I upgraded my telescope to a Meade 10" LX-200
F/10(May 1998), but left in material relating to the previous setup
using a Meade 8" SCT as it may be useful to others who are trying to make
their own setup work.My camera is an SBIG ST-7 and I use it with an Optec MaxField focal reducer. With the 10" telescope I get a 28x18.5 arcminute field of view. With the 8", I got a 35x23 arcminute FOV.
I use the latest beta release of CCDOPS control software with the camera.
The LX-200 has variable drive rates and Go-To capability built in to the electronics, but to get similar capabilities with the 8" (though greatly inferior), I used a JMI Mototrak, DEC motor and JMI NGC-miniMax digital setting circles.I use a two-computer"system" to control the camera, telescope and to do near real time image processing.