Alien 13

Have to admit I always used to clean my mirror this way back in the day as you could feel the slightest imperfection/stuck on dust particle, never trusted cotton wool after looking at some with a microscope. Alan

The SW PDS range are designed for AP so have the primary mirror pushed a bit further up the tube which in turn requires a slightly larger secondary, they also have uprated 2 inch focussers. Alan

Unfortunately very few scope mounts are anchored to the ground ie with bolts etc, even concrete mounted piers often miss out by having threaded adjustment rods that effectively decouple the mount from the scope. Alan

Have you seen this thread... It should be useful in determining where the tilt originates and could be used on the whole camera plus adapters in the imaging train. Alan

Its a difficult question, I like my ZS71 but wish it had a much shorter focal length so I could get single figure magnifications but get round that by having my DSLR attached and do all my viewing with the flippy live view screen....the 56x5 gun scope I have also gives great views. Alan

Yep....but I only have PS CS6 to compare it with. I however still use PS when destining my smart watch faces as its easier. Alan

I did have similar issues with a camera set-up on a normal tripod, adding a small alloy bracket to clamp the DSLR can help but I went the whole hog as described in this topic.. Alan

The most used option for a DSLR plus lens is a decent ball head mounted on a dovetail with a 3/8 inch screw, there are DSLR friendly dovetails around too that have a flat surface like this. Alan

I just hope they have a backup, its often just as cheap to make more than one.. Alan

Oddly enough I still use my laptop screen for photo editing, it is severely limited with its colour gamut but once calibrated with a "Spyder 5" that sets black/white point and greyscale its fine and compatible over any web sites etc but do need a bigger monitor so watching with interest. Alan P.S. The calibrated laptop screen is more than good enough for me to spot any image posts that have got their background black level wrong or are using an un calibrated monitor in their workflow.

You could argue why choose any scope over the naked eye, there will always be far less total light entering your pupil.. For me I cant abide any magnification over X7 so has to be a refractor. Alan

As the comments above. The only thing to consider if its not Canon or a Nikon mount is if it has enough back focus especially if it was designed for any of the mirrorless cameras. Alan

Thats impressive, not yet tried my phone on the night sky but would be happy to get anything like that. Alan

Looks good to me and certainly usable at F/2 especially if you are shooting on a static tripod and want foreground included, worth trying the lens correction data too. Alan

If the very faintest small stars are visible then its in focus, in fact in my view this is the only way to confirm and far better than the guess work when using a bat mask. Alan

Sort of, its based on the tripods that have a bowl rather than a flat plate. The low profile and large bowl (around 70mm on mine) gives far more stability than a ball head but yes the range is limited.. For photography these are a far better method of leveling the tripod head than fiddling with the tripod legs, especially if the tripod is fully loaded with the camera etc. Alan

Though I would mention tripod "bowl" heads as an option, the large diameter of the cup and ball ensures a strong clamping action... I have one for my tripod to ensure its level for pano shots. The downside is that the cheap ones are only rated at 15 Kg and tend to have a 1/4 camera thread on the top rather than 3/8.. Alan

Not lucky but good matching, a reduced 70 ish mm refractor will have a focal length of about 330 mm which would be my upper limit for an EQ3 allowing 1 min subs, of course when you go to lower focal lengths the sub length can go up even to four mins of more for the nifty fifty or similar. Alan

Most wide angle lenses suffer from this type of distortion but is easily corrected for either "in camera" if its a Canon lens or by most of the image processing packages available if the lens is listed (most are). Alan

Strange one but guess it could be tilt at 90 degrees to the "OK" axis which would mean one corner is a bit close and the opposite a bit too far, the diagram showing star shapes is alright as a rough guide but would not rely on it too much. Moving the camera through 90 degrees will show if its scope or camera.. Alan

Some black 3.0 will fix that 😋 Alan

Its difficult to find much technical information on these motor sets and indeed the single axis version that I am using but I am pretty sure they are stepper motors and mine certainly pulses when in use, the control box also contains a Xtal oscillator which would also support these findings... The warning about voltages is very true as there is no over voltage or reverse polarity protection in the control box but because of that these motors will happily run from a 5.2V mobile power bank. Alan

I can only think that the focus was off, it is more difficult getting focus with a modded camera especially with lenses or a refractor.. Alan

Yes and admit I do love mine. Alan

I do like the Borg but best travel scope bar-none has to be this.... Alan