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yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1755
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Ben,
Actually, I clear the base in alt-az with the reducer and the Orion DDSI. But that maybe because the Celestron 11 inch CPC XLT has more room than an 8 inch SCT.
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Bill W.
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/09/05
Posts: 1437
Loc: Western PA, USA
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A couple of things to point out here...
My LX200 10 inch with a SBIG ST-237A could clear the base (barely) with a 3.3 reducer without extention tubes. Even beyond that there aren't too many desireable targets close to the north pole.
I don't think it is fair to compare a LX200 to a CGE, etc. The CGE (without the any scope) costs almost what a 10 inch LX200 does. If you go to a cheaper GEM mounts they can't handle the weight of the bigger scopes or their tracking is less than stellar too... so you're back to square one. If you want to imager at longer focal length performance you're going to pay for it.
-Bill
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Orion Atlas EQ-G (EQMOD), SBIG ST-2000XM & AO7
Stellarvue SV66ED
Skunk Hollow Observatory
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Charlie Hein
Postmaster
Reged: 11/02/03
Posts: 6674
Loc: 26.06.08N, +80.23.08W
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Quote:
Quote:
Time to chime in... for the record, the imagers in my club are overwhelmingly using fork mounts. I'd put the ratio at around 80%. Suffice it to say that they're very popular.
Clearly your club is full of novice imagers, right?
Well, not entirely by any means. They just love those fork mounts for some reason. For the record, I agree with you completely.
Charlie
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Weston CSC:
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Ben Ritchie
Lost in Space
Reged: 01/31/05
Posts: 4339
Loc: Bosham, UK
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With the fork-clearance thing, I think my problem was that I had the LX200GPS with microfocuser, so that was yet another thing hanging off the back.
Quote:
I don't think it is fair to compare a LX200 to a CGE, etc. The CGE (without the any scope) costs almost what a 10 inch LX200 does.
This is certainly true, although I don't think anybody is saying that a fork-mounted SCT should perform as well as a CGE/G11 (and those two aren't perfect performers by any means, they're the "top of the bottom end" of mounts rather than the real big guns).
However, for beginner imaging use the fork-mount SCT gives you the tricky combination of long-focal length (which is very sensitive to mount performance) combined with a mount that doesn't perform brilliantly. That's a difficult combination, not an impossible one, but it's something that the beginner should understand.
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Astro-Physics 130EDT StarFire, 80ED (x2), 305mm f/5 dob, VLT
Astro-Physics 1200GTO, evolved HEQ5/pro
Coronado SM60/BF10, 3-6 Nagler zoom, 8 & 13 Ethos, 28UWAN
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Charlie Hein
Postmaster
Reged: 11/02/03
Posts: 6674
Loc: 26.06.08N, +80.23.08W
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Quote:
However, for beginner imaging use the fork-mount SCT gives you the tricky combination of long-focal length (which is very sensitive to mount performance) combined with a mount that doesn't perform brilliantly. That's a difficult combination, not an impossible one, but it's something that the beginner should understand.
There you go Ben - you've condensed the entire thing into a very digestible chunk. Success is dependent on understanding the obstacles you must overcome.
Charlie
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Weston CSC:
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Bill W.
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/09/05
Posts: 1437
Loc: Western PA, USA
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Quote:
With the fork-clearance thing, I think my problem was that I had the LX200GPS with microfocuser, so that was yet another thing hanging off the back.
This is certainly true, although I don't think anybody is saying that a fork-mounted SCT should perform as well as a CGE/G11 (and those two aren't perfect performers by any means, they're the "top of the bottom end" of mounts rather than the real big guns).
However, for beginner imaging use the fork-mount SCT gives you the tricky combination of long-focal length (which is very sensitive to mount performance) combined with a mount that doesn't perform brilliantly. That's a difficult combination, not an impossible one, but it's something that the beginner should understand.
Now I hadn't even given the microfocuser a thought because I have a Classic LX200. But, it can be done without the microfocuser... they'd just be roughing it... 
I agree, shooting at longer focal lengths with a LX200 is difficult and does take persistance. I personally think if Meade wouldn't go cheap on certain parts the LX200 would perform alot better out of the box than it does. Plastic gears... come on...  I think the plastic gears were replaced in 2005. Some aspects make a GEM easier out of the box but I don't think either 'side' wins especially at the price bracket were talking. I definitely agree with you on all points.
-Bill
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Orion Atlas EQ-G (EQMOD), SBIG ST-2000XM & AO7
Stellarvue SV66ED
Skunk Hollow Observatory
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yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1755
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I have a JMI focuser and I still clear the base with my CPC 11 XLT.
But again using a focal reducer makes things a lot more manageable as far as focal lenght is concerned.
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