To wedge or not to wedge

[NosyTrader]

Hi all,

I've recently got some time back in the evenings (kids are growing up a bit), so I've started heading out and have the bug back for getting back into astrophotography. I've very much an amateur. My kit list at the moment is Celestron Nexstar Evo 8 and Nikon 3500. I'd like to do more deep space photography with longer exposures. 

Ideally I would just buy an eq mount such as the Celestron AVX but I am also tempted by the HD Pro Wedge due to the lower cost. I've spent a lot of time on the forums to understand what the general opinion and and it seems to be mixed. What I don't want to do is buy the wedge and find that I have a load of issues that would haven't been evident if I'd just gone for the EQ mount to start.

Any advice appreciated!

Kind regards,

Firoze

 

 

Edited September 17, 2020 by NosyTrader

[Cosmic Geoff]

Which mount did you get with the Celestron Nexstar 8 (and is this the C8 SCT?) The popular entry level SE mount is not suited for astrophotography, wedge or no wedge - there is too much wobble and backlash.  A lot of people buy a SCT and wedge with the intention of doing astrophotography, find out the hard way that this was a bad idea and either sell up the whole outfit or buy a german equatorial mount.  Indeed I have seen it written that this is the reason that SCTs are often surprisingly cheap second hand....

One issue quoted is that polar alignment is such a pain that you would only willingly want to do it once and leave the outfit permanently set up.

[NosyTrader]

22 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Which mount did you get with the Celestron Nexstar 8 (and is this the C8 SCT?) The popular entry level SE mount is not suited for astrophotography, wedge or no wedge - there is too much wobble and backlash.  A lot of people buy a SCT and wedge with the intention of doing astrophotography, find out the hard way that this was a bad idea and either sell up the whole outfit or buy a german equatorial mount.  Indeed I have seen it written that this is the reason that SCTs are often surprisingly cheap second hand....

One issue quoted is that polar alignment is such a pain that you would only willingly want to do it once and leave the outfit permanently set up.

Hi, I actually miswrote that. It's the Nexstar Evolution 8, which comes with the standard Computerized Altitude-Azimuth Single Fork Arm. I didn't realise that the polar alignment could potentially be more difficult with a wedge. I've watched a few Youtube videos where this didn't come out. I guess unless there is much improvement between the SE mount and the Evo mount, then perhaps a wedge is not the way to go and Eq mount. Appreciate you taking time to respond.

Edited September 17, 2020 by NosyTrader

[Waldemar]

Before even thinking of starting to do ap with a SCT mounted on an AVX, please buy this book: "making every photon count" 
it will save you money, frustration and heartaches.... The AVX is a nice mount for visual, not for ap.
Same goes for the C8, very nice scope, but because of the long fl, very skill demanding, not really suited for beginning imagers, so: bad combination...

A better combo would be for example an ED80 refractor on a CEM25.
Of course many other combinations are possible, but you are sort of thinking about the most demanding one...

In fact an EQ mount is kind of a 'must' for ap.

[NosyTrader]

2 minutes ago, Waldemar said:

Before even thinking of starting to do ap with a SCT mounted on an AVX, please buy this book: "making every photon count" 
it will save you money, frustration and heartaches.... The AVX is a nice mount for visual, not for ap.
Same goes for the C8, very nice scope, but because of the long fl, very skill demanding, not really suited for beginning imagers, so: bad combination...

A better combo would be for example an ED80 refractor on a CEM25.
Of course many other combinations are possible, but you are sort of thinking about the most demanding one...

In fact an EQ mount is kind of a 'must' for ap.

Many thanks for the recommendation! I’ve not heard of this book, so will definitely check it out! 

[Shimrod]

2 hours ago, NosyTrader said:

Hi, I actually miswrote that. It's the Nexstar Evolution 8, which comes with the standard Computerized Altitude-Azimuth Single Fork Arm. I didn't realise that the polar alignment could potentially be more difficult with a wedge. I've watched a few Youtube videos where this didn't come out. I guess unless there is much improvement between the SE mount and the Evo mount, then perhaps a wedge is not the way to go and Eq mount. Appreciate you taking time to respond.

I had a Meade LX90 and bought a wedge for that to try astrophotography. It was a nightmare (not because of the 8"SCT), but it added extra time to set up and the wedge itself is a an extra heavy lump of metal to cart around. A wedge might be suitable for a permanent installation, but if like me you have to set up each time, it just extended the whole process of getting ready- upwards of 40minutes and getting the polar alignment correct was always a challenge.

I now have an AVX with both a 80ed ds pro and an 8" EdgeHD, which I've owned for just over 12 months. I've not encountered any of the heartaches @Waldemar refers to, although I have only just started down the AP route - maybe that is something I will discover this year. There have been various upgrades to the AVX over time (mine is a 2019 version) and certainly the earlier versions had issues. For me, the AVX gives me the right balance of portability and performance - anything bigger would not be used without a permanent observatory. I have starsense and an ipolar which make setting up much quicker.

The most common  mount I see recommended on here for AP beginners is the Skywatcher HEQ5-PRO, and the nice thing about that mount is that there are options available to upgrade its performance at a later date (which does appeal to the inner geek in me, and maybe I would have bought one instead of the AVX had I been reading here first).

[NosyTrader]

25 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

I had a Meade LX90 and bought a wedge for that to try astrophotography. It was a nightmare (not because of the 8"SCT), but it added extra time to set up and the wedge itself is a an extra heavy lump of metal to cart around. A wedge might be suitable for a permanent installation, but if like me you have to set up each time, it just extended the whole process of getting ready- upwards of 40minutes and getting the polar alignment correct was always a challenge.

I now have an AVX with both a 80ed ds pro and an 8" EdgeHD, which I've owned for just over 12 months. I've not encountered any of the heartaches @Waldemar refers to, although I have only just started down the AP route - maybe that is something I will discover this year. There have been various upgrades to the AVX over time (mine is a 2019 version) and certainly the earlier versions had issues. For me, the AVX gives me the right balance of portability and performance - anything bigger would not be used without a permanent observatory. I have starsense and an ipolar which make setting up much quicker.

The most common  mount I see recommended on here for AP beginners is the Skywatcher HEQ5-PRO, and the nice thing about that mount is that there are options available to upgrade its performance at a later date (which does appeal to the inner geek in me, and maybe I would have bought one instead of the AVX had I been reading here first).

Thanks for this. great to hear about your experience of having actually used one. Like you I have to setup every time I want to use it, so it sounds like the wedge would be a PITA! Appreciate the feedback!