Need help choosing a scope

I finally have $1,000 to spend on a CG5-GT, a scope, and an auto guider. I have seen a few used CG5's for $250-400 so I am hoping to snag one on ebay. I have been planning to simply mount my camera to the cg5 mount and use my 300mm telephoto to do widefield imaging to start out however I would like some advice on a scope.
As I said before, I plan to use my telephoto for widefield but I would also like to get a nice scope to go with this setup. I have been looking at this astro tech ritchey chrietien http://telescopes.topt​enreviews.com …chey-chretien-review.html which is cheap and leaves room for me to purchase an auto guider. However. I cannot find many images taken with this scope and I really need some advice because I am a college student with no income so once I take the plunge and spend my saved up loot it is gone for a LOOOOONG time so I need to make a good decision from the get go, I have made the haste decision one to many times.

Also, Can an autoguider be used with a telephoto lens instead of a short refractor? I have an old manual sigma 200mm that goes to an old pentax which gets no use.

You weren't specific about what you wanted to use the scope for. Planetary or deep sky? Your answer will tell me what kind of scope you should buy. There is no perfect scope for both unfortunately.

both. Most widefield will be done with the telephoto.

Planetary scopes need high focal lengths and small apertures. DSO scopes need low focal lengths and big apertures.

Are you going to be using the scope for imaging at all or just visual?

At this point I think I will only use it for imaging. I have not really considered using it for visual.

I think it's easier to use a scope suited for deep sky objects for planetary rather than the other way around, so a short focal length and large-ish aperture are probably a better fit for you.

Whatever mount you choose, look at its payload capacity and cut it in half for imaging. So, for instance, if the CG5-GT you're looking at can manage 15 pounds of payload, you can really only use about 7.5 total pounds for imaging. So take the weight of the optical tube, your camera, your guide scope, any t-rings/t-adapters, etc., and see if they fall under the 50% threshold of your mount's capacity. You really want a sturdy mount and the majority of your money should be spent on the mount if you want to have some good success.

I'd stay away from imaging Newtonians as the optical tubes tend to be long and the wind can push them around, making whatever shot you're taking at the time useless. I'd recommend a good apochromatic refractor. I own an 80mm refractor, for example, for my imaging. So for imaging with guiding, you'll need the following items:

Optical tube
guide scope
guide camera
mount
laptop
dSLR (or CCD camera) for imaging
Power tank to power the mount
t-adapter (if using a dSLR)
t-ring (if using a dSLR)

Here's the imaging rig I own. I have this power tank. I have this guide scope. And I still need a camera for guiding, which Orion sells as a package with the guide scope here.

Unless you can find some really lightweight equipment for that CG5-GT mount, I suggest you keep saving your money for the Orion Sirius EQ-G mount. It's sturdy and is, in the long run, going to offer more bang for your buck and less frustration too. If you want to make a good decision from the start, I believe what I recommended would be a great start into imaging. You might want to look over on CloudyNights.com to see if you can grab some equipment used - might save you a few dollars and get you where you need to be a little closer to your budget.

atmenterprises wrote in post #15423131
I think it's easier to use a scope suited for deep sky objects for planetary rather than the other way around, so a short focal length and large-ish aperture are probably a better fit for you.

Whatever mount you choose, look at its payload capacity and cut it in half for imaging. So, for instance, if the CG5-GT you're looking at can manage 15 pounds of payload, you can really only use about 7.5 total pounds for imaging. So take the weight of the optical tube, your camera, your guide scope, any t-rings/t-adapters, etc., and see if they fall under the 50% threshold of your mount's capacity. You really want a sturdy mount and the majority of your money should be spent on the mount if you want to have some good success.

