Scope help

[johnf3f]

Hi folks, I am new to this part of WAB as I am mainly interested in wildlife photography, however I do enjoy occasional stargazing. I am not looking to get seriously into astronomy but I do enjoy the wonders of nature both on and off planet. Currently I am looking at the solar system/planets with an Opticron MM2 at 20x magnification or a pair of Nikon Monarch 8x bins. I do have a Canon 600mm lens with which I have taken some pleasing shots of the Moon. Now I want to push the envelope a bit.
I have been looking on various new and used websites and see thet there is an amazing number of options available and , more importantly, I don't know the differences between them!
What I am looking for is a telescope that will give a reasonable view of the closer planets and perhaps some of the more distinct galaxies. I have looked at the Meade, Celestron and Skywatcher ranges and they produce a very wide range of products.
I am looking to spend up to £300 for a decent practical telescope - any ideas? I am happy to buy a used one if it will get me better quality. Oh yes it must be reasonably portable (15kg or less) and can be set up by an idiot!

[nytecam]

Try U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell for s/h astrogear. Be advised that galaxies are extremely faint and need long 5min+ exposures via DSLRs [which are dead-slow sensors compare to dedicated astrocams] so scope must track accurately during each exposure which can be stacked later for a 'deeper' exposure

However the planets are much brighter and can be snapped in very brief exposures from a static scope. Many dedicated planet imagers, like Damien Peach, use/have used cheap webcams to film a short video of a planet and extract remarkably detailed images via Registax freeware -these outperform astro-pro pics from the film era

I'd suggest an 8" aperture s/h Celestron C8 [=2000mm fl] may suit your budget and ideal starter for planets but may need a better tracking mount for deepsky galaxies. Good luck

ps: had 2nd thoughts on deepsky - use your existing gear [even 50mm-135mm fast lenses @ f2-f/4] on an equatorial driven mount - no scope needed - may need Baader or Lumicon LP filters to remove yellow sodium skyglow during exposures or go to a very dark site.

[gary1968]

Hi, I am new to this forum and read your post with interest.
I have been dabbling in deep space imaging for a few years now and am getting some success now.
For your budget I doubt you will get a 'good' scope package that will do it. So I agree with the suggestion above and suggest you invest in a decent equitorial mount and use one of your longer lenses instead of a scope. Maybe this one, Skywatcher - Skywatcher EQ3 PRO Synscan GOTO . Its a bit over budget but will track the sky and has built in goto, and will be fine with your DSLR on it.
Astro imaging is a very time consuming hobby, fraught with problems, and can be a money pit. I have now got my kit upto a reasonable level and I think thats why my success has improved.

HTH,
Gary

[nytecam]

Hi Gary - welcome to the forum

[johnf3f]

Thanks for the advice!
Despite my rather long winded initial post I didn't say that my primary goal is viewing rather than photographing. If I can get reasonable photographs then that is a bonus. My camera (Canon 1dmk iv) can give good images at some fairly silly ISO numbers which would reduce exposure times a bit but it's haevy enough to unbalance a number of setups!
Thanks NYTECAM I will have a look at this telesecope, I need to be pointed at the right piece of wood in this forest of trees!
Thanks again folks.

P.S. I like the idea of a go-to mount - good for GUMBIES (me?)