The best telescope is the one that you are actually going to use the most! Bigger may seem better but if it becomes a burden to drag out and set up, it will end up sitting in the closet more than getting used. Great video!
Thank you for the excellent summary and the Dutch humor. I am using a Minolta MC 135mm f2.8 lens (because I already had it from a camera 50 years ago) adapted to a ZWO camera mounted on a Skywatcher AZ-GTI goto in equatorial mode. When I worked for Philips Healthcare (via an acquisition from Agilent Technologies/Hewlett-Packard) the first story we were told was how the Dutch invented copper wire when two men found a penny and neither would let it go. This was a hint to the new American employees how the Dutch run their businesses.
Thanks, you have a creative astrophotography set-up, nice! That copper wire joke is unfortunately not far from the truth, lol. Also, we can't keep our opinions to ourselves. Arrogant bunch of folks. The Dutch were the first to reject the (Spanish) king ruling their Dutch Republic. We wrote an act of abjuration. It resulted in an 80 year war with the Spanish. I've heard the text used is similar to the declaration of independence. Clear skies!
@@AstroForumSpace I'll let you know how I make out Wido! I've got the 2" NB filters and a Starizona filter drawer so I should be good to go. Clear Skies!
Great video with plenty of excellent advice. I have a variety of scopes but my current favourite is a little SkyWatcher 50ED with their Field Flattener. Matched with a ZWO485 it is a beauty for wide field and satellite tracking. With the field flattener it is 266 mm focal length and has pinpoint stars across the entire field. It can frame the entire moon and also does nice work on the larger nebulas.
I use a normal camera lens directly on to the DSLR and get pictures very similar to the APO refractors. I don't know why camera lenses are never mentioned, I mean they are used for sports, for wildlife and basically anything. I think they are many times overlooked.
Check: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kNL12mCbbm8.html maybe good to add: all the images of the Planets and Moon were taken with a asi178mc camera. All Deep-sky objects with an ASI 1600mm Pro.
There are definitely some great lenses out there. A good example is the Rokinon/Samyang 135mm. I'll add the caveat that not all of those lenses are manufactured to the same quality. Some people have had great success, while others want to toss them in the bin. This is because lenses made for terrestrial imaging don't always translate very well to deep sky imaging. One of the biggest issues with typical DSLR lenses is chromatic aberration. While it might not be very noticeable on images shot during the day when there's plenty of light, things are considerably different at night. Good refracting scopes (i.e. apochromatic triplets) use exotic, extra-low dispersion glasses like FPL-53 to help get the different wavelengths of light to come to focus on the same plane. The vast majority of the time, you'll hear people tell you to stop down the lens a bit to help deal with the CA. While it may help, this itself introduces some rather interesting diffraction patterning on bright stars due to the way the aperture works in camera lenses. By the way, I started in deep sky imaging with my Panasonic Lumix G9 and a couple of lenses, so you most certainly can use terrestrial glass to image the night sky. I now own two dedicated imaging scopes: a William Optics GT81 and a Celestron 8" EdgeHD.
Well for very wide field images DSLR lenses are often used, it's just aperture is king for increased resolution. And with things like planets you kinda even want a small chip and lots of focal length.
My Main scope is a Astro-Tech AT65EDQ Quad at 420mm and even with a reducer still a bit long for some larger DSOs. I'm putting together a more travel friendly setup using a Skywatcher 50ED/DX Evoguide scope using a Starizona field flattener, Starizona Clamshell mount w/ZWO EAF paired with my ZWO ASI533MC Pro, Filter wheel, ASIAIR Pro w/guide scope mounted on a small light Skywatcher AZ-GTi using an EQ wedge base. Can't wait to give this little setup a run..
I really enjoyed your video, it was honest and sincere. Personally, I ended up opting for a good, well-corrected Dublet, in addition to my WO Zstar 61 Dublet FPL53. A TS Photoline 102 Dublet with FPL53 and 714mm FL. With a reducer I go to 564mm FL. But in the future a 6" or 8" SCT or a 6" or 8" RC for Galaxias season will be ideal. But I think that with these two refractors (sorry I love refractors) I can shoot a lot of DSO. Keep up the good work you've been doing in the Netherlands 😉.
