Marky1973

If there had been something to stare at I would have been there - took the day off work specially... but the Sun made an appearance around 10am and then wasn't seen again! Still, gave me the chance to do some electrical work around the house and replace some bits and pieces that haven't been working for months!

Didn't see a sausage.... or Mercury... or the flippin' Sun to be honest, what a miserable day.

Hey ho... maybe next time... :-)

I have only used FLO for fairly low-cost orders in the past as I have often been lucky enough to source the more expensive items elsewhere. However, this time around, I didn't think I was going to be able to find a "cheap" ATIK camera, so entered into an email discussion with Martin over the last couple of days asking all-sorts of annoying questions about Cameras and Filters etc. Martin has been the guy that I have pestered on many occasions before, even when I ended up buying elsewhere. Always found the service to be excellent and the advice very helpful.

I have just pulled the trigger on a 414EX after chatting with Martin so will be looking forward to that turning up next week. Just thought I would mention the great service (as usual) and the speed of reply from Martin. I know people are often quick to complain about the speed of response from online retailers, but FLO were back with answers within minutes, so there was no hanging around at all.

Nicely done and helped me make my decision.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to use the thing.....

:-)

Not even light can escape.....

Here is the latest image from the 130.... might be the last for a little bit as the WO71 gets a good run:

I'll find a way to incorporate both telescopes into the setup, but im trying to avoid guidescope rings on the frac... maybe some sort of adjustable saddle is in order, would prefer to make it because buying one is pretty expensive.

Actually... just thought, I do have some other data to process from the 130... totally forgot I had that! (got an M45 kicking around somewhere)

Just catching up with this thread and that is an amazing image Rob....

Just wanted to post a quick note about my experiences with Juan at Cheap Astrophotography. I've been wanting to get a better camera for a while and decided I would go with a modified DSLR as I am still learning the ropes, especially with processing, and would likely put myself off completely if I tried jumping up to full-blown CCD imaging. I spent several days looking at Juan's site, trying to decide between a secondhand 1000D, or the secondhand 450D...although there were also refurbished and new 100D/600D models that I could have pushed myself to. Essentially, I couldn't decide.

I emailed Juan to ask about the differences between the 100D and 600D and received some great advice and suggestions on what to buy. BUT, Juan also offered me a 100D that he had been using at an even greater bargain price than the ones on his site. It was fully modded but, as I was intending to use for purely astro, he kindly offered to restore the camera to normal astro modding and included that in the price.

Juan even did all this while he was away in Spain and even offered to post from Spain if I wasn't able to wait... but I was able and it arrived today. Complete with battery,charger (plus UK adapter), strap, USB lead, instructions and software - he even chucked in an 8gb Sandisk Memory Card.

The shutter count was very low at just under 250 and the condition of the camera was as new. I have to say I was shocked at how pristine it was.

I am probably harping on, but I really can't fault Juan's service and would have absolutely no qualms about using him again if I felt the need to upgrade - nor to recommend him to others looking for an astro camera. Emails/communication throughout the transaction was fantastic - great stuff!

Ah temptation gone... in the immortal word of Shaggy, "It wasn't me..." - someone got a nice bargain though.

sssssh.... you'll convince me if you're not careful....

I'm not affiliated with them, but Astroboot has one for £110 at the moment - full 12 months warranty.....

Hi Julian, D4N has sorted you there, but I just thought I would add that I have just found that option myself and find that selecting the rectangle allows me to stack an area of interest pretty quickly even with x2 Drizzle applied - whether that does any good, I have no idea! But it is really handy with "small" galaxies on a large sensor as you can focus in on the particular area you are interested in.