Mounts for Refractor

[AJSullivan]

I need a little advice on what mount I should consider buying.

I have myself a 80mm semi apo refractor but its currently mounted on an SLT 60 mount. This manages the weight for visual but as soon as i put my DSLR on it its a different story. Its also only an Alt/Z mount.

Ive been looking at some GEM ones with and without GoTo. The EQ6 sounds way to heavy and OTT for my needs. The HEQ5 also sounds a little much. The two choices i think i have are EQ5 and EQ3-2. How much difference are their between them. Will they both be good for astrophotography?

Are their any other options?

Thanks

Alex

[tinvek]

ive got a c80ed on a eq 3-2 but im swapping to an eq6 when i go to a pernament pier setup.

it seems to manage ok at the moment with my dslr on the back of the scope but

the basic rule for imaging seems to be buy the best mount you can to ensure that you've got one less thing to worry about.

also, and im not sure how much difference it makes, when i got my mount and with the 6" newt, the previous owner had replaced the eq3-2 tripod with one which was more substantial.

[gary1968]

I have a CG5GT and am now using it with a 6"sct and 80ed side by side. The mount seems to handle this very well for visual and am now starting to try my hand at imaging so time will tell how the mount handles this.

You will be putting a 80mm frac on it and want to do imaging so I think the CG5 would be the way to go as the eq3 might be a bit underrated with the dslr on it.

Just my opinion but I am a newbie to imaging so I might be WAY off......

Gary

[GazOC]

I don't image but have owned the EQ5 and EQ3/2 and the later isn't much lighter or more portable than the former. I don't think you'd be gaining much (bar a few quid ) picking the EQ 3/2 over the EQ5.

[AJSullivan]

Thanks for the replies. The EQ5 seems to be the way to go then it seems. Im considering getting the goto as it seems cheaper to but it with it already attached than to get it at a later date.

comments?

[Merlin66]

I bought a HEQ5Pro mounting with SynScan GOTO a couple of years ago and it has performed 110% for me.

A great mounting!!

[jgs001]

Alex, I have my C80ED on my NexStar SLT. To attach the dSLR and track you need the balance shifted towards the rear of the scope

[dpastern]

Well, from what advice I've been given, go for the best mount that you can afford. There's not only the mount weight to consider, but the accuracy of the drive, which is *critical* to any long imaging sessions. The refractor, and any DSLR shouldn't be too much weight, unless you own a D3/1D series DSLR ;-) If you're only going to image short time period stuff, then yeah, as far as I understand, a cheaper mount will be OK. I'm new to a lot of this (but learning fast)!

Dave

[lunator]

Dave

I can recommend the EQ5 for short exposure imaging.

The EQ5 can be picked up very cheaply secondhand.

Cheers

Ian

[dpastern]

Ian,

I'm thinking the same basic mount myself, to go with a Skywatcher Equinox ED100 refractor as a temporary measure until I've saved enough money for a Losmandy G11 + gemini and probably a 10" Astro Tech RC. The Skywatcher will get used as a guide scope then and the EQ5 mount as a spare/backup, or I might even get a Newtonian ;-) All things planned for the next year ;-)

Dave