I recently sold my Edge HD 8" (after making some nice-ish, and most not so nice-ish) images with it. As a travel astrophotographer, with no backyard setup, I discovered that the Edge HD was a very demanding scope which required perfection. i.e. good seeing, little wind, collimation, guiding… the list goes on and on.
I used my Explore Scientific 102 essential triplet quite a bit more than the Edge HD even with a smaller aperture.
Now I have decided I will sell my ES102ED too, and these two sales mean I can look at the larger refractors.
I have the following candidates, and would love to understand your opinions
1. Astrotech 130EDT - This is the astrobin darling. < 2000$ brand new. I can even use my F/7 compatible reducer(0.8x) from my ES102ED setup. So all in all, buying this would give me money to spare
2. Sharpstar 140PH - This is bigger and has 6.5 focal ratio which becomes 4.8 with the reducer. New costs about 4200$ with reducer. This is stretching my budget, but it seems to be an awesome scope hardly anybody buys…?
3. ES ED152CF - 6000$+ scope, but I can find used ones for 4000$ or below. This is F/8 which requires a 0.7X reducer making it a 5.6 scope. Reasonably fast I would say.
Then there are the 127 triplets from ES, and the Orion 130mm triplet too.
So wondering… which of these would you choose? The Astrotech EDT seems like an amazing value, but I do have some users complaining about CA on this tripet. The ES air spaced triplets are usually well likes. And as for Sharpstar, its popular in Germany as TS Optics I believe?
As a travel photographer who sets up and tears down, having a faster scope is better. I would have gone with a fast newtonian, but the collimation nightmares are something I don't want to deal with.
I used my Explore Scientific 102 essential triplet quite a bit more than the Edge HD even with a smaller aperture.
Now I have decided I will sell my ES102ED too, and these two sales mean I can look at the larger refractors.
I have the following candidates, and would love to understand your opinions
1. Astrotech 130EDT - This is the astrobin darling. < 2000$ brand new. I can even use my F/7 compatible reducer(0.8x) from my ES102ED setup. So all in all, buying this would give me money to spare
2. Sharpstar 140PH - This is bigger and has 6.5 focal ratio which becomes 4.8 with the reducer. New costs about 4200$ with reducer. This is stretching my budget, but it seems to be an awesome scope hardly anybody buys…?
3. ES ED152CF - 6000$+ scope, but I can find used ones for 4000$ or below. This is F/8 which requires a 0.7X reducer making it a 5.6 scope. Reasonably fast I would say.
Then there are the 127 triplets from ES, and the Orion 130mm triplet too.
So wondering… which of these would you choose? The Astrotech EDT seems like an amazing value, but I do have some users complaining about CA on this tripet. The ES air spaced triplets are usually well likes. And as for Sharpstar, its popular in Germany as TS Optics I believe?
As a travel photographer who sets up and tears down, having a faster scope is better. I would have gone with a fast newtonian, but the collimation nightmares are something I don't want to deal with.
