davew

I've been down the route of connecting camera lenses to the Moravian and I can say it's very easy to do and can be quite successful. If you can make out what's going on from the photo all becomes fairly self explanatory. The camera body is bolted down quite tightly so it remains solid no matter what. The scope ring centres the lens and stops any sag *. The skywatcher motor is bolted to a garage door mount adaptor ( Like you do ) and I bought in the belt and pulley wheel ( Can't remember where from now ! ) * The lens is roughly centred by pointing the camera and lens at zenith with the scope ring adjusters slightly loose. Waggle the lens about a bit to settle it and VERY carefully tighten up the adjuster bolts. If it turns out a corner is a touch out the scope ring is easy enough to adjust and get the lot dead straight. I didn't automate the focusing as using a Bahtinov mask and the hand controller on a long cable was accurate enough. One thing I did discover that helped no end was to use the focus motor at 5v instead of 9v. Dave.

Have you tried silent shutter mode ? Dave

The background story has brought the image alive. I too like the red rocks. You'd best find those imagers and thank them 😀 Nice use of Sequator, Dave

That should inspire new DSLR owners to get out there and try. It's almost unbelievable what can be done with a bit of skill ! I quite like the colours too, Dave.

That's a beauty Lenny. I like the use of the foreground and the fact you managed to find a view with little in the way of light pollution. Can I suggest you enter it into one of the challenges ? If it's bang on 30 seconds then into the .... 30 seconds challenge, or if it isn't then into the DSLR challenge. Dave.

Now then ! That is beautiful. You've framed that wonderfully well and processed it with a light touch. Yet another one of those " I wish I'd been there " Images. Dave.

You will get phase shifting but whether it's an issue or not depends on the filter and where it's mounted. I guess that at 3nm or 5nm you may have an issue. I've used 5nm Astrodons at f2.8 and all seemed fine to my eyes. A 3nm looses around 20% at f3 http://dosandbox.astrodon.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Astrodon-Narrowband-Filters_FAQ.pdf There are those who believe that a phase shifted and efficient 5nm filter is still far better than a wider filter that has a low T efficiency. Dave. Edit. Just remembered that Baader do an f2 filter set. What the equivalence in FWHM is I don't know.

Oh Rats, I think you're right. I've been up there at night and thought it was a good spot but you want to be on top of the hill really. Good luck with the tarn Dave.

Another wow timelapse. Quite spooky the way you've done it with the music. Would Castle Bolton make a good foreground from the garden ? Points north ok and fairly dark. Dave.

Thanks Ron. Luckily for me this scene isn't too far from the car park. The trick is of course to find the car park ! Dave. There are a few really good static imagers around and they tend to creep up on you when you least expect them. It's an effort keeping up. Are there many lakes and mountains round your way ? Dave.

It appears as if both other halves have great taste and an artistic eye 😊 Say thanks from me if you would, Dave.

If the " Other half " gives it a nod then it'll do for me. You'll have to get up there as it's only just off the M6 Thanks skipper. Much appreciated. Dave.

Thanks very much. It's nice of you to say. Cheers, Dave.

I was wondering what to do for this challenge because 30 seconds is a really in between time for me. Too short for a driven mount and too long with most of my camera lenses, especially when pointing South. I set off for Ullswater with the intention of trying some shots before the summer nights intruded. One thing I hadn't bargained on was the moon being right behind me as I tried to image the Milky Way and the shadow of my tripod stood out like a sore thumb in almost all of my shots ! No problem .... hang around for five hours until it set 🙄 Next snag was the rising of the sun in the East 😗 I settled on a mosaic which is fairly simple with a 14mm lens as the turn required is about 45* and easy to see. I used Lightroom to assemble the image. Nikon D750. Sigmas 14mm lens @ f2.8. 5 x 30 seconds. ISO 800. 2.52am 12 May 2019. The rule of 500 says a 14 mm lens can be open for 35 seconds - Don't you believe it ! 30 seconds is too long as can be seen on the far right edge. Dave.

Send me your email address via a Personal Message and I'll send you the .bin file. This can then be copied to your SD card and loaded up Dave.

I love these challenges as there are so many excellent images produced. I keep getting little ideas of my own Well done to all, Dave.

I think that zoom lens has produced a lovely shot. Did you use the SW in alt/az mode or full on GEM ? Jupiter is well controlled and I particularly like the reflections of it on the sea, Dave.

Hmmm ... This isn't as easy as it first appears ! A real carrot dangler me thinks It's certainly got me scratching my poor head. Nice challenge, Dave.

I tend to agree that there's no problem repeating things every now and again. Suggestions include mosaics, star trails, Ha, planetary nebula, point and shoot cameras, cameras older than 10 years and keeping in Helen's good books, the sun Dave.

Just an idea Gina but a few mentions from history could go down well. Here's a short list of a few " Names " that might interest you. Once you have those names you can look round for their images. http://www.catchersofthelight.com/catchers/archive#cat-History-of-Astrophotography It's interesting to know how far we've come and that over a hundred years ago they had roughly the same problems we do with this photography lark ! Dave.

Does Annie's put the stars it removes into the memory or just delete them ? You may be able to use the Paste command, if you use Photoshop or similar, to put them back. If it doesn't then you could try layering the starless and processed image over the original image and change the blend to lighten. That should enable the stars to shine through again. Just play around. I bought Straton because it does what I wanted it to do very well and it will also make a separate star layer if you want it to. ( I haven't used it for a while so don't ask me anything technical ) Dave.

At least you now know the site is working so yes, it may be at your end. As to why you're having trouble, I don't know. Sorry, Dave. I've just clicked on the saved app and it loads up ( I already have Straton so I didn't finish the setup )

I've just been on the site and it works fine. I downloaded the app and all seems well. Do you realise that the app just downloads when you press on the download link ? It doesn't redirect to another page. Dave

What a cracking T shirt and image ... wear with pride, Dave.

I used the 1.03 patch a few years ago. It worked perfectly but I only used the two things you mention. I didn't bother with the video stuff. As for risk. Of course there is a risk but the D7000 must be one with the least risk as the main guy, Simeon, uses a D7000. I think I used the menu based Dark Current. It's your choice but my memory seems to think it reset after each switch off of the power. Suited me fine as I didn't always want the Dark Current patch working. Daytime for instance. Try it and see what you think. To revert to the Nikon firmware is a simple enough task. Dave.