MARS1960

And just as we uploaded here comes the lovely postman. Yipeeeeeee. I'm impressed, well made, fits a treat and micro focusing is a doddle 👍.

Finally got my long awaited Samyang 135mm, just waiting on my gizmo from Philippe (http://www.astrokraken.fr/samyang-135mm-f-2-c30078976). This is 201 x 30sec exposures with the new AZ GTi. I didn't want to waste the first clear night but next outing will be with the WO wedge and ASIAIR for longer exposures. Processing, a DSLR and focusing is still letting me down but that will change. Thanks for looking.

I don't think so, moon was very low and on the opposing side to the curve and it was dew free for the one hour I was out. I'm stumped 🤔. Hopefully first light with new Samyang at F2 tomorrow, fingers crossed no further artefacts.

No immediate neighbours to the east but I will check tonight if any of the houses over that way have a security light thanks.

Thanks, I'll use a lens shield, didnt have one for a 50mm and completely overlooked knocking one up, I just dont understand why first 2 subs were fine. I've been using the astronomik clip for years with no issues so think I can rule that out.

I hope some of you knowledgeable guys can tell me why this has happened. This was taken with a 60D, clip in LP filter, 50mm lens at F2, AZ GTi at 20 secs, the first two subs were fine, the rest like these, It seems it came from the left and advanced right with each sub. I have just bought a Samyang 135mm F2 so really don't want to make the same mistake again. Autosave_ABE.tif

It has been a long time coming but I finally found a Samyang 135mm F2.0. The very very nice postman delivered it to me personally this very morning. It is the most gorgeous thing I have seen, I cannot wait till my gizmo (http://www.astrokraken.fr/samyang-135mm-f-2-c30078976) arrives from Philippe. I am so looking forward to some widefield imaging in the coming months with this and my new AZ GTi, WO wedge and ASIAIR.

Looks good Lee. Added to my bookmarks bar .

You could also use Ipolar scope if your mount accepts one of the adapters. Its a brilliantly simple piece of kit that had me perfectly (according to the Ipolar software) polar aligned in under 2mins. It's one of the best things I ever bought.

Ok thanks Geoff. that makes sense with that camera. I imagine alt/az mounts at my price point will perform similarly well when tracking.

Ah I see, I had the lite roc 1.75 with my CEM26, even had its own anti vibration pads, great tripod as you say, I have some thinking to do. I assume I could just buy the mount alone, I'll have a look. Have you used the mount to image? Thanks.

Hi Geoff, I kept a lot of bits inc a WO dovetail that will attach to the camera, I may need to add some kind of extension. I also kept the ZWO in my sig, which is fine for moon/planets. My concern is really image time (only 5secs you say) I did manage 25secs with an EVO6 I had with a .63 reducer so I was really hoping these alt/az mounts would be good for 90secs with focal lengths under 400mm, (I know the EVO is somewhat improved over the standard mounts by the use of worm gears) I should have tried when I had the EVO6 but hey ho. What alt/az mount could you only manage 5secs? Or did I dream of reading 90secs on alt/az was easily achievable under 400mm, I hope not as I see this as my only option to continue the hobby, thanks. @Adam J, Thanks, Is the tripod on SW really as flimsy as it looks in the pics? It looks no bigger than my manfrotto 190 but thats probably not the case. The 4se looks more substantial. TBF that is the only concern if the motor drives on both mounts are equally as good for 90sec tracking purposes at short focal lengths. Would you say it would be easier to mount the DSLR on the AZ GTi? It looks flatter if you see what I mean. Thanks guys.

Hi all, I had all but given up astronomy/astrophotography but decided I need it in my life. Gone are the days of the EQ mount, accessories and snakes of wires, software woes, aching joints and frustration. My plan is a simple alt/az mount that tracks well (£500 ish) to view and image the moon and planets and also swap in my dslr and 135mm lens to feed the still present DSO imaging sessions for a good 90 secs. I will also be wanting to add a 2" back to continue using my 2" accessories and wonder if both scopes accept an adapter for these? I see the SW for £499 new or £325 for just the mount/tripod or a used 4se for around £375. Are either of the above suitable (especially tracking ability of 90secs) or are there better alternatives. I guess around 70% imaging large DSO's with dslr/lens and 30% planetary/moon obs/imaging. TIA.

Personally I just cut and paste one image onto the other but there are probably other and possibly better ways.

I use this site to find my targets, it's very customizable too. https://telescopius.com

Very nice Rik, one of my most favourite objects.

Thanks Alacant, I can hear nothing. I emailed FLO and they are going to take this one back for a refund too, i have ordered the ZS73A instead, non reducing but at least it will hopefully give me a tilt free flat field.

Thanks Ian, will give it a try.

FLO replaced my 73R F/R as it was deemed faulty by ES Reid causing apparent tilt. Here is an image taken with the replacement. Does this look like tilt again? TIA.

Hi, These were take under Bortle 4 skies and a full moon with my ZS73 and Canon 60D (unmodified) using a Skytech quad band clip in filter. 60s subs, heart is 172mins, cigar severe crop is 78mins

Thank you.

I was very surprised not to get 2 mins, but this might not be indicative of all CEM 26 mounts. I'm going to send it off to darkframe in the summer for some tuning and upgrades.

First light for the WO ZS73 and Canon 60D. FLO replaced my faulty 73R F/R but sadly the replacement is also faulty so field was not very flat hence the severe crop. I managed 78 good 60sec subs till clouds rolled in. No guiding as I wanted to see how the new Ioptron CEM 26 performed, sadly not to well and 60sec was the best I could get, shame as I used to get double that on my old CG5.

Just to conclude this thread. I explained the above and sent screenshots to the guys at FLO, they were extremely helpful and said it was tilt in the image train. They immediately arranged for the scope and FF/FR to be collected and sent to ES Reid next day. I heard back from them this morning and was told the FF/FR was faulty, they sent another to ES Reid which was checked and found to be perfect. They have couriered my scope and FF/FR back to me today. I'm extremely grateful to the guys at FLO for recognizing and dealing with the problem in such a timely and professional manner. Thank you.