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Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi William Optics Redcat 51 Equipment Beginner Buying Advice
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Johnathan Allison avatar
Johnathan Allison avatar
Hello all. I am working with a $1500 budget and I am trying to not just click buy now on gear I ay not need I am uneducated in appropriate upgrade paths.. 

Current Gear list:
  1. Full spectrum modified Canon T3. I also have an Unmodified Canon SL2.
  2. Other than the two kits lenses, I have a Rokinon 135MM F2
  3. Mount is a Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTI

I was thinking about just getting a redcat 51 Gen3 can keeping the cameras. I like the 250MM Focal Length and I am comfortable working the DSLR's. I am just unsure what the correct decision is here. I feel overwhelmed by the options in scopes and astro cameras. I don't have a lot of experience is Astrophotography other than using the Seestar which is why I thought to just upgrade the optics. Please educate me.

Thank you.
andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
Stick to the GTi and the Rokinon (which is better than the Redcat) and get a better camera 'cause a T3 is really very old tech. Get an IMX533 based cooled camera and that is another world. If you can afford it, an IMX571 based camera is even a better choice but the IMX533 will still give you reasonably large vistas and a good sampling given the focal length of the lens.
Johnathan Allison avatar
Johnathan Allison avatar
andrea tasselli:
Stick to the GTi and the Rokinon (which is better than the Redcat) and get a better camera 'cause a T3 is really very old tech. Get an IMX533 based cooled camera and that is another world. If you can afford it, an IMX571 based camera is even a better choice but the IMX533 will still give you reasonably large vistas and a good sampling given the focal length of the lens.

I am taking a liking to wide field vistas. I have a seestar that I use for "Portrait" shoots of DSO's lol. I like the large field images of gas and dust.
TiffsAndAstro avatar
TiffsAndAstro avatar
andrea tasselli:
Stick to the GTi and the Rokinon (which is better than the Redcat) and get a better camera 'cause a T3 is really very old tech. Get an IMX533 based cooled camera and that is another world. If you can afford it, an IMX571 based camera is even a better choice but the IMX533 will still give you reasonably large vistas and a good sampling given the focal length of the lens.

I am taking a liking to wide field vistas. I have a seestar that I use for "Portrait" shoots of DSO's lol. I like the large field images of gas and dust.


I have a 533 colour and it's very nice to use with seemingly good results.
It will have a much smaller field of view than your dslr.
Maybe have a look on telescopius, put in your gear and compare?
I use mine on a 420mm scope, but need mosaics for anything rose nebula (doesn't quite fit)
This is the only downside I can see however. Everything with a cooled osc is so much smoother than with my old dslr
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dkamen avatar
dkamen avatar
Hello all. I am working with a $1500 budget and I am trying to not just click buy now on gear I ay not need I am uneducated in appropriate upgrade paths.. 

Current Gear list:
  1. Full spectrum modified Canon T3. I also have an Unmodified Canon SL2.
  2. Other than the two kits lenses, I have a Rokinon 135MM F2
  3. Mount is a Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTI

I was thinking about just getting a redcat 51 Gen3 can keeping the cameras. I like the 250MM Focal Length and I am comfortable working the DSLR's. I am just unsure what the correct decision is here. I feel overwhelmed by the options in scopes and astro cameras. I don't have a lot of experience is Astrophotography other than using the Seestar which is why I thought to just upgrade the optics. Please educate me.

Thank you.

It is not focal length that matters (unless you are doing planetary). It is aperture and f/number. The Rokinon outperforms the Redcat in both dimensions, even when stopped down to f/2.5 which makes it super sharp. It is also significantly lighter. It truly is an amazing instrument for wide field and going to the RC51 would be a downgrade. I agree with Andrea. The upgrade that makes more sense for you is to a cooled camera plus of course the necessary adaptors for achieving 55mm flange distance. In addition to much lower noise and higher sensitivity, a cooled 533 sensor (or its bigger brother) have 25% smaller pixels which means you will be able to achieve 33% higher detail. Is this worth $1000-$1500? Your call. But it is the only upgrade path that makes sense given what you have.  You already are very close to optimal as it happens, so putting in X money+effort gives you much less than X improvement.  

Cheers,
Dimitris
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andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
The upgrade that makes more sense for you is to a cooled camera plus of course the necessary adaptors for achieving 55mm flange distance.


Ahem, you obviously meant 44mm flange distance since the lens is for a Canon DSLR.
dkamen avatar
dkamen avatar
andrea tasselli:
The upgrade that makes more sense for you is to a cooled camera plus of course the necessary adaptors for achieving 55mm flange distance.


Ahem, you obviously meant 44mm flange distance since the lens is for a Canon DSLR.

Yes