150pl on EQ3 or Skymax 127 on AZ GTi

[Mr niall]

Hi all,

I'm trying to achieve a reasonably handy lunar / planetary setup on a modest budget (aren't we all!). This would include imaging - although the camera is a different issue so we'll leave that for now.

I've narrowed it down to a choice of two, but they are very different. And I'm not sure which would be more suitable, and they are almost the same money....

I can get the Skymax 127 on an AZGTi for £445 (I can't believe FLO reduced this! Brilliant). It is super compact, well supported, well loved, largely bomb proof, easy to use and so on. I've had a skymax 127 and I do know it is a joy to use. However - I wouldn't really need to take advantage of the Goto (not that that is an issue). It is appealing to think I could use the mount for astrophotography - but then I'd need to buy the wedge, and figure out how to polar align (which I think means buying sharpcap pro or an ASI air or something, which completely torpedoes my budget). Also the aperture is a bit smaller than the alternative (and actually a wee bit smaller again if what I hear about true aperture is true). Would that annoy me?... I don't know.

Or.. I can get a 150pl on an EQ3 - and the Upgraded motors with ST4 port - and a polar scope, for about £465-470. The big advantages is that IMHO it is by far the coolest looking scope ever (vital consideration...), bigger aperture, the mount is a known entity. And I could definitely use it "out of the box" for imaging with my DSLR too (before anyone says anything, I have had a star adventurer and eq3 in the past I am just talking widefield and milky way stuff with the dslr, I'm just thinking a step up from my clockwork minitrack). However - it is a beast. A big beast! And that is a consideration. As a system it is probably a bit less versatile than the AZGTI. Unfortunately the full EQ3 pro package at £589 is just a bit too expensive.

So I'm not sure - I like the AZGTi for its size, weight, versatility, connectivity - and I'm a fan of Maks. But I'm worried I would possibly rue the lack of extra light grab that the 150pl offered.

Has anyone used both systems? Or more specifically has anyone used the 150pl on an EQ3 for any serious planetary work? How did you find it?

Many thanks

[Mr niall]

Really does nobody have an opinion on this? I thought people loved a good "scope v scope" battle!

[Owmuchonomy]

Hi, I think maybe the post tries to cover too many options so folk are a bit reluctant to jump in.  It mentions twice that you want to do serious planetary work.  In that case focal length is your best friend and you don't need an EQ mount.  So a big MAK or SCT is a good option.  I get very good results with my 9.25 SCT on an AZ EQ6 mount.  Budget for a high frame rate CMOS camera to match your long fl scope, a decent barlow or better still a powermate and potentially an ADC and UV/IR filters.  I use an ASI174MM and an ASI 290MM.  If you want colour you will need filters or good results can be obtained with the ASI 224MC.  You will also need a means of capturing a lot of data, fast and then processing it.  There are some great planetary imagers on here; one example is @astroavani.  He is lucky to have access to a 14"SCT and produces amazing images.

[Ags]

A Skymax 127 sits nicely on an AZ-GTi, while the 150PL would be undermounted on an EQ3 I think. You definitely don't need EQ for planetary imaging and I find my AZ-GTi and C6 very good for many applications. I studied images on Astrobin and came to the conclusion that 150 mm aperture was the least I needed for satisfactory images of the planets.

[jonathan]

The lack of responses could be because you've asked very specific questions and maybe nobody has the answers or experience you've asked for. 

I can say from my own experience that my regular Skywatcher 150P (fatter, not as long as the 150PL) sits nicely on my Celestron Omni CG-4 mount and tripod, but that is a slightly different beast to the EQ3-2, and I have no experience with the EQ3 (which I presume is the base model, not as good as the EQ3-2?)

You already said that the 150PL on EQ3 is considered large and too expensive for your liking, so perhaps consider the Skymax 127 on mount of your choice - I'd say tracking is important but not goto so you could save a few quid there, if you can stretch to an EQ3-2 with RA motor drive and a polar scope then that should be all you need to achieve good tracking for planetary or wide field long exposure photography (rough polar alignment isn't that difficult with an EQ3-2).

From what I've read, you're likely to want to use video to record planets and use software to extract the best frames for stacking, as often planets are fairly low in the sky and suffer from atmospheric turbulance.  Video from a smart phone or webcam can product very good results so consider allowing for the extra weight and mounting of a phone cradle / smart phone.  Reasonable tracking and alignment will be necessary, but goto is not really needed unless you're not confident that you can find things like Neptune or Uranus (they'll just be tiny dots anyway, tiny discs at best even in a large telescope).