Skywatcher 72ED vs William Optics ZS73

[Celestron4]

I am looking at buying a new telescope but have not yet decided on what to go for. I am mainly focused on deep sky Astro photography. My current 6” SCT works well for imaging galaxies but it’s large focal length (940mm with the Celestron f6.3 reducer/Flattener in place) is somewhat limiting for larger targets like M31, NGC 7000 (North America Nebula), NGC 1499 (California Nebula), etc. I am therefore looking at a telescope that is able to provide a decently wide FOV (with a modified Canon EOS600D or similar) to image these targets while having a large enough focal length to allow me to photograph some smaller objects such as NGC 281 (Pacman Nebula), NGC 7380 (Wizard nebula), etc. 
 

The best options seem to be the Skywatcher Evostar 72ED Pro, Skywatcher Evostar 80ED Pro or William Optics Zenithstar 73. Which one is my best option? I know I’ll need to get reducers/Flatteners either way. My budget is around the £500-600 mark, I don’t mind doing a little bit over that and am hoping to go for a refractor if possible. 

 

 

[KP82]

1 hour ago, Celestron4 said:

I am looking at buying a new telescope but have not yet decided on what to go for. I am mainly focused on deep sky Astro photography. My current 6” SCT works well for imaging galaxies but it’s large focal length (940mm with the Celestron f6.3 reducer/Flattener in place) is somewhat limiting for larger targets like M31, NGC 7000 (North America Nebula), NGC 1499 (California Nebula), etc. I am therefore looking at a telescope that is able to provide a decently wide FOV (with a modified Canon EOS600D or similar) to image these targets while having a large enough focal length to allow me to photograph some smaller objects such as NGC 281 (Pacman Nebula), NGC 7380 (Wizard nebula), etc. 
 

The best options seem to be the Skywatcher Evostar 72ED Pro, Skywatcher Evostar 80ED Pro or William Optics Zenithstar 73. Which one is my best option? I know I’ll need to get reducers/Flatteners either way. My budget is around the £500-600 mark, I don’t mind doing a little bit over that and am hoping to go for a refractor if possible. 

 

 

The 72/73 at f/6 is considerably wider than the 80 at f/7.5. The WO ZS73 is also sold under many other brands such as TS Optics, Altair and Tecnosky (AT if you're from the states) at a cheaper price. Personally I've got the Altair version.

[Skyline]

Having received a new 72ed, they now come with a aluminium push fit telescope cap instead of the screw on version. Even though I liked the screw on version, I just did not like the thought of the metal filings dropping onto the lens.

[Shimonu]

I really like the included bahtinov mask on my Z73 which is also neatly built in to the cap. Otherwise I felt the dovetail wasn't very useful as soon as you start putting camera and other stuff on it, you're really pushing it when it comes to balancing DEC.

[badhex]

I'm only a visual observer but I have both the SW 80ED and the WO ZS73.

As mentioned the the ZS73 has a more suitable F ratio for AP at F5.9, and it definitely edges out in build quality. I'd also add that the image seems a touch sharper and brighter, at least for visual. 

I like that it is quite a compact size vs the ED80 and I don't feel like I miss the extra aperture. Regarding balancing, the earlier WO versions (and maybe others brands?) had an issue where you couldn't have the dovetail too far back on the scope as the focus locking screw was in the way. The newer v3 has spacers between the rings and dovetail to avoid the problem, which may help with the balancing mentioned above. 

[Celestron4]

Thanks very much for the help. The ZS73 seems like the best option for a reasonable price (looking at FLO). I’ve heard similar things about the dovetail on the 72ED (possibly being too short to balance properly?). 

On a side note, I am currently borrowing a friends astromodified Canon EOS 600D which has worked quite well but will need to return it at some point (likely the end of the summer). Looking at cheapastrophotography.com there are quite a few to choose from, are there any in particular I should be looking out for? The other option is to move towards one-shot colour cameras which is the best to go for on a limited budget? 

[Lee_P]

I briefly had a ZS73 as an upgrade to my 80ED. The ZS73 was definitely in a different league, so I guess that would also be the case when comparing it to a 72ED. I had backfocus issues with my ZS73 though, so returned it as faulty. I bought an Askar FRA400 instead -- a bit beyond your stated budget, but you don't need to buy a flatterer for it. 

[Celestron4]

Thank you very much for your help! Seems like it’s worth spending a bit more on the telescope. Is the Altair 72 EDF the WO ZS73 equivalent? Looks like a good price (£499) but out of stock at the moment.