mark skelton

1 hour ago, YellowHound said:

Do you use at home or take it 'on location'.

Interested in just how transportable it is.

Mostly at home have taken it to stargazing parties before. As others said for going for a one nighter it is a bit on the heavy side

48 minutes ago, YellowHound said:

Thank you to everyone that has replied - much appreciated.

I have to admit that the more I think about this the more I wonder whether I'm making the right choice.

My first aim is imaging, rather than observing. And I'm more likely to be capturing what I'd call astrophotography landscapes.

Big downside of the HEQ5 Pro is the weight.

So I've been challenging myself to look more at mounts that primarily fulfil my photography objectives.

Which has led me to the iOptron Skyguider Pro with iPolar at £579. But then if I add the Williams Optics wedge which seems to be recommended as an 'essential' upgrade, along with a spare battery and two camera cables I'm up at £817. Very close to the price of the HEQ5 Pro.

My head is tending toward this as a better option. It's not a tracking mount you'd rush to add a telescope to (?) but given I'm going to be driving/trekking to locations, and the types of images I want it may well be much better suited to my needs.

Thoughts/guidance much appreciated.....

I too have a S.W. HEQ5 pro mount witch I use for astrophotography, never has it let me down.

Update last night when it cleared up I went out side & connected my laptop fired everything up & connected nina to the equipment did a 10sec exposure good focus was on my imaging screen so I did autofocus run through all the filters. most filters had around 0.8 - 1.00 hfr with some down to 0.72

3 hours ago, Rob Aylen said:

Thank you all for the warm welcome and kind comments & nice to see a fellow Malvite (if that's the term?!) On here also! I'm really enjoying the sketching,  I find I spend longer looking at an object and in turn 'see' more as a result. 

Not heard of Malvite , but have heard of Malvernian

Hello from west malvern

Though my next door neighbour put her blinds down I still put my tarp up to stop any stray light coming through.

7 minutes ago, Tommohawk said:

Yes but starlight express isn't on the list of cameras which Nina supports. It might have been updated since then but if nina doesn't support your camera you may need to select the ascom driver.

5 minutes ago, Tommohawk said:

This is an old thread, but related.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/686999-starlight-xpress-ascom-driver-issues/

That could be the problem. I was thinking of going over to zwo cameras when money allows

1 hour ago, Tommohawk said:

See here.

https://nighttime-imaging.eu/docs/master/site/requirements/

 

1 hour ago, Tommohawk said:

Well that's progress I suppose. Is it something to do with the driver? 

Do you need to download a driver maybe? I think for some cameras which the imaging software doesn't recognise you need to use the ASCOM driver option.  

got the latest driver for the camera and my laptop does meet the requirement

Just to update I took the S.X. H674 camera off and put my spare camera (atik titan) on turned the looping of. This time I got an image on the screen.(looks like it could be the h674 camera at fault}.

On 19/07/2021 at 19:14, Anne S said:

Have you power going to the camera? You get black if you haven't.

yes I have power to the cam ( software can't connect if no power to camera).

On 18/07/2021 at 10:54, dark knight said:

Think there maybe an auto stretch button on the top bar of the image tab towards right hand side, this is for previewing your images and doesn't save/alter your saved image, I always had that turned on. Maybe it will help

It's turned on so is the star detection next to it

39 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Live View is supposed to be like the live view on a DSLR but it's not great in NINA. You better off to set an exposure time, 10s for example, and make sure the loop tab is selected.

next time I get chance to to connect to the equipment I'll give the loop  selected

2 minutes ago, Tommohawk said:

Silly question perhaps but how are you taking an image? Theres a live view function which is a bit flakey, and also a snap shot button which you can set to loop.

Not a silly question, but what the difference between the two. I assume that the snap shot is the one used for plate solving.

12 minutes ago, Anne S said:

Have you power going to the camera? You get black if you haven't.

I get a msg on nina saying camera connected and when I go to the camera tab the camera profile (chip size/ pixel size) are shown. As I found out with apt if no power to cam the software cannot connect.

On 18/07/2021 at 13:17, david_taurus83 said:

What scope are you using? Whatever the focal length is, try measuring from the optics down the tube to where your sensor is. It should be roughly the same as the focal length.

It's a skywatcher 80 ed pro with a focal length of 600mm and a focal reducer bringing the focal length to 510mm

6 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Can you see Jupiter? Brightest object in the sky at the moment.

top of tree blocking view

20 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Focused?

not sure can't see any thing to focus with

Hi I have Starlight xpress H674 mono connected to my s.w. refractor  the trouble I  go too take a 10 sec exposure  I get  a black screen looks like the settings are a bit out. Does anyone who's using nina  know how to get the stars shown?

12 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

If you use the auto-focus routines, thay both software packages have, you should be able to re-focus on any filter change, plus periodic changes due to temperature variations etc.

Cheers I'll look into that

I'm looking at 2 different imaging software (APT & N.I.N.A), On both you have the option to set the filter offset (focus). I'm using the beader 1.25" filters on my  set up. Does anyone use these  know how par focal they are and how much offset is needed on each filter?

Thanks for the heads up

Thanks Alexander, I use stellarium  for imaging as I can use for field of view calculator for my equipment.

â chroeso

Has anyone seen this