Big Achromat or smaller APO?

[glcolwell]

I have had a number of mounts, an LQD66 ,LXD75 , a Losmandy GM8 but the line of mounts I think are the best are the ones from Orion. I currently have an HEQ5 Pro mount and the larger NWQ6 pro mount. I have found these excellent mounts for astrophotography. The Heq5 pro mount is around $1200.00 canadian and are the best as far as I am concerned for astrophotography. All the pics in my Album were taken using that mount. the Heq5 will hold up to 20 lbs of scope without any issues, so a big Acro or a 4" Apo it will hold easily..( Apos inch per inch tend to be heavier because of the amount of glass used).....I had a William Optics FLT110 Apo ( about 14 lbs) and a Petzval 66mm ( about 4 lbs)mounted on top with absolutely no issues.
As far as astrophotography...you cant beat it for ease of autoguiding and smoothness...
and it is a QUIET mount too...I used to use my meade LX200 mount to guide and it sounded like grinding machine in labor!....this one is whisper quiet....
Also of note...I have used the mount to photograph in temps of -25C....without a problem
hope this helps...let me know if you need more info

Gary

[glcolwell]

Oops a few errors, the HEQ5 pro mount is from Skywatcher!,,,,Orion makes the autoguider I use :-)

[glcolwell]

I have had a number of mounts, an LXD66 ,LXD75 , a Losmandy GM8 but the line of mounts I think are the best are the ones from Skywatcher. I currently have an HEQ5 Pro mount and the larger NWQ6 pro mount. I have found these excellent mounts for astrophotography. The Heq5 pro mount is around $1200.00 canadian and are the best as far as I am concerned for astrophotography. All the pics in my Album were taken using that mount. the Heq5 will hold up to 20 lbs of scope without any issues, so a big Acro or a 4" Apo it will hold easily..( Apos inch per inch tend to be heavier because of the amount of glass used).....I had a William Optics FLT110 Apo ( about 14 lbs) and a Petzval 66mm ( about 4 lbs)mounted on top with absolutely no issues.
As far as astrophotography...you cant beat it for ease of autoguiding and smoothness...
and it is a QUIET mount too...I used to use my meade LX200 mount to guide and it sounded like grinding machine in labor!....this one is whisper quiet....
Also of note...I have used the mount to photograph in temps of -25C....without a problem
hope this helps...let me know if you need more info

Gary

[AustinPSD]

Here's a handy table that reflects the Synta-OEM mount brand variations/equivalents for the common low/mid-range GEM series:


OEM Celestron Skywatcher Orion
----- ---------- ------------ -----------------
Synta CGEM HEQ6P Atlas
Synta N/A HEQ5P Sirius
Synta CG5 EQ5P N/A

[kosmik12]

I have taken the leap into a 'medium' achromat ( 6" f/8 Skywatcher) and like you hope to do some digital imaging. A GOOD mount is a must , fortunetly my scope came with a solid steel tube tripod onto which an EQ5 mount is placed. I decided to get the Synscan GOTO upgrade kit at that time. What limited viewing I have done , has , however highlighted colour issues as you would expect from an achromat design. On reflection (pardon the pun) an apo could have been the way to go. But I will persevere and see how the scope performs photographically.

[telekiwi]

thanks again for all the great replies everyone, especially you guys that have the big achros.

I think i've sold myself on an Orion Atlas EQ-G mount (or equivalent) so now I just have to decide on the scope. The ability to source the scope this far south has proved difficult so far but I'll persist and see what I can get. Maybe I'll get a smaller APO from Orion afterall.

Kosmik12, I see you're a kiwi too, good stuff, where did you get your Skywatcher from?

[Ghostryderflyby]

According to Celestron's site, Sheldon and Hammond are a New Zealand Celestron Dealer. Not sure how accurate that info is from searching from the U.S. since results tend to be skewed to the search location, but it's worth checking at least.

I found this Sky-watcher dealer with the Skywatcher 150 EQ5. Might give them a call and see if they would be willing to swap out the EQ5 for the EQ6. It took emails and phone calls to about 6 vendors before I found Woodland Hills, which was willing to separate the C6-RGT from the CG5 mount, but well worth it. Call around until you find somebody willing to work with you!

Hayneedle and Woodland Hills are both dealers out of the United States but both indicate they will do international shipping, and I have had great customer service from both. If you can't find any New Zealand dealers that will work with you, you might check into these two.

Hopefully out of all of those links, one of them will be of assistance. If not, well I tried.

[Southerngazer]

It seems you are in the same boat as I am telekiwi.
I just won an auction on Trade me for this fella Sky-Watcher Telescope for sale - TradeMe.co.nz - New Zealand

You didnt say what part of NZ you live in but I'm in Hamilton. Snapshot Photography in Victoria St have the Skywatcher and Celestron and Tasco scopes available.

The above scope is part one of a 2 part refractor setup that I will be putting together this year. The second scope will be the short 150mm Skywatcher refractor, which is available through Snapshot for $2600.00 NZ

Both these scopes will be going on a HEQ5 Pro mount for both visual and astrophotography work.

I have gone the achro route for a couple of reasons.
1. Apo's are insanely priced here compared to achro's. (And achros are expensive enuff)
2 These scopes will be mounted on a permanent pier in an observatory and I wanted to keep physical sizes to a minimum.
3 There are good filters available that deal with the color fringes. On DSO's this hardly matters and for astro work on DSO's doesnt seem to be a major problem.
4. living on the side of Mt Pirongia gives us a outstanding nightsky but the wind can pick up really quickly. I dont want a large caliber skycannon poking out the top like a wind vane during photographihc sessions.
5. Over the years I have always been a visual observer. I have owned several reflectors from 4 inch to 18inch. Several of these I made the entire scope including optics.Always these scopes were pust to and star hopping is a pain in the butt if you want to see lots in a short time.
6. I'm now in my mid fifties and dont want to spend time freezing my butt off for very little return, the body doesnt handle it as well as it used to :P So its short fratio, largeish refractors in a PC controlled observatory, and astrophotography. A challenge I'm looking forward to.

[telekiwi]

Hey Southerngazer, thanks for the info. I'm in Auckland so Hamilton is not too far away for me and it gives me an excuse to go down and see some friends. I wonder if that shop has a website? Well there's always the phone otherwise.

Nice scope you just got by the way.

Price is definitely a factor so I that's why I'll probably stick to spending the money on the mount first. Colour fringe can be tolerated to start with and I could probably do a bit in post processing if I get a good enough image to start with.

Thanks for the info

[Southerngazer]

You can find them here https://www.snapshot.co.nz/
They have some of the telescopes listed but are able to source a wide range of scopes. Like all things astro here in NZ they are a litle expensive.