Best OTA/mount combo (with a view to astrophotography) on a budget.

[cmwatt]

Hi folks,

I'm pretty much new to astronomy although I've always had an interest in getting into it more as a hobby and also perhaps combine it with my interest in photography.

I did have a Skywatcher Explorer 200 on an EQ5 a few years ago but never really used it much due to various reasons (time, collimation, weather...) When I did get to use it, it was fantastic I must say. I just wish I had a motor/goto setup then. I eventually sold it locally and must say it was sad to see it go, but I needed the money.

Anyway, I'm looking to get another one soon but this time i'm looking at a setup of about £500-600. I've been doing a bit of looking around on the net and was looking at a few different combinations of scope and mount. What I'd like to know is what would be the best for getting into this as a hobby, with the option of being able to upgrade.

Here's what I'm considering:

- Celestron CG-5 GOTO with a Skywatcher Explorer 150P DS (if that combo is possible?) - £630

- Skywatcher HEQ5 (dual axis motor drives inc) with a SW Explorer 150P DS - £630

- Skywatcher EQ5 (with SynScan kit) with a SW Explorer 150P DS - £625

- Skywatcher EQ5 (daul axis motor drives bought seperate) with a SW 200P DS - £545

If anyone has any other suggestions/recommendations I'd appreciate it. I'd like to mainly use it for DSO's, nubulae, glaxies etc but wouldn't mind looking at planets and the moon too. I have a Canon 400D which is quite light-weight for a DSLR and would mount it directly on the focuser or sometimes piggyback it ontop of the scope for wide angle shots. The scope will most likely be used in my back garden most of the time, but might want to occasioanlly take it a bit further out of town as I live on the outskirts of Inverness.

Thanks,

Craig.

[russ]

If you perhaps widened your search to the secondhand market you could easily source a HEQ5 Pro and Explorer 200P for your budget. The HEQ5 Pro is no more than £500 secondhand and there have been a couple for £250 lately. While the 200P ranges from £100 to £150 for the OTA. Getting a lot more for your money that way.

[philming]

IMHO go for option #1

This mount is really great for the price.

[cmwatt]

If you perhaps widened your search to the secondhand market you could easily source a HEQ5 Pro and Explorer 200P for your budget. The HEQ5 Pro is no more than £500 secondhand and there have been a couple for £250 lately. While the 200P ranges from £100 to £150 for the OTA. Getting a lot more for your money that way.

Thanks for your advice Russ, I had been trying to look for 2nd hand equipment but haven't really found much or it's been too far away to pick up. Do you have any suggestions as to where to look for 2nd hand stuff?

IMHO go for option #1

This mount is really great for the price.

Yeah, the CG-5 GOTO is on offer at the minute which seems a great deal really. It has the 2" legs as well I believe plus the GOTO so seems to be the better choice unless anyone else can advise otherwise. I'd love the GOTO, then I could link the scope and camera up to my computer. Just to be clear, I take it the SW Explorer 150PDS will attach to the CG-5 GT ok?

[russ]

The 150PDS will have no problems connecting to the CG5. All the mounts you listed use the same vixen style dovetail.

The CG5 is a good value mount for what it offers. The HEQ5 in option 2 is a better mount but has no GOTO. While the EQ5 Synscan is also good value, basically the same mount as the CG5. Pros and cons to them both. The CG5 has the better legs, although you'll get no benefit from the 2" legs over the 1.75" legs with the 150PDS on board. The CG5 has an easier to use GOTO system and the GOTO system itself has been integrated into the mount in a much neater way.

The EQ5 Pro by contrast looks nicer in the white. The 1.75" legs won't be at a disadvantage with a 6" Newt on board. The motors used are massively superior to the CG5 motors, this is the real big bonus of the EQ5. It uses the same motors as used on the HEQ5 and EQ6. The CG5 motors are tiny and whine. The EQ5 is firmware upgradeable. The EQ5 can do everything the CG5 can plus a load more.

Basically its swings and roundabouts for both.

[Helen]

The CG5 is VERY noisey though - so much so that I thought I couldn't use it in my garden without annoying the neighbours. Its such a shame, because otherwise its a really nice mount, and the celestron software/handset is very good.

Helen

[philming]

Yes the CG5 is noisy, but well so it goes. I'd rather have a good, well equiped and noisy mount rather than an as good, but less equiped one that'd be less noisy ;-)

It's not THAT bad...

And yes a 150 will fit on it with no problem.

