What to do with Pentax EDHF 75mm ED Apo

[Icesheet]

Hi,

Looking for some advice. I recently picked up a second hand Pentax EDHF 75mm ED Apo with associated accessories for around £400 in Norway. Here's the complete list of what's included:

 

Pentax MS-2 or 3 EQ mount

Sky Tech 90deg diagonal 1.25"

TELEVUE PANOPTIC 15mm WIDE ANGLE/ 1.25"

CELESTRON ULTIMA 7.5mm/1.25"

MEADE 2X BARLOW/1.25"

VIXEN ORTHO 6mm/0.96mm

VIXEN ORTHO 9mm/0.96mm

VIXEN ORTHO 12.5mm/0.96"

Zeiss 25mm/0.96 (ca 1930-40)

CELESTRON 2X BARLOW/ 0.96"

 

Now, I'm no expert but I done some research and I think this is a reasonable deal (even very good?) especially including the TeleVue Panoptic. I'm not sure what value the 0.96'' accessories have but really it was the scope I was after. Apparently these aren't far off Takahashi optics!

 

So my issue is that I wanted it primarily for astrophotography as I have the bug or at least think I have. I've set the scope and tested it. I was amazed looking at Pleaides with the TeleVue. The stars were perfect little point of light and the sky was so dark. Amazing contrast. This was my first time looking through an apo and my first instinct was to keep it just for that! However, given that I want to use this for astrophotography am I going to have trouble getting the proper adapters etc considering it's such an old scope (early 90's)? 

 

Does anyone own one of these and use it for imaging? Or have any knowledge? Since I'm a novice would I be better trying to move it on again and pick up something else more modern and user friendly?

 

Any advice appreciated  

Oh and please move to relevant forum, wasn't exactly sure which subject this fell under

 

Chris

[swag72]

I used to have the Pentax SDHF 75 ..... I don't know if that's the same model?

[Icesheet]

1 minute ago, swag72 said:

I used to have the Pentax SDHF 75 ..... I don't know if that's the same model?

Yes I believe that was the newer version of it. Be interested to hear your thoughts. 

[swag72]

The SDHF was a fantastic scope. It gave pinpoint stars across the frame, no colour issues and was also light and so didn't stress the mount at all. I loved it!! The flat field was great and there's many modern scopes out there that are far worse. All in all, there was just nothing to not like about it  

[John]

£400 is a huge bargain for that lot !

The .965" eyepieces probably back to the original purchase of the scope - Pentax and Vixen scopes were often supplied with .965" eyepieces, diagonal visual back etc back in the 1980's.

The scope is a petzval design I think - F/6.6 ?

[swag72]

1 minute ago, John said:

....The scope is a petzval design I think - F/6.6 ?

The SDHF certainly was....... great to not have to worry about flatteners and spacing  

[Icesheet]

Thanks! Confirms my thoughts about the optics and the deal I got!

33 minutes ago, swag72 said:

The SDHF was a fantastic scope. It gave pinpoint stars across the frame, no colour issues and was also light and so didn't stress the mount at all. I loved it!! The flat field was great and there's many modern scopes out there that are far worse. All in all, there was just nothing to not like about it  

Did you use it for AP? I'm going to do some digging around to see what attachments I might need. 

[swag72]

Yes I did use it for some time for imaging..... no adverse reports ?