I'd stay away from imaging Newtonians as the optical tubes tend to be long and the wind can push them around, making whatever shot you're taking at the time useless. I'd recommend a good apochromatic refractor. I own an 80mm refractor, for example, for my imaging. So for imaging with guiding, you'll need the following items:

Optical tube
guide scope
guide camera
mount
laptop
dSLR (or CCD camera) for imaging
Power tank to power the mount
t-adapter (if using a dSLR)
t-ring (if using a dSLR)

Here's the imaging rig I own. I have this power tank. I have this guide scope. And I still need a camera for guiding, which Orion sells as a package with the guide scope here.

Unless you can find some really lightweight equipment for that CG5-GT mount, I suggest you keep saving your money for the Orion Sirius EQ-G mount. It's sturdy and is, in the long run, going to offer more bang for your buck and less frustration too. If you want to make a good decision from the start, I believe what I recommended would be a great start into imaging. You might want to look over on CloudyNights.com to see if you can grab some equipment used - might save you a few dollars and get you where you need to be a little closer to your budget.

Thanks for all of your help and input. I agree with the whole sturdy mount principle but my problem is going to be portability at this point. I would like to save a little more and get a CGEM but it just weighs way to much. Alot of the time when I am at home I do alot of "Guerilla imaging" were I seek out county roads with open grass fields isolated from civilization. In some instances I will need to carry my gear a quarter of a mile so a CGEM is out of the question. I have even looked at the ioptron smart eq pro but it seems a little to underpowered. I have looked at an astro trac but I am not very impressed with the quality of images it can help produce for the price to weight ratio so I have chosen this eq mount route.

I am really liking the sound of the refractor at this point because you do not need to collimate anything. I am guessing the majority of my money will go into a refractor if I can find a good used CG5 mount. It seems like all of the APO's double in price compared to the achromats.

In regards to the auto guiding camera, Is it possible to use an ordinary webcam with PHD to guide? I am confused with the whole guiding principal, it seems that some products require a laptop to guide and some can guide without a laptop. I would prefer to go without a laptop but if I could save money by adapting a webcam then that would be no problem. Anyways thanks again for your help.

I have a web cam that I've attempted to use for guiding unsuccessfully, but from everything I've read mono CCD cams have better sensitivity than color web cams in terms of finding a guide star. I'm not an expert on this subject, though, so maybe CloudyNights.com would be a better source of info for you.

There are quite a few shots taken with an AT6RC in the astrophotography forum. I have one and love it.

hey can you upload the shots taken by at6rc ?

You will need more money then 1000$. You should spent the bulk of you budget an a decent mount. AP is all about the mount. Look at Sky-watcher HEQ5 Pro or NEQ6 if you are serious about AP.

I finally wound up getting the CG5-gt, paid $400. I ordered a Barska Magnus 80mm apo for $351, Although I had considered bumping up my budget for a william optics gran turismo 81mm ,I decided no stick to the plan. My autoguider is on the way and I still need a field flattener. I took a gamble getting the barska, there are not many reviews and barska is a self manufactured chinese facility. I will write a full review when the autoguider gets here and I can post guided shots however I can say that I have been speaking with another user who has been sharing photographs taken through this scope and the optics are superb, I mean like $1,500 Explore Scientific superb. No CA / color fringing - great color correction, baffled internal tube, sharp images, very clean even spot free ED coatings. It is incredible. Barska makes me think of apples relationship with samsung and well the entire chinese manufacturing modo which is copy and clone every great idea and sell it for less. I have been unable to determine if these scopes use fpl 51, 52, or 53 glass, my guess is 51. The crayford focuser is better than a synta focuser but not as good as a GPO focuser. The GPO has larger bearings and I like how they have a millimeter scale silk screen on the focus tube. Finally I got the SSAG package from amazon for a discount at $279 so I fell right under my $1,000 mark. Unfortunately a field flattener and thread will puch me right over a grand but whatever, I'm in the game now... Also, down the line I may pick up an 8 inch astro tech newtownian with all of the money I saved on my refractor. I tried out the ATRC8 on my mount when the seller delivered it to my house and was impressed but he did not recommend the 6 inch RC over an 8 inch newtonian so thats that.