Astro Imaging telescope?- 70mm to 80mm.

[hadyn42]

Hello All.

Just asking for some advice on buying a suitable telescope primary for imaging with some viewing / observing the heavens above.

I have been looking at the following telescopes listed below: 

(1) Williams Optics ZS73 II with flattener and rotolock connector, with the 50 mm guide-scope

(2)  WO GT71 with 0.08x reducer / flattener with the 50mm guides-cope and rotorlock connector.  

(3) Also considering SW 80mm Espirit with flattener. I have seen reports on not being able to attach a suitable guide-scope to this telescope due to the length of the dew-shield.

My mount by the way is a SW HEQ5 Pro with the belt mod just done on it last year at Lucksall by FLO. 

I do have a SW 120mm Equinox telescope which I bought a couple of years ago and just use it for observing the night skies. 

Looking forward to some great advice from you folk out there please?

A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to you All.

Best wishes,

Hadyn - Isle of Man

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2019 by hadyn42

[newbie alert]

Esprit is miles better than the w/o..

[Stardust1]

I have used the Esprit 150ED, build quality was good. Not the quality of the tier 1 (Tak, TEC, AP), but close. Sorry can't comment on the smaller sibling Esprit 80, but if it's as good as the 150ED, then it's a winner. Can't comment on the WO, I haven't used those. Good luck!

 

[vlaiv]

How about TS 80mm F/6 apo triplet? I have one and it is very good imaging scope. Will need field flattener, and I think x0.75 Riccardi FF/FR will do excellent job there making scope F/4.5, very fast little thing.

Altair Astro has the same scope (I think) under their brand name here:

https://www.altairastro.com/altair-wave-series-80mm-f6-super-ed-triplet-apo-80-480.html

 

[Ken82]

Why not first try out the Sky-Watcher equinox you already have ? It’s an excellent scope paired with a flattener

[Robny]

I have and use the WO GT71 with 0.8 reducer, I Have no complaints from  build quality or optical quality, also used it for a time on the HEQ5

[baggywrinkle]

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/reviews/telescopes/primalucelab-airy-apo-65f-apochromatic-refractor/

I have this side by side on my LX850. Superb wee OTA, great focuser and a lovely clamping mechanism for properly securing the camera.

The images below were taken with this and a Canon 650D mod'd camera.

The built in field flattener makes an amazing difference.