Hi All, newbie here advice on upgrades

[Jim Hardy]

Hi All...... Still awaiting the arrival of my Skywatcher Evostar 150 and eq6.......but just in case Santa is listening I have a few questions regarding useful additions. 

I hope to do planet and Deep Sky Object photography. I have a Nikon D7100 but would like advice on if the Nikon would be better than a dedicated eyepiece ccd camera (£150 range). 

Also your thoughts on the Orion zoom eyepiece.

Also thoughts about upgrading the standard skywatcher 9x50 finder scope  to maybe the Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED.

Also Remote focus controller 

Also the 90deg adaptor for the polar scope 

Thanks All

[Shimrod]

11 minutes ago, Jim Hardy said:

Hi All...... Still awaiting the arrival of my Skywatcher Evostar 150 and eq6.......but just in case Santa is listening I have a few questions regarding useful additions. 

I hope to do planet and Deep Sky Object photography. I have a Nikon D7100 but would like advice on if the Nikon would be better than a dedicated eyepiece ccd camera (£150 range). 

Also your thoughts on the Orion zoom eyepiece.

Also thoughts about upgrading the standard skywatcher 9x50 finder scope  to maybe the Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED.

Also Remote focus controller 

Also the 90deg adaptor for the polar scope 

Thanks All

I would expect the Nikon to be better for DSO and certainly more forgiving in terms of 'goto' accuracy as you have a much larger sensor. I would stick with the Nikon while you get some experience.

A focus motor is good idea as it removes a source of 'wobble' whenever you touch the focuser - probably not essential - you have a sturdy telescope and mount.

If you really want to push the Santa budget, you might want to consider a Ioptron ipolar or QHY Polemaster for polar alignment. I have the former and it really speeds up the alignment process - it does however require using a laptop - if you are not using a laptop for anything else, then it adds to setup time.

[Cosmic Geoff]

The Nikon would be suitable for deep space imaging in that you get a lot of sensor for your money compared with dedicated astro cameras.

For planetary imaging you should get a dedicated planetary video camera as it will have a faster frame rate than the Nikon. Serious planetary imagers use a planetary video camera.

With a solid mount like the EQ6 you should be able to manage without a focus motor.

I do not know anything about the Orion zoom eyepiece.  A lot of these eyepieces are clones of each other (and look the same in sales photos).  Of the cheaper models, some work fine and some are awful.  Be aware that a common feature is that at the longer focal length of the zoom, the field of view is restricted compared with a standard eyepiece, while at short focal length the apparent field is much wider.

A RACI or right-angle finder would be less of a pain in the neck than the straight-thru finder.  Same applies to the 90 deg polar scope adapter if you feel inclined to buy one.

[tonylumley]

 Jim Hardy. big thumbs up for the QHY pole Master, just fitted it on my EQ6R-pro and used it last night for the first time and had the best alignment I have ever achieved in about 6 minutes, , no more trying to get my aged back to bend so i could use the polar scope, and regards your camera, I use a Nikon D7200 with happy (to me) results, so , in my opinion, don't rush to buy a dedicated camera till you have spent a bit of time using your D7100 first, there will be plenty of other "must haves" as you go deeper into this hobby.