'go to' mount

Aloha,

Just want to know what the best priced 'equatorial' go to mount is, need one just to hold 5" or 6" refractor and digital camera for astrophotography...
Is the meade LXD 75 or the celestron CG-5 a good deal ?
Are there other manufacturers with good complete 'go to' equatorial mounts ?

Aloha,

Just want to know what the best priced 'equatorial' go to mount is, need one just to hold 5" or 6" refractor and digital camera for astrophotography...
Is the meade LXD 75 or the celestron CG-5 a good deal ?
Are there other manufacturers with good complete 'go to' equatorial mounts ?
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The Meade and Celestron LXD and CG-5 mounts are "good deals" and reasonable mounts for visual use and can be used for some photography but photography is very demanding of a mount so serious astrophotographers generally spend some real money on their mount and tripod, it really starts from the ground up, good solid tripod with a good mount that is accurate is a good start.

5" inch or 6" refractor encompasses a large range of equipment, it could mean a simple chinese achromat with various issues like Chromatic aberration, focuser slop etc, or it could mean a scope like an Astro-Physics that is specifically designed for astrophotography. Both the price range and the capability range is large.

The same can be said for 'digital cameras." Some are under a grand and some are 10 grand or more, depending on what you are shooting for, whether you get something along the lines of a Digital Rebel or spend the money and get a dedicated astro camera with cooling and the stuff to take the really top notch photos.

So, yes, there are other companies that make GOTO mounts, prices start at the CG-5/LXD-75 level and move on up to the Losmandy/Vixen mounts and at the high end there are several including MOuntain Instruments and Astro-Physics.

Photography is pretty much about both skill and money...

jon