20 Best Focal Length For Astrophotography (2023 Updated)

I had my last telescope back in 1967- and it was very “beginners. ” This telescope is definitely a huge step up from my first. Everything assembled properly- I watched the you-tube video to help. We have not had a clear night sky since the day I put it all together, Anyway, it’s a very nice, quality beginner’s telescope.

I purchased the Orion Astroview 6 Equatorial Reflector Telescope as a birthday gift for my lovely wife of 34 years. An Astronomy hobbyist friend of ours recommended it along with some color filters for viewing the moon.

After setting it up (easy assembly) and calibrating it we took our first glimpse at the moon through the 25mm and then 10mm lens. The crystal clear details we were able to make out were astounding. Noticing a particularly bright star off to the east of the moon we zeroed in and focused the 10mm lens only to discover that we had targeted Jupiter and four of its moons, Jupiter’s bands were clearly visible and by this time we were hooked.

We set our alarm clock for early this morning to observe Skylab making a rare pass over Houston and were able to track it with no difficulty and could make out several recognizable details of this famous spacecraft.

We’ve been using the Orion Astroview 6 for less than two weeks and look forward to going out on our deck with a bottle of wine to spend hours every evening to enjoy viewing the heavens as we never have before.

Best gift ever!.

This was my first telescope since I was a kid. Assembly went off without a hitch. The instructions for assembly and setup were easy to follow and adjusting balance and spotter scope alignment was a breeze.

Then I had to move it outside for a session of observing. NOT easy, but not impossible. Once I got it outside and polar aligned the night was wonderful. The scope arrived during the full moon and i stayed up most of the night looking.

I saw Mars and Jupiter as well. The hassle of lugging it in and out was well worth it. I have used the filters and they work terrific. Since I got the scope I’e purchased a solar filter and a more powerful spotter scope with solar filter so now I can observe the sun.

I’m waiting for my motor drive to get here and I want to get n imager to go with the set. What a thrill to see the mysteries of the sky!.

I used to have an 8” SCT that I sold to buy this 12” Dobsonian. I’m really glad I did because I am enjoying it more than the SCT. My wife loves how fun and easy it is to use. I spent some time tuning it up (the spider veins were a bit twisted when I received it, I have collimated it, and I added some handle straps for carrying it more easily) and now it is performing beautifully.

It’s made me realize that it is my eyepieces that need upgrading now. Two eyepieces come with the scope: I really like the 30mm, and the 9mm is okay but I’ll upgrade it first. This scope takes in so much light and gives such great views for the money.

I would recommend to anyone who is physically able to carry it or otherwise wheel it where it needs to go; it’s bulky.

It’s an excellent device to learn the night sky. Lots of accessories are available for this model. I got the carrying straps and counter weights. An additional nice add-on are the Williams Optics binoviewer.

It’s heavy so you’ll want to get a trolley to move it around. The 12-inch aperture collects lots of light for high contrast. There are equatorial mounts made for Dobsonians which would allow you to do astrophotography.

I am very satisfied with this telescope.

The Z12 is a gigantic telescope, make no mistake about it. At over 70 pounds, you need to carefully assess where you will store this thing and where it will be used. In my case, it is kept in a garage and my viewing spot is 15 feet away in the driveway.

I currently carry it out (base first, then OTA), but will be adding wheels and handles to allow me to roll it out in one piece. My laser collimator arrived dead – not sure if it’s the batteries as I have not yet had time to replace them.

With that being the case, my first two observing sessions were without collimation. That did not stop the Z12 from providing some incredible and stunning views, though! My first view through the included 2″ 30mm eyepiece was in the region of Cassiopeia.

I immediately was overwhelmed with the sheer number of stars. The effects of the lack of collimation was barely noticeable at this low magnification (50x), but became more apparent with increasing magnification.

Saturn looked terrible between being low in the sky, poor seeing, and no collimation. Where the Z12 did shine despite all of this was on globular clusters (M13 and M22) and nebulae (Lagoon, Trifid, Omega, Eagle, Ring, Dumbbell).

