wxsatuser

6 hours ago, Doug64 said:

Hi,

I've finally decided that I've had enough carting my astro gear in and out of the house everything I want to do some imaging/observing.  I'm also going to buy a heavier mount in the near future  so I'm not sure if I'll even be able to carry it out.

We are going to do some work on our garden in the spring which includes having a new patio laid.  The boss has given me permission for a permanent pier as we can't fit an observatory in.  I intend making a concrete pier and have seen a number of similar projects, but I can't find out which type of concrete to use.  I've seen multi-purpose, fast set, postcrete etc.

I've worked out that I need 8 x 20kg bags of concrete I just need to know what type.  Can anyone advise me.

Thanks

Doug

 

Any standard concrete mix in bags like Wickes stuff, just give it time to dry completely.

That's all I used for my pier and my 35foot hamradio mast.
The mast has been in the ground since the early 90s and no problems.

13 hours ago, GSmith said:

I’m thinking about dipping a toe into the fun and games of Astro imaging.

So, all you successful imagers out there, what is the one thing you wished someone had told you before getting started?

Thanks, G

Don't get started. 😉

Try updating the bad pixel list.

Let the camera reach ambient.
Put it in manual mode.
Chose sensor cleaning, second yellow spanner menu.
Chose clean now.
It will do a clean and you should hear the shutter.
Wait till the clean now highlights again.
Then turn off

The bad pixel list should be updated and RAW convertors should discard these pixels.

8 hours ago, Stardust said:

ok cheers. I'm quite happy with the Baader, but you always wonder what the improvement would be. I have another hobby which has to share the time and Money too. Pretty easy at the moment with the rather rubbish weather we've been having

 

I think your Baader one is doing really well, it's nice to have the narrower filters but it's not the end of the world if you don't have them.

I got lucky mine was quite cheap, got it with a set of Astrodon LRGB filters from another member.

4 minutes ago, Stardust said:

Thanks Mike. I've just looked at your link, great set of widefield images. How do you find the 5nm Astrodon compared to the Baaders

 

Hi, not used Baader filters so hard to say but the Astrodon 5nm works very well at f/2.
There is some vignetting but I could live with that, at least I could image after the LP
got really bad here.

Thanks for looking at mine, not done any for a while, got back into an old hobby that
takes most of my time now.
 

Nice image.

It is a huge region with lots going on.

May be that is the problem.

Make sure it is adjusted correctly for a dslr and it's t-ring
Canon and t-ring should be about 55mm+/- back focus, cannot help with adjust as not seen or used one before.

What flattener is that, does it suit your scope?

May be the Moon causing it, would expect gradients but this looks more like vignetting.

May be someone with a similar set up can give some idea.

Try without flats and see if it's still there.

Are you using flats?

I like it.

Just how it appears on a wet cloudy night.

I can see some nebulosity in PI but horrible gradients.

4 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

Is that common for all mirrorless? 

Not sure on all of them.

Remember also these shoot with Liveview, no viewfinder, not sure if this makes them warm up a lot.

28 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

so no connection for an intervalometer ? 

Correct.

On 18/01/2021 at 20:17, BrendanC said:

Which would be best? As per the title of this post?

I know different cameras have different characteristics, quantum efficiencies, resolutions, pixels sizes, well depths etc. And each object/location/night sky might require different settings. But in general, say I took 10 mins at ISO200, and 5 mins at ISO400 (even, for the sake of argument, 2.5 mins at ISO800)... which, generally, would be better? Which would be more likely to have a better S/N ratio for example?

I also know this is something I need to test for myself! And I will do (and have to an extent but not very deeply). But, given the scarcity of good weather I'm reluctant to experiment too much - I just want to take photos. So, if someone can definitively answer this, that would be great. I expect there's a mathematical argument for long exposures at low ISO versus equivalent shorter exposure at higher ISO?

Thanks, Brendan

Never double the ISO and half the exposure, they are not equal in AP.
Basically the total exposure should be as equal as possible.

One 10minute frame at ISO 200 is two 5minute frames at ISO 400 and four 2.5minutes at ISO 800, etc.

Bet the Moon had something to do with it, plus Bortle 6, time to stay indoors. 🤔

btw Heart and Soul is brighter than the Rosette.

That's AP for you, anything can go wrong and it will. 😁

How about an L bracket for your camera model and a Arca Swiss clamp for a mini guide scope.

Failing that just use a side by side bar.

You can get better images with a lens but the cost comes near to mid to high end scopes.

As above, a small refractor should be fine and for your budget get a more modern camera as well.
Look around MPB should find something nice for £600.

23 minutes ago, Lockie said:

It's a very expensive dream lol But I was thinking once the price of the bodies drop a little more a MF Fuji would be fantastic for astro landscapes on a tripod or on a sturdy startracker with adapted vintage medium format lenses. I think some vintage Canon lenses cover MF, I saw a YT video about that.

I understand the MF size argument and I'm in the camp that says anything that's larger than FF is medium format. The reason I think this is because 0.79 crop is barely affordable and practical for amateurs in terms of cost and size of lenses and camera bodies. I think to differentiate between 0.79 and 0.64 crop we would need a name like cropped medium format and things are confusing enough as it is. For me at least lol

When compared to Hasselblad they are reasonable. 🤔

Nice image but you won't see much emission in M45 as it's mainly reflection nebula.

7 minutes ago, Lockie said:

P.s. I would love to try some astro stuff with one of Fuji's digital medium format cameras. Can you imagine!

You will need a decent scope to cover it, 55mm diagonal or the expensive GF lenses.

BTW the Fuji medium format is a cropped medium at 0.79 where as full medium is 0.64.

1 hour ago, Maged said:

Hi All,

I heard very positive feedback on fuji mirrorless cameras having better Ha sensitivity compared to canons making fuji images compare to astro modified canons, but at the same time I can hardly find astrophotographers using fuji cameras attached to their scopes !!

Can anybody confirm if fuji cameras are that good and if there are some specific models you recommend based on use?

Cheers,

I believe they are reasonable, may be better than Canon but no first hand info.

Take a look at Digiborg and type fuji in the search box

Movie crop mode is only really useful for imaging the moon or planets.
If that is not to important to you forget it and just go for a model that is relatively modern and fits your budget.

If you went for something like a 60D you will get movie crop and more than likely some dosh left over for a lens or two.
Thats if you intend to use it for normal photography as well.