Mount Dilemma

[Tiago Ramos]

My name is Tiago I am Portuguese I am 40 years old, I am passionate about astronomy and astrophography although I took a break for about 20 years, University, work, got married,  and have a beautiful star in my heart that is my daughter Elena 5 years.
Continuing was about to buy the SW Eq6 R - Pro + iPolar when the new iOptron GEM 45 mount with the same 20 kg capacity appears on the market.

Right now I have a William Optics Zenithstar 61 APO and a DSLR to start with, which will move in the near future to Espirit 100 or even Espirit 120 

And what other advice they can give?

Tiago Ramos

[sloz1664]

Hi Tiago, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

The EQ6 R is now a tried & tested mount and the IOptron  GEM 45 is new on the market. I am very wary of buying anything that is new on the market, without any feedback from suppliers, fellow astronomers on actions & quality of the mount. That said, it may be an outstanding mount. But, unfortunately, only time will tell.

Steve

[Tiago Ramos]

2 minutes ago, sloz1664 said:

Hi Tiago, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

The EQ6 R is now a tried & tested mount and the IOptron  GEM 45 is new on the market. I am very wary of buying anything that is new on the market, without any feedback from suppliers, fellow astronomers on actions & quality of the mount. That said, it may be an outstanding mount. But, unfortunately, only time will tell.

Steve

Thank you very much sloz1664 for the response, and for the welcome.
And what other advice can you give?
 

[sloz1664]

Hi Tiago,

If you want to specialise in astrophotography, then the accuracy and load capacity of a mount is a priority. You also have to take into consideration that the stated maximum payload of a mount may be for observational purposes, and if this is the case, the general rule for astrophotography  is to reduce the maximum payload by 50%.

Also when you start to add on the additional equipment you may require for astrophotography, like filters, flatteners, focal reducers, gui.de cameras. The payload starts to creep up.

If you new to astrophotography I suggest you purchase Making Every Photon Count A great book on the insights of astrophotography by Steve Richards, a fellow astronomer on this sight.

Steve

[Ronclarke]

Welcome to the forum Tiago 😀

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi Tiago, welcome. 

[Tiago Ramos]

3 hours ago, sloz1664 said:

Hi Tiago,

If you want to specialise in astrophotography, then the accuracy and load capacity of a mount is a priority. You also have to take into consideration that the stated maximum payload of a mount may be for observational purposes, and if this is the case, the general rule for astrophotography  is to reduce the maximum payload by 50%.

Also when you start to add on the additional equipment you may require for astrophotography, like filters, flatteners, focal reducers, gui.de cameras. The payload starts to creep up.

If you new to astrophotography I suggest you purchase Making Every Photon Count A great book on the insights of astrophotography by Steve Richards, a fellow astronomer on this sight.

Steve

At this moment I have this what comes in the picture. Still need to buy the anti-pollution filter, power bank, dew prevention, modify the DSLR and mount.
And acquisition software APT or SGP, and post processing.
This for now.

Edited November 13, 2019 by Tiago Ramos

[Tiago Ramos]

2 hours ago, sloz1664 said:

Hi Tiago,

If you want to specialise in astrophotography, then the accuracy and load capacity of a mount is a priority. You also have to take into consideration that the stated maximum payload of a mount may be for observational purposes, and if this is the case, the general rule for astrophotography  is to reduce the maximum payload by 50%.

Also when you start to add on the additional equipment you may require for astrophotography, like filters, flatteners, focal reducers, gui.de cameras. The payload starts to creep up.

If you new to astrophotography I suggest you purchase Making Every Photon Count A great book on the insights of astrophotography by Steve Richards, a fellow astronomer on this sight.

Steve

Thanks for the tips, I want to learn a lot, but mostly enjoy, have fun, and taste the sky in all its splendor. Because this is where I feel most relaxed and at peace.

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[des anderson]

A warm  welcome from Essex. Des

[JRM]

Hello Tiago, welcome to the lounge.

 

Rick

[cletrac1922]

Tiago

Welcome from land down under

With AP, you looking at a ZWO camera eventually, and that comes with the ZWO AIR as well, for WiFi connection

For my ED80 on EQ5Pro mount, I use a car jump start battery pack

Mine has dual 12V outlets

Been to astrofests, locally, and powers the mount for a whole week

John

[Anne S]

Ioptron's Cem60 is also a possibility. I found I needed more payload than the eq6 could handle, I started experimenting with two telescopes and cameras to double my imaging acquisition!  It's been out for quite a few years now. Several members on this forum have one. It's much lighter than the eq6.

Having said that, I have the ec version which is excellent but some users have had an issue with the latest software, dated April this year.  There are posts on cloudynights about it. I was lucky and my new mount was still on the older firmware. It works perfectly.
 

I also own an IEQ30pro which is excellent. I'm very happy with Ioptron.

[Tiago Ramos]

On 14/11/2019 at 08:55, Anne S said:

Ioptron's Cem60 is also a possibility. I found I needed more payload than the eq6 could handle, I started experimenting with two telescopes and cameras to double my imaging acquisition!  It's been out for quite a few years now. Several members on this forum have one. It's much lighter than the eq6.

Having said that, I have the ec version which is excellent but some users have had an issue with the latest software, dated April this year.  There are posts on cloudynights about it. I was lucky and my new mount was still on the older firmware. It works perfectly.
 

I also own an IEQ30pro which is excellent. I'm very happy with Ioptron.

Thank you for your feedback.