Conundrum

Please help me with my conundrum. I currently am imaging with an ED80 mounted on a CG-5, using an Orion Starshoot.

I want to make a major upgrade, and I see two avenues: Upgrade the mount to an Orion Atlas and get a Canon XTi DSLR. This puts the majority of the cash into the mount, which will allow me to image with my other OTA, a C11, which up until now has seen primarily visual use due to its weight.

The other avenue is to leave the mount alone and throw all the cash at the camera, and get an SBIG ST-2000XCMI or similiar level. My question essentially is whether or not my CG-5 will do the camera justice. I have made 90 second non-drifted exposures with round stars, which surprised me, and I gained new respect for the mount.

Anybody's thoughts would be appreciated. It's a welcome conudrum, to be sure; I just want to do it right!

Are you looking @ new or shopping Amart

Bennett
With the 80ED you have an OTA capable of very nice deep space images, especially with a .8X or .63x focal reducer. In my opinion, the C11 should primarily be considered for Lunar and planets because of the weight and focal length, unless you want to mortgage the house to buy an AP1200 or a similar mount for it.

For imaging, I started with a used Celestron CI-700 and it proved to be a cost effective mount for up to a 5" F8 refractor, but best with an scope very similar to yours (FS-78).

Hope this helps.
Steven Jindra