Basic Astrophotography Scope?

What would you recommend as a good, basic telescope for both prime focus & piggyback film astrophotography? Yer basic clock-driven 6" Newtonian or what? I'm more interested in DSOs & comets than planetary stuff, just fyi...

-Regards,
Chas

Hi Chas,

This is a real can of worms, but I will give my thoughts. I have used a variety of scopes for astrophotography, and my favourite has always been my 5" f/5 refractor. This is largly because I do not like diffraction spikes on my images and because I like the wide field for comet and deep-sky imaging.

Newtonians are good if you are on a budget and do avoid any hint of chromatic abberation. (This can be avioded if you can afford an APO)

Personally I do not like Schmidt-cassegrainians for photography. I find that their images always look 'soft'.

Whatever optical system you choose however, make sure you get a top-quality mount! This is by far the most important consideration when contemplating astrophotography. In fact, I would go so far as to look at the best mount you can afford and then look at what ota you can put on that mount.

Regards

Maurice