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Canadian Telescopes 80ED vs. Orion 80ED (1 Viewer)

jklaassen33

jklaassen33

Member
I'm looking to get into wildlife photography using astro telescopes. I am totally new to telescopes. I do some birding, but mostly photograph deer. So, I am wanting a scope that I can be fairly mobile with. Which scope would you suggest?
I know that the Canadian Telescopes 80ED is not going to be well known (or known at all). But, wondering if the specs of the scope would make it good for wildlife photography.

Link to the Canadian Telescopes 80ED http://www.canadiantelescopes.com/S...-Telescopes-ED80-APO-Refractor_2#.UQL9V2fJLcc

Thanks, Jared
 
Wow, I’m sure someone with more knowledge will give you better advice but what I am seeing is this Canadian Telescopes ED80 is a 500mm, f/6.25 Sale Price: $599.00 CDN
And the Orion ED80 is a 600mm at (f/7.5) Price: $499.99 CDN
A lot of peps on here are using the ED80 might have different manufactures names but are the same scope mainly.

Have a look in the Astroscope + DSLR = Gallery! its just under your post at the moment.

Edit
Forgot to add it’s the ED80 f7.5 600mm they, we are using.

Jim
 
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Ya, I've been looking at a lot of different threads about using astro-telescopes. I'm very impressed with the results of the Synta 80ED scopes. The only reason I'm looking at the other one is because of the portability issue. The other scope is only a 14.3" optical tube compared to 23.5" of the Orion.

Right now I have an old Pentax M 400mm 5.6 manual focus lens. It suffers from bad CA unless its stopped down quite a bit. So, I am interested in trying an 80ED scope. I just don't know if the better IQ is worth the bigger setup.
 
The scope you linked to looks fine. The glass is FPL-53 which is the same as in the Synta scopes and FPL-53 is the best glass to go for in a doublet.

Paul.
 
In comparing the two scopes I agree that the glass quality is important. An F/6 versus and F/7.5 will not gain you that much more grasp. For me, I wanted a shorter optical tube enabling it to be stowed in a supertelephoto backpack for easy portablility and so ended up building my own short-tube F/5 scope. Those packs will hold a rig that is 21" in length. Another thing to consider is the crayford focuser on these scopes. Most of them do not have an acceptable load capacity to handle your DSLR + teleconverter + extension tube, you will experience slippage while snapping off a shot or two if the scope is angled and you will experience some slop in the draw tube alignment when the focuser is racked out. I recently upgraded to a dual speed linear bearing crayford focuser which has a load capacity up to 9 lbs and a short focuser draw tube which avoids vignetting issues.
 
The Canadian Telescope 80ED comes with a focuser that handles 5kgs of accessories, so it should be able to handle the camera, adapter, and tube. I think I will go with this scope and carry a teleconverter along for when I need more length. In photographing mule deer I think the portability wins as I do a lot of hiking with camera gear and do not want to give this up. I photograph some birds, but my first love is taking pictures of giant mule deer bucks in Saskatchewan
 
Even the basic SW80ED focuser handles the weight of a dslr without a problem. Sometimes there's some creep but that just means the adjustment screw needs tightening and then everything works fine again. Plus all focusers have a locking screw anyway which will lock the focus in place

Paul.
 
Never saw that one was smaller then the other, and looking at the size of mule deer 500mm and a teleconverter should be ok.

Jim
 
Looks like a new model. Interesting.... I will ask my friend at the telescope shop (Teleskop Austria) about it.
 
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According to my friend, who is quite an expert, the 500mm has a little more CA (fringing) due to the shortened focal ratio and short tube length. The one at TE is a re-branded SW Equinox in a "cheaper" tube. The one in Canada in a carbon fiber tube is for sure more interesting. Optically, the 600 beats the 500 by a bit. Bang for buck it is the 600, convenience would be the carbon 500.
 
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Thank you for the information it is very handy. I am still trying to decide which to buy. I will have to wait until my Pentax lens sells before I buy a telescope.

Question. With these scopes do I need to buy tube rings to have the scope balanced on a camera tripod. Or would they be workable without mounting the rings and plates.

I have a CF tripod rated for 20 pounds and a ball head rated for 40 pounds... (It's a little overkill for the lens I currently have, but figured it was needed when/if I upgraded lenses)

I am on a pretty tight budget. Even though the Orion is $100 cheaper, I figured that the hard case and the better focuser would be worth the extra $100 for the 500mm scope. Just need to know if I will be spending more money to "properly" mount it to my tripod.
 
There has just been some discussion about that on the setup thread. Some of us do fine without the rings. The 500 doesn't have them anyway.
 
Thanks, I was looking and searching, but couldn't find anything concerning the minimum focusing distance of the Orion 80ED without extension tubes. Just curious
 
I see. I misunderstood what you meant.
With a DSLR you will need about 80mm of extension to get infinity focus. Without them you won't get anything. The focuser will have a draw of about 70mm, and that will give you a nearest focus of about 6.20 meters.
 
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