M13 and M22 were just full of resolved stars down to the core. All of the nebulae were easily visible and showed significant amounts of structure and detail, particularly in Lagoon and Omega – those two were “WOW” moments.

While scanning around, the alt/az motion of the Dobsonian mount was buttery smooth. I had to adjust my balance point on the alt bearings slightly, but that took all of one minute. Once that was done, the OTA remained rock steady wherever it was pointed, then easily moved when I wanted it to, and *only* when I wanted it to.

The included 8×50 RACI finder makes star-hopping a breeze and a real joy. I get a kick out of finding things on my own, and the Telrad I’ve ordered will help get my initial starting point that much easier.

The 2″ 30mm eyepiece is amazing. This is the first 2″ eyepiece I’ve used, so I cannot compare it to “premium” eyepieces out there. With that being said, the included eyepiece blows me away. The 10mm plossl is sitting unused, as I have other eyepieces in that focal length range that are of higher quality.

My initial impression is simply this: this is a life-long telescope. I have owned all sorts of telescopes, from a ST80 to a 8″ SCT with all the bells and whistles. The Z12 is by far my favorite, hands down.

The balance of aperture and ease of use/portability is spot on for my preferences and style of observing. If you believe you can handle the extra weight of this thing, do NOT settle for a 10″ or 8″ dob.

I’ve owned both an 8″ and 10″ dob in the past, and the difference between those and the 12″ is dramatic. Well worth the extra cost and weight. I ordered this telescope right as TelescopesPlus. com was going through the transition of parent companies.

This delayed my shipment, but that was just fine as they kept me informed throughout whenever I had any questions. Just waiting for the Telrads to be stocked again! Full marks for an excellent product and supreme/friendly customer service.

This was my first ever telescope for diving into astrophotography. Needless to say, astrophotography can be extremely daunting for newbies and the web can almost backfire in helpfulness with the overwhelming saturation of advice and opinions on just about everything.

The general consensus was that an APO refractor was the sweet spot for a beginner. As a new astrophotographer I wanted to buy something good enough that I wouldn’t outgrow within a few weeks but also wouldn’t break the bank heading into triplet territory.

SkyWatcher is a well known brand with a reputation behind them, so when I saw this model for under $900 I was very interested. The f7. 5 isn’t exactly the most “ideal” f ratio to begin with, but the dedicated reducer/flattener get’s that f ratio down to a good spot.

I wound up purchasing this doublet. Long story short on the actual scope: It’s amazing value. The chromatic aberration is virtually nonexistent, and if I’m being honest, I don’t know if I’ve really seen any at all asde from my own poor color balancing in post while learning.

The reducer/flattener pushed open the FOV to allow for easy imaging of the more popular targets. The scope is solidly build, the focuser feels great (on par or better than the stock focuser on my William Optics GT), and has a very good case.

My only gripe is that the ***** rail it comes with is comically small and way too short to make balancing reasonable and required an immediate upgrade. Easy to solve. The quality to price point exceeded expectations beyond belief.

I cannot recommend this telescope enough, especially if you’re looking for your first astrograph. You WILL NOT be disappointed.

Again, fast/ efficient service from OPT! Amazing how they have what I want in stock when everyone else is out! I’ve used this scope only a few times since I got it in. Terrible weather in the Northeast right now.

I mainly do Astrophotography and very little visual. I know this is not the best scope for the purpose of astrophotography, however the quality of this scope and being an ED at this price point was to good to pass up.

I use a Nikon mirrorless for Astrophotography. I know there is many reviews of the stock focuser as not being the greatest. I will say that after my first night of using the stock focuser, it was very smooth and gave pretty acceptable performance.

I did not get any slippage at all with extensions and my camera attached. However, making setting adjustments on my camera, I did notice a slight up down movement to the focuser. Perhaps it’s because only two thumbscrews are used by Sky Watcher on their focuser to tighten things down.

