Following
this forum discussion I decided to upload what equipment pics I have in the hope that they might some day spare another aspiring photographer a little pain.
I want to love this scope more than I do. It's got iOptron's name on it and it's a pretty maroon color, but it's still just another mass-produced GSO whitelabel scope - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but temper expectations accordingly.
Non-optical HardwareMount: Sky Watcher EQ6r-pro
Control Unit: ZWO ASIAir-Pro
Dovetail: Included Vixen-style dovetail bar
Optics TrainOTA: iOptron Photron RC8
Focuser: Stock linear bearing Crayford (
not (technically) ZWO EAF compatible)
Auto-focuser: ZWO EAF (using included mount bracket)
Field flattener: None
Guider: Orion 60mm guide scope + ZWO ASI290MM Mini
Filter wheel: ZWO 5x1.25"
Main camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Pros- Inexpensive Ritchie-Chretien with a LOT of aperture for the money.
- Lightweight and portable setup (for a reflector)
- Includes all the necessary hardware and accessories to setup and start imaging right out of the box.
- Fast optics with deep reach (1640mm at f/8)
Cons- At best focus, stars and details are still bloated and soft. Even with sub-arcsecond guiding, 2x2 binning, and an autofocuser, I've only gotten bloaty, soft-looking stars and blurred details on objects. That said, it's not outside the realm of possibility that I'm screwing something up somewhere, so I'm continuing to work with it in the hope that I can get it tuned up. Its reach and speed are worth the pain....I think.
- PAIN IN THE ASS to collimate...without a Howie Glatter laser collimator. Even then, the fact that it's a tube (as opposed to truss) RC means some disassembly is required to collimate.
Comments