Stupid question time by Cat : Why would someone ditch a SW 250PX for an ED80 ?

[Catanonia]

Read a thread in another section (George i think) that said his SW 250PX is almost reduntant to a guide scope in favour to his ED80 because he images so much.

Can someone explain the reasoning behind this for me please as I would have thought that 250mm at F5 even with the lower quality due to secondary mirror would have given much nicer results.

Or am I completely off the mark ?

[GazOC]

I'd guess its the conditions in this country not being up to imaging that at focal length.

[Aza]

Depends what you want to image.

Did you install that CCD Calc yet?

If so compare the FOV with each of the scopes.

The 250 will get you in very close to a lot of targets. So a 'larger' target will be impossible.

[brianb]

I'd guess its the conditions in this country not being up to imaging that at focal length.

Or the mount....

[NickH]

ED80 is a great stalwart scope, my most used for night-time imaging by far (over the C11, FL102 etc)...nice field of view, matches the CCD setup I have well, and moveable in minutes/setupppable :-)

[Catanonia]

Depends what you want to image.

Did you install that CCD Calc yet?

If so compare the FOV with each of the scopes.

The 250 will get you in very close to a lot of targets. So a 'larger' target will be impossible.

yes, nice little app.

[Aza]

It might not be such an issue with a DSLR, but when you use a CCD with a smaller chip, your list of targets drops right down when using a 10 inch scope.

[Milamber]

It might not be such an issue with a DSLR, but when you use a CCD with a smaller chip, your list of targets drops right down when using a 10 inch scope.

Well, not really. But it does diminish as your focal length increases which is what I suspect you meant.

Arthur

[MikeD]

It might not be such an issue with a DSLR, but when you use a CCD with a smaller chip, your list of targets drops right down when using a 10 inch scope.

Not necessarily, it just means you need to put more effort in.

I have both scopes, 10" and 80ED and I use the 10" for 90% of my imaging, I just love the close up detail I get with the 10".

The image below of IC1805 is @ 40% of full size.

[Aza]

Dont get me wrong, personally I prefer getting close up with my 8", and rarely use my frac.

Just giving a possible reason to why someone may do a swap of those scopes.

Lovely image you have there, and something I would prefer to attempt.

But I think most people would rather use the refractor to get that FOV in one go!

[Whippy]

I would have thought that there's more smaller imaging targets than larger ones, if I ever get my Mak-Newt setup for imaging I've got a big old list for it to do .

Of course using larger, heavier scopes presents more of a challenge than imaging with smaller ones!

Tony..

[Deneb]

I went from a 8" Newt to a WO66SD, it's so much managable imaging with a refractor, dont get me wrong, I do miss my Newt it gave exceptional close up views, but not as much as imaging with a refractor & getting all the fov.