80ED For observing/astrophotography

Hi all, Is there any difference between the optical qulaity of celestron / orion / skywatcher 80ED refractor telecopes?

I'm just wondering - are they all made in the same factory, and are just sold as differemt brand names?? :

Or indeed, is there a difference?

Thanks,
Keith..

My understanding is that they are all made by syntha in china and badged as appropriate. They are the same scope.

Hi all, Is there any difference between the optical qulaity of celestron / orion / skywatcher 80ED refractor telecopes?
I'm just wondering - are they all made in the same factory, and are just sold as differemt brand names?? :
Or indeed, is there a difference?Thanks,Keith..

Keith,

The lenses are _thought_ to be identical and from the same factory....the cells are apparently the same and the glass in each is FPL-53 with similar looking coatings. It may be that Celestron are tighter on QC than Orion as some Orion 80EDs have had problems with lens coatings while I haven't read one negative about Celestron's. The Celestron I tested provided _slightly_ superior views to my Orion but my Orion has one less than perfect coating which could explain the difference (never bothered sending it back as the views are exquisite and I could have ended up with a worse one)

The main differences are in the actual tube and the type of focuser supplied. The Orion and Skywatcher use Crayford focusers which are nicer to use than the Celestron's rack & pinion. For photography, I suspect the Crayford would be a better choice and you can replace the standard focuser if you wish with superb ones from William Optics or Mercury Systems.

If you are interested in astrophotography then maybe you should look at William Optics, I have the ZS80 and it provides excellent wide field shots.

The ZS80 provides wider field then any of the mentioned scopes and if wide field is what you want to do, the wider the better!

Later,

Jed.

Keep in mind that the williams optics scope is over twice the cost at 1090$
Its not really a fair comparison.

No it not! You must be looking at the APO version.

The williams optics ZS80 is £299 which is €431 according to XE.

Later,

Jed.