SteveNickolls

Hi AidyM and thanks for your post. I hope someone using the Eagle Core can assist you with your mount control issue. The subtleties of wi-fi control can tax even a saint and I can only sympathise when you really want help. I take it you have full working mount control using the hand controller but want to extend mount control over wi-fi using the Eagle Core? I realise advances have occurred with wi-fi control with the Eagle Core since the procedure set out in the printed manual (page 110 onwards) supplied with the unit as at one time you needed a SkyFi III connected to the SW Synscan hand controller. I do hope someone who has achieved control this way can walk you through the process. I see Filippo demonstrates the connection process in this video when v2.5 was released in the past. Cheers, Steve

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Really hope this comes to fruition. I've been holding off on the ASI183MM-PRO in case this happened. 🥰☺🤗 Cheers, Steve

Hi Dean, thanks for your message. Pleased you have resolved the communication problem so now enjoy your new mount to its fullest. 😁 Great to find the mount is working well for you. I'm just hoping for some clear sky to try out polar alignment and star alignment. Finger's crossed on this. Sorry to learn of the SkySafari connection issue, maybe have a try with Stellarium? I haven't installed Stellarium on my tablet only the laptop to see if the mount could be controlled that way but see little reason why tablet control should not work. It may be a generational thing but I'm happy using the hand controller but was inquisitive over USB and wi-fi control. Cheers, Steve

Aww thanks for this. Did not mean to cause anguish but it would be good to get my CG-5 working in such a fashion. Cheers, Steve

Pleased to hear you have got the cable arrangement working, really good news. Would you be able to provide a photo of the set up/connections on the mount side? What actual splitter are you using too? Which hand controller version are you using and which firmware version? 👍 Good luck for the future. Cheers, steve

Hi, I can't help over direct cable control (sorry) but I have tried (unsucessfully) using the Celestron SkyPortal wi-fi device with my CG-5 AS mount- https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-mounts/celestron-skyportal-wifi-adapter.html This attaches to the the mount and is meant to permit wi-fi control using a mobile or tablet with the free SkyPortal app. You need however to employ an aux splitter cable on the CG5 of which there are two flavours- https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-mounts/celestron-aux-port-splitter.html However I was unable to get my mount to be controlled this way. You may however be able to perform this miracle. Good luck if there is a cabled solution you can try. Cheers, Steve

Thanks Dean for starting this thread and good to read your comments on the mount. In late October I took advantage of FLO having a new supply of GEM28's after they had been on 2 months back order for what seemed like forever. I too was pleased with the overall quality of the mount and tripod, certainly didn't exect the anti-vibration pads on the ends of the tripod legs-a neat touch. Ought to start a GEM28 Owner's Club thread really but haven't any experience with the mount yet to write up about (the skies really have been that bad recently) but I hope you don't mind me mirroring your comments regarding the CEM26? My reason for getting the GEM28 was it's overall lightness compared to my CG-5, I can now carry the whole set up to the imaging pad each night rather than assemble in several loads. As you commented set up too was painless but as it was my first adventure into ASCOM it meant loading quite a lot of new software. All went well and I updated the mount firmware to the latest version too with no hassle. I have used the iPolar before on my CG-5 but I have been using v 1.6 and know the new iPolar's can use v2.5. I have read of some issues with juddering in use but with the current poor weather haven't ben able to do anything yet outdoors. As geeklee rightly mentions balancing is made very easy but tricky, by comparison my old CG-5 is very unresponsive to even fair amounts of imbalance, so no more 'East Heavy' weighting in the future. I have made a thick Velcro band to secure the power unit to one tripod leg and found my old CG-5 hand control holster fits the GEM28 fine. I use an elastic band to hold the hand controller in place when moving the mount around. I have had the mount working with- The handcontroller directly (I wiill be using this virtually all of the time). My laptop+USB 2.0 active cable (20m)+connecting cable to the hand controller USB port. Both with iCommander control and/or Stellarium. Wi-fi control using my laptop+integral iStarFi in the GEM28. both under iCommander and Stellarium control. I do not have SkySafari to test out but have read of connection issues on other forums, the gist being iOptron did not collaborate with the SkySafari makers so the solution lies at their door. I do disable Windows Defender when using the laptop to control via wi-fi and (whether this does anything or not) created permissions for port 8899 (both incoming and outgoing). I have found that one of the earlier iOptron wi-fi guides available on the Internet is incomplete but found an earlier version that is as unhelpful as any other- 073c1bd163bdc2b0f63c931359dbd4e2263476341d9062327e60101fac18f0e6.pdf Have not seen a 'communication failure' error message on the hand controller. Hope you get more clear skies to use your mount under. 👍 Cheers, Steve

This Internet page may be of interest to others with Eagle series devices. 👍 https://www.primalucelab.com/software/play-prima-luce-astrophotography-software.html Cheers, Steve

Nice photo's. If I were the PM I'd be looking at taxing that access to dark skies. 😲 Cheers, Steve

