Joe, thinking over your post, I get the feeling that you've got your heart set on a SCT, yes? It may help pin-down the most appropriate model if you can tell us just what kind of *photography* you plan to do...CCD, or film? Also, deep-sky, planetary, wide-field, or a little bit of everything? The fork mount is incredibly convenient for general-purpose observing, but several posters commented on certain GEM's for astro-photography. A bonus is that if the mount is beefy enough, and many of the new-generation GEM's are, you can piggyback a high-end refractor at a later date. Let us know a few more specifics, and I"m sure list members can help pin-down the best model SCT, if that's the way you want to go. C. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/