National Geographic Scope

lochdara

Hi Guys,
Complete newbie here. I have the National Geographic 76 az scope. Just wondering what your taughts are on it. I have it a while and have used it to spot a few stars but always taught something was not quite right. It didnt seems as clear as the user reviews made out. I am an outdoorsy, photography loving guy so was wondering should i continue playing with this scope or invest in the mentioned ones in lidl or visit a shop.

Obviously if I cant see what i should then interest dwindles. So should i be getting good quality images with this scope?

Thanks in advance

lochdara

Update,

This is the scope i have
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5803745/Trail/searchtext%3ETELESCOPE.htm

Is is any worse/better than the lidl ones?

Should I just learn the basics on this one?

dbran

Hi

I do not know anyone who has this scope.

But with any telescope you get what you pay for. I would suspect that the scopes that were recently available in Lidl would have been far better. If you could have stretched to the celestron that was available in argos you would have been better off.

Meade and Celestron are well known top brands with quality optics. National Geographic are not renowned for telescopes and I would suspect the bottom line is the optics, eyepieces and mount would not be up to the same standard.

Sorry to bring bad news. You may be better off joining your local astronomy club and gaining more experience looking through their scopes before you buy again.

Kind Regards

dbran

lochdara

I didnt get this scope this year. It was given to me a few years ago. I have enjoyed the moon a bit but thats all really.

I am looking at the idea of a new one, thats why I posted. When It was got it was more expensive than it is now too.

I want something that could give me some nice digital photos too.

Do you know of a club in Wexford. I did a search but didnt get anything.

Thanks for your input.

dbran

Hi Lochdara

The nearest club to you I found was based in Dungarvin which is probobly a bit far away from you or my club IAS in Dublin. You could try getting along to Galway Astrofest in February and you might meet some people who are in your area who you can meet up with to go observing etc.

As regards astrophotography you may need to spend a bit of money before you can get a one that gets good photos. Firstly you will probobly need to get one that tracks and is motorised as a prerequisit. Astrophotography needs to be done using very long stacked exposures of from 10 seconds to 15 minutes which results in the movement of the Earth becoming apparent. Even one which tracks can be let down by a flimsey mount. It is not easy!!

The Lxd75 would make a good scope to start off astrophotography.

Regards

dbran

lochdara

Thanks for that. I;ll see where I go with this

Can I add decent eye pieces to myscope. I dont a bit of recearch and found that the internals are quite good but the eye pieces are not so.

I'll ask some of my friends, some of them have tracking scopes too.

dbran

Hi

You should check out www.irishastronomy.org. You may find folks in your area who will be able to give you further advice.

You could spend money on eyepieces, but you should be looking to spend maybe €100 each for decent ones new. Otherwise you could be throwing € away..

Good eyepieces can only do so much. If you get a good quality scope it usually comes with good quality eyepieces already. A good dob would set you back about €400 and will give great views and will come with good quality eyepieces although not good for astrophotography.

Have you decided on your budget yet?

Regards

dbran

lochdara

No Budget yet. I'll use the same idea as my camera, I think I;ll figure out the basics then upgrade,
My brother has a scope too. I'll borrow his and compare.


I got up to get Saturn this morning but it hasnt stopped raining here since last night..

So that will put a pause on any equipment for now. I;ll chat my mates in work and see what they have too.


Thanks for the help. Its nice to see another friendly group on Boards.