johnst

A mate of mine who's into photography primarily but also likes astronomy swears by photo shop and lightroom and says the monthly fee is justified by the fact that he gets regular updates and it is constantly being updated, in that case ok but you've got to be doing a lot of processing to make it worthwhile, another reason why I'm trying Gimp, maybe my initial image isn't good enough, perhaps, all part of the learning curve as they say!

Hi all, Ben reading the recent posts regarding processing and I use DSS and Gimp only because they are free. I recently bought a Gimp tutorial book which wasn't cheap to help me out which I am gradually working through. Can anybody say that Gimp is as good as PS and it's just me learning all the ins and out of imaging?

May be a stupid question - but you have checked that the battery is good or flat?

Hi and welcome back, it's a great forum to be on so enjoy.

I have received a power tank made by Swarey and am really impressed with the quality of it, looking forward to try it out. I have a Star Adventurer as my only tracking equipment as I sold a lot of my big stuff to try for imaging. I'm considering buying a Pegasus Power Bow Micro but not sure if it will connect to my Star Adventurer, any advice would be welcome.

Brilliant set up that is - but like you say you have to know what you're doing, I'm all for DIY but I have to stop at electrics, I presume that's your trade?

Brilliant set up that is - but like you say you have to know what you're doing, I'm all for DIY but I have to stop at electrics, I presume that's your trade?

Hi all, I've gone for the 2021 model made by Swarey, had £20 discount applied and also a £10 gift voucher so not bad, looking for a mobile power source for in the garden as well, will get it next Friday. Did some shots of M42 last night but battery drained on my Canon 700d so may be looking at a dummy battery now!!!! Cheers, John

Hi all, and thanks for the info so far... Have checked out Amazon AND - they have the Beaudens Power Pack but there are two available, the 'standard' one at £169.99 and now there is a 2021 NEW GENERATION at £199.99 - £30 more, which does 3500 cycles compared to 2000 cycles and 200W compared to 150W. Now, I am not an electrician, although I do try to take things on board, but can anyone explain or justify the £30 difference between the two, again, any help will be most welcome. John

I've today purchased a Lynx Astro dew heater and a 2 port Mini Dew Controller from FLO and it doesn't require usb but rather a cigarette lighter fitting which I am pleased with so I think I'll be going for the Beaudens that Coriorda has mentioned but the only place to get it is Onbuy.com! Don't know why that is! John

Well, I'm getting some useful advice here but I'm not sure about a couple of things - the Tracer power pack appears to be a battery with no usb's on it or am I looking at the wrong thing. I'm also looking at the Beaudens portable power bank but that has just one usb - not sure what the other 2 outlets are and other connections, otherwise I like the look of it, like I say I don't mind going over budget if it deals with my Star Adventurer and a couple of dew heaters, can I fit a Lynx Astro 4 channel dew controller to it. Thanks all for helping out 🙂 John

I'm just jumping on the SA bandwagon here because I swear by mine to the point of selling my NEQ6 which was permanently in my observatory - whereas I can go almost anywhere with my Star Adventurer. I am feeling my way around a bit and am using DSS and Gimp but am so raw with Imaging and I'm in my seventies so no time like thenpresent to try something new!!

Thanks for the replies. I noticed that Bresser do a portable power bank with 3 usb's on as well as several other connections and leads plus a red light on for night vision, the only obstacle is the price at £145 at Telescopoe House but I suppose if it solves my issues then I'll have to go with it!! Any thoughts anyone?

Thanks for that, not sure though as it only has 1 usb fitting on it - or is there a way round it? Don't really want to go much above £100 either if I can help it! I did wonder about the Skywatcher Power Tank though, Any thoughts?

Hi All, Had a bit of a disaster last night when imaging Orion Nebulae with my Canon camera, Star Adventurer and a dew heater on the lens. Was using an Anker power bank that suited my set up from Amazon last October and have used it half a dozen times but it was flat! I went back into my observatory (yes I was set up away from the observatory!) and checked it out and it was not able to charge, so I used a spare charger just to power the Star Adventurer. I am in the process of returning the Anker to Amazon and am looking out for a suitable power bank that has at least 2 usb's, any advice is welcome, the freezing conditions didn't help my frustrations!!!!

Hi John, Just read up on the rules for buying and selling so apologies' all and ignore my last message please! John

Hi John, have read your message with interest and welcome aboard, I've just recently got back to it and need to move stuff on the try different projects. I am selling my William Optics Flt 110, if you're interested, just let me know. Cheers, John

Thanks, all, - so 26 years a survivor - wow, so how do we chat? Do I leave the welcome section now if I want more info/ Not sure about this, any suggestions? John

Thanks for the response and replies I'm getting. With being in self shielding and only just a few days ago got my licence back it's nice to know that there's a great bunch out there in the astro world. My biggest problem is that while I'm still on treatment I get very tired late in the day but if I've got a clear sky then I've got some purpose to go out. I've just recently bought a modified Canon 700d camera from a specialized dealer in Long Eaton ( don't want to give the name in case it's against the rules) and am using my Star Adventurer and a 18-135mm lens and my William Optics megrez 72 and am just having a go with single shots. My laptop has gone down so need a new one and I'm reading about stacking!?! and looking at tutorials on youtube but I'm having a go and giving me a bit of impetus, so any help will be appreciated👍

Hi everyone, can't remember the last time I was on the forum but I've been through quite a lot just recently and just got back into astronomy which means a lot to me. I've recently been diagnosed with cancer but the treatment I'm on means I'm doing ok so doing astro stuff is helping me enormously. Don't want to bore members with the details so it's just nice to be doing this. I also need to sell some of my stuff to get some equipment for astrophotography so any advise would be welcome. Thanks for the help John