Astrophotography, refractor vs reflector

[Comet71210]

Hey everyone,

 i just wondered what people's views would be towards Newtonian reflectors and refraction telescopes when it comes to Astrophotography.

I'm looking into buying a new scope and staring my journey in astrophotography and as I already have a reflector I'm thinking of buying a refractor as I've seen this is more the preferred type.

All comments are welcome and really look forward to everyone's views on the two scopes, Thankyou in advance.

[Peter Drew]

It would be helpful to would be advisors if you could let them know the type of object you wish to image and your projected budget.  

[Alien 13]

It depends if you like spikes on all the bright stars or not, In general reflectors are much faster though but I suppose a good refractor will win out but it realy needs to be a triplet or better still a 4 or 5 lens design that doesn't need an additional flattener.

Alan

[DaveS]

Yes, we need to know your budget, and what you're after imaging. Why do you think your newt is no good?

[ollypenrice]

My overview would go like this:

Reflectors produce star spikes which can be overwhelming on short focal length widefield images. They are very inexpensive (always relative!!!) but need collimating. When they have very fast F ratios they become very difficult for various well documented reasons. They need coma correctors on all but small chips. They can punch well above their price weight but are not 'plug and play.'

Refractors need to be well colour corrected for imaging. The camera cannot, (unlike the eye) be told to ignore big blue haloes. So very cheap refractors are no good for imaging. The venerable ED80 remains a great starter refractor but will, like any refractor system without a rear lens, need a field flattener. Refractors punch well above their 'aperture weight' but (often) below, or even alarmingly below, their 'price weight.'

I'm an imaging provider so consistency is my primary concern. For this reason I use refractors. All of mine were bought second hand at savings between 40 and 50 percent of new.

Olly