nephilim

A nicely made Astronomik    L-3 UV/IR cut filter to combat that dreaded star bloat 🙂

Well, I finally have a set up that i'm happy with (For now 😂). After cracking a 3d printed ring that held my Samyang lens in place due to over tightening, I realised I couldn't trust a lot of very expensive gear to a plastic holder.
So after scouring this thread for ideas I came across a very nice system from @Adreneline that looked like it would do the job & I would like to thank Adrian (and others on the forum) who helped answer a fair few questions I had for him. I also decided to mount side by side as 'piled' one on top of the other the system had balancing issues. I still need to sort balance out (and cable management) but it will be much easier now.....Hopefully 🤔 The last thing to get further down the road will be the Zwo EAF which will sit very nicely on the gold WO dovetail.

1 hour ago, callisto said:

It sure does...I'm frightened to add up all the accessories I've purchased to go on my SkyGuider Pro mount  😬

@callisto The accessories are not far behind the glass 😱 This little lot set me back just under £400 😂

PrimaluceLab bits and bobs (with a bit of WO thrown in for good measure 😁).

These will be used as a side by side set up. On one side my ZWO ASI 533MC-Pro & Samyang 135ED lens & on the other the guide set up, SW EvoGuide ED50 & Asi 120mm-s.

The price certainly shoots up when you start adding these to the shopping basket 😱 but the quality seems very impressive.

1 hour ago, LaurenceT said:

I've just bought this tripod collar from Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08KLP1Q8Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Fits perfectly without the need for tape with easy access to the aperture ring.

Apologies if it's been suggested before.

Always good to see how others are doing it mate 

3 hours ago, Space Oddities said:

No problem, it's indeed an unusual way to mount your scope!

The dovetail itself is a standard vixen one, so you just attach it to your mount's saddle, like you do with your current setup.

Using this image as a reference:

• On the right side, there's a vixen saddle to which you can mount the Samyang with your existing dovetail (although a shorter one might be better)
• On the left side, the clamp allows you to mount the guide scope, or anything that has a standard finder dovetail (like the ASIAIR Pro)
• In the middle, you can attach the ASIAIR Pro (vertically), using the included 1/4" screw. This should provide a good balance and make the ASIAIR Pro close to everything. As you can see on the picture below, there should be enough room for the ASIAIR.

You do have to rotate manually your mount's saddle by 90°. That's how I did on my AZ-GTi, I'm not sure how this works on other mounts though... But I guess it's as easy as releasing the clutch and rotating the DEC axis 90°  

Below are 2 pictures of the setup I had, hope that helps!

That's great news thanks for such a detailed reply.

I had a good long chat with @Adreneline this morning about his set up & mentioned that last night whilst faffing about I accidently over tightened one of the 3D printed mounting rings on the Samyang which resulted in it snapping. This was actually a good thing really as its made me realise its probably not wise trusting a lot of moneys worth off kit on a plastic mounting system.

I hope Adrian doesn't mind me reproducing his photo below  but this what I've decided on & now you've given me the above info I can use the dual mount, have the Asiair in the centre & will also have a good site for a future focuser. At last i've a clear plan of what I want & after finally getting all my gear working together last night I can  move forward.
 

Very nice indeed Adrian. I'd say that watching that paint dry all morning was well worth it 😃

On 05/06/2021 at 23:01, Space Oddities said:

You could use the cheaper dual plate from TS Optics, There should be enough room for an EAF between the lens and the Evoguide: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p8315_TS-Optics-Parallelbefestigung---Doppelbefestigung-fuer-Teleskope--Tele-und-Leitfernrohre.html

 

@Space Oddities I've just realised I haven't a clue how to fit this to my mount, will I need a different saddle as otherwise adding to my current saddle will have my set up turned 90 degrees (apologies if this is a daft question 🙂)

@Adreneline Thanks thats good to know. 

