small refractor and other items for imaging. advice required

Yip. 700 quid, was well chuffed. Thanks for that Carl!

Dave, I am doing my research, but i can do all the calculations in the world to find the perfect CCD for my scope, they still wont allow me to expand my budget just because the camera isnt the most suited to my particular scope.
Yes Im sure I could achieve better results with perfectly matched and suited gear, but that is not an option at present.

Besides, there are many fantastic images out there taken on CG5 with 300/350D DSLR's so Im going to try that route first ( well I consider them good anyway).
Il just have to make my setup work as optimally as possible and eventually (in a few years) upgrade to better gear.
If I cannot make it work that way then I will work on procuring cash for another upgrade, but I should learn plenty and have fun working out the issues with my current (planned) setup.

I am looking for the book you recommned also.

Cant really justify purchasing a new mount anyway after only getting my last one less than a year ago, and my money is now dedicated to an apo refractor, mounting rings and an autoguider.

Im now on the lookout for a decently priced 80mm APO refractor so if anyone knows of anything let me know

thanks for the advice all and please add more if you think of something you believe i have overlooked.

Im now on the lookout for a decently priced 80mm APO refractor so if anyone knows of anything let me know

If it is for imaging, make sure that you get a "true" apo. Unless it's second-hand, you'll certainly need to spend over a thousand euro to get something decent.

sure thing Michael. Thats the plan. Im keeping an eye on astromart and the likes for a decent 80mm APO. why spend 500 quid on an achromatic when a bit more might net me an APO, and il have to update sooner or later.

I was on the lookout for a decent apo a couple of years ago. For the price, it's hard to beat the Pentax 75 SDHF. Very flat field, 60mm image circle - ideal for large chip cameras - and excellent optics.
www.telescope-service.com/pentax/start/pentaxstart.html#75sdhf

If you do buy a different scope, make sure you check out the focuser also. You need a solid focuser if you plan to have things like dslrs hanging off the back - needs to keep precise focus throughout the night. Not much use in having good optics if the focuser slips.

from my investigations I have found that there are doublet and triplet apochromatic refractors, but with doublets being considerably lighter and at least half the cost of the trplets of a similar apature.

For the most part, folks online say that sure the triplet will provide almost perfect correction from color defects and other image defects ( coma etc) but that a doublet is not far behind but at a significantly lower cost.

It seems that I will be getting a doublet APO but I would like to hear your opinions on doublet vs triplet, and is it worth saving your cash for an extra year or two to afford a triplet, or is it overkill unless you are an absolute pro?

It seems that I will be getting a doublet APO but I would like to hear your opinions on doublet vs triplet, and is it worth saving your cash for an extra year or two to afford a triplet, or is it overkill unless you are an absolute pro?

A triplet would be better - but you have to choose what kind of images are acceptable to you. With respect to the telescope you choose, if you want killer images, go for a triplet. If slightly less than killer images is acceptable, go for the doublet.

Of course, you *must* ensure the scope is matched to your imager (Canon).

And finally, even if you have a trpliet scope, superb imager - if you stick it on a mediocre mount you'll get very mediocre images...