Three would have been better. With that said, the stock focuser still gave acceptable performance for photography and would be a non issue for just visual. Being more interested in photography, I opted(from OPT) for the upgrade GSO Linear Bearing focuser.

This focuser was a direct fit to the tube and is rock solid. A very worthwhile and inexpensive upgrade for sure. Be sure to add a 2″ adapter to achieve focus with the GSO. The GSO only had 2″ of travel whereas the stock unit has 4 inches.

Viewing: The views through this telescope are absolutely beautiful with the included dielectric diagonal. There is nothing like the look that a refractor gives. Very contrasty look. Blacks and black and the stars are pinpoints.

As I stated above, the stock focuser is butter smooth and the 10-1 fine focus is a great addition. No purple fringing present. Just clear, highly detailed images. Excellent optics on this scope and I do not want to add “for the money” because that somehow translates into just an adequate optic for the money spent.

Packaging: Very well packaged and no damage observed upon receiving the telescope. Much has been said about the carrying case and I won’t beat a dead horse, but the case will not hold up to rough handling in the field.

After only two uses, I noticed a crack on the sidewall and I have no idea how it got there. The case went from a bedroom to the trunk of my car with no sliding around. I put some Gorilla glue on it and all seems fine.

So be careful of the case. I am glad that it is included though. Fit/Finish: Excellent paint job and everything seems very well put together. No issues. I like the extra punch of 900mm Focal Length that this scope gives and that was the reason I bought it.

At F9, it’s considered a slow scope, however, I have it mounted on a great EQ mount (HEQ5 Pro) for extended exposure times. Overall, I’m very happy with the purchase and from OPT, again.

This lens is very unique and hard to place. At higher apertures it’s tack sharp, and in the case of my example seems to retain sharpness even into the extreme corners. At lower (wide-open) apertures anything out of focus can take on an almost dream-like view.

Sometimes this is fantastic and can make people look amazing in portraits. Other times it results in an almost painted-on bokeh from Narnia that makes me oddly uncomfortable. I seem compelled to use it, simply to see what I’ll get.

When the results are good, I’m almost floored. When they’re a bit too odd, I genuinely wish I got the 50mm GM. The autofocus is extremely slow, it would be slow even in 2010 which is unfortunate. On the other hand, it seems to be quite accurate, and is almost completely silent.

Manual focussing feels surprisingly good. The lens is extremely light, feeling very light both on camera and in a backpack. This makes it much more likely to be taken rather than left at home. Some people have complained that it feels ‘plasticy’, I think it feels well made enough, and I’d happily trade a little feel for some weight savings.

The focus ring on the other hand does feel a bit rough and cheap in movement if not tactile feel. The lens cap won’t work with low-profile filters whereas the official Sony caps do. Flare behaviour is similarly odd with the bokeh.

Sometimes you can get a small flare that you wouldn’t expect, other times there’s no flare whatsoever when most lens would have a huge streak across the frame. On the plus side, flaring in general is rather rare.

There is a case where flare can fill almost the entire frame – but it’s a big ball of white/yellow. This flare is brilliant, with a little control it can add amazing creative options you don’t get with other lenses.

I hate the typical green circles and smears you get with other lenses; they just look bad. But this lens has a unique glow flare that can be used to enhance your photos. At the time of writing this review, there is no profile in Lightroom Classic for this lens.

Fortunately, I’ve not experienced a need to correct any photos, and that includes one of a wall. There is some distortion and vignetting, but it’s very minor. I’ll use the profile when it comes, but in the meantime I’m happy to just leave uncorrected.

If anything, it adds to the character of the lens. And if anything, that’s my takeaway with this lens. A lot of lenses tend to be clinical, with uninspired bokeh, sharp centres, and CA that’s corrected by software either in-camera or in post.

This lens on the other hand has personality. This can be good, but it can also be bad.

