WTB 80ED [FOUND]

[joachim.ong]

Hi all, am looking for an 80mm refractor for astrophotography. Price maybe around $500, would be good if you have tube rings etc for the scope. My budget's kinda tight but if you have any offers do drop me a text we can negotiate
Joachim - 98-18-48-59

[orly_andico]

$500 will get you an 80ED or similar, with a dovetail plate and rings.

Sooner or later you'd want a field flattener, a finder scope (and finder bracket), and a guide scope (and rings) and guide camera.

[Mariner]

Give this a go? So far reviews from buyers at CN forums have been very positive.

http://shop.astronomerswithoutborders.o ... -refractor

[joachim.ong]

@orly_andico saw your thread selling your zenithstar 70ED. Wonder if there's a diff between 80mm... Cant decide if i should get it haha

[orly_andico]

I posted that in response to your post.

The reality is, for astrophotography there really is not much difference.

The 80mm is f6 giving 480mm. The Z70ED is f6.2 giving 432mm.

While the difference between 80mm and 70mm is significant for visual, for astrophotography there's not much.

One thing though: the Orion 80ED and its friends use FPL-53 glass, the Z70ED uses FPL-52. So the color correction of the Z70ED is not as good. But, it's good enough for me. The only reason I'm thinking of selling is because I have an AT90EDT triplet (much better than either the Z70ED or the Orion 80ED..)

The "real" Orion 80ED has a single-speed, rather crude focuser. You would definitely want to replace it with a two-speed crayford, or better yet with a Feathertouch, if you're serious about imaging. The problem is a Feathertouch focuser is almost $500 USD.

And yes, an Orion 80ED would still need a flattener.

[joachim.ong]

Yeah very bent on going for it... The only thing stopping me is that I wanna use it as a grab n go / travel scope too. Maybe to catch ISON at the year end as well. But on the bright side this scope would be more portable! Hmmm... Me thinks I should get it too