The telescope I will get is one you didn't mention: Maksutov Newtonian. Flat field, fairly fast, large aperture. Good for wide fields and also smaller objects as well as planetary imaging. The one "disadvantage" is that they need a hefty mount.
Excellent info Wido. I've never heard of the RC scope. Very interesting. I love the comparison pictures of the different scopes. You never see these. As always your channel keeps me upbeat on these which seem to be endless cloudy nights. Clear skies.
Great video Wido! I’m waiting for my Celestron Edge HD 8” to ship, but it was interesting to see the direct comparison of images with smaller focal lengths. I’ve enjoyed your videos and they helped me make my decisions for mount, cameras, and OTA. THANKS!
Yes, I would be hesitant to recommend it as a first scope. It's easier to start with a refractor and modest focal length (up to 500mm). Once you learn how to track, guide and take long exposures, you could upgrade to a larger focal length scope...But hey, that;'s just my opinion. Clear skies!
@@AstroForumSpace You're right! It was a case of entering the hobby , not reading up on the subject and getting a really good price for a unit that was only 6 month old. If I were to start again, I would get a refractor to start and would still recommend that to anyone starting the astroimaging!
Another excellent video. Enjoy your presentations. Being newer to astronomy I do own an 80 mm refractor and an 8 inch SCT. However, to keep costs in line my refractor is a doublet ED using FPL-51 glass and my SCT is the nexstar evolution 8” non edge. Did buy a Skywatcher HEQ5 based largely on your videos. I do understand the capabilities of the scopes chosen, especially with the refractor but when my experience reaches your level can then save up for a good apochromatic refractor. Might be nice to show differences between a entry level doublet ED refractor and an apochromatic refractor and the differences between an Edge HD and non Edge of the same aperture with and without the field flattener/focal reducer. Thanks again.
Thanks Tom! I started about 6 years back with that achromatic refractor I showed. Once I understood all the basics of tracking, guiding, imaging and processing I've upgraded my gear, so no worries. The stars will always be there for us. Cheers!
Hello ... You show us many objects of deep sky, and beside, you show us the focal lenght... BUT : wich camera(s) did You use ?.... it would be nice to know the sensor sizes.
The biggest problem for me with reflector telescopes is the difficulty in balancing the telescope even with a good counter weights mount. The heavy eye pieces or SLR camera mean that the counter weight need to be adjusted. That is less of a problem with refractors and Schmidt-Cassegrain.
Will be the same problem with most telescope on a GEM, but the problem is not that big. A slight imbalance avoids indifferent equilibrium in the gears. The new strain-wave gear mounts can handle several kilograms of additional weight, as they need a counterweight only for heavier loads.
Nice video again Wido. I have a celestron nexstar 5 SLT, it has diameters of 127 and length 1250 mm for planets. Later I go for APO telescope. I have a tip for your planet image, maybe you need ADC when you use your SC telescope.
Probably most people will end up with three scopes or more. Wide, medium, and long focal lengths. We’re in galaxy season now and I’m already thinking I need a different scope lol. So true you’re video.
Hi Wido, thanks for this video and excellent summary of types ans usages. BTW, love the progress bar you incorporated 👍 I was lucky to get an ES 80/480 at a bargain price, perfect beginner OTA. The thing I struggle with is that one corner shows elongated stars despite using a FF. That's strange, 3 sharp corners, one with elongated stars. With a misaligned lens I'd expect at least two corners to be symmetrically elongated. What do you think? Can that be fixed? Thanks a ton 👍🍻
@@AstroForumSpace Hallo Wido, na een hele tijd gekeken te hebben naar je videos heb ik een eq6-r pro gekocht. Ik heb het al een aantal keer getest met een canon 70d (unmodified) en een 75-300mm kit lens. Nu zou ik wel een TS Photoline 80/480mm F/6 APO Refractor willen kopen. Welke flattener gebruik je? Een andere vraag: ik leef in regio Rotterdam en er is veel light pollution, wat doe jij hier tegen. Want als ik nu 2min exposures maak krijg ik een vrijwel geel beeld met iso 400. Ik zou je hulp en tips erg waarderen (trouwens gaat vannacht helder weer worden, maar dat hoef ik jou niet te vertellen ;).
