TTArtisan 500mm vs SkyWatcher 102 mak for moonscapes - advice needed - Forums

Topic starter

6 days ago

Hey, so, I’m looking to get something with a bit more reach for shooting moonscapes, and so far I’m considering two budget-friendly options:

TTArtisan 500mm telephoto lens
SkyWatcher 102 Mak (1300mm focal length)

My concern with the TTArtisan 500mm is that 500mm might not give me enough reach on my full-frame Nikon Z6.
On the other hand, I haven’t been able to find any terrestrial sample photos taken with the SkyWatcher 102 Mak, so I’m unsure what kind of image quality I can expect from it.
I understand that the Mak will have a much narrower field of view than the TTArtisan, but I could still stitch a mosaic if needed.

Any input, whether about the SkyWatcher’s optical quality or other alternatives I should consider would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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andrea tasselli

Frequent contributor

6 days ago

All I have seen suggests the TTArtisan being a poor lens for astrophotos, beside being too short for the Moon.The skywatcher and similar Maks are a much better choice for your intended target. Optionally, if you can still find one in the used market, the 100mm f/10 MC-MTO is a very compact telephoto Mak of excellent built and very portable too:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/257215724023?_skw=mto+lens&itmmeta=01KAE4FS7C6TC8695YJTTYH1E2&hash=item3be34079f7:g:0YMAAeSw2KdpHNPk&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA4NHOg0D50eDiCdi%2FfP0r02s6O2EFA4ketlgnr5XoTNzMGJpRn9rG9%2BIzVBQ0gUVFzWVdky0eGIchvov9zsJxiXYTW52W6g%2B7A0qOTXSSd8ziiMdZAHOt198crD8gXchSfdWLyh9T3fudxzg33YlFOHyDNMjLlGs70RjmOf0BBiJvCuKxjaqAI%2FMg9zAZx4AWyZcROhnlyWDtU081O%2B%2BEOqQLzABwVk90Z%2FB7B0sLxaher74pZSf%2FyDYIfinaZDQ4JtsImRDf0NeXT0fdwxA10GjlTECTw2xRCj1wiyMS1chT%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-STv8TTZg

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Jim Case

6 days ago

I picked up a used 180mm Orion Maksutov Cassegrain this summer, and have found the lunar images to be quite nice. You can see some lunar examples in my gallery. It was made by the same company that supplies the MAK’s to Sky Watcher and to Celestron, I believe, so the quality may be comparable. I tried two new 180mm Sky Watcher branded versions before the Orion scope was purchased, and found that all three show signs of quite a bit of dust inside when I took flats. I am not sure if this is an issue throughout the MAK Skywatcher line, and it is correctable with flats if you use the scope for longer exposures, Lunar images are so short that it has not been an issue. It was not apparent in any of my lunar images with any of the three 180mm telescopes.

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