celestron se My needs for basic astronomy

[Lunar Mike]

Hello to all here , 

Just bought a cheap pair of celestron 10x50 cypress binouculars the left tube has some sort of odd thing where the bright stuff shows a spike on the top and will not make pin points . The right tube will also not make pin points but its much better . Over all they seem to be well ok at best. I saw lots of stuff with them on a quarter moon phase but for the money I think I can do better . I think 10x50 is a bit to high in magnification I cant hold them steady enough for extended periods of time so I ordered another pair of binoculars. I think I will enjoy 7x500 more . it will be my only optics for a while so i think i want a better class of glass .

I am gona try 7x50 instead and see if thereis a major differance to me visually everthing is so small I dont think 3x in magnifcation will make a huge differance except on the moon and It will give me a wider field of view . I bought the second pair a pair of Nikon Action EX 7x50's I read only good things about these boinoculars . All the reviews I have read never not one of them said they had crappy optics I have used an older pair of these and was delighted by the view so i think im gona go for the action ex and see what they do under the stars .

I dont and will not have a scope for 6-12 months or longer . I plan it this way so I can get good at useing star charts and star hopping with a good map I bought the Sky and Telescope Jumbo star atlas . On the first night with in 2 hours I was star hopping all over it was so much fun. When I do get a scope I will be able to star hop and enjoy the night sky . I want a GOTO mount for ease of use and max enjoyable times under the stars  I do alot of public education nights and GOTO would be so nice to line up a scope and then press enter rather then make a crowd of people wait for 3-5 min while i find the next target . I never had a GOTO before always had non GOTO mounts . so Im gona try a celestron SE probably the 4 se or the 5 se portability is very important to me and I have very little storage as well and live in the second floor . 

I have already owned a C5 it had terrible optics the worst scope I have ever owned so Im a bit shy to go for another C5 it also has to be very afordable . The 4se is a good scope but kinda narrow field of view ,and you cant put an adapter on it to give you f/6.4 scope . I think the versitility of the C5 would be perfect seeing how I want to get into astro photo work as well . All I would need for this scope is a wedge and i could do simple astro photo work as well as extemely wide field astro photo work with camera lenses . 

PS!! You dont have to remind me that APO refractors are better casue you have a 3000.00  80 mm refractor, you dont need to tell me a equetorial mount is better for astro photo work cause I wanna put a wedge on an SE mount , you dont need to tell me my system preferances are inferior for what gear I want . I only have so much money for astro gear this time around I want average to good proven gear, that will fulfill my needs and offer me a solution to get good to great views of the heavens, offer me an opertunity to do basic astro photo work, and a set up thats quick and easy to set up and use . I figure an alt /az GOTO mount might be exactly what I need for basic observation and simple astro photo work . The system needs to be crazy simple i do alot fo public events on street to show the public about astronomy the less set up time the better. I want simple this time around I went with the hard core expensive equetorial mount and crazy expensive apo refractor optical tube it frustrated me to no end and i got out of astronomy . Thats why this time the mantra is keep it simple stupid KISS ! Binoculars for a year then look at what a good scope for my needs will be for now its fun to look at gear and figure out what I am saving my money for . 

 

 

[Mr niall]

I don't think anyone here would patronise you like that , at least I've never been subjected to it (but an equatorial would be the preference if it were me )  I've recently got some binoculars too - had the same issues as you; I'm thinking a cheap tripod might be the solution though. As for the 7x50 - have you thought about exit pupil? When I was researching them I came across quite a lot of info saying that the old standard of 7x50 might not be as good as it could be because the old assumption that our pupils could expand to 7mm in the dark really only applies to the under 30s as a rule; then it shrinks. So if your pupils can only expand to say 6mm then you are not getting in all the light that the front lenses are capturing and in reality are looking through a pair of 7x42s instead...

just a thought!

[happy-kat]

welcome

you might find this thread interesting link looking forward at your thoughts on imaging, camera with camera lens can do surprising stuff.

[ronin]

Lower power binoculars are generally better, the kind of normal 8x42's work fine. They have become the normal through nature watching and are usually comfortable for long periods. So anything around that willbe fine.

If you do not need the scope for any form of imaging at long exposures then the Alt/Az is fine. I think the 4SE can be configured for Eq operation but check the online manual before. If you are intending to enter the long exposure area then the 4SE is not ideal to put a DSLR on the rear end. The DSLR is a fair weight for one of them, especially when you consider that the 4SE was produced before DSLR's. So the initial design did not account for attaching one to the rear end.

The 4SE is fine for using a webcam and a web cam type camera, as these are lightweight and even in Alt/Az mode they are suited to planetary imaging.

Presently there is a new small Skywatcher Alt/Az goto mount out that seems to be very good. It will arrive in the US although I have not seen mention of it yet  The AZ-GTi WiFi. So far the reports are good. So by the time a year has elapsed that may be a better option for you to take under consideration. Additionally the scope is easy to swap so 127 Mak or 72mm ED maybe 80Ed or for outreach just an 80 achro. Good flexibility.

In the binocular line I have a set of Bushnell Natureview 8x42 with the roof prism and they are excellent. Oddly I have tried Nikons and found one pair good while the next pair were uncomfortable to use. Got mine from binoculars.com