I decided that I would like to buy a smaller scope for imaging like an 80ED or something in that range. Orion has a new scope the EON.. Not a bad price but once you factor in the mount, camera, etc its expensive.. So what setup do you recommend including camera, scope, mount for a newbie to imaging

Hi
You don't mention a budget, but the most important part that you should spend as much as you can afford on is the mount as accurate, stable tracking is essential to imaging. For the scope, ensure it is an apochromatic refractor and as most of the deep sky objects are actually very large you ideally want to go for a short focus refractor such as WO 66 f6 or their new 72mm APO. Then you can either use a DSLR as the camera or one of the starter CCD cameras from the likes of Orion. If you can give some idea as to your budget I may be able to be of more help
Regards
Gordon

Well ill probably have to buy a few things at a time i would say no more then $3,000. Do i also need a way to guide the scope if i buy a goto system? Any help on models would be great. there are so many brands its quite confusing for the beginner.

Hi again
You are right about their being a huge choice. I have had a look on OPT's website and a typical system would involve spending about $2000 on the mount which a possible choice could be the Vixen GP-D2, This leaves about $1000 to spend on scope and camera and the WO zenithstar 66 APO and Orion colour camera can be bought for just over $1000. Although the zenithstar is a small scope it is ideal in that it has a wide field and a fast focal ratio which makes it ideal for imaging. the mount system has goto built in. As to whether you will need to guide this will depend on how accurate your polar alignment is, how accurate the mount can track and how long your exposures are. These three can only be ascertained through trial and error. Generally the better the mount the more accurate it will track and the longer you can expose for before guiding. As an example I use a Paramount ME which is $12500 but I regularly expose for 10 to 15 minutes with no guiding. This is why it is important to spent the majority of your budget on a decent mount and build up from there.
Hope this helps
Regards
Gordon

Thank you for the info I am going to consider something like the vixen mount that you recommended and possibly the WO scope. I will keep my eye out for a used setup on astromart or ebay and maybe that will save me a few dollars. Even before i am going to use this for photography I want something that is portable more then my LX200 and that i can carry in and out of the house easily. not the case with my other scope and its kind of weird sitting on my driveway at midnight with this expensive telescope would feel safer in the backyard. So many choices I hope i make the right one

Hi
The Vixen, WO and orion combination would be far more portable than the LX200 and far more easy and successful to image with, good luck with your choices
Regards
Gordon

Here are some choices to ponder:

Orion EON 80 - Looks like nice fit and finish, looks good for AP, but it is a new product and thus nobody has used one yet. I'd wait.

WO Megrez 72FD - Absolutely beautiful fit and finish and great for AP, but 8mm smaller aperture than EON 80. Comes with a nice carrying case. though. Note that it is not the same as the EON 72, which uses a different kind of glass (fpl-51 rather than 53) with worse color correction.

The Meade Series 5000 80mm ED triplet is the one I would most recommend because it, being a triplet rather than doublet, would have the best color correction of the three. But it lacks on fit and finish and mechanicals when compared to the above scopes.

Also, if you want to go cheaper, Celestron sells a really good apochromatic refractor as a spotting scope, that in reality is an amazing deal for an astronomical telescope. It has the same lens as the Orion 80mm f/7, but sells for a lot less with accessories.

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Well I am considering selling my LX200GPS because it is just too heavy even at 8" its still over my weight limit after just having major back surgery in January it was a bad choice to buy even though i really love the scope and the views through it are amazing when your in a dark location.

Since i want to get into photography down the road and a little extra money from selling a 10k camera lens on ebay I ordered a Vixen gpd2 goto mount and a Televue 85 scope. Its expensive but i think it will be well worth it when i start taking photos down the road.. I need to figure out what type of viewfinder to buy for the scope I am not sure what type of mount is on the televue. I cant wait to try out the scope at the RTMC astronomy expo next month in big bear, ca.