Notty

Thanks for that, it looks nice especially the mounting arrangement. I went for this setup; astrojolo supplied mounting rings and guidescope mount plus a toothed pulley/belt arrangement inspired by another user on here. I haven’t connected it all up to try it yet, I fear autofocus won’t work as I’m told there won’t be enough back focus behind infinity to automate it but at least I should be able to control the motor focuser through asiair without touching it, which should still be more precise.

Ah ok, thank for that. I already have that setup but want to automate it. I'll be doing lrbg+narrowband and want to make it as precise as possible.

Hello, thanks but I can’t search this on eBay - thinks I’m looking for a userid?

Hello. As title, has anyone had any luck setting up the above? I have a Samsung 135mm which I’ll be using with my 1600mm and controlled by ASIair. If anyone’s found an off the shelf transmision/belt drive solution or gone through the pain of assembling one would you mind sharing the details at all? Thank you in advance. andrew

and here comes a possible trade war with China, so Sept/Oct might be optimistic!

Wow, that chap knows what he's doing, and has same camera as me too. definitely worth a look, thank you and everyone else who's chipped in.

Thanks all. I hadn't heard of Raig or Harpers, but they're quite significantly more expensive than everywhere else I've checked, and its the same story, they can't make them fast enough for demand!

Yes, really I want a bigger step up from my ED80 for galaxy resolution - if I could afford the 150 triplet I would! but thank you

Thanks, but they don't I checked yesterday. In fact while I was on the phone confirming they had the last EQ6R-pro in the country in stock, someone bought it. It's that mad at the moment

After 8y or so building up my ED80/HEQ5 based imaging rig I have just sold it in order to go "big bang" on upgrading it, (scope, mount, ASIair) hopefully with one good enough that I will always be the limiting factor for the rest of my AP days. I'd done my research and had decided the Esprit 120ED on an EQ6R-pro would suit my purposes with my ASI1600MM, but what I hadn't appreciated was quite how little of anything there was in the UK and how it's literally drip feeding in from China. The wait for the Esprit is October! Now I don't mind waiting and missing out all summer for the right kit but it's given me pause to just run this by to see if there might not be a better choice of scope for a similar price range. I'd love a Tak but that's always going to be out of my league, or perhaps someone's heard of something gorgeous just around the corner? Thanks for any input.

SOLD Pending

I am preparing to upgrade my mount and imaging scope. I've slowly built this rig up over the years, and I've now got the opportunity to upgrade the mount and scope to the next stage. This would be a fantastic investment for someone just starting in AP and would have you set for a long time. Everything here except an imaging camera; mount, scope with upgraded focuser, electronic filter wheel, guidescope and guide camera, electronic stepper autofocus motor & controller and lots more. Everything in full working order, but the scope does have some scratches on the outer tube from where it's been mounted, but purely cosmetic. The only caveat is you would have to come and pick it all up from Lichfield in Staffs (bang in the middle of the country) as the weight and dimensions of this lot would make packing and posting it prohibitive, for me anyway. List price for all this well over £2300, and I will offer it here for £1000 for the convenience of not dealing with lots and lots of separate sales and postages, as I am away from home a lot with work and would save me a lot of hassle as my time is more valuable at present! Full spec below: HEQ5 mount with Rowan belt-drive mod and adapter for Polemaster electronic polarscope (Polemaster electronic polarscope NOT included), EQMOD cable SW synscan hand controller Skywatcher ED80-DS Pro + .85 reducer/flattener with aluminium case, diagonal & SW 2" EP Bhatinov mask for above Skywatcher upgraded crayford focuser QHY5L11C guide camera QHY mini guidescope Lakeside motor focuser controller Lakeside stepper focuser motor ZWO Electronic filter wheel 5x1.25" (no filters included) More than happy to answer any questions or supply additional photographs.

Thanks, yes indeed, I was just thrown by where the 77mm came from, or if perhaps quoted F ratios were rounded up or some such. Really glad I found this thread still, thanks all.

I was looking for max aperture size on the Samyang tech pages but didn't see anything, they mention 77mm as "filter size" but would that not make its focal ratio 1.75?

Thank you - aperture being presumably exactly 135/2 for F2