SAW

I've ended buying a Fornax Lightrack II. Yes it's twice the price but it's 100 times better, I'm getting 10min exposures with my WO61 and 600D and no guiding.

I've already stripped, cleaned and regressed mine but could only see the adjustment on the motor gear, couldn't see any other adjustment points on the other gears apart from the grub screw that set the worm gear backlash. Even after this and using a Polemaster I still can't get even 2mins without trailing. I might do better with just a dslr and lens as I'm using my WO61 and 600D but it's hardly straining it, completed scope with camera and flattener is only 2.3kg.

Hi, Did you manage to adjust all of the gears in the unit ? I could only see that I could adjust the motor backlash, the other two brass gears don't seem to have any adjustment ? And I did adjust the worm gear backlash using the grub screw on the bottom of the unit. Not impressed with my SA, the wedge is also useless with loads of play.

Just found this thread after searching for wedge modifications as I'm very disappointed in mine. You get it all polar aligned then move the scope to your target and you can feel the wedge slip a bit ! The actual tracking unit is great but the wedge is very poor so much so I've been looking at alternative portable star trackers.

Hi, The Fire Capture tutorials recommend adjusting the the RGB settings to get them roughly the same on the histogram and then turn off the debater and capture raw, then do the debayer in post processing/stacking. I have thought about changing to the mono version as my other two cameras are mono and get a manual filter wheel, give that a try.

Hi, I have tried numerous times now to get a decent image of Jupiter with my Mak150. There must be something I am doing wrong ? I'm using Fire Capture and I am getting focus on Arcturus using a bahtinov mask, letting the Mak cool down for a good 2hrs yet my avi files are so grainy ? Using a 290MC and capturing in mono. I am probably going to sell the mak and send the camera back, just not happy with it. Here is my log from Fire Capture last night with the imaged stacked in AutoStakkert, best 25% kept not sharpened. Even running it through Registax just makes it look worse. FireCapture v2.5 Settings ------------------------------------ Camera=ZWO ASI290MC Filter=L Profile=Jupiter Diameter=44.61" Magnitude=-2.50 CMI=169.3° CMII=42.1° CMIII=269.5° (during mid of capture) FocalLength=1600mm Resolution=0.37" Filename=2018-05-19-2239_2-L.avi Date=190518 Start=223845.282 Mid=223915.289 End=223945.296 Start(UT)=223845.282 Mid(UT)=223915.289 End(UT)=223945.296 Duration=60.014s Date_format=ddMMyy Time_format=HHmmss LT=UT Frames captured=4275 File type=AVI Extended AVI mode=true Compressed AVI=false Binning=no ROI=600x600 ROI(Offset)=360x304 FPS (avg.)=71 Shutter=1.500ms Gain=390 (65%) AutoHisto=75 (off) HighSpeed=off WBlue=95 Gamma=50 WRed=48 USBTraffic=100 SoftwareGain=10 (off) AutoExposure=off Brightness=1 Histogramm(min)=0 Histogramm(max)=198 Histogramm=77% Noise(avg.deviation)=n/a Limit=60 Seconds Sensor temperature=20.5 °C 2018-05-19-2239_2-L_g4_ap49.tif

So here is my first ever DSO (M27) captured and I'm pretty pleased with, I'm sure there's lots I could of done to improve or tweak the image. SW ED80, HEQ5 Pro with belt mod and tuned, no guiding. 600D modded. 20 lights, 20 darks and 20 bias. 60s exposures, ISO 800. This wouldn't of been possible without the help from this forum and a lot from A4B FB group. Image uploaded here is copied from FB so might be a bit small.

Here's my first ever image (M39) single 4min shot zero editing. Nothing special I'm just amazed that actually anything showed up considering I know very little about scopes or cameras let alone imaging ! I can only get better lol

I'm confused with the differences between the EQ5, HEQ5 Pro & EQ5 GT like wise with the NEQ6 Pro, EQ6 R Pro & EQ6 GT ? :-( Is there some sort of comparison chart somewhere ?

Thought about going for the 80ED and NEQ5 Pro package then if I got say a 200P for viewing I could use the NEQ5 mount and upgrade my imaging set up :-D

Thanks for everyone's advice definitely the the ED80 is the way for me to go for starting out. Just need to decide on the the mount , the 6 is A LOT more money than the HEQ5Pro so I may have to start with that.

Ok real beginners question, when I'm on the site you linked and select the 80ED with say an Canon 300D why is he image so small ? Firstlightoptics sell the 80ED on it's own or as an outfit, is it better to get the outfit or buy the basic unit and add my own diagonal eyepiece and finder scope ? Do I need a finder scope or would a guiding camera take it's place ?

The 120ED is out of my price range to be honest as I'm just getting started. Is the 80ED going to be better for imaging than the 100ED as it's slightly faster ? Although the 100ED would be better for planetary ? How will the 80 perform when used for general viewing of dso and planets ? would a barlow help ? Going for the 80 and HEQ5 does keep me well within budget with money left over for eyepieces and accessories, but will I be happy with it ???

Will I be disappointed in using the ED80 for viewing with ? For planets I presume the 100ED would be better as it has a larger focal length ? but not so good for DSO ? Would the 120ED be good for both planets and DSO ? probably going way over budget though !

I'm interested in this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-pro-heq5-pro.html

I was looking to spend around 2K maximum to get me up and running for viewing including eyepieces and a few other accessories but NOT the camera, I'll get that later.

Hi, I posted in the getting started with imaging page as I am looking for my first scope but I want to do imaging with it as well as general viewing. I don't want a dob due to the size. I have been looking at the Evostar 80ED DS Pro outfit or the 200P DS OTA. I presume I can use the 200P for general viewing and don't have to use a camera attached to all the time ? How do these scopes compare to each other when used for general viewing ? I'm more interested in DSO than planetary but thats not to say I want to use it to look at the moon etc. I understand that I need to buy the best mount I can afford and I'm looking at either the HEQ5 pro or EQ5 pro. I have ordered a couple of books from FLO, make every photon count and turn left at orion. Just trying decide on a scope and mount before I think about accessories, camera etc so I'll just be using the scope for viewing to start with. Will I be disappointed in the 80ED for general viewing, what can I expect to see with these scope ? Thanks.