Alien 13

I would think the Canon lens would be far better, probably up to high end APO standards and maybe a bit more as not many 400mm scopes will cover a full frame imaging circle.

Alan

12 minutes ago, Jimmy Rocket said:

Scope is a 127 mak with goto computerized mount not sure what the modded/unmodded DSLR bit is about? Thought it was an adaptor ring to connect the body to the scope, sorry for not being up to speed on the subject, all I know is it's a video image moved to registax 6 to get the best frames etc, seen a canon 1100D on eBay going cheap so thought that would be ideal???

The 1100D and 450D have very similar specifications and possibly the same sensor although the 450D will have more features.. I had a 1100D for a while and it was fine for basic AP but a bit limited.

Alan

The best entry level DSLR for AP is the 450D although it will cost a bit more than £100, look on the MPB and Wex sites for examples.

Alan

5 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Just thought I'd try the stacking function to create a star trail image (seen on the video link) even using jpgs it struggled to cope and ate all machine resources, I'll see what I can pull from the image as it needs work. i5 but 8gb ram plus 2gb one graphic card so not a slouch really.

I have noticed that Affinity is not as resource efficient as PS with some tasks, had my lappy sweating a few times..

Alan

40 minutes ago, jackp93 said:

Hi Alan 

thanks for the info. I use affinity photo so will have a look around that and find the lens correction tool.

 

thanks

 

Jack

Hi Jack, I use Affinity too and find it brilliant. If you open a RAW file it will show the RAW file editor which allows you to correct for lens defects on specific Canon lenses, there are adjustments for Geometry/De fringing/Chromatic aberration and Vignetting plus lots of other stuff.

Alan 

P.S. Just had a quick look in Affinity and it seems to list every lens on the planet in its correction tool 

I would say that the abundance of tight faint stars suggests you focus is good and is the method I use to get the focus correct. The distortion with the brighter stars is down to the lens itself and sky conditions but can be improved by stopping down as Happy Kat mentioned or fixed in post processing or even by using lens correction data in PS or whatever.

Alan

Full frame cameras are weird things my son has a 50mm Takumar with adapter designed for full frame cameras that hits the mirror on his 6D.

Alan 

I had the same issue with my Canon RAW files, had to give up on APT and DSS and PS but the easy fix is to use the Adobe DNG conversion software although its still a faff. Might try APT again to see if they fixed the lockup when connecting my camera but still a bit scared..

Alan

Looks like I might have to watch the recorded version, the mention of Hawkwind in the title realy put me off watching live..

Alan

I would think the first option is the correct one.. This look similar and cheaper but cant guarantee anything.

Alan

Think the K mount lenses can fit using an adapter that doesn't need any additional optics, make sure any adapter you choose can do infinity focus..

Alan

ERIC....

Alan

I have a couple of radioactive camera lenses, never been a problem....

Alan

Its a difficult one, I had the std 18-55mm kit lens although it was the IS version and found it far superior to my more recent 50mm f/1.8 STM lens for AP. To get better performance at that focal length you need to look at the Samyang range but they do cost a few pennies, the Takumar M42 lenses with an adapter are worth looking at but if you want more focal length then nothing beats a used Canon 70-200mm f/4 L lens for the price, I paid £240 for mine admittedly a few years ago.

Alan

7 minutes ago, Craney said:

Thanks @tomato.

I've just gone for it.   That's a fair price for what it does.  I'm not overly keen on the Photoshop CC payment schedule.   This could be the 'alternative' I have been looking for.

 I'll run the two packages alongside each other with my next captures to see how different the results are...if any ??

Hopefully in time, those clever IT folk out there in the  cyber world will write plug-ins that replicate the ones available for PS. 

Cheers,

sean.

Thats my only concern with Affinity, have had it for ages but still no support for ICO files or Nvidia plugins for game design so have to keep my old PS CS6 on standby. I do think it offers far more though than my copy of PS did and it can open my DSLR RAW files too.

Alan

7 minutes ago, Greymouser said:

I suspect you are right, maybe this was just an exercise in confirming an already made decision?

As @Dr Strange says the scope most used is the best, ( as many others have said too, ) which for me is my superb little C5. What more can a 100 mm Tak give me? ( That is rhetorical I guess!  ) I do have too many scopes though and will sell some. I still have to experiment more with the SW ED 80 and 6" Classical cass, so do not know if they will be kept. But I have not used the C9.25 in ages, so think maybe a reassessment of my needs is in order. 

@dweller25 and @AdeKing, yes it would be very easy to add a SSD to my current rig and whilst it will speed things up, it would not help much with games, the CPU; GPU and the amount of RAM is important here. I would need a new motherboard too, to significantly improve things, so figure a whole new PC makes sense.

Thank you all for your help, you have all helped me to come to some conclusions. I need to think more on what to keep and what to go. Especially with a 6" newt; 102 ST a pair of 20 x 100 binos and maybe the ED80 and C9.25 to go along with the Evolution mount. If I go the whole way, maybe a Tak could be on the cards too!

Dont forget a shiny new DSLR too 

Alan

P.S. I dont know the current price of a TAK but expect its not far off the 2.5K I paid for my lappy which gets hammered every day with video work and gaming so I made the best choice for me I expect.

Alan

I tend to stick with 32 Gb capacity for my cards as it seems to offer the best cost/size option, I do prefer SanDisk extreme pro and find the cost reasonable to be honest but gets crazy with bigger capacities.

Alan

PC every time...

Alan

I would tend to agree with others that you first need to make sure the "shoot without lens" option is enabled in the camera menu.

I do find the setup you are using a little strange through with the total length of the adapters etc in use, in general when using eyepiece projection the camera sensor needs to be at the same point as it would be visually with your eyeball. 

Alan

11 hours ago, wimvb said:

Surface mounted? 😁

for strip board, there is veecad. Good enough for simple, one of projects and quick prototyping. Not so good for valves or smc.

https://veecad.com

That software looks good although not a big fan of strip board unless it is of the FR4 variety (come back proper Maplins).

Alan

19 minutes ago, Kenboy said:

Hi thx for the reply  

I can't find that available 2nd hand..

any other suggestions? 

Had a quick look on MPB and Wex and couldn't find one either although there are usually lots of them, difficult to recommend without knowing your budget the 450D is good but doesn't have an articulated view screen and the 60D is a  step up from the 600D but mores costly.

Alan

Oh dear I am going in the opposite direction for minimum magnification i.e 4-8 X as a maximum which limits things somewhat.

Alan

Looking forward to this too although have to repair my headphones first so will be a mad dash to fix them.....

Alan

I think the 600D is the best option these days as a entry level camera....

Alan

Some great info here, I am old school and design circuits in my head then scribbled on a bit of paper, all my circuit boards are hand drawn too, thankfully I only work with valves and transistors.....

Alan