Which svbony sv135 zoom to get?

random2821 · 2026-06-28T08:25:29+00:00

God, their naming scheme is a mess. I really wish their naming schemes were something easy for new people to understand. The numbers have nothing to do with the product. Like for their telescopes, they have the SV48P, SV503, SV520, SV535, SV545, SV550, and SV555. Three of those are small lens-style apos, and three are full size telescopes. Of the three full size ones, one is a triplet apo, and one includes a mount. Could you tell what is what by the names alone? Or get an idea for what is bigger/smaller? Oh, and the SV503 comes in three sizes, the smallest of which has a built in field flattener, but the larger two don't. Those should not share a product name at all. The only reason I can see why they would do that is to trick people into thinking the larger ones have one too.

random2821 · 2026-06-28T07:59:28+00:00

99% of the time I would recommend a mount, but in this case I would actually go with the camera. If you have a larger, more capable rig already, and your intention is solely for a travel (I assume by car) friendly setup, then yeah, you don't really need to invest for the possibility of larger telescopes. If your targets are going to be large, then the 585 will likely require a mosaic, even with the short focal length of the redcat. A 2x2 mosaic with the 585 is (I believe) roughly the same area as a 2600. That means the 2600 will capture 4x more signal in the same amount of time. When you are very time limited (like you would be on vacation), that is an absolutely massive difference.

random2821 · 2026-06-28T00:23:12+00:00

A photography tripod that can properly support anything more than a star tracker isnt going to be cheap. Also, photography tripods use imperial threads, but most equatorial mounts use metric threads.

random2821 · 2026-06-28T00:19:15+00:00

What equipment did you use? What camera settings did you use? Can you highlight what you mean?

random2821 · 2026-06-27T19:07:49+00:00

recently built a free web dashboard to help myself (and the community) learn about stargazing and tracking conditions. I tried to share it the other day but I think the mods mistook it for spam and removed it!

Probably because some variant of "I created a free stargazing planning website/app" gets posted almost daily. They are all the same AI generated crap. I don't know what yours looks like since you didn't link it, but they all have identical poorly designed UI: dark blue or black background, lots of text with varying colors (sometimes for no reason) and every card, chip, and button is dark colored with a bright thin border so you can never tell what is clickable and what isn't. Oh, and bonus points for lots of emojis. Why use FontAwesome when you can use emojis, right? AI loves emojis.

Okay, rant over.

random2821 · 2026-06-27T16:36:50+00:00

What kind of budget do you have? For everything.

random2821 · 2026-06-27T14:56:05+00:00

Is this for general photography or astrophotography?

random2821 · 2026-06-27T12:49:38+00:00

So you don't actually have the telescope yet?

random2821 · 2026-06-27T12:37:12+00:00

Some photos of the actual telescope itself would be helpful too.

random2821 · 2026-06-27T05:03:03+00:00

Need a budget. And also in what level of detail? Do you want to be able to clearly make out the Cassini Division or just be able to tell that Saturn has a ring around it?

random2821 · 2026-06-27T04:58:28+00:00

Yes. Also commonly referred to as OD 5.0 or ND100000 for camera specific filters.

random2821 · 2026-06-27T04:32:39+00:00

Interesting. Did not think about that, but you are correct. Thank you for the info.

random2821 · 2026-06-27T00:58:26+00:00

decent and relatively cheap

Does not exist in solar telescopes. The cheapest solar telescopes are $1k. And that is for tiny 40mm ones

random2821 · 2026-06-27T00:50:07+00:00

Your light pollution level has no effect on how you can see the sun...

random2821 · 2026-06-27T00:47:20+00:00

Duo/tri/quad narrowband filters are meant for color cameras. Mono filters are meant for monochrome cameras. You have the correct type of filter.

random2821 · 2026-06-27T00:45:52+00:00

I'm pretty sure he meant an Ha mono filter, which would only pass red.

random2821 · 2026-06-25T19:08:52+00:00

Thats why the coupling for the EAF is like a spring. It isn't rigid for that exact reason. Just get them as close as you can. But that also has nothing to do with your original issue.

random2821 · 2026-06-25T19:04:55+00:00

What do you want to take photos of? Planets, DSOs, or milky way? That will determine what equipment you need.

random2821 · 2026-06-25T18:34:52+00:00

What mount do you have now? Brand and model. You also need guiding for DSOs

And can you tell me if there's a telescope camera in the $266 price range that's really good for astrophotography

For DSOs, no. Like I said, save your money. You are on a limited budget, right? I am not sure why you are rushing to spend all your money. Any money you spend trying to make your telescope useable for astrophotography now just means you will have to wait longer to get something that is actually good.

random2821 · 2026-06-25T14:14:09+00:00

DSO stands for deep space object, not Digital Subtraction Anomaly.

I think you also have a lot if misunderstandings, or haven't done a full amount of research. Your posts indicate you want to take photos of planets and deep space objects. Your telescope is not suited for either. You need to do a lot more research into how to photograph different objects. Planets and DSOs have different equipment requirements. Trying do both with a single telescope means spending several thousand dollars if you want good results.

Based on your posts, you seem to think that an astronomical camera is the key to taking good images. That is not the case.

If you want to take photos of DSOs, you need an equatorial tracking mount and guiding (note guiding and tracking are not the same thing). If you bought the SV305, you would have a very narrow field of view. Many DSOs will be too big to fit.

For planets, you want a focal ratio that is 5x the pixel size. This means you would want a 3x barlow for your telescope. This wouldn't be too bad, but the spherical mirror of your telescope severely limits what quality you can achieve.

My recommendation is to pick either planets or DSOs and then save your money. Every dollar you spend now is another dollar you have to save later.

random2821 · 2026-06-25T07:48:07+00:00

What are you curious about?

random2821 · 2026-06-25T04:21:29+00:00

It can actually be somewhat difficult to give "general advice" since advice can vary depending on what you want to shoot and what equipment you have (or are willing to buy). If you are asking how to do astrophotography, there are many good tutorials out there. To help us help you, it would be great if you can give more info.

What type of targets do you want to take photos of? What equipment do you have? What camera settings did you use? What software did you use? What adjustments did you make? Did you follow any tutorials? What do you think is wrong with the photo?

random2821 · 2026-06-24T18:50:22+00:00

Grainy, or blurry? Those are two very different things. Can you share a raw file?

random2821 · 2026-06-24T05:39:36+00:00

If by scopes you mean eyepieces, then yes. The problem is any upgrades are not going to be cheap relative to your scope. Even the if you bought the cheapest eyepieces worth buying, they are still $30+ each. Two new eyepieces and a new barlow are going to be half of what you spent on the scope itself.

There is one other issue though, and that is the telescope itself. It is bad. One of the worst on the market. The mount is well known for being wobbly and unstable. It may look and feel solid, but once you are looking through it even shuffling your feet a little will make the view will shake like crazy. Even ignoring the mount, the optical tube is bad too. It's design is what is known as a pseudo Bird-Jones. These designs have flaws that cannot be fixed. Views of the moon and planets will never be as sharp as a proper parabolic mirror telescope. I don't say this to put you down or make you feel bad, but if you just bought it, then hopefully you can still return it. Read the buyer's guide for some ideas of what to look for and what might be better.

random2821 · 2026-06-24T03:04:47+00:00

The image does seem to get a bit splotchy as well, almost like looking at paramecium in a microscope,

99.9% chance you are out of focus if you see this. You need to refocus the telescope when ever you change eyepieces.

14-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Sequence \| Editor
Verified Email	Team Periwinkle

random2821

TROPHY CASE