Best Small Quality Refractor for CCD Astrophotogra

Hello, all:

After following the recent thread regarding the new Meade Triplet APO's, I began wondering what my fellow Astromarters considered to be the best small quality refractor for CCD astrophotography.

My constraints:

Must be piggybackable on my 14" LX200
Optimum price range is $400-$700
For an exceptional scope value, I could go up to about $800

Basically, I am looking for something with reasonable optics, and good quality mechanics.

I currently use a $109 Apogee Short Tube 80mm refractor. As you might imagine, it just barely gets the job done. My biggest gripes with it is the false color and that problem is exacerbated when I try to focus the R, G and B channels for my LRGB CCD imaging using the ridiculous stock focuser.

All comments are appreciated!

Keith

Alec,

For the top end (or slightly higher) of your price range, I would tip my hat in favor of the Borg 77ED. It weighs about 3-4 pounds (before accessories).

Another choice would be the Takahashi FS-60, though that will really be pushing your price range.

HTH,
Eric

Keith,
After a couple of weeks I'm very happy with my William Optics Zenithstar66 SD, $400. They have other models in 66mm and 80mm within your price range. Very light and wonderful mechanics. You can see my first two images in the CCD Deep Space forum (one LRGB, one Ha, but I think I need to realign the RGB a bit. The color you see I think is more poor processing than bad CA. And the stars on the Rosette image look quite good to me across the field.) I opted for William Optics based on price, reputation for build quality and the images of others I was able to see online.
Hope this helps more than confuses,
Larry