Even though newer AVX mounts have a dual saddle plate the ADM Dual Saddle Plate is a great upgrade for the AVX mount. The original saddle plate on the AVX uses two bolts that press into the dovetail bar to secure the telescope.

The bolts leave ugly dimples on the dovetail. The ADM upgrade is a compression saddle plate that does not damage the dovetail bar and is much more secure. The orange aluminum knobs on the ADM are easier to grip and add to the aesthetics.

Bought this upgrade for the standard AVX saddle because I was having issues balancing my new Sharpstar 61EDPHII in DEC on the standard saddle. This saddle is so much better! I can now mount the scope in a forward enough position so the center of gravity of my setup is over the center of the axis.

It also feels more secure than the standard saddle, and it’s not leaving bite marks on my dovetails. This will work for all the scopes I mount on my AVX: the Sharpstar, my Coronado Solarmax, and my C11.

Why the AVX doesn’t come with a saddle like this to begin with is beyond me. Installation was a breeze, took just a couple minutes. The hardest part was getting the bolts loose to take off the original saddle.

I recently bought this to compliment the deluxe ADM knob kit for my AVX. It provides a solid mount for my 9. 25 SCT. There’s are great products and quality/craftsmanship is superior. With the clutch levers in the knob kit I was having an issue with the dec.

motor clutch contacting the dec. motor housing and releasing the clutch while slewing. With the addition of this ADM saddle the issue is no more as it allows me to tighten the clutch in a position that won’t cause contact.

Bravo ADM. Also, I lost one of the threaded stainless steel grommets used to tighten the clutch levers. A quick email to Highpoint and ADM and 48 hours later replacements arrived in the mail from ADM.

…. exceptional customer service!!! (from both HP & ADM) If you want to make your AVX look awesome then I highly recommend the replacement saddle (& knob kit).

When it comes to value, this Sky-Watcher Dob is ideal (for less than $500–what a deal!). Plus B&H has the 150P model in stock as of this writing while so many online sellers are out-of-stock or back ordered.

Fast, safe delivery by B&H is a big plus. The 150P 6 is large enough to gather light for quality deep sky observing, and light enough to lift and transport–but the tube is longer than it looks in photos.

Collimation was nearly spot on from the factory (you still should inspect the imaging before using). The focuser is a tad wobbly, but you can work with it or replace it with a better device down the road.

A good starter ‘scope; even good for an advanced amateur since an 8 doesn’t really add that much clarity in my opinion. And if you’re inventive, you could do lunar astrophotography but it’s not ideal without a clock drive.

You’ll have to learn the night sky to use the 150P as there are no pricey go to electronics with the 150P. Oh, like so many telescopes today, this is manufactured in the PRC but by a well-respected Chinese manufacturer founded by an astronomer.

Why is it that the initial focal ratio stated is F/5. 8 whereas the following description states the focal ratio is F/8? After dividing the focal length by the aperture size the focal ratio is indeed f/8.

Why is there misleading information initially?.

This is a great telescope for beginners. I assembled it with my 13YO nephew in about 15 minutes, and he was running it by himself in no time. Finding planets, adjusting aim, changing eyepieces, everything.

We’ve gotten great views of the moon and a look at Saturn that rivals open night at the local observatory. It’s amazing to watch it orient itself. Just press one button, stand back, and watch it look around for a few minutes.

It recognizes constellations, and then calculates the entire sky from there. Once oriented, a few simple button pushes will get it to point itself at the celestial object of your choice. You can select from among the currently visible planets, a vast catalog of stars, or an automatically generated list of the most interesting objects visible that night from that location.

You can also point the telescope at an object and ask it to identify what’s in that vicinity. The one problem is that orientation is done with a camera attached directly to the tripod, not the telescope’s own optics.

With magnification that high, even a minute variance in angle can make miles of difference. So, while the computer can get you in the right ballpark, you’ll probably need a few minutes of fine tuning to actually get the view lined up.