So I got a CG5, and have been doing some unguided images with it (and with a Mak 127). The good thing about goto is you dont HAVE to have it hooked to a computer. If you're going to guide, I've heard (but not tested yet) that you didn't need a GPUSB interface with this one. Just connect the computer to the hand control, and here you go, PHD and others will do their job this way.

[Bizibilder]

May I suggest a different approach? Get a copy of "Every Photon Counts" by Steve Richards from FLO (Usual disclaimer - apart from it being my astrophotography bible!) and "read and inwardly digest". It explains all the kit you will need for astrophotos from basic to fully equipped. It explains why each decision should be made for the kit you need and, in the long run, will save you a lot of money by pointing out the pitfalls and mistakes. Worth every penny!!

[sixela]

I'd agree with the others that a 150mm on a good EQ5 mount makes a lot of sense, and it's also not undermounted.

A HEQ5 with recent Syntrek drives is even more stable and would possibly allow you to use a larger tube later, but it's not as transportable and obviously more expensive.

GoTo is a bit of a double edged sword: it's vey handy for photography (you don't have to search for the correct area), but if it's expensive enough to force compromises somewhere else it's not really worth it, as it's not essential. For deep sky photography you'll be taking subs for a lot longer than you're looking for an object anyway, and for planetary and moon photography you hardly need GoTo to find the object.

If you get an HEQ5 with Syntrek drives, though, upgrading to GoTo is just changing the hand controller. On the EQ5 it's a bit different, as the better drive train is a copy of the MT1 from Vixen ("DK3") but the Skywatcher GoTo uses its own drives (so the upgrade is drives plus hahnd controller) and the CG5-GT is another flavour that has everything integrated.

Do try to pick a tube with a dual speed focuser: if you ever try to do e.g. planetary photography, focusing will be hell without one. The BlackLine tubes from Skywatcher have one.

Or obviously, if you're tight on a budget now but don't mind spending some money later on, you could get a cheaper tube now with the intent of buying a Moonlite focuser later.

[adamsp123]

May I suggest a different approach? Get a copy of "Every Photon Counts" by Steve Richards from FLO (Usual disclaimer - apart from it being my astrophotography bible!) and "read and inwardly digest". It explains all the kit you will need for astrophotos from basic to fully equipped. It explains why each decision should be made for the kit you need and, in the long run, will save you a lot of money by pointing out the pitfalls and mistakes. Worth every penny!!

I couldn't agree more, get this and read before splashing out on hardware

[cmwatt]

Ok, I've purchased the book now from the FLO website today so hopefully that will help me decide.

Just saw a youtube video of the CG-5 GT and I must say it sounds very noisey indeed! We've got neighbours all around us, so that might be an issue. Just out of interest, does anyone know if the standard HEQ5 would provide better accuracy/tracking than the EQ5 Pro? My budget wouldn't be able to cater for the HEQ5 Pro. I'd also like to perhaps get an 8" OTA at some point down the road, but probably not for a while. I know some folk think an 8" on an EQ5 is not very stable.

Thanks.

[jgs001]

You've taken the correct first step with Steve's book.

For serious deep sky, the HEQ5 is considered to be the minimum mount. In SynTrek flavour it's the same mount and drives but without the fancy handset of the goto. Sounds like it might be an issue, but it's not, as you're likely to end up with a laptop or PC nearby for guiding anyway, and the mount can just as easily be controlled by the same laptop for full Goto. This is how mine is working, and it saves you money on the goto handset.

[sixela]

does anyone know if the standard HEQ5 would provide better accuracy/tracking than the EQ5 Pro? My budget wouldn't be able to cater for the HEQ5 Pro.

Depends on what you mean by "standard" HEQ5. You do need to get a newer one with Syntrek drive train (i.e. the same of the GoTo version but without the GoTo handcontroller).

The one that's sharing a drive train with the original non-GoTo EQ6 is so-so unless you'd like to tinker with the mount and changing the gears.

But you don't need to get the SynScan/ SkyScan one with GoTo.

If it's white, it's a Syntrek. Same thing if it's an Orion Sirius EQ-G (black). If it's black, it can either be an old non-Syntrek or an old Syntrek. The last ones are the best choice (it's not white, so it sells for less) but like mushrooms it's hard to tell the difference with the non-Syntrek ones.

[adamsp123]

The CG5 is very noisy at full slew rate when using goto, but you can set the speed lower and a lot less noise in manual mode, so it is possible to reduce the noise by manually slewing near the object and goto for the last bit.

Having said that for the money the mount is good and beefy.

[dmahon]

Save yourself £120 and get the non-GoTo Syntrek version and then connect it to a laptop to provide the GoTo functionality (assuming you have a laptop).