Its 1:30am & i'm totally wiped out after a near 80hr week & i'm sat here researching 'Star Bloat'. I'm also debating whether I need to buy Pixinsight even though I have photoshop, have only just built a rather expensive set up & have yet to take a photo..................I do believe your wife is right. My ex gave up on me a long time ago with this hobby, probably why she's my ex 🙄

I've been in this hobby a fair few years & should know better by now. I'm also thinking that I may need a nice Triplet 🤔

@The Lazy Astronomer Thats great, thanks for your reply, i'll check out the calculator & ask on the Samyang forum just to make sure.

Hi,
I'm just starting out imaging with my first dedicated camera (The Zwo Asi 533). Am I right in thinking i'll need the above filter to control star bloat, i'll be imaging with the Samyang 135ED f2 to start with. Also is this one ok for the job and would I need the 2" or 1.25" https://www.firstlightoptics.com/uv-ir-filters/baader-uvir-cut-filter.html and lastly, will I have to take the filter into consideration when working out backspace?
Tia
Steve

I live about 7 miles away from there. You will get glow from the park & the A66 runs right past plus Penrith is only 5 miles away. My village is set back further into the Pennines, theres no street lights & almost zero traffic as the road into the village goes nowhere. If you wanted to use the village green PM me.

7 minutes ago, Grant93 said:

Whats peoples opinions on the T2.2 cine lens version? Can only find this at a reasonable price at the moment! Not too sure whether to buy it.

Grant

I personally dont know enough about this lens but its more suited to filming, its also for full frame sensors. 

7 hours ago, geeklee said:

That sounds like a very challenging time during those months, waiting to hear what would happen at work.  On the kit side, with a few cables that looks ready to go.  With a Bahtinov mask, you should be fine with the occasional check - focus seems to hold well.  It's tricky at the moment - testing things out means staying up late and if there's any troubleshooting - that can be tough as the early hours come round (speaking from experience!)

I was lucky to pick mine up second hand on SGL a while back.  It's the vixen only one I have in the photo, so less cost than the dual one - which you shouldn't need with vixen dovetails only.  I had intended it for another project but changed my mind... was just about to try and sell it on, when I put the Samyang on it.

Good dual option from @Space Oddities above. 

There's also an all in one solution above by @desmcm although it requires 3D printed parts + other bits (all described on the link provided).  I'm still thinking about switching to this 🙄 😁

@geeklee Yes, it was a bit of a tough time especially as I like my job which is a rare thing these days but now that worry is out of the way I can make a start on the AP (once work has eased off a bit as theres a lot of things to catch up with after been closed down for over a year)
I think i'll go with the TS Optics Dual plate that @Space Oddities kindly linked above as it looks ideal for my set up & at a really good price. I bought a dedicated Bahtinov mask for the 135 as part of a package with the Samyang mounting kit which is why I can put off buying the EAF for a while (I'll probably wait until winter for that.

As you mentioned, its harder now with the lighter nights but it has one advantage for me. It'll give me plenty of time (on warmer summer nights) for getting everything working, ironing out any issues & getting a good efficient routine sorted for setting up quickly when those cold winter nights come around as from past experience I know theres nothing worse than having to try & sort out problems in sub zero conditions. Thanks for your input 🙂

16 hours ago, Space Oddities said:

You could use the cheaper dual plate from TS Optics, There should be enough room for an EAF between the lens and the Evoguide: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p8315_TS-Optics-Parallelbefestigung---Doppelbefestigung-fuer-Teleskope--Tele-und-Leitfernrohre.html

 

@Space Oddities That looks a far more reasonable option price wise, thanks for the link 🙂

On 01/06/2021 at 22:55, geeklee said:

It's been a while coming, but I've finally pulled together the various bits to add a ZWO EAF to my Samyang.  Thanks everyone for the inspiration and help on varied rigs and 3D printing!  

I currently have the Astrokraken rings, so I removed the top plate and designed a simple replacement that could hold the ZWO EAF with ability to raise it up for tensioning a belt.

