Piggy or Prime

[jasperuk]

Which one is the best, dont yet have a scope but in the process of deciding and buying, Do have a Canon 300D and 400D with a 300mm but i cant decide if i should piggy back or prime focus my shots ????

Help

Gavin

[Demonperformer]

Gavin

IMO it is horses for courses. Probably your 300mm lens will have a shorter focal length that whatever scope you get, so will produce a wider fov for extended objects, constellations. Prime focus will give you a narrower field of view which may be better for smaller objects.

Plan for both.

HTH

[Jannis]

unless you need very high magnification from a short scope, i'd say connect the DSLR directly. gived better quality, and is a lot easier to use in my opinion.

Only readon for imaging through the EP would be if you have a very high quality EP, and need to get very close to an object, like planetary.

But for anything else then that, DSO, nebulas, clusters and so, i'd without dubdt say connect camera directly.

[jasperuk]

I am beginning to wonder in the Eq3-2 i was planning on with a Explorer 150P is going to be stable enough to take pictures with either piggy or prime attachments ????

Not sure if i can afford a EQ5

[Jannis]

Well, the 3-2 can take up to 6" reflector, but that's about it. I wouldn't add anything else to it. maybe a 9x50 finderscope for guiding, but nothing more then that.

The 3-2 head shuold be able to track ok for DSO at shorter forcal lenghts for sure, but the 3-2 have rather wobbeling legs compared to the EQ5, and are more sensitive to vibrations and wind. the 150p with 750mm focal shuold probably be OK i guess, but don't expect too steady results for planets and so at high magnification using barlows and so.

I don't remember for sure, but if you're able to fill up the legs with sand, and use it at it's lowest settings, it should help a bit on the stability at least.

But i must add, if there's one thing i can say for sure, put most fo your money on the mount. without that, no matter what scope you use, it's useless.

I have the HEQ5 pro, and if i was to choose again today, i'd definally go for teh EQ6 (or maybe the all new EQ7?). You can get good results with a good mount and rather cheap scope, wich can easily be upgraded. But the other way it will not work, and will get even more expencive, as you need to buy a whole new mount to get the stability you want.