Hey, ik zie dat mijn eerdere antwoord niet is doorgekomen. Anyway, leuk hoor. Ik gebruik een TSFLAT2 flattener om dezelfde brandpuntafstand (focal length)te behouden. Verder zou ik een breedband lichtvervuilingsfilter kopen zoals de Optolong Lpro en misschien ook leuk om je canon 70d te modificeren zodat je ook wat extra rood/infrarood kan fotograferen. Succes!
@@AstroForumSpace Erg bedankt voor je antwoord, zie inderdaad dat er iets mis is gegaan. Ik heb heel wat onderzocht en ga kiezen tussen de l-pro en de idas lps d3 (deze blokkeert ook led lichten), welke zou jij aanraden? Ook zoek ik naar een narrowband filters voor sommige nebula, daarbij heb ik met tot 3 opties gericht: optlong l-extreme (heb gehoord dat deze wat artifacts heeft), de optlong l-ultimate (heb je hier al iets over gehoord) en de antlia alp-t. Heb je hierbij een aanrader? Alvast erg bedankt voor je antwoord.
Great and informative video, but the RedCat51 has only 250mm - the new RedCat71 has 350mm, but for twice the price. I really like the 51 and I want to go for a 200/800 Newton next.
Amazing pictures. I am curious what kind of camera you used ? Do you recommend a dedicated astro camera or is a modified DSLR capable of producing such quality pictures ? Do I need an expensive astro-camera when I typically image in a Bordel 4 zone at temperatures well below freezing, minus 5 to minus 17 degrees centigrade...?
Cools down faster, but struggles with faster focal ratios and larger apertures. Paired with lanthanum glass, they get better, but also their price increases.
I was thinking of using a vintage telephoto pentax smc 1000mm lens with a modern canon 5d mk iv and was wondering if you think that would work well? Love your videos thanks for the help..
I have a 10 inch goto dob (1200mm), Z81 (447 or 559mm) refaractor and a HEQ5 mount. Like to get a good planetary and galaxy addition. Was wondering if my mount (30 pound) could carry a 9.25 inch celestron (21 pound) with camera, or if the 8 SCT inch is good enough for planetary and deep sky imaging.. ? Is the 8 inch satisfactory ?
Planetary images allows for some errors in tracking, so I think the heq5 would be ok. For Deep-sky i'd recommend a better mount, like the SW EQ6R pro. Also, edge hd telescopes are better suited for Deep-sky as mentioned in the video. Cheers.
Thank you for this video Wido. I would appreciate some advice regarding a refractor please. What is the minimum aperture and focal length necessary to still obtain decent EAA pictures for small galaxies? I understand that I would need a fairly large refractor for DSO's if I were using it for visual astronomy, but for EAA I would think a smaller aperture would be ok. I was hoping a 120 or 127mm might suffice. Or would you just recommend sticking with an 8" SCT to make things easier? Thank you for your help.
Hi Jim, I went for the Edge HD 8" but if you'll get a 120-ish mm apo refractor with a camera that gives you below 1 arcsecond per pixel you may get a decent resolution too. I tried it with an 80/480mm FL telescope at 1.50 arcsec per pixel, but that's insufficient to get a good resolution. Clear skies!
Hey man, thanks for the video, I have question as a beginner tho, I've been photographing the moon and jupiter with my mirrorless canon camera and a 800mm lens with 1.4x converter and I know about image processing. I have got some soft results of course at F/13 and with my regular video tripod, I can't track the objects so the longest exposure I got was like 3.5 minutes of video, then I convert that video to ser format using Pipp and then stack the best frames using AstroSurface, then also edit on the astrosurface and then photoshop to clear out the dark sky noise. I'll buy a telescope soon but there's the 9.25" edge hd with AVX mount and then there's this 11" CPC with the XLT Alt-Azimuth mount. I've read that the EDGE HD has a better image correction on the corners but the differences are miniscule. My main goal with this is planetary imaging. I want to gather as much sharp detail as possible. Which one would you recommend? The larger 11" with the better mount or the 9.25" with better optics?
