Telescope help please - DPChallenge Forums

09/02/2007 10:47:22 PM · #1

Celestron

I need advice on purchasing one of these or something similar. John Rummel I need your help if you are around. I can't get my PM to work for some stupid reason.

09/02/2007 11:58:10 PM · #2

Dave, that Celestron is a "go-to" scope, which means most of the money you lay down goes to the electronics and engineering of the mechanics. Thus, you get short-changed on the optics. It's also worthless as a camera platform (no piggyback or prime focus). Just too lightweight.

For your ~650, you can probably do better. Let me do a little light digging and reply again tomorrow.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

09/03/2007 12:57:02 AM · #3

Thanks John. I'll be away from my puter for the week. Be back on Fri. sometime.

MelonMusketeer

Nikon D7000

Nikon MF 50mm f/1.4

09/03/2007 01:23:54 AM · #4

I agree. I have a Celestron 500mm f8 mirror lens and a Meade 1000mm f11 mirror. The Meade makes much better images. They are both old though. The images with the 500 are not nearly as contrasty or sharp or as well controlled in CA as the Meade.

Mick

Canon EOS-5D

09/03/2007 02:40:42 AM · #5

What you really need is a Meade RCX400. Heck, at only $49,999.00 a pop you should get two of 'em. :)

Shadowi6

Nikon D200

Sigma 10- 20mm f/3.5 EX-DC HSM

09/03/2007 04:35:55 AM · #6

Originally posted by Mick:

What you really need is a Meade RCX400. Heck, at only $49,999.00 a pop you should get two of 'em. :)

then you could have 3D images, if you put them about 1 light year apart :)

Blackbox

Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+

Canon TC-DC58B 1.5x Tele Converter

09/03/2007 05:47:42 AM · #7

Originally posted by NstiG8tr:

Celestron

I need advice on purchasing one of these or something similar. John Rummel I need your help if you are around. I can't get my PM to work for some stupid reason.

I have a fair amount of experience with telescopes and would love to offer some advice. But first, I always like to know what you are trying to achieve. Such as: Astrophotography, Pure Observation, where you will be observing from mostly and how much room do/will you have to transport a telescope. The amount of money you're willing to spend is I'm guessing, about $650 US dollars? Anyway, will watch the thread for answers...Frankly, I wouldn't touch that 'scope at all: it is very limited for the amount of money.

Message edited by author 2007-09-03 05:48:30.

09/03/2007 09:02:32 AM · #8

Originally posted by Blackbox:

Originally posted by NstiG8tr:
Celestron

I need advice on purchasing one of these or something similar. John Rummel I need your help if you are around. I can't get my PM to work for some stupid reason.

I have a fair amount of experience with telescopes and would love to offer some advice. But first, I always like to know what you are trying to achieve. Such as: Astrophotography, Pure Observation, where you will be observing from mostly and how much room do/will you have to transport a telescope. The amount of money you're willing to spend is I'm guessing, about $650 US dollars? Anyway, will watch the thread for answers...Frankly, I wouldn't touch that 'scope at all: it is very limited for the amount of money.

Astrophotography and observation. You are correct about the price range max of about $650. Most use will likely be in my backyard as it is fairly dark back there. I have adequate means to transport I think.

09/03/2007 11:14:18 AM · #9

OK Dave, here is my recommendation:

With a budget of $650, you are not going to be able to get both a satisfactory telescope and a sufficiently sturdy mount that will allow you to do photography of the sky. The Celestron telescope you had picked out is familiar to me. The Planetarium here in Madison has one of those models (not the exact same one) and I've never found it easy to use for pure visual use (the pointing electronics make it virtually impossible to use as a human-pointed device, and the automatic "go-to" feature is just not easy enough to use nor accurate enough to make it satisfying beyond the initial gee-whiz phase the first time you use it. That and the fact that it's way too light weight to carry a camera, and it's not an equatorial mount make it completely unacceptable for any type of photography.

Why is an equatorial mount important? It's the de-facto simplest way for a telescope mount to track the night sky: when a mount is equatorially polar aligned, it only has to move in one orientation to cancel the earth's rotation. So you want two things:

1) and equatorial mount
2) a telescope to put on #1
or
3) #1 and #2 together in a package deal

In my experience, the minimum you can get a #3 that's suitable for astrophotograpy is about $1500. That's minimum: I caution people buying in this range to plan to spend nearly that much again for accessories after the initial purchase (eyepieces, various brackets and adapters, etc.). Astronomy is very much like photography, it's the accessories that kill you in the pocketbook.

So, let's rule out #3 for the moment. If you had to choose between #1 and #2, what are you gonna do? In my mind, you buy a good EQ mount first. Invest enough of your $650 budget to get a good one. You can use it now for photography by just attaching your camera to the mount. You can then shoot the sky in long exposures and capture wide shots of the milky way, among much else, depending your range of camera lenses. The three shots below were all done with camera and canon lenses only, attached to an EQ mount:

400mm....................400mm.....................15mm......

When you can afford another major purchase, you can buy a telescope that you can then attach to your EQ mount and you've got the package.

Make sense?

Here's an example:
Skyview EQ mounts can carry a telescope up to 20 lbs and can also be fitted with the "go-to" computerized capabilities. Prices are on the page.

Kirbic has a very respectable EQ mount that he uses in exactly this way (attached camera for astrophotograhy, and a telescope which I've never seen, but he's told me about. I don't have any pictures of his setup, but I'm sure he does. I forget the manufacturer.

Do some browsing and reading at Scopetronix and Orion Telescopes. Of the two, I prefer Scopetronix because of the quality of their salespeople and attention after the sale. Another great web resource is Cloudy Nights.com, where you'll find articles, reviews, forums, and tons of other stuff. A lot to wade through though. Somewhere on that site is probably the definitive "how to purchase a telescope" on your budget article, but I can't find it quickly.

My Spot has a good article on buying a telescope. If you scroll down halfway to the "what to buy if you have $XXX" they recommend theMeade ETX series in your price range. I like this telescope - it's probably one of the best values for the $$$ - but I didn't mention it above because once you accessorize it for both the sturdy EQ mount and the scope, it's gong to be ABOVE your price range, and you have to buy the EQ mount separate from the tripod or scope. The EQ mount is actually a wedge that sits between the scope and the tripod. Complicated but trust me. I didn't price out the options because if I were going to spend the money, I'd opt for something other than the ETX.

At Space.com, Jeff Kanipe has a good article on purchasing where he explains a lot of the options better than I can. There's a link at the bottom that goes to the next in the series.

OK, I've blathered enough. Feel free to ask some follow-up questions. Some of the other astro-geeks need to chime in here as well.

09/03/2007 11:53:02 AM · #10

How about this one

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM

09/03/2007 12:00:02 PM · #11

Originally posted by NstiG8tr:

How about this one

My guess is that this is a superb telescope. Again, a guess, the mount is probably carefully calculated to carry the scope - and not much more. Mounting an SLR on top might be a stretch. The forums on Cloudynights.com might have some discussion.

For pure visual use, this scope would be a marvelous performer, I think.

Skyarcher

Canon EOS-5D

09/03/2007 01:40:02 PM · #12

Would it be horrible of me to suggest that you hold off buying anything for now? I know that doesn't sound promising but there is a reason.

Try to find a local astronomy club, see if there are any astroimagers in it. If yes, get to know them and maybe they will let you image on their setup while you save up money.

As strangehost said, the mount that you get is one of the most important things.

I used a 20-yr old Meade scope and mount while I saved up for better - and it was worth it.

Slow down... good things will come. :)