(Again, my 13YO nephew can do this by himself. ) The telescope computer does have a calibration option. It will point at a bright star, center it in the camera, and then ask you to center the star in the telescope’s field of view.

We haven’t tried that yet, so I don’t know how much it helps and whether or not it’s necessary to redo the calibration every night. I should note that I went ahead and splurged on the accessories kit.

We haven’t had use yet for any of the color filters, but the Moon filter is a must, as is the 6mm eyepiece (for closer magnification on planets). Lunar observation is both easy and breathtaking, but it’s painfully bright to look at without the filter.

This telescope is a great value. Its 70mm lens is much better than the 60mm usually found in a telescope in this range. People generally focus on magnification in evaluating a telescope, but the size of the objective lens is just as important.

As a practical matter, useful magnification is about 50 to 60 times per inch of objective lens; there are 25mm to an inch. Any magnification above that is largely useless. This telescope has a useful magnification of about 175x, achievable with its included 4mm eyepiece.

This is enough for most observation needs. You do not need to use the included Barlow Lens. Even an expensive instrument can only rarely benefit by much higher power, due to atmospheric conditions. Another thing I like about it is that it uses an Azimuth mount, not an Equatorial.

An Equatorial is a pain to set up and use, and it must be set up EXACTLY right to work or it is useless. This is only for the serious amateur. Another point is that an Equatorial will not track the moon and planets, it is used only for the “fixed stars”.

If you just want to look at the moon or planets or Orion as well as use it for terrestrial observation, you are much better off with an Azimuth mount that this telescope has. This is particularly true if it is meant as a gift to a juvenile.

If you give such a person a telescope with an Equatorial mount, you are likely to turn him off from Astronomy for good. This is a good telescope for a juvenile. The laser finder provided with it works quite well for getting visible objects in the field of view of the eyepiece.

The mount is sturdy and the three eyepieces give a good range from 35, 70, to its its maximum useful 175x. All in all, an excellent value.

This is the telescope you are looking for. You are searching for the right telescope, so many options, so many things you don’t understand about telescopes. This is what you want. Great optics, easy to set up, affordable.

Buy this one, you will not regret it. I bought this telescope for $40 on sale during Christmas several years ago. I have carried it everywhere since. This scope, the price, the experiences with it are what made me love star gazing! I knew nothing about telescopes before I bought this one.

After several years of star gazing, this is my go-to scope, everytime. I own several more expensive telescopes that are just too complicated and tedious to set up and don’t deliver. Please don’t spend a ton of money on a telescope that you won’t use because it’s too difficult to set up.

This telescope can go anywhere and take a beating. You can clearly see Saturn’s rings and moons, Jupiter’s colors and moons and so many other awesome nebulas, star clusters and other space objects. The upgrades (i.

e. lenses, filters etc. ) are so affordable and worth it. Just buy this telescope and get on with it. After buying “stronger” scopes, you will return to this one time and time again. Trust me. Hope this helps.

Enjoy!.

It may not be the best but very good value for the money I paid. It is very sharp after AF fine tune (+13 on D7200 for my copy). If somebody is looking for very sharp results and body doesn’t support AF fine tune, they may have to live with whatever they got.

Sharpness is poor in the corners wide open and it is noticeable as well. Tone, clarity etc – Overall the pictures looked very vibrant and pleasing. Editing raw files to my taste can change anything to what I want but I was able to get decent jpegs in the ‘standard’ picture control mode in D7200.

Audible noise, build quality – AF motor is noisy especially if travels through the full range. Generally that is not the case and shutter release is much more louder anyway. Build is decent (mostly plastic and rubber) and feels much heavier compared to kit.

Focus – I had front/back focus issues at f2. 8 because of the poorly built AF drive system of the lens. D7200 is very fast to focus on distinct patterns and it is often too fast for this lens mechanism to handle.

Final focus settles one or two centimeters before or behind the actual point. It happens randomly and I had to half press the shutter button once again (or twice) for a final adjustment from the position it previously stopped.

