reddish75

I've just bought this one, I take it this is the same as the Revelation one? Didn't want to spend much as this is going to be a. Astrophotography rig and I'm determined to keep prices sensible

Having bought a Williams Zenithstar 73iii from the classified I'm looking for a diagonal for the odd occasion that we'll use it to stargaze. I've seen the William ones but am not sure on them really want to know best options price vs quality and which size best to go for 2" or 1.25"?

Well, managed to get a manfrotto befree gt mount today for the price of a takeaway, which I felt was a good deal.

Concerning shutter remotes which is best to look at, basic or intervalometers?

Thanks for replies

For a scope we're currently working towards the skywatcher 80ed and I'm going to onstep the eq5 mount we have already got.

As a stop gap with the dslr and lenses and a cheap tripod she'd like some photos of the moon and star fields, we're aware of the limitations of using just a camera. I just don't want her to spend more money on a different camera when we buy the scope.

For upgrading the camera we were thinking of a Nikon D3400 or 3500 so we can use the lenses we already have

I hope this is the correct place for this question?

My daughter wants to get into imaging and as we're saving for a new scope we're thinking of taking photos with just a dslr.

At the moment we have a Nikon D300 and a couple of lenses, an Af-s nikkor 19-200mm 1.3- 5.6 and a Sigma ex 10-20mm 1:4-5.6 dc him that was gifted by a family member.

I believe that the D300 is a bit long in the tooth for astrophotography but what about the lenses?

Also what would you recommend as a good used buy that can also be used with a refractor scope when we get one?

Thanks

19 hours ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

I know we are here to help, but have we frightened off the op?

I would just say go outside on a clear night. Put out your setup with the north leg facing north ie the leg that is inline with the azimuth adjustment nobs.

Adjust your elevation for your place on this planet using the angle guide on the side of the mount.

loosen your clutches a bit and go star gazing. Having an EQ mount is not a restriction for star gazing.

If however you want to polar align accurately to use goto to track objects, and then the next big leap chuck on a camera then you will need to follow the previous advice.

I would say get out there and use it manually for a short while, then once you are confident move to getting accurate polar alignment and all that will lead to.

Marv

 I'm still here, we went out last night with an unaligned finder scope did manage to see Mar briefly but struggled to find again.

So now some questions and please pardon my ignorance on these but the more I learn...... you know how it goes.

Why does the north leg have to face north? Is it so Polaris can be seen?

Elevation whats that needed for? Polaris again? If I set it to ~ 50 for Manchester UK, should it stay at that when star gazing if it moves from that what will be the effect?

20 hours ago, pipnina said:

Getting the hang of setting up and using an EQ mount is certainly one of the big hurdles we all struggle with at first. But once it clicks... You end up wondering what all the stress was about in the first place! I promise!

Just seems so difficult, like most things your right It'll click eventually

23 hours ago, Elp said:

1. If possible setup the tripod on a flat surface. When the legs are splayed check the tripod is level either with an in built level or a separate spirit level.

2. Make sure the mount head (the equatorial bit you put the scope onto) is secured onto the tripod. The telescope dovetail saddle (also declination axis) should be directly on top of the mount in line with it and pointing north (so your whole mount will be orientated north). If your counterweight bar and weight are connected into the mount the bar should be pointing directly to the ground but at an angle depending on your mount angle altitude setting. The altitude (up/down angle orientation should match, or make up the difference subtracted from 90 degrees depending on your actual location in latitude (eg, if you're at 50 degrees north, your angle/altitude of the mount will either be set at 50 degrees or (90-50=40) 40 degrees depending on how it's labelled). You will know if it off because if you look for Polaris (north star easily found by cross referencing the big dipper and on the opposite side Cassiopeia), and imagining your scope pointing directly at Polaris the mount will be either too high or too low in altitude angle, or too left or right of it.

3. Use a polar scope to get Polaris into the centre of the polar scope by making minor altitude (up down angle) and azimuth (left right) adjustments to the mount via their respective screw adjustments. Polaris actually lies on a point around the small circle on the reticule of the polar scope, but for basic polar alignment you can just get it dead centre.

4. Lock everything down. Make sure the payload is all secured, you should also load everything onto the mount before levelling and polar aligning as any physical touch to the setup afterward can knock it out of alignment unless you're using a tank like heavy duty EQ setup. Check the polar alignment again as tightening bolts down can shift it.

That's the basic flow, once you've practiced it a few times it becomes second nature.

