tooth_dr

Ciaran I have a spare set, drop me a message of the phone and I'll get them sent over. The grub screws push against the camera body and lift the faceplate away from the camera. The others pull the faceplate towards the body. Both need to be tightened and loosened in sync.

Halifax offer good terms for astro equipment in the house and away from the home

I'm not familiar with the scope Russ, but like you my ED80 was flawless - just set the focus and work all night. Since I bought a different refractor, a 4" APM, I have noticed it is temperature dependent. Focusing at the start of a session will look perfect, but even an hour, once the temp drops, the focus can be out enough to ruin an image. There is no option but to use autofocus. Could temperature be affecting your focus?

Thats amazing Alan, thanks for this detailed analysis. Do you think it is possible that there is some differential flexure between the two scopes? My guider is attached to the TAK, and I have the APM on an adjustable JTD alignment saddle. The blurb says it's good for more than my requirements at 9kg, but it could be a weak link causing the over stars as I tracked at around 0.4-0.5" through the night and my imaging scale is around 1.55"/pxiel.

Took a few weeks to get around to it, but have now adjusted the tilt, and have had a few clear nights. I've attached the tif and jpegs. @symmetal Alan would you mind running them through CCDI? Image 1: Veil with Epslion 180ED and ZWO2600MC Image 2: Veil with APM 105/650 and QHY268M - I think the spacing is a little too far out with the scope, does anyone agree? TAK_ZWO2600MC.tif APM_QHY268M.tif

@Corpze sorry I didnt thank you sooner - thank you for sharing this with the wider community. And thank you to @ollypenrice for creating a DIY version for us all to emulate - the idea of being to test the camera for tilt on a jig in the house has been a game changer for me. I just didnt have the capacity or incentive to do this on the fly at night using software and measuring FMWH etc. Although my stars arent totallyperfect yet, they are at a very acceptable level for me, and I'm starting to enjoy my Epsilon after 2 years of ownership.

I think you are right. It’s now mounted on my scope so I can’t dismantle it again sorry!

I was out imaging and the sky was clear but I simply didn’t hear about it until afterwards! Looks amazing.

Cheers Russ. I’ve decided to put the OSC on the fast Tak since the filters aren’t working out, and use the same ones you have on the APM 105 @ f4.8 with the mono camera. I can’t be losing 3 full nights of imaging like this, clear moon free skies are extremely rare.

It was definitely green/blue as that was the first thing I did when they arrived 😂

No the dust is mine, the filters were spotless in that respect on opening. 2" astrodons are a little more rare.

Looks like the dust has moved between the light and the flat, so it appears kinda 3d.

I wont ever know as FLO have offered me a credit note for them. It was certainly green/blue when I looked through it, and the labelling on the metal holder and the plastic box was correct. I'm have ordered the slower version now. The first set of Baader filters I received 2 of them were marked/chipped/cracked, and now the second set (Oiii version) doesnt appear to be working correctly at high speed. In fact the Sii filter also had a line the whole way across the finish (photo below). I dont expect to scrutinise the filters, but I was sending them back so I wanted to check over/blow off dust before I posted them off. I appreciate that these arent Astrodon prices, but Baader have really marketed these hard, claiming many things including halo-free etc. Then Baader have come back and said well in fact, we have had to cut corners to make them affordable, so dont expect them to be all that, and if you are buying these it's because you cant afford (or dont want to) buy Astrodons.

You have some nice data there, and without calibration data looks good. You have some badly out of focus stars at the top of the image so I wonder did you keep a dodgy sub or two? Personally I find calibration frames (dare I say it) essential for post processing. I dont think you are dithering either between exposure - there is some walking noise evident also in the images - I find calibration really helps here if you prefer not to dither. Are you taking your flats correctly? If you are getting such negative impact with the flats is it possible that your arent taking them correctly or if you are taking them correctly then the focuser and or camera has moved between taking them and the lights? Light leakage would be something else to look at. I can see how it would appear that on the surface calibration data is doing harm, but I dont think I've come across a situation where it's harmed my data (talking specifically about set point cooled data, as with DSLRS its different) - unless the calibration data was wrong ie temp, duration, wrong camera data used etc. What do you think?

I’d say my 268 was poorly set up - it scribed a circle about 20mm diameter on first testing it. The ZWO had little to no tilt from the factory tested on same jig. The 268 - it’s tilt was fairly noticeable on my setup at F2.8.

The image from the oculus is brilliant, and AllSkEye software a must. I only had a loan of the oculus for a couple of years whilst I did some data recording for an IDA application. I’ve replaced it with a cheap home made version and to be honest it’s not a patch on the oculus.

That looks really great 👍🏼

Cheers Adam, I cant think how it could be anything other than Oiii. One night perhaps erroneously the wheel could have went to the wrong position, but not three separate nights.

Just in case anyone comes back to this thread in a search, here are a few pictures of my process of making the QHY268M tilt just like the ZWO2600 does as standard. 1) camera with faceplate removed. This faceplate is required on the camera to attach the included M54 or M48 adapters. The 6 holes around the periphery are used to attached the faceplate - QHY supply starhead bolts with the camera. QHY didnt provide any set screws, but thankfully there are threaded holes in the faceplate 2) I replaced the QHY starhead bolts with alley key type ones M2 x 6mm - this allows these bolts to be adjusted with an allen key to correct the tilt which would be impossible with the starhead bolts and a screwdriver 3) Faceplate fixed with new hex bolts M2 x 6mm 4) Faceplate with grub/set screws M2.5 x 5mm - these will 'push' the plate away and other ones pull it. 5) Faceplate with additional spacers and M54 adapter fitted. I found it easier to adjust the tilt using only three sets of screws at 120 degrees. I added the other 3 alley key bolts after the tilting was completed, and just gently tightened them up ensuring I did not affect the tilt adjustment. If you buy a ZWO version of the camera, it comes with the push pull system already installed. I have two spare sets of bolts/set screws, happy to post out at cost if anyone wants to do this to their ZWO.

I am tempted to shop in my Lunt 60mm B1200 in favour of one of these or the cheaper Quark, to use with my 105mm refractor.

The Esprit 120 looks to be a cracking scope.

It’s only really worth it if you put in the effort and time. Nice toy though and I would definitely buy a couple if I won the euromillions, to put in my two holiday homes.

I agree this is a great version. Well Done Bob.

Acquisition is (relatively) easy, it's the processing. I was going to ask about processing as they have posted a few 6-7 hours images on the website taken with the scope. But upon reading more, apparently the scope can process the data too. What is there left for the user?

Thanks for checking Goran, much appreciated. It is most likely that it did choose the wrong filter, but I do find it hard to believe that a perfectly working filter wheel can choose the wrong filter 3 separate nights in a row. I'll never know now though!