And this method worked quite well. Continuous AF mode also helped as I half press and hold it, camera readjusts the focus (you can hear the tick-tick sound it is correcting the position). Also I have no problems with focus in live view, it worked very well.

My copy is made in Vietnam.

Tamron 17-50mm: I bought this lens and after using it for almost a year, I can say the images aren’t that sharp, the focus is lost in many important pictures. It is really hard to get a completely focused picture.

I believe that, for the money, this is a solid alternative to the Nikon AF-S 17-55mm 2. 8. I purchased this because I did need a lens with constant 2. 8 aperture for some portrait work and indoor photography and could not reach for the Nikkor model.

I am not a pro, but have sold some photos along the way. My main complaint is that there are times when it does hunt a bit long before coming in to focus, primarily when it is darker than usual. I can, however, live with that as I have not missed any shots due to that.

That said, I have found that the quality of focus is generally very good throughout the range of the lens. The zoom is smooth throughout, no stickiness or tightness to it at all. For the most part, the images are quite sharp and the colors rendered are saturated nicely.

I have not noticed any vignetting nor chromatic aberration (CA), though, admittedly, I have only been using the lens for slightly over a month. The Bokeh (background blur) is generally very good, though on a small number of images I noticed it is not quite what I had hoped.

For those who are used to Nikons Silent Wave Motor the Tamron Built-In Motor might take some getting used to. It is not loud, at least on my copy, but it is a different sound. I have not experienced any issues with Tammy’s VC (Vibration Compensation), as everything has come out crisp and clear on both my Nikon D80 and D5100.

The build quality seems very good. It is definitely heavier than the kit lens but not a deal breaker by any means. If you have a kit 18-55 lens and need to have a bigger, constant aperture and cannot reach to the Nikon 17-55 right now, then this lens is a good quality alternative.

It is not perfect by any means, but is definitely above average in overall performance.

I received my telescope and accessories two weeks ago but have not been able to use my telescope as of yet. This is my first Newtonian telescope I have owned so I wasn’t familiar with it when it arrived.

I did at one time own a $100 telescope when I was 15, that’s years ago. One problem comes from Orion is assuring everyone that the telescope will be collimated when it arrives. This caused problems assuming that telescope would be culminated.

The culmination cap was missing so I couldn’t check it to familiarize myself with my new equipment. I returned my first set of lens 1. 25 inch wrongly thinking this was the problem and bought a 2 inch 26mm lens as I could not get it to focus.

With the 2 inch 26mm lens I could see the secondary mirror as a white panel on the side of the viewing area. I knew I needed to culminate so I bought a laser collimator as I didn’t receive the culmination cap.

When the laser arrived and I went to adjust the telescope I realized the whole secondary mirror was hanging loose. The nuts to hold the mirror in place were barely put on and could have fallen off at any moment.

I tightened everything up and tried to laser culminate. I could hardly see as the laser was so bright it hurt my eyes to look at it. Instead of one dot there were 3 dots lined in a row. I could not get the centre dot to align with the target.

This process hurt my eyes so I could hardly see. I gave up and asked Orion to send me the culmination cap that was supposed to be in the box. Hopefully when it arrives I will be able to culminate my telescope and start enjoying it.

I just got an email that it will be shipped today. I still recommend Orion on the grounds that they have customer service that is the best I have ever seen from any company even Apple. Perhaps a disgruntled employee in the factory might have left the culmination cap out of the box and left the secondary mirror loose.

Please note that the laser culminater was also fooled with as it was tightened so tight that even Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn’t of turned it to the on position. I used a tool and still it was hard to break free from the off position.

Hopefully all my culmination problems will be resolved when the culmination cap arrives. I really want to work with Orion and not send back the telescope. I have read nightmare reviews on line about customer service from other manufactures selling Astronomy products.

Thank you Orion for your fantastic customer support. On another subject your assembly instruction are probably great for the 8 and 10 inch telescopes but the 6 inch is different. The rings need to be placed differently as well as a few other things.