You can also use a manual compass with an East West declination scale on it to find true north rather than magnetic north for the mount to point to but it isn't necessary.

At some point within the workflow you'll want to balance your setup in ra and declination (do one at a time) so if either clutch is loosened the setup shouldn't move under gravity depending on the balance of the payload. This is very important when doing astrophotography, not so much for visual but it takes stress off the mount if it's better balanced.

Thanks, this is the kind of easy setup descriptions I can follow

Why are these mounts so difficult to setup and align! I've looked at the videos and still I'm not getting it. If someone could treat me like a complete simpleton and guide me through it with pictures if possible? 

Thanks

Chris

On 20/11/2022 at 18:09, Ian McCallum said:

 

That's great thanks, Rother valley optics are confident they can source one for me, but in the meantime I've a M8 40mm bolt ready for when I set the scope up.

So cleaned the mirrors today the primary took 4 cleans to get it to something I thought was OK, secondary mirror looked like mold? Seems to have come up well though

1 hour ago, cajen2 said:

An idea of your budget would help. The EPs mentioned above are fine but you can do even better with more cash! 😄

In no way do I want to go over board incase this turns out to be another fad! I think the Bst's look good also seen the Astro essentials range on first light optics, any thoughts on these?

12 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Brilliant because the 2" one is hard to find when I picked my 200p a few years back before I sold it the cap had been left off and the mirror was really dirty with bird muck on it. 

I put a hole reinforcer on the donut then washed the mirror flocked the tube and put it back together I regret selling it to this day. 

Paul 

I do need to wash the mirrors, full of dust and bits NOT looking forward to that!

6 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Just as note. That white bit bolted to long black dove tail bar is a small dovetail bar that comes with the mount.

No idea why it would be bolted to the long dovetail. It gives zero movement backwards or forwards for balancing the ota. I use mine as mini dovetail to use a dslr on the mount without any scope.

Marv

I think they were new to astrometry just like me. One question though, the long bar how does it attach to the mount, is it held with just friction from the bolts or should there be screw holes in the dove tail?

Hi, just bought a second hand Skywatcher explorer 200 and looking at the eye pieces their a little on the tatty side, so I need some advice on new ones.

My daughter will be using this mainly and wants a good around gazing experience, so Moon and probably close ups of this so to speak, planets, galaxy's and Nevbulas. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

21 hours ago, Ian McCallum said:

8mm, as I've just measured mine.👍

Do you happen to know how long the bolt is?

1 hour ago, wookie1965 said:

Have you got these adapters with the scope as you will need them to get focus with eyepieces. 

Yes, thankfully I have those.

I think the scope has been a bit unloved over the years, when I picked it up the dust cap wasn't on the scope and the bits were generally thrown in around it. Bit of time and care and it'll come good I should think

Ah OK. I take it these silver screws are the ones you mention?

11 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

You may get various suggestions about the finder.  A straight-thru optical finder will prove a pain in the neck (literally).  A 9x50 right angle or corrected-image right angle finder (RACI)  plus a red-dot finder is a good combination. You could add another bracket, or get an adapter to mount both on the same bracket.

So this is where I'm confused a little, I've seen recommendations to use a telrad, is this in conjunction with a raci? 

17 hours ago, bosun21 said:

It looks like one of the altitude bolts is also missing. I can only see the one in the photos. The one opposite the azimuth screws side.

16 hours ago, bosun21 said:

You should remove the white bracket that’s screwed on to your dovetail on the side of the scope. This is not suited to the mount saddle.

Hi Bosun thanks for the reply 

So the missing screw should be in the highlighted red circle? With the white bracket your saying remove that and attach to the telescope with the black bracket underneath?

20 hours ago, Ratlet said:

I'll grab a photo of the bolts. Does the scope have the bracket for the finder scope?a

Here's a pic of the mount

18 minutes ago, RichM63 said:

Congratulations, good score.

As I leg it out the door, the obvious missing bit is the OTA!

 

Here it is, finder scope wasn't included, any suggestions on what to replace with?

7 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

If it's M8 I think I've got a M8 anodised knurled knobs somewhere would need to check on the length but could be a good replacement.  If you like red.

Thanks Ian and Ratlet I've got some 8mm bolts somewhere, I'll check fitment and get back to you for your kind offer Ratlet

7 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Looks like your good to go then.

Thanks for your help so far,

Looks like the bit that's missing is the one circled on this pic. Could anyone help with the size of screw?

I have one in the bits box that came with it. See pic