Trippelforge

So the short answer is, that it's kind of silly for me to pay for BYEOS when NINA and APT (unlimited demo) are free. My main needs right now are focusing and camera control. Fairly basic stuff as my setup isn't exactly advanced. But it also looks like both have a lot of advanced features I might be able to take advantage of. I am really glad I asked, thank you guys for the help!

I do have a VERY old camera, it's a Canon EOS 500D. I am looking to upgrade soon, or at the very least have it modified. But I am glad you mentioned that. It seems like many love NINA. I will check out APT, what are it's (basic) advantages over backyard?

My trial is about to end and I planned on going ahead and buying the software. However I think there are other programs people use. So before I did that I thought it would be a good idea to find out if people prefer something else over it? Thanks

Thank you very much, I do notice a lot of vignetting currently. I am going to go order a new T-adapter right now!

I looked around for this answer and it seems people usually go into details and so many variables open up. I just want to know simply if it would be a better idea overall to switch out my 1.25" T-adapter for a 2" since my scope supports it. I assume it can't hurt, but if it didn't matter I wasn't going to buy one. Thanks!

I didn't notice much difference although I was shooting Andromeda at Bortal 5. Does the brightness of the moon cause less focus ability? I am curious what number people get happy about overall? Such as I don't know if a 4 is horrible, or if people can get it down to 1 etc. I would like to know if my seeing conditions are more trash from one night to another due to the variance.

Thank you once again, the amount of information and help you have given me is amazing. I am for sure going to give it a shot, I mean what's the worst case scenario? I am going to upgrade my motor as well!

I have been searching and for some reason cannot find a basic answer to my question. Title probably explains it all, but when I am focusing using Backyard EOS I am never sure if the number is decent or not. Obviously your only going to get as good as you can due to various conditions. But I was just curious what overall number is satisfactory for most people? I was able to get a 2.7 a few nights ago using Polaris, but last night couldn't get below a 4. I am going to assume it's possible due to the atmosphere?

Wow that is a really amazing response, thank you so much for explaining everything to me! Tucked away somewhere I actually have two webcams that I converted many years back. I don't know if they will fit my finder scope or not, I think I used film canasters or something so I guess I will need to come up with another way. The one thing I am not sure about is how the motors get controlled via this method? Perhaps my mount isn't capable due to it's basic operation? I currently do use a laptop to run Backyard EOS with it, I couldn't imagine doing imaging without it's focus feature. It would be very neat to have something like this in place, but again I am not sure if my motors would be compatible, unless there is some way around it's basic controller. Thanks again!

I was hearing a lot of good things about them when they were new. Cloudynights has a pretty long thread on the scope (although it's not really active now). The biggest issue I have had is the lack luster focuser, it's pretty bad. I am trying to figure out how to fix it / tweak it right now. I am obviously not an expert but the optics of it seems pretty solid. It's a triplet, and is 560 x 80mm which I believe comes out to f/7. It was a steal years ago when released, I ran across a good amount of people on cloudynights that owned them. But I guess now almost a decade later, and due to being discontinued they aren't talked about much anymore. The mount suggestion makes a lot of sense, I suppose that can last me a very long time and I would need one anyways if I upgraded my scope. I am going to go look around for a EQ5 / Heq5 and see what kind of deal I can come find. How does the guiding scope differ from polar aligning in general? Thanks for the help!

I just got my son into astronomy about a week ago and we have been sitting outside together nightly since. He is rabidly eating up everything in regards to AP, and now we have been battling side by side together. I bought a setup about a decade ago without much guidance or experience. Well outside of the fact that as my first scope nearly killed the hobby for me, as I had the notorious 127eq Power Seeker. O.o Currently my setup isn't exactly high end, it's a step up from a department store, but I am running into some frustrating issues. Mostly due to tracking, and secondly a bit suspect of my DSLR. So I wanted to share my setup, and see if it's worth using say the scope and changing out the mount, perhaps getting a new DSLR etc. The problem is that I am on a budget so buying a completely new rig will be awhile down the road. Here is my setup; Barska Magnus 80mm F/7 ED Triplet Celestron CG-4 Celestron Dual Axis Motor Drive Celestron RACI Illuminated 9x50 finderscope Polar Finder Scope (can't remember what model) Canon EOS Rebel T1i (500D) What do you guys think would be the best thing to replace first? Thank you for the help! Random photo of my setup

I wonder if there is something going on with them. I am going to try when I get home during day light as you are suggesting. But I think I have the same problem during the day (been along time). I have a small pair that seem fine. If they are out of collimation is it possible to calibrate binoculars? I appreciate the help!

That probably explains it then, so you don't have issues with smaller ones? I never tried to roll the eye guards, I will do that tonight. Thanks for the help!

I always wondered (as titled) what targets should look like when using binoculars. What I mean is how "combined" each eye's view is, if there is overlap between the lenses, or if you shouldn't notice at all that you are looking through anything. Such as just a large open FOV without obstructions. I ask because I have owned a pair of Celestron SkyMaster 20x80's for many years. However I always seem to never just get a straight clear night sky view. Either I see the lenses overlap, or it's noticeable that I am looking through two separate lenses. So I don't really know what I should be expecting. Hopefully that makes sense and someone can give me some insight. Thanks!

The focuser doesn't travel well and sometimes needs a bit of help. The fine focuser doesn't do anything at all anymore (which really sucks obviously). These are issues that happen sans-camera. I have heard you can take them apart and tweak them but couldn't find any guides on that process (for my model), but I wasn't sure if all crawfords are the same. I actually posted in that thread when it started up, and I recently posted this question hoping someone would notice, but never got any replies. Currently I am using a different style of "rail", here is a photo of what I have, and the rings. Frustratingly the scope can't slide forward anymore through the rings, so I assume I needed something like what you linked (thank you). I wanted to share it just to make sure it should connect correctly. I kept reading over and over that the stock focuser for the Barska was the first thing people replaced. I just kind of held onto that notion and figured since it was acting sketchy maybe it was a good idea. But I suppose it would be a good idea to repair it myself first. I appreciate the help!

Hi everyone! I own a Barska Magnus 80ED and due to it being such an old scope there aren't many discussions on it anymore. I have found some random posts around but not really any answers to what I am curious about. There are two things that I need to figure out; for one I need to replace it's trash focuser (crayford). But I am not sure on what exactly fits it, or if there are more budget minded ones available. For instance I know I will most likely need an adapter, which I think is a C80ED. I wasn't sure if a crayford is a crayford and I just need the adapter or not. Secondly I have it setup on a CG-4, but the rail / rings don't allow anymore forward movement. So in turn I can't get it balance with my DSLR hooked into it. I wasn't sure if anyone knew exactly what type of rail fits one or not. I really appreciate the help! I finally dug this scope out to do some amateur AP with my son last week. Since it's been nearly a decade I had forgotten about some of the issues I had ran into.