of budget, I do have budget to buy them all but I have much more important things in life to do, in July I will have another good budget so it is like either polemaster or a a scope, and I will check out a good guiding cam too.

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My st80 came with a finder scope, is that enough?

Also if I bought another scope then my st80 will be that finder scope or guiding scope no doubt, so I think I only need a cam, hope to find one that is good and not expensive so I can add without increasing much the budget above $500 if possible.

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22 minutes ago, TareqPhoto said:

My st80 came with a finder scope, is that enough?

Also if I bought another scope then my st80 will be that finder scope or guiding scope no doubt, so I think I only need a cam, hope to find one that is good and not expensive so I can add without increasing much the budget above $500 if possible.

So, you currently only have an ST80, which is not really a scope for astrophotography. Why on earth would you even be discussing a Polemaster then? I thought the question "scope or Polemaster" was really "guide scope or Polemaster", and still I would consider Polemaster a luxury. But now the question becomes similar to asking whether a $300 alloy wheel is a good buy for a $100 car :) (ok, I threw in the car analogy for fun, it is not very accurate). 
Anyway, it goes back to what exactly are you trying to achieve and where are you starting from? You have a budget of $500, if you already have a mount suitable for some astrophotography (say, at least an EQ5 Synscan or equivalent), and something to take photos with (e.g. a DSLR) then a good use of that $500 for a starter astrophotography rig would go towards something like a QHY5L-II (the older USB2 model - or ASI120mm also USB2) for guiding with the ST80 (if the finder is a 50mm it can probably work as well with a suitable adapter) and something like a Skywatcher 130PDS to attach the DSLR prime focus. If you don't have a capable mount, you should start with that, and worry about scopes and cameras afterwards. In case you are not talking about astrophotography (it was inferred by the mention of Polemaster) forget the above advice, forget about Polemasters etc and use your budget for what you feel is currently missing from your observing sessions (e.g. you might still want a better mount, or something like a Maksutov / SCT if you want more detail on planets, or a newtonian for deep space etc...). 

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Well, i have already a mount which is Skywatcher AZ-EQ6, so the mount is done.

My next scope as plan is 200PDS actually, many told me that ST80 isn't great but i can learn with it so then i can upgrade it to something like Esprit 80ED in the future, so i bought it for starter and understand about subs and stacking, and later i can buy more expensive scope, and my plan for 200PDS is for visual primary, someone advised me this because it is a cheap scope and good for visual and can do imaging too not bad, he has 130PDS so he advised me for 200PDS instead of 130PDS for visual main purpose.

And yes, with 200PDS i am more thinking about planets visual at good price, i can buy this now without a polemaster, or buy polemaster and in July i add that 200PDS, so polemaster is for future use as i don't want to align everytime to normal method if it takes time, i am not worry about which scope to come next, but i want tools to make my life easier, such as polemaster, dedicated camera if possible, cables, better software,.....etc.

So, now you know my mount i have, what is your saying now? 

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 i have the 200p it is a good scope ,good for dso but not a wide field of view so bear this in mind its ok on planets but lacks the focal length but is adequate ,the 130pds will give you a wider FOV , i would go for the 130pds and a guide cam ,and use the sharpcap method of PA before getting a Polemaster you may find this more than adequate .

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13 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

 i have the 200p it is a good scope ,good for dso but not a wide field of view so bear this in mind its ok on planets but lacks the focal length but is adequate ,the 130pds will give you a wider FOV , i would go for the 130pds and a guide cam ,and use the sharpcap method of PA before getting a Polemaster you may find this more than adequate .

