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stan26

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Posts posted by stan26

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted

    Your right there QM, it is a superb evening out there, I just wish i didn't need to be up early tomorrow :p

    Just finished the darks, now about to set DSS off to do its thing whilst I sleep...... (rosette WIP)

    Well mate not sure about fresh water but if you're like me and into sea fishing then I don't blame you for selling up, its **** these days! Cod are like clear wind free good seeing nights in the UK, Far and very few between! :(

    Stan :)

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted

    Tell me about it mate! It takes ages for me to set up now I'm guiding, a whole different ball game. I have never had the problem where PHD moves the star off the screen, But I do know what you mean about your image target moving off center It is annoying. This is another reason you would benefit from a wider scope. With your 200p it wouldn't take much for PHD to take you off target during the calibration stage. I think the problem is with our mounts, PHD needs to make the star move to work out the directional axis, but it take a while to clear the backlash hense the star moves off the screen or way out on a limb. I'm sure even with the tweaks I have made to my EQ3 PHD doesn't even clear any backlash in DEC during the cal stage. That said (touch wood) I have had very very minimal problems with guiding so far. I guided for 3 continuous hours last night in the howling wind, and so far tonight I have been going since 7:30pm. This is using all the same settings that I applied at the start of my M42 project, even though I'm at around half the weight with my widefield rig.I still say its all about weight balance, get it nailed and your in for a good session!

    BTW, if you where considering an ED refractor, have you seen these....? Starwave 80 ED Refractor Telescope :: Refractor telescopes :: Telescopes :: Altair Astro

    Absolute bargin!! I almost cancelled my Canon prime for one.....

    Stan :)

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted

    Nice one QM! That 200p must be a real challenge to use, hugely demanding on the guide setup, I bet even an EQ6 would struggle, so any half decent image from you EQ5 setup is a result, you should be proud of that!

    You're at the complete opposite end of the scale to me with regards to FOV framing your object. I've moved onto my new Canon 200mm lens for optimum image quality but traded off the FL so I'm purely widefield large targets now (ST102 mothballed till galaxy season). Have you considered getting a wider field scope, i.e ED80...? It would make your guided EQ5 a right killer of a DSO setup, and a lot less demanding on the guiding.....

    Stan :)

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted

    Hi Glyn, There seems to be quite a few of us on here from suffolk!

    Its interesting what you say about the CLS. I was under the impression that it only cut the light transmission at mid spectrum where LP falls into but let the good stuff through. Obviously any element in front of the sensor is going to have some impact on light transmission but 25% cut at the red end is a huge downfall with astro work. Maybe Ill have to re think my options....

    Stan :)

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted

    Great news austen, well done mate!

    One thing that the guiding has highlighted from my point of view, I really haven't got dark skies at all :) Anything more than 5mins and I'm down to ISO200 or 400 max. Theres just to much skyglow on my southern horizon. I blame neraby towns of stowmarket / needham market. I have been looking at getting a 2nd DSLR to mod, but I think an astronomik CLS filter will be my next purchase. I could do 10min subs with my canon 200 lens even on the EQ3, its just the LP that's holding me back .....:(

    stan

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted

    Well done QM, A great write up of which I'm sure will be a great benefit to others wishing to do astrophotography on a moderate budget. I was going to do a thread on my whole EQ3-2 project, but I think this one covers all aspects of guiding with these lower end mounts.

    I shall keep a look out for you images in the deep sky section.......

    Clear skys!

    Stan :)

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted

    Hey QM, congrats on the guiding! Its finally all starting to happen.

    It looks like you need to tweak the DEC. Don't worry i was getting worse results than that when I started. Looking at your graph suggests to me that the DEC is drifting of course and PHD is reacting either to slow or taking to long to take up the backlash to compensate. Once it has caught up the star is rapidly brought back to center, hense the DEC line gradually moves off centre then rapidly makes its way back to the center line. It also looks like its over correcting (over shooting) a bit. This to me is a typical sign of mechanical backlash. You may need to tweak them DEC adjustment screws some more.

    Are you guiding in "auto" mode..? is so you should try one direction only in DEC mode. Find out which way the star is drifting (i.e north/south) then set the DEC to only guide in that direction, and make sure if there is any backlash that it is taken up before you start guiding for example if the start drifted north then you would make sure that your last slew movement to center the guide star would be northwards so the slack is already taken up.

    Post up a screen shot of you settings and Il have a look. I'm no expert but I think I have a reasonably good understanding of PHD.

    Regards

    Stan. (p.s off to bed so may not reply till tomoz)

    :)

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted · Edited by stan26

    Congrats on the arrival of the GPUSB QM, Although I officially blame you for all this cloud cover! :)

    Looks like Friday eve may be the next chance to try it out looking at met office.

