Dear, jm:
Forget doing Photography with a 10-13" scope on a Mead 6" mount. It would be quite a challange to do it with the 6". If you want a larger visual instrument the dob would be fine. However, if you want to try your hand a photography i would recomend that you start with some piggy back on the mount you have. You'll learn alot and begin to aquire the necessary equipment. You might then try some prime focus short exposure work on planets/moon etc. Finally, you can try some longer exposure prime focus work. I think you will find that the mount is quite marginal for such work even with the 6". In the long run you will find it inadequate but as a learning experiance it may be worth the effort. What you might think about, is adapting a smaller instrument with a much shorter focal lenght. Even then I just doubt that the mount will prove adequate to the demands of prime foucs photography. There are several good books on the subject that review the requirments of a mount for photography - I think Covington's is one.
Bruce
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