I can go through countless threads of messages online with people praising refractors of all flavors for their pinpoint images, color free edges, collimation free headaches and more. There are a lot of good high quality refractors out there and I fully support all of the people who use them for imaging. Myself I even own an 80mm f/5 ED refractor that I have used for imaging.
Ever since I was a teenager doing astronomy way back in the 70’s, I dreamed of one day owning a Schmidt camera. I was drawn to this optical configuration for two reasons, aperture and speed. The Schmidt optical design in its original form delivered a large aperture flat field that was aberration free from edge to edge. This speed could deliver images dense with details with very short exposures and could catalog the sky very nicely. I though that was the coolest thing ever.
I remember when Celestron released the film based Schmidt cameras and I even saw a few being used. But that was still out of reach. I took a 9 year hiatus from astronomy between 2000 and 2009 because I was busy with other things. When I returned to the hobby, I joined Cloudy Nights and it was like a whole new world.
Many things had changed, but one of the biggest changes was using DSLR and CCD imaging cameras instead of film. It was a whole new world of real time astrophotography, and I wanted to get back into it. I bought a 6” f/5 Schmidt-Newtonian on an EQ mount and a DSLR and set out to learn all about digital imaging.
But I was seeing this new product called Hyperstar being used and the images online were out of this world. I was seeing the huge gap between true fast imaging and life at f/5. I was blown away with how detailed the images online were being shot around f/2 with short duration exposures and even unguided. Wow.
In 2018, I picked up a C8. The C8 was not Fastar compatible. You could not remove the secondary. I thought the C8 might be nice to own because I remember always dreaming of owning a C8 back in the 70’s and would be a fun “visual telescope”. In 2022, I bought accessories to turn it into my planetary imaging rig because it rode on the same EQ6 as my SN6.
In 2023 I decided to sell the SN6 with the LXD75 mount and take the money and add some more and buy a Hyperstar 8 V4 and the Hyperstar conversion kit. Since doing this, I have never looked back. The Ultima 8 (C8) is now my primary imaging rig for deep sky and planetary use.
The Hyperstar and conversion kit was $1800 Canadian. Installing the kit was like doing surgery and it is not for the feint at heart. Doing it PROPERLY was quite the job, and there were dicey moments to say the least. But it has been worth it.
If you love fast imaging with high quality images, great colors with respectable signal to noise levels, and using one shot color, Hyperstar is the bomb. I would not go back to a refractor and in fact I have not used my refractor in over 2 years. This is the imaging rig I have always wanted to own, and Starizona is an awesome company and a tremendous asset to the astronomy community. I have no regrets whatsoever in buying this high-quality product. It connects to my ASI533MC Pro and ASIAir and just flat out works.
But hats off to those who like to collect hours and hours of data, shoot monoband and use imaging refractors. That is a whole new layer and an art in its own right, and I have seen great long exposure processed stacks, SHO images, HHO images and more done with supreme glass that are to die for. I don’t have the patience or time for all of that.
My new saying is that “life begins at F/2”
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