Wider field is the future scope, i mentioned that i will buy a triplet APO scope in the future, so no need to buy one now and another one later, and ST80 will give me the idea about wide field of view until i can afford a triplet APO [or even doublet if it is not necessary much with a triplet] and done with it, that is why ST80 is just a tempo scope for a greater one, and i won't plan to do a lot of DSO with 200PDS anyway, i want it for better visual than my ST80, and if i go for something else better focal length then i sacrifice the cost and the weight of the scope if it can be handled by my mount, that member was going to advise me with 300P, but he felt it will be more pricey and not best for visual anyway and also can't do DSO if needed and last if the weight is much then my mount will be into the edge to handle it, so he felt that 200PDs is in the middle way and it is better overall for price and visual and imaging sometimes of some subjects, i won't just do AP all the time, i started for AP but that changed immediately to AP + visual in no time.

I may go for 130PDS, but then if i will buy APO triplet maybe by next year or even end of this year if budget allowed and i start to save then this 130PDS won't see much light, my plan was like starting with ST80 and another scope cheap for visual, then next year i buy APO Triplet for DSO imaging and another big scope for visual such as SCT or Dob or whatever better than 200PDS or better than APO triplet used for DSO, i am trying to say if this year i just go with cheapo scope until i have idea about the scopes performances then i upgrade my need later, i spent almost about $2000 last month [April] getting this AZ-EQ6, so i don't want to spend that much or even about $1000 every 2 months even with available budget, i try to go slowly, but sometimes i feel it is not only the mount and the scope only, there are other items i should add one time or another, and one of those items is this Polemaster if necessary, or if i can just make it wait and go with something else such as that scope of 200PDS.

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Sorry, i spent $2000 for the mount and ST80 and other stuff, and it is first ever for astronomy equipment for me, i started in February, bought mistakenly Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ to find out that it is just good for visual but not good for imaging, so i returned it back and started forums for equipment, and all advised me to go with EQ mount first if i want AP, so since February until April i was reading about mounts until i decided on AZ-EQ6, it is so much pricey but i felt it is the best choice for a mount in the middle between entry level and top high end mounts and may last long than if i start with AVX or even EQ5, in all cases i bought it from FLO which was a great deal and price, so i didn't think twice, but ofcourse almost $2000 or even little more with shipping and customs in my country isn't easy, i suffered this month but good i got recovered again, so i don't want to spend something around $1000 or above just very soon, and i limited my next purchase very soon to about $500, and that is either including Polemaster or going with scope which is 200PDS.

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2 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

Get the 130 pds secondhand see how you get on, then sell on at a later date.

I don't buy second hand as long i started out, and it is not expensive at all as new, but i don't want to have it and enjoy it then i can't sell it, i can't sell anything because i live here, i have many photographic items and i couldn't sell them, so even with very cheap second hand 130pds it is worthless, and i still want visual now than AP, AP can wait, it is very very hot in my country for 3 months so i won't spend long time outdoor in these months, but visual can be done all the time and it won't take long time to watch and wait, i may try AP few times if the temp allow, but i am sure i will start AP seriously and long time maybe by October when the temp is cooling down.

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Now, the posts sounds like you telling me to forget about polemaster and focus on a scope, which scope still i am discussing now and after here, but you sure i should remove that polemaster from my list for now and it can wait?

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Oh no, plan changed, I will go with Polemaster, when I added the scope with other items it goes up to over $500, and if I added collimator and coma corrector then above $600, so I think I delay the scope plan to July, unless I get a budget before.

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I don't know why you seem so keen on getting Polemaster.  Polmaster does work well but it is a luxury, the Manual method of looking through the polarscope and doing a polar alignment is free, many do this routinely all the time (as do I). 

Save your pennies and buy a SW130PDS, mount your ST80 on top of that as a guidescope, then all you have to buy (assuming you already have an imaging scope), is a guidecamera and this will be within your budget.

Carole 

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8 minutes ago, carastro said:

I don't know why you seem so keen on getting Polemaster.  Polmaster does work well but it is a luxury, the Manual method of looking through the polarscope and doing a polar alignment is free, many do this routinely all the time (as do I). 

Save your pennies and buy a SW130PDS, mount your ST80 on top of that as a guidescope, then all you have to buy (assuming you already have an imaging scope), is a guidecamera and this will be within your budget.

Carole 

Ok, and what about planets visual scope?

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