    BTW, Did you know you can download (FOC) a handy little test tool from shoestrings site so that you can test the the connection to the hand controller. Its located in products just under the actual GPUSB kit. It allows you to figure out what USB port your using and displays a control box on the screen that allows you to make DEC/RA slew movements. Once you have established the correct port you can then go into PHD and from the drop down list at the top of the main screen under mount select the used port. You could do this whilst its cloudy to check everything is ok. Also you must remember once you are all connected up to the mount and ready to guide, start up PHD and connect to mount !!BEFORE!!! you switch on the hand controller. I made the mistake of swithing on the HC before connecting to mount, which sent the RA drive into a fast slew. I spent a a short while scratching my head over this. I'm not sure how ASCOM (if you use it) will affect what I have said above as I have no experience with it......

    Regards

    Stan :icon_salut:

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted · Edited by stan26

    Don’t give up. I was able to get stars above 6 mag with Logitech 120. Perhaps 4000 series are more sensitive and you would get better results. Don’t forget to reduce noise by using median noise reduction in PHD settings.

    http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-discussion/125230-unmoded-webcam-guider.html#post1663012

    I second this, Don't be put off by the narrow FOV making it a challenge to find guide stars. When I first got my webcam, I attatched it to my guide scope and put it on a camera tripod to do some testing on the stars. Half hour into the testing I was convinced the webcam idea wasn't going to work. Then I read a bit more on the net and by trial and error I found some ways to overcome this issue. Finding a guide star now couldn't be easier. I simply line up the main scope with the imaging subject and lock the mount in position. Then I place a 25mm EP in on the guide scope (in your case you will probably need to re attatched the finder EP) I then find a suitable guide star and center it in the FOV using the adjustment screws. Then I replace the EP with the webcam and bingo its on the screen in PHD. Anther tip:- Its somtimes easier to find a star if the guide scope is slightly out of focus so it turns the star into a big orb like object. Once found you can refocus the guide scope, but it doesn't need to be focused pin sharp. A "slighly" out of focus star is good for guiding so that your not chasing the seeing.

    Also one more thing, To make life easier for me to find a guide star with the guide scope I added yet another finder scope to the guide scope (you can see this in my pics on previous threads). Look on astroboot they have 25-30mm finder scopes for around £4!!! they are cheap crappy plastic ones, BUT they are very light, very cheap, and do a good job of helping to find a star.......

    HTH

    Stan :D

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted

    Coming along nicely QM, Just need that USB to turn up now!

    You now need to learn the art of finding/centering a suitable guide star. Not as easy as you think with the webcams VERY narrow FOV. And being an un-modded cam short exposure cam doesn't make it any easier, But if I can do it I'm sure anyone can....

    Stan. :D

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted

    Excellent QM, at least getting the quickcam up and running was painless enough. Did you get a pic of the sensor? All quickcam pro 4000's have CCD sensor, its the type that's different i.e sharp or sony. The sharp version isn't as great but you should still be ok with it. The sony sensor is more sensitive.

    Now just need that GPUSB and your ready to go!

    Stan:cool:

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted · Edited by stan26

    Have you done any more testing ?

    Na, I gave up and went and brought an EQ6 pro...............

    only joking, I haven't TBH mate, I never do any imaging when the moon is about and its not like we have had fully clear nights. Its a lot of effort to get the rig all set up only to have the clouds roll in as I fire up PHD. I'm just doing a bit of lunar/planetry obbs work for now untill our night time sun is well below the eastern horizon again.

    Stan

    Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

    in DIY Astronomer

    Posted

    ummmm ale....Old tom happens to be a favourite of mine, although i will make do with "old crafty hen" tonight.....

    Anyhoo, Great news on the 4000 pro QM, Lets hope its a SONY sensor version as well, that way those dim 6mag stars shouldn't be a problem. You'll need to take it apart to remove the lens so you might as well unscrew the lens holder part and take a peak to see what it is, put a pic up on here and Ill soon confirm the sensor type.

    As for win7, well its not designed to run on anything later than vista, and logitech don't do any driver support for this model with win7 HOWEVER fear not it can be operated on win7 if you do as others have....see link......

    quickcam pro 4000 driver? - Logitech Forums

    Regards

    Stan.

    (p.s I'm am not responsible for any damage to equipment, any money considered wasted by partners, loss of sleep, stress, hair loss, breakdown in marriages, obsessions with flat graphs, a phobia for star trails or any other side effects/issues relating to guiding with a cheap mount and/or guiding in general) :):D:D

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