To buy, or not to buy!

[am3x]

Jambo!

Hi guys, hope your all good? like sum of you know im currently in kenya for a few months, and as i have a bit of free time my mind is starting to wonder lol! i have a astromaster 114eq on a eq2 mount no synscan or motordrives! i was wondering as a little treat to my self i was going to upgrade mount to a Skywatcher AZ GOTO mount! its around 200 pounds which is all im willing to spend at the moment! but all in all a nice upgrade to goto wud be good! my future intension is just to do a little a bit of photography, nothing big just to really mess about with a webcam and find my way around! i couldnt warrent spending 500+ on a mount this early into my new hobbie! which is understandable! my question is! is the mount capable for what i want it for? is the tracking good enough for webcam photography? or is there any other ideas you guys have?

Thanks guys and girls!

Take care, from the equator!

Alex

[chard]

It should be ok for webcam. You might find you run into difficulties if you try long exposures though.

[am3x]

yes thats what i was thinking! i have now idea how long of an exposure this wud limit me to! if anyone has this mount and has used a webcam with it comments would be greatly appreciated!

Alex

[spaceboy]

Magnification determines the amount of time the object will stay in view on an AZ mount. Trouble is planets demand high magnification for detailed views so this limits the amount you can capture. On the flip side DSO often occupy a larger amount of the view so outer edges of the object are soon gone from view again with the same limits. Although in both cases you will capture some thing whether it warrants such a large spend on an AZ mount is down to you. I am unsure about the Astromaster mount but most SW EQ mounts can be upgraded to tracking easily and fairly cheaply by adding drives. The advantage with an EQ mount is it can be used manually should the batteries ever run out. EQ mounts will keep the object in view for a greater amount of time with minimal image shift. AZ mounts are not without there advantages the most obvious being the focuser remains in some what more user friendly positions no mater which side of the meridian the scope is pointing.

SPACEBOY