Narrowed my choice to 2 scopes.

[walterp]

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=skywatcher_explorer_130p_AZ_goto&cat=133

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=slt130

I am new so would prefer the goto otherwise I think I will get frustrated and give up trying to find objects.

The goto would suit my needs until I become more experienced, also I would like to take a few photos and appreciate that these scopes are not very good for astrophotography.

Why are they bad for photo's? Is it the weight of the camera on the mount?

Would they give me acceptable photos?

Are these scopes also any good for terrestial viewing?

My budget is around £300 and I would be open to suggestion.

[Psychobilly]

Whilst an ALt/Az mount is not ideal for astrophotography it doesnt mean that you cant achieve soem excellent reults its just you need to tackle the task differently.

One of the Forums members jgs001 (john) takes some amazing shots using his Alt/Az setup... he is also an extremely talanted photographer as a quick look at the Photography section of the lounge will show you...

Perhaps John will do a quick "how to" on Alt/Az Astrophotography... as I suspect uite a few new members would be interested in learning waht can be done with their kit...

TO save you havign to search back through the imaging sectiuons I have taken the liberty to provide some links to some of the threads on Johns images...

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,35524.0.html

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,33649.0.html

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,35854.0.html

Billy...

[kniclander]

hi Walt, for some people (well, maybe just me) learning the sky and finding things yourself is a big part of the fun - there's a lot of books and software to help you. If you bought Turn Left at Orion and download Stellarium you'd be finding things in no time. Then, after a few months you could be hunting down faint galaxies......... (as long a your skies aren't too Lp'd). With £300 you could get an 8" dob plus nice eyepiece.

Then again, I would think that taking a decent image of a DSO is fantastic too...

Whatever you do, a) I'm sure you will love it and within 6 months you'll want a new scope

good luck

Dan