Vic L S

On 29/04/2024 at 15:01, Adaaam75 said:

Hi mate,

Everything came with the mirror (it comes with lots of adaptors) bar the helical focuser for the eyepiece. The 2" adaptor to connect it to the scope came with my scope. I've not bought the adaptor that allows me to attach my ZWO 462 camera with a 1.25" filter to the mirror yet, but it depends on your filter set up and what you want to shoot.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for sharing the photo. Helpful to visualizer it. I have the Celestron T-ring adapter so I think I should be sorted! 

Really excited to get this all set up. 

8 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

As long as you have the 1.25" nose piece for it I should think so. I will try and measure mine later and work out where the sensor is at focus.

That would be so helpful, thank you! 

53 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

The Celestron OAG does take up a good bit of backspace but if using the dedicated 0.7 reducer on the C8 you get 105mm to play with. I've had a few OAG units and this one is one of the best made I've come across. You can rotate the OAG prism independently of the OTA and imaging gear. The same with the imaging gear. It uses a dovetail like clamping system similar to what you get with Baader items. What I don't like about it is the camera helical focuser only uses 2 thumbscrews to hold the camera, not even a brass compression ring so you are likely to mark the barrel of the camera. Also, the prism only lowers down so far so with the C8 Edge 0.7 reducer, it is just about in the light path. It's OK if you have a big sensor like the 174MM but might be an issue with smaller sensors.

 

Thank you. This is good to know. 

Do you know if the Celestron OAG will take the ASI462MC as a guide camera, as I am already using this as a guide camera on my current guidescope, trying to see where I can save some money! 

Hi Adam, 

Hope you don't mind me jumping in an old thread. 

I am in the process of purchasing a Baader flip mirror to use with my C8 EdgheHD, 1.25" eyepiece and ASI462MC. So similar set up to you. 

I am trying to work out if I need any additional attachments or adaptors. I have got a baader helical focuser for the eyepiece and a zwo helical focuser for the camera. 

Did you need to get anything else? 

That's a lovely picture. I really need to upgrade my camera lens. 

Do you also use a Samyang lens for wider shots? 

Hi all, 

I am wanting to use a flip mirror system (Baader Flip Mirror II is the one I'll be getting) with my C8 so that I can use an eyepiece and camera at the same time, for focusing/ platesolving purposes while observing and imaging. 

The C8 has different backfocus requirements (133.35mm w/o reducer, 105mm with x0.7 reducer) and I have all the right adaptors that came with my cameras (ASI462MC and ASI2600MC) to reach those requirements. 

If I add a flip mirror to the imaging train,  will I need additional adaptors to reach backfocus? I will be using it for mainly planetary observing and imaging. I have gotten a helical focuser for my eyepiece and a ZWO helical focuser for the 462MC.

Just trying to work out if I might need anything else to make sure it all comes together and it's making my brain hurt! Any help much appreciated. 

Thanks in advance! 

7 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

Thank you so much. 

Sorry I thought I had added it to my post ( I have done this now) 

It's taken with a Canon 600D and Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens on a static tripod. 

Lee 

Thanks for sharing! 

Seems like the Samyang (the 135mm and 14mm) is popular. I have a 650D that was gifted to me, I just need to get a lens to go with it. 

Did you have to do any cropping as you stacked the image on Sequator? 

This is gorgeous. I'd like to try milkyway photography at some point. 

Mind sharing your gear info? 

Nice. I've seen this when I took a short sub through my guidescope when I was fooling around and fine tuning things one night, but it is on the top of my list of targets I want to image properly soon. 

12 hours ago, Hals said:

Yes of course. It's the Celestron OAG with the 12x12mm prism. The ZWO OAG-L would be a good match too but if you get the 174 I'd stay clear of the thin ZWO standard OAG as the sensor size of the 174 is too big for that one really.

Thanks. I did come across some people saying the Celestron OAG taking quite abit of backfocus? But it's got a bigger prism. 

I might have to look at the OAG-L. Seems like a good compromise of prism size and having more backfocus allowance. 

3 minutes ago, John said:

I have bought and sold using the UK Astro Buy & Sell website many times over the past decade or so. I've not had any problems thus far, exercising a modicum of caution.

After a while you get to recognise quite a few of the people selling on there. The amateur astro community in the UK is not that large.

 

 

When buying/ selling there, are you meeting in person, or posting? Payments wise - PayPal? 

16 hours ago, Hals said:

My Edge8 with reducer platesolves at 1456mm. That's at the specified 105mm back focus and I could do to put a 1mm spacer in I reckon. Depends on the mirror position and no two are ever the same.  My guiding is anywhere from 0.6 -1.0 (CGEM DX). I've just updated the OAG guidecam to a 174MM Mini, a massive gamechanger for me as I could hardly use my QHY5L-II with it. Was lucky to get one decent guide star even then the SNR was poor despite binning and noise reduction, so I resorted to using a standard 50\200 guidescope. It guided ok with decent figures but I was throwing a lot of subs due to mirror flop\flexture\you name it. Now I'm able to multi-star guide through the OAG with a nice field of stars, although obviously some targets are OAG unfriendly. It's a challenge using an SCT but when everything clicks into place it makes it worthwhile.

