Tippon

Hi all 🙂 I've been out tonight with my telescope and camera, trying to get some video of the moon. I've used my DSLR in the past, so have a rough idea of what I'm doing, but this was the first time that I've been able to use the SV105. I've had nothing but problems. I updated SharpCap to the latest version and made sure that everything was working, the camera was detected etc. I took everything outside and set it up, got the moon in view using the 20mm eyepiece that came with my telescope (celestron astromaster 130eq), switched to the camera, and tried to focus using my laptop screen. At first the moon was massively overexposed. I got roughly focussed, then tried to adjust the settings in SharpCap to get the exposure correct. I left the resolution and framerate at default to start with (1920x1080 and the framerate was blank), and adjusted the other settings, exposure, brightness, contrast, gain, etc. No matter what I changed, I couldn't get the exposure right. It was either overexposed, or really blotchy, like when you try to pull details from an overexposed photo. I tried changing the framerate and it seemed to work a little bit. I changed the resolution too, to 1280x720, and that helped a little bit too. I tried recording some video with the various settings. I've played them back, and while they do look slightly different, they're all saying that they're 1920x1080 and 30FPS. Some of them have chunks of the moon's edge missing where it's so dark. I wasn't able to get any of the videos in sharp focus, they all look soft and slightly blurred. I'm going to test the camera again in the daytime tomorrow, just in case I've managed to damage it somehow. In the meantime though, can someone tell me where I've gone wrong please?

Hi Franklin I'm really sorry, I just realised that I didn't message you to let you know that the knob arrived. It turned up within a few days, and it's been working perfectly, thank you

Thanks Franklin, I'll PM you

The only thing I've found it useful for is putting my glasses on in between viewing and photos. Some fishing line should hold a bottle though, so I'll give that a try too, thanks

Hi all, thanks for the replies Looks like the focuser and red dot finder are the easiest fixes then. I've already swapped out the RDF for a spotting scope that I picked for £10. I don't have it to hand, but I think it's a 10x40 monocular scope. It's not the best, as it attaches by a single screw that can work loose a bit to easily, but it's a hundred times better than the RDF. I've actually managed to find things other than the moon 🤣 Adding weight is a good idea, and I'll give it a try once the skies clear again. The focuser is my next job, whether it's adding tape, or as was suggested in the other thread, adding a marmite lid to give better fine control. Either way, I'll have a play with it soon. I'll hopefully get everything tightened up soon too, probably once I've picked up some new grease and some cleaning supplies so that I can strip and clean it at the same time. I don't think I'll bother with flocking if I'm not going to see much difference. I might try it in the future when I know what I'm doing first I bought myself a Svbony SV105 this week, so hopefully the scope will be less likely to wobble with the lower weight compared to my DSLR. Like AstroMuni I might get rid of the motor for now too, as it just seems to make a lot of noise and gets in the way. Once I've got everything set up the way I want it and am more used to the scope, I might put it back (or mod it to run from a Raspberry Pi and automatically track, but that's another thread...). Thanks again for your help

So you're essentially turning the Marmite lid then? I'll have a play in the next few days

Thanks all. I'll have a play with it if the weather ever clears up

Thanks for the reply Yeah, like you say, that was my initial thought. I don't know how much force it would need to take though. The more I look at it, the more it looks like it is just some sort of epoxy, so I'm going to order some, clean it out, and hope that it works.

That's very generous Franklin, thank you This is mine at the moment:

Hi all Are there any mods that I should do to my Astromaster 130EQ to make it better, other than buying better eyepieces etc.? I've got the motor drive, but I've read about things like flocking, or adding tape to the focuser. Are there any suggested mods for it? I'll be using it mostly for moon and planetary imaging and viewing. I've seen the tips in Denjans' thread here, and will be tightening everything up to reduce wobble, but anything else would be appreciated too

Hi Lee I'm not sure what you mean here. Do you just attach it to the grip to make it a bit easier to move?

I've got an action camera that I'm considering modding to use for imaging, but it's got several video modes. It can do 4K at 30fps, 1080 at 30/60fps, and 720 slow motion video at 90/120fps. At least to start with, I'd be imaging the moon and planets. Would I be better off setting it for 4K or 120fps? My telescope is a Celestron Astromaster 130EQ with the motor drive.

I've got a Celestron Astromaster 130EQ, and whlie I was a bit distracted recently, I turned the RA slow control knob and sheared the end off. Is there either somewhere I can get a replacement, or a way to fix it? I've checked a few of the online shops, and they only seem to sell the whole telescope now. It looks like I've separated the knob from the wire, so I may be able to glue it back in, but would it be likely to hold? I'm thinking something like epoxy rather than superglue, but I've got no idea how much force it would need to withstand (presumably not much?). Thanks in advance for your help

Hi Nick I've just logged in to ask the same question. I went out recently and tried some astrophotography, but by the time I got anything in focus and waited for the mount to stop shaking, whatever I was trying to get a photo of was somewhere else in the sky 🙃 I'm going to be trying again next week if the weather holds, but I'm going to try shortening the legs on the tripod, and putting it on a soft surface to see if that helps. As others have said, I'm going to try pads under the legs too. Good luck