Nigel G

Its a great thread, visual proof that the EQ3 is worthy of excellent images. And hopefully will continue to guide other EQ3 users. There will be others along. I have sold my EQ3 now so can't post new images, spent the money on a 200PDS So a few of my favourite EQ3 images for the thread too. Nige.

With Star Tools, are you binning at least 50%. It will run very slow without binning unless you have a powerful computer. Just a thought.

I have a standard Canon EOS 1300D, not a bad camera, not great when it comes to long exposures over 5 minutes quite noisy but that can be dealt with during stacking and processing. Can be fully controlled by tablet, phone or PC by usb or wifi. Find and disable long exposure noise reduction on Canon cameras if you get one Nige.

Of the people I know and images they have produced, I'd say Nikon D5100 is a great choice, very low noise and quite sensitive to red light, compared to my Canons. Nige.

Stunning !

The serial cable I have will not fit the handset socket so I go through the handset and select PC direct mode, until I get a new cable thats all I can do. My buddy is new to guiding and EQMOD, I wasn't sure how to bypass the handset and just needed to be sure before I told him. He has been aligning the mount then disconnecting the handset to plug in to the PC. Then it all goes wrong. I thought that he needed to disconnect handset and connect serial cable before switching on the mount, then align with CDC. Just needed conformation Sorted now

I use EQMOD via the handset plug and PC direct, but a friend is having trouble when connecting by removing the handset, he has been aligning and then changing over to EQMOD and no longer tracking. I just thought he would loose all data as he disconnected the handset. Wanted to make sure Nige.

Hi all. Simple question, if I was to align my mount and slew to a target, then remove the handset and connect to EQMOD would the alignment data be lost and the mount stop tracking. If so when would I remove the handset to control via EQMOD. Thanks Nigel.

A 2 panel mosaic of the Virgo galaxy's. 1h 40m of 240s each frame. Darks, flats and bias. ISO800. Equinox 80ED, guided EQ3 Pro, Modified Canon 1200D. Stacked in DSS, processed in Star tools. Unknown to me I had a strand of fibre attached to the mirror hinge in the camera, it was moving around during the session, result, flats would not work fully. A fair bit of processing got rid of it mostly. Nige.

Nice Peter, you have caught more stars in the cluster. Good job Nige.

Its a lovely looking image, nice and clean. A very good guiding graph too Nige.

Thanks Ken, All lights were 6 minutes. Star tools HDR works wonders on globular clusters, although if you zoom in close you see its not that sharp to be honest. I have had 1 try with the new mount, not good seeing but just wanted to get it guiding to see how it performed. PHD2 has an easy job now I'm also doing the Rowan belt modification to it. It is heavy but I only need to move it 10ft to set up & after our house move this year, it will have a permanent position. I am amazed how quiet it is when slewing too. Cheers keep saving. Nige.

Probably my last post of an image here although I will always be a follower. I have moved to the darker side of EQ mounts. NEQ6. Its a smooth beast. M13 80ED 30x360s ISO 800, darks flats and bias. 1300D. Stacked in DSS64bit processed in Startools. Had problems with the new DSS, would not stack a good result. Turns out a windows update was needed.

A nice surprise this morning when my monthly edition of All about space turned up. 3 of my images were published in Astroshots of the month Chuffed to bits, made up for the rotten weather this month. Cheers Nige.