refractors

[dean7445]

hi all! yet another newbie lol. after many months of watching the sky with my eyes and through bino's and reading countless books and magazines, i've now started to look at what scope i want to go for and i feel a refractor is the way to go. ive narrowed it down to the brasser r152s or the startravel 150.

i was wondering which is the better of the 2 as i cant find any reviews for the bresser .also are there any gadgets i can get for them that would reduce the CA refractors are prone to

many thanks

[GazOC]

Hi Dean,

Welcome SGL. I've got both the Bresser and the StarTravel. IMHO the Bresser gives slightly the better views but its a lot heavier than the StarTravel and is quite picky over collimation (how you align the lenses).

I bought the Bresser as scope only but seeing the mount that it gets bundled with I'm not sure that that setup would be steady enough.

There are filters that reduce the CA in these scopes but they arn't magic, the colour is still there and some people can tolerate it, others can't.

Have you considered the f8 version of the StarTravel, the Evostar? Less CA than the f5 and lighter than the Bresser.

Gaz

[dean7445]

i did look at the evostar,but i'm after the fast focal ratio and wdie fov that those 2 give, which i understand is better for astrophotography which is an aspect i'll be looking to get into. i'm not overly fussed about CA as i'm mainly interested in dso's and was told it only really affects the planets or have i got that wrong lol?

[GazOC]

Yep, its mainly planets visually I don't find it much of a problem on DSOs.

If you want to get into imaging though you might want to look at other options like smaller ED refractors or short focal ratio Newts. There are ways to minimize it but cameras can be pretty unforgiving of the CA (a lot less so than our eyes!) in f5 achromatic refractors .

[dweller25]

Hello Dean and welcome.

I don't know of anyone taking photos with the F/5 achromats - you will get quite a lot of chromatic abberation - even with the larger F/8 models.

For DSO's you need lots of aperture so a 10/12" Newtonian reflector may be a better bet for you.

[dean7445]

Thanks for the advice guys, think i'm gonna take a bit more time and do some more research as to what will be suitable for my needs might even end up with 2 scopes lol!!!

thanks again.

[Kef9]

Get yourself one of these while you still can like I did!

Celestron C100-ED Refractor telescope inc CG5 Mount

[sgazer]

hi,

I don't think the 150 star travel will be ideal for astrophotography and it's not a common choice for this. It's quite heavy and quite expensive for the aperture and will have CA. The evo star is slow focal ratio and huge! Depending on your funds, astrophotography can absorb quite a lot! I would concentrate on the mount, camera and guiding system and get a more reasonably priced reflector or smaller refractor, nothing too big as it puts great demands on the mount.

Have a look at this great (in draft) guide from Olly

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-help/103758-choosing-imaging-scope-your-views.html

[dean7445]

thanks kef9 you just cost me £400!!!! lol that offer was just to good to refuse so i just placed and order and now have a celestron c100-edr with my name on it...that was just the sort of scope i've been searching for!!! and it leaves me with some extra cash to boot.

thanks again.

[Moonshane]

nice buy. you won't regret buying that.

I bet you'll hanker after more aperture in due course though - I did!!

your joke about having two scopes will come true within 6 months I can almost guarantee it

as others have said, imaging is seriously expensive and time consuming but if you want to go down that route you have not made a bad start as I am sure you'll get some decent results with the right camera and drive system.

[Kef9]

thanks kef9 you just cost me £400!!!! lol that offer was just to good to refuse so i just placed and order and now have a celestron c100-edr with my name on it...that was just the sort of scope i've been searching for!!! and it leaves me with some extra cash to boot.

thanks again.

Glad to be of help!!! LOL

I took ages when deciding on my first scope and which type to buy but when I saw this last month I couldn't believe it. For a first scope its a keeper!! You can always add a big light bucket later but you will always have the frac. Also the CG5 mount is stable and you could even put an 11" SCT on it if you wanted. I considered the skymax 127 and the startravel. I was put off by newts because of the collimation and as a beginner I wanted a scope I could just take outside and use without any issues like cool down.

I wanted AZ GOTO but when I realised you needed power packs and you had to allign it anyway I thought whats the point? Best to learn the sky properly.

Just be aware that you will soon want eyepieces with more mag because the 20mm plossl that comes with it is very limiting. I've already purchased a 13mm ethos and I'm only just starting! My advice is to get a really high powered eyepiece first so you can view the moon and planets. Then add other bits such as a wide field eyepiece and a 2" diagonal.

Anyway mate I hope you have lots of fun!!!

[Kef9]

I should get commission LOL!!!

[GazOC]

Very nice setup and a great price.