Alien 13

Agreed that the image shown puts the polarscope in the worst possible position imaginable but a RA camera viewfinder just held roughly in position would help..

Alan

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Surely the image would be vertically inverted without a diagonal? Going through the diagonal corrects the vertical direction and leaves it left-right reversed?

That apart, totally agree it’s better without the diagonal, extension tube is the way to go.

The scope would act exactly like a camera lens which too gives an inverted image if you looked through it, the electronics in a DSLR flips it to provide a correct image on the live view screen and the prism in the viewfinder does the same.

The beauty of this is that I can use my WO scope as either a 400mm  camera lens or 320mm ish with the FF/FR for wildlife imaging...same with the Mak although at around 1200mm f/l is only useful for imaging ants on a far away wall 

Alan

If you are using a refractor or Mak without a diagonal you will see a correct orientated image in either the viewfinder or live view screen of the camera.

The biggest problem is that a diagonal can not hold a camera very well so the whole lot is liable to rotate causing the camera to go crashing to the ground. A two inch extension is much better.

Alan

47 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Indeed. I met this issue processing Yves' 32 panel full frame Cepheus/Cygnus mosaic. Fortunately I have a fast machine. (Not my Royal Enfield...🤣)

Olly

Your Royal Enfield is a beauty, I am sure its "the journey" thats the important part.

Thankfully in the scheme of things fast PCs are relatively cheap in astro terms.

Alan 

It seems that you have an awful lot of adapters in the imaging train, the reducer/flattener should always be connected directly to the camera T ring to get the correct spacing..

Alan

Just now, Ande said:

Yes, I did spot that there was the option of WiFi control. In fact, I downloaded the official Canon app last night in eager anticipation  

The Canon remote app is very handy for lots of things like wildlife too, you can view the liveview screen remotely/adjust settings and focus then shoot either stills or video from either phone/tablet or PC with the EOS utility software. 

Alan

2 minutes ago, wxsatuser said:

Yes, that's the main problem.
Most lenses will not be good wide open, there are exceptions like the Samyang 135mm and most of the others are very expensive.

I have a theory that f/4 is the magic number, faster lenses often need stopping down to surprisingly f/4 while canon f/4 L and some slow kit lenses are fine wide open. The Samyang range looks to have broken the rule on my theory though 

Alan

3 minutes ago, Ande said:

58 years old, and a dodgy back means I want something fairly high-end so I can benefit from a flip screen. The thought of scrabbling about on my knees trying to catch a glimpse of the screen does not appeal, lol. Then factor in COVID, and the sparse choice on offer right now leads me to the 80D.  

The 80D is probably the best Canon APS-C camera even now due to its noise performance, the flip screen is great but not unique unlike the fully remote shooting and setup options via wifi..

Alan

The Canon 80D is very nice, welcome to the club.

I am going to a bit out on a limb here but having owned the 50mm f/1.8 STM and the 17-55mm kit lens I would say that the 17-55mm is actually better for AP, the 50mm prime is a nice lens but mine realy needs stopping down to f/4 or f/8 to get decent stars however the kit lens seems OK wide open.

There are lots of old M42 lenses around that will work with an adapter on the Canon, look for 135/200mm takumars but others are worth a punt if the price is right.

Alan

T-7mins

Alan

I would be happy with another camera lens, had a look at the Canon 400mm f/2.8 is3 recently but it might be a bit heavy with a DSLR on a Star Adventurer .

Alan

I would love a decent spotting scope, have the Mak which is superb would love something with a much lower magnification and 90 degree corrected prism.

I am one of those poor souls that cant bear upside down wrong way round images and corrected 90 degree prisms especially 2 inch versions are like "hens teeth".

Alan

3 hours ago, happy-kat said:

Thank you, it exemplified the opposite of good placement as my focal foreground objects were two house TV aerials but needs must when making the most of the imaging opportunity given and I had been hoping for a comet, I think the small scale image helped hide this. I like the ease of startrails as they can be quite dramatic with helping placement with the landscape.

Even ugly man made structures like TV ariels/transmission towers/pylons/satellite dishes are fair game to me...

Alan 

Am very interested in the travel tripod that Martin uses but missed it during the talk as Leicester scored 

Alan

On 11/12/2020 at 20:05, Peter Drew said:

1. It's easy enough to make long focus Plossl eyepieces with binocular objectives, if you have a lathe or Blue Peter badge.  I've made several 60mm - 100mm Plossls, they give very flat colour free images but suffer the usual problem of small apparent field and long eye relief.      🙂  

Camera lenses (reversed) make good eyepieces but you might need 4-6 inch focusers and you should see the size of the correct image prisms if you want to use a 200mm fl one (have tried)..

Alan

I love my 40mm, would have a 80mm if I could find one..

Alan

I love these launches and delays..

Alan

Big fan of Martins work, will be glued to this one.

Alan

1 minute ago, Mognet said:

That would explain the Fireball XL5 inspired design. Just need the space scooters now

I had this in mind, scary that GA got it almost spot on..

Alan

Yikes, wooden scopes are so wrong...............wooden tripods fine.

Alan

14 minutes ago, SamAndrew said:

I'd say 85% is a little low, more like 98% for me! they proved there were no fundamental design or construction flaws; all those welds that could have failed, the glide, the engine restarts, and the belly flop - all went perfectly.

I would agree with the 98% the failure at landing will also provide very useful data anyway, perhaps more so than had the mission been a 100% run.

Alan

I have a C90 Mak and think that visually it would win out due to its tolerance of cheaper eyepieces alone, of course its big advantage is that you can hang more or less any camera off it.

This was a single shot of the Moon with mine using a heavy DSLR.

Alan

I thought the first stage would be mounted horizontal on a kind of sled on tracks, rather like a roller coaster 

Alan

Brilliant stuff..

Alan

Less than 5 mins...

Alan