#500$ - 600$ refractor Is this good?

33 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

void vessel
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Hello. Im building my first astrophotography setup and I need a bit help deciding what refractor to buy. My budget is 500$ - 600$. The telescope shouldnt be too big and heavy (more like around 70 - 80mm aperture). First I saw the Aperture 60mm Fpl53 kit with field flattener and guide scope (599€) wich looks very interesting, but I cant find a shop in my country (Germany) wich sells this. On am other website (German) I found a TS-Optics Doublet SD-Apo 72mm f/6 FPL53 lanthanum glass (599€) wich also looks very interesting, because it has that lanthanum glass... Now my question. What would you recommend. Do you know a nobrainer telescope or a brand that makes great scopes for that money.
Kind Regards
(Picture shows second scope)

Screenshot_20230723_183928_Google.png
timber edge
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Does the TS frac have a field flattener bundled like the apertura?

low lodge
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no

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so this is a rebrand of the skyrover doublet

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many many companies rebrand the skyrtover doublets

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apertura, tsoptics, astrotech, etc

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williamtopitcs too im pretty sure

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@void vessel what country are you in

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if ur in us then apertura bundle is rlly good

void vessel
void vessel
low lodge
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what are you going to mount it on?

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if u use it for ap youre going to need a flattener

void vessel
low lodge
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72 is too myuch

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60 is pushing it as well

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you will need autoguiding

void vessel
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TS also has a 60mm FPL53 Doublet with f/6 and 360mm

low lodge
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yeah the 60mm is what would be better

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and thent he 1x field flattener

void vessel
dense aurora
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Okay jumping in here. I've mounted a guided TS Optics 70mm triplet (the high end with FPL55 glass) scope on a swsa, so no go to or anything. Wasn't ideal when it came to finding targets (even with platesolving), but I did manage to expose for anywhere between 30 seconds and 1.5 minute depending on how much effort I wanted to put in.
So 70mm scopes are fine. You're pushing it, but honestly if you are okay with putting a bit more effort in polar alignment and balancing it out you can easily get away with it is my experience.

low lodge
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Also with how long it is, that puts extra pressure on the gears that is sure to wear them down

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Die early

dense aurora
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Well I was within the visual weight limit so it should be able to handle it. That combined with good balancing really prevents most of the wear on the gears.
The guiding was usually anywhere between 1.5 and a low 3 arcseconds. That being said, a train passing by which also introduces some wind can increase it to 4 arcseconds but that's a worst case scenario and I live about 300mm from the train rails so that's relatively close.

low lodge
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What cam where you using

dense aurora
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Now I did need to put in some more effort to get my polar alignment right, but once I had it set up I really didn't have much trouble

low lodge
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Putting a 70mm frac on a swsa is troll honestly

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2.5 second rms is like 5 second peaks

dense aurora
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Depends, I've used a Canon M50 (crop sensor) and a Canon R6 on it. And that's true, but I intended on upgrading to a heq5 which I'm using now

low lodge
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Yeah you can try to make it work to test but nowhere near good for a permanent setup