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- Enable NFC on the 7200. - Hold your 'phone near the card slot. - Open the app. I'm sure others will recommend their own favorite, but meanwhile this is Nikon's official version. Use the same app to connect from further afield using e.g. your home network or from anywhere over Internet. That's it. Cheers, welcome and HTH

Hi At that focal length (guessing around 1000mm?) any wind, people (and cats) walking near the mount and mechanical imperfection no matter how slight, will cause odd shaped stars. That you have differing star shapes on different frames suggests a combination of factors, so it's unlikely to be only the one you suggest; The mount and associated mechanics -e.g. camera-focuser, dovetail and guide telescope connections have to be better than perfect to give your guiding software a fair chance. The good news is that imperfections such as these will be minimised if you have sufficient frames and use a good clipping algorithm to stack them. It's also a good idea remove any outliers before stacking.. Be ruthless! To help with the latter, Siril has a plot making it easy to de-select frames. Finally of course, stars shape (star shapes?) can be corrected using the psf algorithms present in modern astro-processing apps, some better than others. Just be careful not to overdo it. Cheers and HTH

Hi This is typical of the old d4 firmware. Make sure you're using the latest version. Capture: Dither at least 10 pixels after every frame Our method using Siril: 1. 550d so lose any dark frames you may have used. 2. Pre-process with a fixed bias offset of 2048 3. After pre-processing, apply horizontal banding reduction with highlight protection to the whole sequence before registration.. 4. Stack using a clipping algorithm. Sigma 3,3 is a good starting point. -> super clean image ready for processing Cheers and HTH

Thanks for your comments. We couldn't agree more. Much good data is wasted by the current trend of star removal. This seems to go hand in hand with over-processing. Just because current apps have myriad of try-it-and-hope-for-the-best type modules, doesn't imply obligation to use them all. By way of example, 'de-noise' (seemingly present in all astronomical image processing apps) is one of the main culprits. Especially when applied at maximum volume to the whole image. Stars yield texture and interest. We spend €thousands to enable us to take images of the night sky, then remove one of the most interesting components! Disclaimer: but hey, we're here to have fun, and make art. If at the end of it, you're satisfied, that's all that counts. One visitor was so delighted to see his mount finally respond to guiding corrections that he spent all night just looking at the graph. One man's satisfaction is another... etc. Cheers

Hi everyone Not sure if a UHC filter was the right choice for this. It does however seem to have controled haze from last night's gibbous moon. Gave up trying to do anything with the stars. The more you try, the more edited it looks. Anyway, thanks for looking and do please post your DSLR experiences with this target. Thinking it maybe worth another go without filters. eos700d + gso203 ~5h @ ISO800: siril 1.1.0 git, st 1.8.525-2

Hair dryer, blunt blade and patience.

1.4x12x15 mm: (wire OD L) Fit six. 3 replacements and a further 3 passively over the locking screws. Leave the latter loose. AliExpress: lots of 10 for €sensible. Whilst you have it on the bench, we'd recommend removing the mirror clips. Just our works-for-us approach but HTH anyway.

Hi Is there a reason you can't focus manually using e.g. live view?

Hi A new m10 ratchet bolt? Around €2. HTH

Hi Our cat guy says this one. Solid and with a choice of prisms: You'll also need the imperial to metric adapter. M48 recommended, as extension rings in this size are readily available to adjust the 0.7 to sensor distance. M54 less so. If you're EU, they'll ship from within. HTH

Hi I see 102ed listed amongst your stuff. Far more desirable than the cheap gso we used! I'd guess you'd get a slightly wider field of view, but still easily within reach; 7331 is quite bright. Must be worth a go. Cheers

Hi Lovely shot. You'll notice the superiority of the 60d immediately; the 18mp sensor with its d4 firmware produces far cleaner images. Neither camera however will last long at 1800 frames per session, so it's a +1 from us for a tracking mount to enable fewer but longer frames. Lenses. Along with the 75-300, the 18-55 is not perhaps amongst the better lenses Canon have produced. Your idea of a fixed lens is a good one. If you're any good at online auction, an old Asahi or Zeiss 135 can be had for under €50. HTH

