newbie looking at 130p 150p 200p skywatcher

[Cosmic Geoff]

There are plenty of other telescope makes and models besides the Sky-watcher 130p 150 and 200.

Since you mention astrophotography, I suggest you start from basics and decide what you primarily want to do, and pick a scope on that basis.  It might be wise to buy a relatively small and cheap outfit to start with, and then buy the next on the basis of what you liked and didn't like about the first outfit.  There is no way I would have bought my current #1 as a first telescope - I had to work up to it.

For visual, the bigger the better within reason and if it has a sophisticated mount , that will make it more pleasant to use. 

For photographing planets you want AFAIK a telescope as for visual, plus a video camera, and the clever part is processing a string of fuzzy images from the video clip into one sharp image.

Deep space photography is a totally different kettle of fish, judging by postings in the forum here.  For serious work you need a tracked timed exposure, which involves a heavy and solid mount. You do NOT need a large telescope - even a professional sky survey managed with lenses smaller than any of the telescopes you cite. If you get into this you could, it appears, end up assembling a complex setup and spending large amounts of money.

[N3ptune]

dorset jon boy , you want to buy stuff before reading the book twice!    I believe strongly you should get the HEQ5 if it's not to late instead of the EQ3 -2 GOTO.

HEQ5 has a payload capacity of  13.7kg total

EQ3 has a payload of only 5.5kg

That's an important difference between 2 mounts, HEQ5 is far stronger then the EQ3-2 to hold all the gear attached to the telescope in order to be stable. I read it every single day here, a good mount is the most important thing to get.

[dorset jon boy]

Well opened all the boxes, got the tripod and telescope sorted, but the skyscan pro has no instructions on how to connect to the tripod mount, no instructions on how to wire in everything, no instructions on how to power up the controller or how to connect to laptop?????

urgent help if anyone on here today please

[Stub Mandrel]

It's easier to take good pictures with expensive gear, and there are some photos you will only get with the most high-end equipment.

But you can still take crap pictures with expensive gear and excellent ones with cheaper gear.

Our ancestors drew better pictures on cave walls with bits of burnt stick than I can manage with all my fancy art stuff...

[happy-kat]

Isn't it Synscan? You can find the synscan manual on Skywatcher website. 

[JemC]

5 hours ago, dorset jon boy said:

urgent help if anyone on here today please

is this of any use to you?

https://grovers.biz/optics/content/27-downloads

[happy-kat]

What did you actually buy?

Skyscan is celestron

Did you buy a celestron tripod?

[dorset jon boy]

5 hours ago, happy-kat said:

What did you actually buy?

Skyscan is celestron

Did you buy a celestron tripod?

sorry for the confusion, i have the 150pds, eq3-2 pro goto synscan package from first light optics

[willinliv]

Prolly be late now, but as a beginner I bought Heritage 130P which very happy with, and a DSLR with 200mm lens for imaging on a Staradventurer mount. Possibly in future will look at 130PDS and EQ7 mount - funds and wife permitting!

 

 

 

On 10/11/2017 at 07:16, dorset jon boy said:

hi guys,

jon from dorset here! im new into the hobby although ive always had an interest of eventually getting a telescope. I am technically minded and am a aerospace engineer by trade, so i love to do a lot of design work (solidworks mainly) and cnc machining along with assembly.

i have a few other hobbies such as sea angling, metal detecting, photography............when i get the chance! my wife always says she imagines me walking around a beach with all my hobby equipment attached to me hahaha!

 

anyway back to the main question of this post!! i started looking at the skywatcher 130p, discovered a few old threads  on here regarding the 130,150,200p models. Yes i know they are going to step up in quality per model, but im asking for a honest answer if i can get pretty good pictures which each of these models? i mean i could buy the 200p and goto or dual axis motors but im not sure if that is the right choice as a newbie to the hobby and i may not even like it and quit? (just saying haha) just typical of me when i was dead set on the 130p, then i click on the model range and see the 150p and 200p and so on 

so im not looking at becoming the next best astrophotographer, i just want to be able to use my cheaper nikon d3200 to take some shots of nebula, the moon, and anything else with some striking colours

 

ps. has anyone got any side by side sample shots from each telescope please, of say nebula or the moon?

thanks if you got this far, i look forward to the replies

jon