need help

hi all,

Sorry if I posted this in the wrongs spot, but I need some advice. I am think about buy a 10" dobb and was wondering if someone could give me some pro and cons of dobb scopes, I'm thinking about getting into astro photo will a dobb work for this?

thanks for the advice

doug

Doug, just to make it simple, Dobs are NOT designed with Astrophotography in mind... they are mostly VISUAL scopes... (unless you mount them on a platform, then you might be able to do some photography)

What you need is a scope (reflector/refractor (depending on your budget & photography plans) mounted on a Heavy (if possible) Equatorial mount, motorized (to track the object) & maybe with GOTO too... (to find the object quicker)

I'm sure others will chime in... stay tuned!


Clear skies! 8)

A Dob is not the best choice for photography, but makes a great visual instrument. 10" is a nice size that is mid sized in performance and transportability.
Photography is not a beginners game though and I would suggest that you do some visual work first. But if you really want to do photography, then you should think about an SCT or refractor on a Equatorial Mount for your scope. Maybe an 8-10" SCT or a 80-100mm refractor would be a good start. The smaller refractor will work for visual, but will not do as well on DSO as aperture rules on this.

Astrophotography is not easy, and Dobs are not suited to the task. For anything but snapshots of the moon, you need a tracking mount.

A good place to learn is a small refractor. Their short focal length makes wide field imaging relatively easy. When you have focusing and exposure down pretty well, you may want to move on to a larger scope like a newt, or the ever popular SCT. SCT's are a little difficult to learn on because of their higher magnification and smaller field of view.

But the most critical elelmlent is a proper mount. THat is where the money has to go.

Alex