Thanks happy-kat for the link. 👍 Cheers, Steve

Thanks everyone for your contributions. Yes it was that development that made me consider the 533MC against what I would have instinctively chosen as the set from a DSLR. Can I ask what Bortle scale you image from especially you saying your next astro-camera would be a OSC? What a great site, thanks for pointing me in its direction. It has some extra considerations for me to ponder and I like the approach taken on the topic. 👍 Thanks for your view of the 533MC and Ha filter I appreciate real world experiences most helpful in choosing. It's sounding like the 533MC and a dual band filter may be the way to travel and take advantage of the better specification of the newer OSC option. Can I ask what Bortle zone the images were taken in? Thanks, Steve

Thanks vlaiv, Adam J and wimvb for your helpful comments, I had expected the mono-camera to be preferable but there seemed something about the 533MC model that caused me to ponder a left field alternative. I did wonder if the technology had reached a point where it had least met the limiting physics part-way to give a decent image. I've not seen too many images of nebulae using the 533MC under such light polluted conditions as I encounter here. I think had my sky been somewhat darker, say Bortle 5, the 533MC would have been ok especially when the camera can make use of the dual and tri-band filters for OSC cameras now on the market. Cheers, Steve

Thank you vlaiv for your summary and explanations I really do appreciate it. 🙂 Thanks, Steve

Hi, I have been astro-imaging for a little over six years and now wish to purchase a cooled astro-camera to continue my interest in the hobby. I set up my equipment each night and currently use a modified Canon 700D DSLR, clip in Astronomik 12 nm Ha filter and Samyang 135 mm lens (f/2) to capture wide field images of emission nebulae and intend to continue to do this type of DSO imaging but with the benefits that a dedicated cooled astro-camera with lower read noise and higher quantum efficiency could bring. I live in a Bortle 6 area, a typical SQM-L value being around 19.26 so light pollution is always a concern when imaging. My budget is modest in astro-photography terms and I first considered the ASI183MM-Pro model. The intention would be to have a simple set up involving the astro-camera, ZWO filter drawer holding the clip in Ha filter in a 2” adapter sold by Astronomik connected to the Samyang lens. Out of the left field however I have recently entertained the newer and slightly cheaper ASI533MC-Pro model having a largely improved specification compared to the 183 model and has no associated ‘glow’, but this astro-camera is OSC. I am conscious that there would be a hit in terms of resolution between the two cameras but as I am imaging with a short lens (135 mm) the equipment is already under sampling according to the Astronomy.Tools link on our sponsors site but this may not make much real life difference in the images produced. I am also aware of the reduced light grasp with using the OSC compared to the mono astro-camera-this is something I am familiar with when imaging with my modified OSC DSLR. Both astro-camera options will allow me to take much shorter sub-frames for stacking than with the present DSLR, and to stack more of them reducing SNR in the final image and the slightly larger pixels on the ASI533 combined with the 1.5e- read noise make the 533 model able to take even faster sub-exposures than the 183 model-so even more exposures in a given evening’s session. I’ve also thought that the higher full well capacity of the 533 model would permit me to extend exposure times if wanted without saturating stars in the image as fast as with the 183. Before I take the plunge to order what may become my first and last astro-camera for DSO work I would be interested to learn if any other SGL member has used such a combination of OSC 533MC astro-camera, Ha filter and short but fast (f/2) optics in a light polluted sky and how successful has this been in practice? Views would be gratefully received too on whether in the light polluted conditions that I image under the 533 model would be preferable to the monochrome 183 due to its generally better specification or that the monochrome camera wins hands down. I look forward to member’s comments and advice. Best Regards, Steve

Thanks for posting. Could you say what Bortle class you were imaging in? Cheers, Steve

Ha, ha it's not Tuesday yet. 🤣 Cheers, Steve

Why one of these. Mine is a rather old version from Celestron, it's their heavy duty Alt-Az mount-https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-mounts/celestron-heavy-duty-alt-azimuth-mount.html The Az and alt controls are very smooth to operate with the Star Adventurer (SA) mount onboard giving very good control when polar aligning and I've used this configuration for a few years now after finding the original SW wedge for the SA to be very coarse in operation. Cheers, Steve

Get yourself one of these and throw away the wedge. HTH. Steve

An iOptron Gem 28? Cheers, Steve

The clouds didn't help capturing any Perseids this year. This is almost an hours worth of exposures capturing one meteor and an aircraft trail. Note the lovely light pollution hue. Taken with a Canon 600D and 18-55 mm lens (at 18 mm) f/3.5, x225 fifteen second exposures at ISO 400. Compiled using StarStaX software. Cheers, Steve

If you have the motor control firmware to v 5.06 it corrects runaway slews. 😃 Regards, Steve

This is a great resource, runaway slews can be corrected by firmware upgrade of the hand controller. https://www.nexstarsite.com/Firmware.htm Cheers, Steve

Thanks once again Steve for your efforts creating the monthly newsletter. Cheers, Steve

Why thanks MarsG76 for the kind comments over the images I've managed to take with my dslr. Your comment "Its a decision where you want to spend the money not need to..." is a great way to put it into perspective and really resonates with me. Indeed the limitation imposed by local light pollution has always been foremost in my mind. As you rightly mention after a dslr I dont really want to move to a smaller sensor as I'd particularly wanted to do mosaics. Yes imaging at f/2 is a great way to pursue this hobby and I wish you well in this. Cheers, Steve