-----Original Message----- From: Joe Bauman [mailto:bau@desnews.com] Let's have a discussion on this, everyone. If you had $6,100 (its cost including shipping to SLC) to do the best you could with astrophotography, what telescope would you invest in? The only drawback I see is that it's f/11. But what do you think?
I'd invest the entire sum in the mount, tracking hardware, & imager, then build a lensless Schmidt camera for imaging. But even $6,100 falls far-short of the sum needed if you want a high-end CCD included in the package, and/or seperate autoguider. The computer's a given, right? If we assume that we'll stick with 35mm emulsion-based photography, already have the camera & adapters, and just want to spend the money on a scope-mount package, then there are dozens of commercial offerings that are all about on the same level. Just avoid a fork mount if you're really serious about imaging with a portable telescope. Go with the largest aperture you can fit in the budget and still fulfill your imaging criteria. C. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/