EQ5 or HEQ5?

[sadikberkevren]

I want to observe and take photos of planets and DSO. I'm thinking of buying a Skywatcher 150P-DS. I will not do astrophotography professionaly. Is EQ5 usefull?

Edited August 15, 2022 by sadikberkevren

[nephilim]

The EQ5 is a good solid mount. Years ago I had my Skywatcher 200p mounted on one so it'll handle your 150P-DS easily. If your only going to dabble in a bit of planetary photography its easy enough to move the scope by hand so the EQ5 will be adequate for a bit of that . DSO's on the other hand are completely different to image.
For planetary you ideally need to film the subject (large numbers of short video clips & then run it through a program such as Sharpcap). For DSO's you ideally need a motor driven EQ mount to take long exposures (in fact i'd say its imperative to have one if you want to make a very involving hobby a little bit easier). 

What you really need to think about is how much photography you think you'll do. This is an impossible question to answer though in reality. The reason I ask though is that you dont want to buy the EQ5 & realise you really want to give AP a decent go & you then have to buy a good mount for AP such as your aforementioned HEQ5 (Which in my & many others opinions is a very good, capable mount for AP) Equally you might buy the HEQ5 try AP, decide its not really for you & then you've spent £££ on a mount thats really over the top when its only used for visual.

So i'm afraid theres no real answer I can give, its really up to you & which way you want to go. What I would strongly advise is buying this book (Link below) which will give you a great deal of info for someone starting out in AP (it will also potentially save you money buy advising not just what to buy but also what NOT to buy). The worst thing you can do & I think pretty much everyone on SGL whose been down this path before (myself very much included) is to not do enough research first. Its very easy to make the wrong purchase when it comes to AP & believe me, AP can be a VERY expensive hobby meaning purchase mistakes can be equally as expensive.

Good luck & heres the book https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html


Steve

[Carbon Brush]

A good policy is to buy the largest mount that your wallet, and your back, will handle.
That gives you flexibility on future scope purchases.

If your budget allows a bigger mount, look at the storage and setup situation.
For storage, they are not that different.
If it is 3 flights of stairs and a 100 metre trek down the garden, an EQ5 wins.

An extreme example is my alter D6. It handles scopes up to 40Kg, so I never think about loading.
It has held anything up to 8" & 10" newts for side by side comparison but more usually my 20Kg MN78.
However, the mount tips the scales at around 35Kg, Fortunately it is on a pier so I have only had to handle it once😄

At the other extreme, you can just about carry an EQ5 & tripod in one hand, 150 scope in the other.
Not quite grab and go. But not a big effort to carry.

HTH, David.

 

[malc-c]

Having used both mounts - go for the HEQ5.  By the time you've added a guidescope, cameras and associated cabling the EQ5 will be on the weight limit.  The HEQ5 also has better stepper motors giving you more precision when tracking / guiding