The best APO telescopes of 2009 for astrophotography
January 17th, 2009
In the last few years there is a mass production of small and medium size APO and ED telescopes. Every single manufacture has its own 80mm-range APO and the prices are decreasing from month to month. But even though that every of these telescopes is advertised as “the premium telescope for astrophotography”, they all does not really satisfies the requirements of astrophotography.
There are some important factors when we are deciding for the telescope which will be used for astrophotography:
- good control of chromatic aberration
- 2″ cryford focuser (micro focuser is even better)
- flat-field or additional flattener available
- good and quality mechanics
- good optics
- low f-ration (focal length / aperture)
Now let’s take a look at three of the telescopes up to 1.000$ (800€) which are good choice for astrophotography:
- William Optics Megrez 88 Doublet FD
William Optics is well-known of quality of their instruments. Their latest Megrez seems to be one of the best choices this year. With the 88mm of aperture and 500mm of focal length (f/5.6) it covers large field with DSLR cameras.
- Sky-Watcher Equinox 80
Sky-Watcher’s the best series of ED telescopes works very good for astrophotography. They looks and performs like more expensive William Optics telescopes. The color is also different – some prefers black
. With smaller aperture (80mm) and the same focal length as Megrez 88 has a little worse f-ratio (f/6.25) but it’s still very good choice! 
- Orion EON 80mm ED
Orion EON 80mm ED seems like another version of equinox. Nevertheless, maybe some finds it more useful and cheaper in USA since Orion is more popular in America. The lens characteristics are just the same as Equinox’s.
Do you have your own preference? Express your doubt, agree or disagree under comments!
Thank you for reading!
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