Then a - hopefully - robust way to get the belt tensioned around the lens.  I've seen various designs and adapted a few ideas to create a two piece ring that would join with an M3 nut and bolt (rudimentary, I know).  This was for a GT2 belt but the HTD 3M one I did worked fine too.

The rig now looks like this.  Excuse the right hand dovetail - I need to rework this.

Here's the ZWO EAF mounted on the custom bracket (very solid):

Here's the belt and geared rings:

The gear meshing is good on the pulley and round the lower ring.  The upper ring is tricky as it has to match very closely to get good mesh.  Mainly I want to just keep the same distance as the pulley moves - a few earlier iterations of a half ring only proved a mistake.

Hopefully someone finds this as useful as I've found the ideas in this thread.

Testing it all out...and like a broken record as I have a similar image up above in the thread.... here's a 3 pane mosaic of the Sadr region during civil darkness in Ha (~F2.4).  Each pane is 30 minutes (10 x 180s).  I wasn't sure how to present it as vertical looks cool, but the below fits better... 

 

Thats a really smart little set up mate. I've been looking at the EAF as a future purchase although not for a while yet. Ive been wondering how i'd mount it though as i'm using the Evoguide ED50 as my guide scope & dont intend changing that, so my only other option will be dual side by side mounting with the Samyang & 533 on one side & the Evoguide on the other but i'm pretty loathe to spend £217 on a blooming ADM Losmandy Type D base plate, but I dont see any other option.
I've still to even get started with my first session yet if you can believe that . I was furloughed for over a year & very much looking at potential redundancy but thankfully i've kept my job (out of over 25 staff members only myself & one other kept our jobs, although we are both managers. Anyway work slowly started back up again a couple of months ago & its been non stop since. That will all start to get back to its normal pace soon & i'll finally be able to get up & running but its been very frustrating after spending all those months saving & slowly buying gear only to finally have it but no time to actually use it (The photos show how far i've got so cable managements is next on the cards). It'll be happening very soon though 😃
Btw your image of the Sadr Region is stunning 

You seem to have answered your own question as the WO 61 has very good reviews.

You mention the Canon lens your not happy with, so I'll suggest another lens. The Samyang 135mm f2 (£445) This lens has fantastic reviews as one of the best affordable  lenses for AP. This forum has an entire continuous thread dedicated to it which is now running at 119 pages long, started in April 2019 & still going strong with regular updates even now. I'll link it at the bottom of this. 

There are also plenty of entries to it regarding the Samyang coupled with the ASI 533, all with glowing reports There's no extra information I can really add about this lens (or the results from combining it with the ASI 533) as it's all in the thread, and some. I have the Samyang 135 & the ASI 533 (Photos added below of my set up, minus cables as I'm in the middle of stream lining those) but these are recent purchases & I've yet to see first light, this is due to a mixture of the curse of new gear & also getting my head around everything as I've recently saved for & built my first full AP set up & I'm slowly figuring out how everything works 😂 . I will say that the feel & quality of the lens is superb & the focussing feels very smooth indeed.  I also bought a 3D printed dedicated mount/ holder from Wega Telescopes for the lens (£85)https://www.wega-telescopes.de/shop/Rohrschellen-passend-für-Samyang-135mm-F2-Objektiv-inkl-Sucherbasis-3D-Druck-p258368766 , it works very well with the lens, ASI 533 & my guiding set up

My only other suggestion has been mentioned above & that's a guiding set up. I personally use the Skywatcher EvoGuide 50ED & ASI 120mm-s as the guide camera, this combination was recommended by quite a few SGL members (the cost for both is approx £370) 

Here's the SGL Samyang link 

Welcome to the group, I bet your English is a heck of a lot better than my Italian or Sardo  😂

4 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SVBONY-M42-0-75mm-Thread-Extension-Ring-Tube-Set-5-20mm-for-Astronomy-Telescope-/283572790532?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286

 

It's a bit expensive if all you want is a 10mm spacer but their handy to have.