Sorry for jumping in, but may I ask what OAG you are using? This is something I was looking into a few months ago when I was getting my C8, but decided to go with a guidescope as that was easier to use with my refractor as well, but I might well get an OAG + 174mm just to go on the C8 in the future. 

12 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Best not treat this forum as just a marketplace, partly because that's precisely against the rules and the spirit of the place. Read this if you've not already done so:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/105855-forum-code-of-conduct/#comment-1044622  (but note the requirements for seeing the buy/sell section are now 25 posts and a month's membership) and these

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/383673-important-change-to-buy-sell-access/#comment-4144265

 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/419332-buy-sell-safety-warning/#comment-4462445

Personally I'd not buy anything sight unseen from someone with little posting history, someone who offers no clue about how they may actually have used the kit they want to sell, has no apparent interest in being part of the community. Other red flags for me would be someone who does not show photos of the sale items, whose sale text is just the manufacturer's blurb copy/pasted with no hint of personal experience, or does not specify at least a county as their location while saying they are happy for collection.

I've bought the majority of my kit from people on here, always paid by bank transfer to secure the item, even if I was collecting in person days later. I was confident to do that because the sellers were (are ! ) active members on here with a reliable history who were well known to me. My trust has not been betrayed, and I have some really nice kit I simply could not have afforded otherwise. Thank you all, you know who you are !

I've not sold as much, but again people have paid me by bank transfer (I don't, and won't, do paypal ) and if the item was posted I've PM'd the recipient a photo of the proof of posting you get at the P.O. as soon as I've sent it off. Even for small low value items items (sent non tracking) the free proof of posting receipt shows the address the package is being sent to as well as the date/time and how much postage was paid.

ABS I keep an eye on, but to be honest unless something was very local so I could see it before paying cash, I'd not risk it. ENS Optical in Birmingham are dealers in second hand gear, I've no idea what their buying prices are like, their selling prices often appear rather close to the new price. I've not used them myself.

Thanks for the links. I'm still trying to navigate my way around the forum. I joined last year in Dec but have mainly been using Reddit for questions and advice, but I wanted a forum closer to home. 

1 hour ago, Paz said:

Welcome to SGL.

Astrobuysell is the main specialist site for second hand astronomy kit, then there are the buy/sell forums here and some retailers sell second hand items from their websites, e.g. Rother Valley Optics.

Items that are less expensive, more simple and robust I'll buy posted, but it is worth speaking to the seller, just to get a feel for if they are genuine and if and they have looked after what they are selling. There's always going to be some dodgy sellers but I think it's not so easy for a scammer to sound convincing in this hobby.

If a seller is someone I "know" on the forum I would not be concerned and may only  swap messages, but it takes time to build up familiarity with who the established members are and who you would be happy to take this approach with.

Big telescopes or mounts or things that are risky to post I'll go and see/collect in person.

As a general rule though, I'll put as much weight on being assured about the seller as I'll put on being happy about the item I'm buying.

How's Astro Buy & Sell? Generally safe as long as caution is taken, or is it a mix good/ suspicious sellers? 

9 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

As @Paz has already outlined there are a few retailers that sell secondhand equipment, though limited by variety. I used to drive to collect in person from the sellers home or meet up point for larger and more expensive equipment. This allowed me to check the item personally before purchase. Now that I can no longer drive due to health reasons, I only either buy from here on SGL, or new from a retailer. On SGL you easily see who is serious about our hobby and maybe those not so much. I have only bought one telescope from SGL by post and i had no concerns parting with my money up front (£500 plus). Such is the quality of many members on here. That's not to say there's no less than honest people around so caution is best employed. Thankfully the later is a rare occurrence here. I have bought the odd bit here and there on Astro buy and sell UK without mishap. If it's not a person or member I've gotten to know then PayPal with buyers protection is the safest way to proceed with any purchase. I have also sold many items and pieces of equipment on SGL which all went smoothly. Welcome to SGL by the way.

Thanks for the insight. I'm always a little anxious buying/ selling online, but I think even more so with astro gear. 

You hear more about buyers being scammed, but how are sellers protected? Is it easy to get scammed by a buyer, if they just put in a claim on PayPal stating the item has not arrived/ damaged, and insists on a refund? Is that something that happens often with these things? 

I'd always prefer to meet in person but that's not always possible, so just wondering how others went about it if things come to being posted. 

It's good to know that there is usually good buying and selling etiqeutte from users on this forum though. 

Hi all, 

I'm new to the forum - so first of all, hello all!

I wanted to know where users usually buy and sell secondhand items (apart from this forum), and what precautions do users take when buying astro gear secondhand? 

Do you usually meet up in person to inspect the gear being sold? Or are things more commonly bought online and then shipped? What steps do people take to protect themselves when buying and selling, apart from using PayPal's Buyer Protection? 

I'm interested in both the buyer and the seller's point of view.