Hi everyone As the moon set, it gave way to darkness. The sort where you lose the constellation marker stars, understand why m39 could be mistaken for a comet and wish your turn with the binoculars would come around sooner. When it does, you convince yourself you've seen 7331; it must be because that's roughly where the telescope is aiming. You then get a WhatsApp message and immediately un-dilate your pupils. Fantasy over. Maybe there's a night vision setting app... So apart from the -I'll-get-there-one-day- processing, no excuses with this. Thanks for looking and do please post your DSLR versions of this region. 700d + gso203 calibración siril 1.1.0 git. revelado st 1.8.525-2 ~4h @ ISO800

Hi Nice shot. Our guess is that some de-noise was applied. Your idea of adding more frames is a good one. Cheers

Yes. That's it. Most old camera lenses benefit from this 'compromise' focusing. Your observations also explain why you can't use a focusing mask. Focus until the red halo just disappears. With the emphasis on just. No need for blue halos. If you want to fix it completely, you'll need a new front element and/or try adjusting the other two elements. Details of dismantling here; make certain that the seat for the front element AND its retaining ring are perfectly clean and even. Place the latter on a non-yeilding flat surface e.g. glass and make sure it sits perfectly flush. But I think you'll be OK as you are. You could always stop to f6 if you still find it's annoying. Cheers

Assuming you have removed all the cross-head screws retaining the mirror cell (!), then probably because you still have the tube rings attached. These distort the tube. HTH

Ah, OK. Yes, indeed. I should have mentioned. Sorry. You need one of these. No idea in English. Is this a lens spanner?

Hi You were unlucky as your Tair has astigmatism. As related previously, this is probably just a case of the front element being distorted by too tight a retaining ring. Loosen, then in a vertical posición, shake to re-seat the glass. Next, re-tighten until the glass just stops rattling when agitated. With this adjustment, and your 72 to 58 step down ring, it should all but disappear at focus. If still intrusive, try 72 to 55; still affording a respectable f5.5. Otherwise and as Tairs are quite common, they rarely reach their reserve price at (on-line) auction, so another alternative would be to just get another:) Cheers and HTH

Hi Mmm. Hotshoe mounted guide camera so, as you can see, a large amount of flex. Try something like this. HTH

Hi Turn the hex key 90º and give it a sharp tap. The whole central secondary assembly will now be loose. To adjust the tilt, loosen ONE at a time tightening ONE other to take the slack. If you're using this for imaging, use a Cheshire sight tube with cross hairs to get it perfect. To give yourself a fighting chance and retain your hair, replace the sw grubs with m4 screws. 10 for €1: HTH

H everyone Despite new moon and with most of the tourists now on their way home, we have the place back to ourselves and a choice of telescopes. Our pn208 had taken a bashing over the summer, but responded well to a heavy dose of cleaning and adjusting. This was started after the haze lifted with the HA at around -4h and I noticed the last few frames were flipped, so probably around 4h total. One is a process of the stacked data. The other is HOO. For 4h and f3.9, disappointing. I thought ther'd be more detail. Maybe this target is more suited to one of the narrower pass filters? Dunno. Thanks for looking and DSLR users, do please relate your findings on this target. 700d +UHC en pn208 ISO800 revelado: siril 1.1.0 startools 1.8.525

Hi Try the 180° first. Although we'd recommend aligning and collimating properly, to do what you want without doing so, locate the three pairs of push-pull screws at 120°around the base of the focuser. Use those to align the focuser. Cheers

I don't think you'll need dither with a 571.

If you're going with the OAG, neither are needed. To help diagnose issues such as these and to give your software a fighting chance, the mount has to be better than perfect. Out of the box, we've yet to see a correctly adjusted, internally clean and correctly lubricated sw mount. An hour or so spent dismantling and adjusting would serve to lower any frustration to a minimum. There are many guides on disassembly and adjustment. Cheers and HTH

Hi No, but there's a bin2 routine in firmware which gives significantly more sensitivity.. If that's what you're after. Cheers and HTH