 

Or Altair stock some decent ones with a knurled grip for a tenner each but then charge seven quid for delivery 🤔

 

https://www.altairastro.com/spacer-rings-extension-tubes--adaptors-13-c.asp

That's great thanks. Although I'm far from rolling in cash, AP costs tend to go over my head now as nothing is cheap 😂

6 hours ago, ddm4313 said:

Hey guys, how did you attach a guidescope to your DSLR or this lens directly? I'm thinking of getting an L bracket. 

I use this although there are a few other options that are similar https://www.wega-telescopes.de/shop/Rohrschellen-passend-für-Samyang-135mm-F2-Objektiv-inkl-Sucherbasis-3D-Druck-p258368766

14 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

If its like the ASI1600 then I don't think it comes with a 10mm spacer. Thr 21mm used with the 16.5 adapter and 11mm female gives you 55mm. You need the 10mm to get to 44mm from the Samyang adapter.

Your right, there is no 10mm spacer, I dont suppose you have a link to one that would be suitable, preferably from a UK supplier due to all this leaving the EU nonsense. Thanks

Steve

6 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

You need the 16.5mm M48/M42 on the Samyang, a 10mm spacer and then the female 11mm spacer that goes on the camera.

Cheers David, I think i've got all the things I need in the box, i'm also using the Astro Essentials M48 adapter that @Uranium235 developed.

4 hours ago, geeklee said:

HI @nephilim I don't believe this will give you the correct backfocus.  As stated on the site for the M48 adapter (and is normal for camera lenses) - 44mm is required.  As discussed throughout this topic, usually a little more is needed to land the focus in the current marker (depending on filter).  

From your image above I think you're using the 11mm female-female M42 adapter and the 16.5mm M42 to M48 adapter.  Including the 6.5mm from camera edge to sensor, this gives you a total of 34mm.  Apologies if I've missed something in the image though.

If you have a look back at an earlier discussion we had, it gives some options.  Hope this helps clarify.  

I currently have a ZWO filter drawer, additional spacer + the 11mm female-female adapter plus thin Baader shim.  Around 45ish mm

@geeklee Apologies, I forgot to thank you for your help as well. Your right that it wont work as its shown in the photo, I was just trying to make sure I had all the parts to actually attach them together, i've a lot to do now putting the whole rig together & getting everything to work. As far as I know I have all the adapters & spacers I need so i'll be putting it all together properly later on. Thanks for your time though & i'm sure i'll have more questions coming very soon.

Steve

4 hours ago, nephilim said:

Hi, I bought my 135 a few months ago & after saving my pennies I've finally bought the ZWO ASI 533MC-Pro which arrived in Monday. I also bought the Astro Essentials M48 adapter created by Rob  (Uranium235)

Now I'm probably overlooking something simple here,  I assumed that all I needed to do was  swap over the Canon Bayonet with the M48 adapter & then screw on the 533 camera to the lens but obviously that's not the case & I can't for the life of me figure out how to attach it.

The camera comes with several adapters as follows 

T2-1.25" nosepiece & cap 

T2-1.25" adapter 

T2 extender 21mm 

T2- M48 16.5mm extender 

M42-M48 adapter 

Spacers X3 

The photos consist of the camera screw thread, Samyang with attached astro ess M48 adapter & the rest are the extenders/ adapters etc. Nosepiece isn't in photos. I'd be eternally grateful if anyone knows how to attach the lens to the 533 as I seem to have fallen at the first hurdle 😒 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I managed to sort it out myself & yes it was something simple, I hadn't realised there was an extra adapter inside the actual sensor cap that doubles as a thread to screw on the actual camera cap. Firstly i'll thank @Space Oddities for this as I was going back on a conversation we had a few months ago when I was querying as to how I attached the 533 to the 135 & he'd given me this info, so thanks for that mate, you've helped me out tonight without even realising it 😂 Secondly i'd like to thank myself for remembering the conversation & putting the advice into practise 😁