Thank you! If your main goal is to capture planets, a larger aperture telescope would be a great choice. However, if you're also considering deep-sky astrophotography in the future, the 9.25 Edge HD would be an excellent option.
Currently I‘ve a TS61EDPH. But this is a little bit short sometime. For this reason, I‘ve an eye on the TS94EDPH with 414mm. Did you recommend the both 80/480 over the TS94EDPH?
The 94edph is a high performing triplet with a built-in corrector, and a fast f/4.4 ratio. It's a faster telescope than the triplets mentioned in my video. So,a great scope but also more expensive imo. Clear skies!
Hi Gunnar, both are fine. The maks have a longer focal length but are also a bit heavier. Don't expect large images of the Planets and I'd recommend getting a 2x or 3x Barlow lens to increase the focal length. Bigger aperture translates into better resolution images and a longer focal length results in better magnification capability. Hope this helps!
Apochromatic scopes require extra-low dispersion glass; stating they're 3 element scopes leaves out all the doublet ED scopes. Are you implying that all the dealers that list 2 element ED scopes as apochromatics are incorrect?
I would say yes, as they cannot get three wavelengths to one focal point, which is necessary for an apochromat. An exception are a few instruments using fluorite instead of fluoride-containing glass. But it would be interesting to check the corresponding curves of objectives using fluoride glass and lanthanum glass.
Hallo Wido, na een hele tijd gekeken te hebben naar je videos heb ik een eq6-r pro gekocht. Ik heb het al een aantal keer getest met een canon 70d (unmodified) en een 75-300mm kit lens. Nu zou ik wel een TS Photoline 80/480mm F/6 APO Refractor willen kopen. Welke flattener gebruik je? Een andere vraag: ik leef in regio Rotterdam en er is veel light pollution, wat doe jij hier tegen. Want als ik nu 2min exposures maak krijg ik een vrijwel geel beeld met iso 400. Ik zou je hulp en tips erg waarderen (trouwens heb je eergisteren nog mooie foto's kunnen maken)?
Hoi, veel mensen nemen een optolong lpro of een soortgelijk filter, wat goed is om de meest ernstige lichtvervuiling te blokkeren. Daarnaast is een ha smalbandfilter geschikt om vooral waterstof rijke nevels te fotograferen. Ik ben op dit moment in Spanje op vakantie dus helaas heb ik mijn spullen niet bij om goede foto's te maken, haha. Ik gebruik trouwens een Tsflat2 field flattener. En zet je DSLR op "lightbulb", dat helpt ook een beetje in de gele foto's wat minder geel te maken.
@@AstroForumSpace Erg bedankt voor je antwoord, ik gebruik trouwens al lightbulb. Heeft het nut om een filter te zetten op een dslr (stock)? Ik zag dat je een mono gebruikt in een aantal video's. Die zijn wel lekker 'duur' maar heb eentje gevonden die overeenkomt met de zwo 2600mm uit china genaamd rising cam die dezelfde specificaties heeft en rond de 800€ goedkoper is (Cuiv, the lazy geek heeft er ook een video van). Welke dedicated astro camera zou je mij aanbevelen?
How is celestron nexstar 6SE? Is it an allrounder telescope if I am looking for one time investment and to be able to see planets as well as deep space objects clearly or is there something else you would suggest? Because it is really confusing to choose one....
The perfect telescope for astrophotography is simple. 6" Apo Triplet - TEC, AP or Takahashi - for deep sky imaging and planetary viewing - $25K with mount 14" Celestron HD for unbelievable planetary detail - $7500 18" Reflector with Zambuto mirrors for unbelievable deep sky viewing - $20K There, that's the answer, now just figure out how to afford all of that, LOL
@@AstroForumSpace Let's see if we can reduce those issues? Weight = Carbon Fiber Tube and/or Truss Design? Coma = Coma Corrector? Spikes = Add anti-diffraction clips to vanes. Collimation = Cheshire (much easier & very accurate). Reflector is best cost per aperture. Above 4" diameter, a refractor is cost prohibitive. An 11" RASA at f/2 is fantastic, when imaging large objects / wide angle.
Always a great video! Personally I think that if you have a budget then the edge 8hd is a great all around ot. If you can afford it then add a 80 or 102 apo. Cheers!
