Flamidey

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

I now have the focuser fitted and centered, along with collimation. What did you use to block the light leaks? I was thinking of some sort of spray foam (black). Any recommendations?

I use simple electrical tape. 

All you need really is to make sure the plate is centered over your existing hole.

• Measure the distance between the opposite elongated holes on the plate.
• Subtract your existing focuser hole's diameter.
• Divide by two.
• Make a mark at that distance from the extremity of the hole, one on each side.
• Trace two parallel lines through these marks. 
• That gives you the line where the center of the elongated holes on the plate should be.
• Pick a spot where the plate seems centered. 
• Mark the center of the elongated holes on the tube.
• Drill 4 screw holes on those marks. 
• Mount the plate and adjust to center perfectly.

Take a defocused shot at f/16 or 22 of a uniform light background (your white wall will be fine) and check for spots. 
if it’s fine then you’re good.
Isopropyl alcohol will not damage the glass of your sensor. Worst case it doesn’t clean it good enough. 
if you need more cleaning, use good quality sensor swabs and a dedicated cleaning solution.

Here's my setup with a Beelink GTR 5, if it helps with the cable management.
Setting up everything requires 4 connections: Mount DC, Mount USB, PC DC, Camera DC. All the rest is permanent as I can move the OTA+imaging+PC all at once.

You need to go to Script / Feature Script and then choose the components of EZ you want to see in the Script menu.

I modified a 3d print for that:

EQ6 Altitude knob by flamidey - Thingiverse

Works much better.

17 hours ago, BrendanC said:

Hi all,

I've been loving astrophotography for the past two years, having moved from an AltAz mount with 130P scope, to guided NEQ6 with 130PDS and modded DSLR, recently started doing a bit of HaRGB too. Mostly DSO - nebulae, galaxies, clusters, but with occasional forays into solar system stuff. However, I may be moving from my nice Bortle 4 skies to London. I'm hoping this doesn't mean the end of my new-found hobby/obsession/passion/interest.

I'd be keen on staying in the OSC camp, simply because mono plus narrowband filters is very expensive and fiddlesome, from what I can see. It's two steps forward whereas I'd rather just take one.

I don't think the DSLR will hack it, so I'm considering upgrading to a cooled astrocam, probably something based on the 294 chip such as the Hypercam 294C Pro Tec, with a dualband filter such as the L-Extreme.

That's the plan anyway. But there are nagging doubts. Mainly:

• Am I on a hiding to nothing trying to do anything decent in London?
• If it is possible, then would OSC with dualband work out, or is mono with narrowband the only way to go?
• Finally, is it worth buying secondhand to make the pounds go further, or should I buy new, and get all the lovely warranties that come with it? Everything else I've bought is second-hand but the camera plus filter would be my most expensive purchase yet and I worry about getting something that dies on me after spending hundreds of pounds on it.

I keep going around these questions in my head and I need some external input!

Any/all comments welcome.

Thanks, Brendan

Hi,

I feel your pain, it's frustrating.

That said, with a combination of lower expectations and more budget you can definitely pull out great stuff. You could check the youtube channel of Cuiv the lazy geek who is in Tokyo and got some impressive shots with his Rasa and appropriate filters in mono. Astrobiscuit is in London and also getting some good results.

I have no experience with mono and I use a 294 in Bortle 9 with satisfying results (for a newbie) even with 2 hour integration.

If I started from scratch and was experienced as you are, I'd go mono. Downside is the clear skies (weather wise) in London are not exactly abundant so you'd have to be even more patient in mono.

When it works it's really nice.
Unfortunately it is also not very well made altogether. 
My experience is pretty awful : broken clutch spring required a return to Skywatcher. They fixed it but also broke it more: it now has a crazy behavior, rotating randomly whenever receiving any order. Probably some problems with the sensors... And Skywatcher now has stopped answering my (nice) emails

I'd stay away. 

Update : Skywatcher reached out and offered a refund. That was the right thing to do and although I'm disappointed in the product, I'm satisfied with the customer service. 

13 hours ago, scotty38 said:

ok, my filters are 1.25" and are screwed in to the filter wheel and the way I have that oriented means the screw thread side of the filter is facing the camera. Is that correct?

According to this Optolong document, the side that should be away from the sensor is actually towards it when you use it in a ZWO camera (at least it was like that in mine). You can't reverse the assembled filter because it doesnt fit in the train BUT you can reverse the glass itself with a rather simple disassembly. You need to unscrew the ring (it has a small notch in it). Careful not to scratch the glass or even touch it with your bare hands.
To be honest, I didn't notice any difference after doing it.
I don't have a filter wheel, so I'm not sure if you can reverse it there.