I suggest a video on how to assemble the Orion 6″ f/4 Newtonian Astrograph Reflector Telescope. I really look forward to putting this problem behind me and enjoying the skies.

I really like the mirror lens concept and have used some really good ones before. This particular copy, however, did not perform as expected even for its price point. Pictures were never completely in focus regardless of object distance or ambient illumination.

I really wanted to like this lens but I am returning my copy. Thanks B&H for always taking good care of your customers! It’s one of the things that keep me coming back again and again. :).

A month ago I scraped up enough money to buy a C8 edge. I had already had a C11 edge for over a year and was very impressed by the optics. The only down side of the C11 is the field of view is a bit narrow for some of the more interesting astronomical targets.

The C8 has a shorter focal length and with the reasonably priced focal reducer I could get all of almost any target in the sky into my photos. I am still waiting for my focal reducer but I have been enjoying my new scope anyway.

I have had it out 4 times this month and so far I am as happy with my C8 as I am with my bigger scope. I have taken photos of the moon and the Orion Nebula and the scope has a wide enough field to get each target into the photo missing any parts.

I was a little apprehensive that my new C8 edge wouldn’t compare well to my C11 edge. I was relieved to find that the optics in the C8 were every bit as good as they were for My C11. If I could only have one scope I think it would probably be the C8 edge.

It is powerful enough, versatile and the optics are very very good. So far I am quite happy with this new scope.

The tube arrived in great shape, carefully packaged, and is collimated well as far as I checked thus far. (For instance, it produces clear and sharp images of terrestrial targets like a distant sign or tree, incl.

eben and natural colors. One warning: this tube comes with an extended visual back preinstalled, which is great – except that it means that it will not fit into the Celestron case that it should fit in (the smaller one that takes tubes up to and including 8? SCT?s like this one.

Since no port cover is included, I ordered a short visual back that I can close with the included 1. 25? plastic cover that did come with the tube for its extended visual back.

I bought this telescope a month ago. It’s best for viewing the moon – and that’s about it. Basically paid nigh on £300(!!) for an accessory tray, night vision light and smart phone adaptor. Sky At Night magazine (who might know a little bit about astronomy) rated the Celestron 100AZ.

The optics got one of the lowest ratings – kind of fundamental really, wouldn’t you say? Be prepared to buy expensive eyepieces and getting on your knees and praying for near perfect conditions to see anything with this particular scope.

ask yourself, is it a gift for. someone who may change hobbies quickly (I. e. A child) then fine, go ahead. However, if you want to see planetary details, avoid. Some sites describe it as a beginner to intermediate telescope.

I’d say it is very much so. for a beginner telescope. For a little more. cash you can get a scope with ‘go to’ capabilities and more aperture!!.

A solid starter telescope. A piece of advice: set-up the telescope and align your view-finder in advance of trying stargaze. The app is also very helpful. The telescope is top heavy so be careful when swiveling to change sky positions.

The tri-pod is also a bit tippy to be sure to adjust the legs carefully and place on a relatively flat surface.

The scope itself is great. The tracker mount on the other hand is not. The manual controls for the horizontal movement strip within a couple of months and become unusable. The mount was replaced once, but happened again with the replacement.

So I saw this telescope with no reviews anywhere on the web and discovered it is a new product and is similar to the more costly ones in dimensions and claimed quality. I bought this as a gift but have used it much myself now and I am very surprised! I do not know a whole lot about astronomy but the details of the moon are insane! So far we have seen Venus and that was very interesting since it wasn’t at its brightest and we could see the sphere of the planet clear as day.

We were able to locate stars that normally go unnoticed to the naked eye. Definitely worth the price and I highly recommend to those who want to start star gazing without spending a lot of money and don’t want to start with crap.

The kids are amazed by this thing! Thanks Target!.

Unfortunately here in Virginia it seems like we have had non-stop rain for the past year, so I have not had the opportunity to take my Celestron AVX 8 SCT out for a test. I can say it was easy to assemble and has the feel, look and operations of a quality telescope.

