Adam-R

Welcome Tony,

Im not too far for you. Looking forward to seeing your images 🙂

I can see blue skies in Sheffield. Could we get and hour tonight? Just maybe??

Welcome, sounds like you're already well into the hobby 🙂

I think jumping away from the convenience from an ASIair would boil down to the availability/price of the hardware, i.e. another brand is so much better that it makes the decision for you. 

I'm surprised that no-one has hacked the ASI and developed another app that could run other cameras? 

Nice! 

I travel to Juarez a lot for work and I stay in El Paso, would you happen to know what the sky is like around there? I know its low mountains so not strictly sea level?

Thanks

Adam

On 08/10/2023 at 14:44, Physopto said:

NUTS !!!!

The average age of our Star Parties is rising year by year.

We need fresh meat !!

Old sods feel the cold more, just ask Damian.............. Oh and me 😱

 

I've just turned 40 - I could attend. Does that help?!

I know you should judge a setup by the images you get, but damn that looks cool! 

It's a terrible error message to be honest! Doesn't tell you what's broke, or how to fix it! Good luck. 

Maybe contact SGP directly? They will know what’s causing the error.

15 hours ago, happy-kat said:

There is overlap in the books and you mentioned about processing which is covered more in the second

Well now I've picked up my mount and a guide scope & camera. Almost have a basic setup... Time to start learning a processing work flow. 

I'm very tempted to bit the bullet and the the ASIAir to finish off the basic setup

It'll soon be Christmas, I'll put both on my list. Also want Alyn Wallace's new book. 

On 18/10/2023 at 21:01, tomato said:

You have no doubt noticed the number of threads on SGL bemoaning the UK weather and the very limited opportunities to put our Astro kit to good use. I would seriously be in no hurry to buy AP equipment, especially if it is a budget conscious compromise. Download some free quality datasets (there are some here on SGL, and plenty on the internet, the Hubble Space Telescope data is all in the public domain!) and have a go at calibration, stacking and post processing with DSS and GIMP, both are free to download. I think all of the commercial Astro processing software packages offer free trials in one form another so there is plenty to get into without spending any money.

Get hold of a copy of “Making every photon count” and absorb all of the sound advice there in, that’s what I did before acquiring any kit.

I tried this last night. Got some data from astrobackyard. It's very difficult coming into it cold. I need to follow along with a tutorial I reckon.

I’m collecting in person. I set an alert to look at every item listed and see if it’s within travelling distance. That setup on market place does look awesome though for the money, but would need to see it in person 

The mount is coming off ABS and the guy seems legit. He's offered a good level of technical feedback and so far, not asked for a courier to collect the money! 

I was given a lot of advice recently. 

Here is the link to the thread where you can find links to vids etc. 

There might be some bits in there that helps you as well 🙂

Managed to snag an EQ3 Pro mount and tripod that’s been tuned by dark frame. 
 

Collect on Sunday. The journey begins! 

My plan is to start! 

I'm still looking to build my kit up so I can get out a few times. I live very close to the peaks so I'm sure I can find a good location. If anyone has some recommendations that aren't so popular then Id appreciate it 🙂 - The idea being to start imaging and then sleep in the car for an hour between check ups. 

That looks epic! Just need some cloud free nights now?! 

Thanks all..... @DSOBug you're right. Wasn't expecting point and shoot, but its fairly complex! 

So today I thought I'd go and pull the trigger on at least a tripod and maybe a star tracker. Turns out if you like photography and live in Sheffield, Sunday shopping isn't possible. Everything closed 😞

I’ll be following with interest. Looks like you’re a bit further down the road than me with kit. 

On 04/10/2023 at 21:30, happy-kat said:

For inspiration on trying with what you already have

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/413262-eeva-from-a-tripod/

Nice, thanks @happy-kat

Theres a full setup on ebay at the moment. £1300 but has a NEQ6 pro and a Skywatcher Astromaster 130 telescope 

3 minutes ago, Clarkey said:

I think the point @ollypenrice is making is that the mount is the most important part of any set up and should be the bulk of the budget, which is quite right. If you were to buy a second hand mount (HEQ5 / 6), if you decided to give up on the AP you can re-sell with minimal losses. You already have a DSLR and you can use this with a prime lens or a widefield scope. You should be able to get this within your budget. You can run this from a bog-standard laptop using free or cheap software. If you then want to advance you already have the mount to do it.

Thanks, Clarkey that makes sense 🙂

12 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

If you respect your first budget, very few of your first purchases will pass to the second level. It's best to know this from the start.

If you want to build for the future, start with the mount. The rest will follow. This is a fairly sophisticated image but the mount was a basic EQ6 - and a very old one.

Olly

Thanks Olly, that’s a lovely image. The EQ6 mounts look to be quite a jump price wise