I have been able to test out the hardware in my house and the equipment is very impressive and response as expected. Can not wait to get it outside and take an adventure into the night sky, My sales associate Isaac at High Point Scientific was friendly, knowledgeable and a professional in every way.

He took the time to answer all of my questions and helped me to decide which of my telescope choices would be the right one for me. He guided me through the ordering process, which he made simple and complete.

The warranty can not be beat either. They stand by their products and customers for life. High Point kept me informed when my package was shipped. They sent me a tracking number so I knew when it would be arriving and the three packages arrived as Isaac had said, within two days of shipping.

One package arrived with damage to the outside box, but the contents of each box was well packaged and protected. High Point has a complete line accessories and will continue to be my go to telescope accessory store.

Thank You High Point, Louie Johnson.

Optically, this scope is incredible. The build quality is tops, and the view is amazing. Stars resolve to crisp pinpoints and imaging through it is a dream. The R&P focuser is just ok. Smooth action, very responsive, but there’s quite a bit of image shift when changing directions.

Makes focusing through a camera a bit of a challenge, because when you’re zoomed in to get a really detailed view the image jumps all over the place whenever you touch either of the focus knobs. That being said, I’ve got a lot of hours on it already and there are a lot more down the road for me – I just wish the focuser was a bit tighter.

Nice wide field scope and of course it came in perfect condition two days early. Agenda is a great place to deal with.

Fabulous telescope with high quality craftsmanship. Lightweight and a great travel astro imaging rig!

First light was a view of the waxing gibbous moon. Wow! Wow! Wow! Best view of the moon I?ve ever had! What a great moment for first light! There was a thin rim of dark blue aberration very close to the edge of the field but with target centered it was not noticeable.

Only when the moon drifted slightly off center with its edge leaving the FoV was this apparent. Next, my mount (iOptron CEM 120) went haywire and I haven?t had a look since. Mount is back in iOptron lab getting fixed now.

I strongly caution AGAINST iOptron equipment. This is the second one I?ve had that went south. Support is poor, product more so. But not the SkyWatcher 150! I was soooo thrilled with the view. I can?t wait until my mount gets back!.

I was very excited to order this mount. I have been using an Atlas EQ-G since 2008, and even after Hypertuning, and Rowan belt modification, I felt that it was time to just spend more money. The concept of the CEM intrigued me, and I was very sold on the idea of through mount power and USB.

Beautifully packed in a nice case, and nothing damaged or missing. Assembly was very easy, though I needed an appropriate pier adapter, which seemed to be sold out everywhere. I found a used one and was good to go.

The only hiccup in an otherwise satisfying experience was with the internal USB3 ports. The mount’s usb did not want to play nice with the usb from my ASIAIR Pro. I spent several hours trying different cords, configurations, and ended up jus not using the Ioptron internal USB3, except for the connection to the mount itself, which allowed control of the mount.

Today, after extensive reading online about other owners frustrations, I tried using a USB 2 connection on the AIR to a usb powered hub, and then USB3 from hub to mount. It worked! And one by one I reconnected my cameras, filter wheels, mount and focuser using the through mount usb! It shouldn’t have been an issue at all.

Luckily I missed no opportunities for imaging.

Received this scope a few weeks ago and have done 3 imaging sessions which worked out well. A great FOV which appears flat right to the corners. Optics were well collimated and threaded connections generated a perfect planarity with my camera sensor.

Especially liked that Sky Watcher provides the proper field flattener with the scope without requiring a separate purchase. Great value for the money for a 100 mm aperture telescope. Carry case is super sturdy and should provide protection during transport for a lifetime.

Finder scope base is a bit lower in quality with a single thumbscrew for the finder bracket. The Losmandy dovetail provided is sturdy but is a bit short for imagers who want more leeway to balance the payload for proper guiding.

Overall the optical quality outweighs the minor drawbacks. ++.