Adam J

A EQ6 pro will easily handle those scopes with a 6D and much much more.

Well with the current number of infection standing at 6000, a 2% death rate (~120), but also a 20% serious illness rate, the scary thing is that if you plot infections vs time you get a tripling every three days up until this point. That allows you to project that if that trend continues by the end of Febuary 2020 you get the following: 1) 6.17 million infections 2) 1.23 million hospitalisations 3) 123,000 deaths. On one hand you would hope that measures to decrease infection rates will start to kick in but if not, once hospitals are saturated (hence the panic to build temporary hospitals) you can expect the death rate to rise as people will not be able to access medical intervention. Hence in reality those figures could also be much worse. The whole thing really is on a knife edge. So lets hope that they get this under control, or we will have much to worry about. Adam

In terms of performance at that price or in terms of value for money at that focal length? 1) In terms of performance at that price then the nothing springs to mind. 2) In terms of value for money at that focal length, then the TS-Optics PHOTOLINE 115 mm f/7 would be hard to beat in my opinion. Adam

Ouch, that is not at a level that can be ignored. As above only one choice really, strip it and see what can be done, leaving it is not an option. You may find that the coatings have been eroded by the fungus though and there is nothing that can be done about that. If you manage to get it off then expose the optics to a UVC bulb for a few hours to kill off any spores.

Its worth noting that its also got a bigger RA gear that the EQ3 or EQ5 and so guides more accurately.

Still not a single image taken by this camera (CSX-304) online as far as I can tell. Adam

In your situation I would get 31mm. You could correct it using flats yes, but you would lose significant SNR in the corners of the image.

Glad you got it fixed, I would not have accepted that.

I literally have no idea what point you are trying to make? Or who the other two little guys are that you are talking about. No one should purchase a new DSLR from astrophotography, but I guarantee you that more people are using DSLRs for astrophotography than dedicated cameras, that is because a second hand DSLR or one you already own for terrestrial photography is the cheapest possible way into the hobby. Easily saving you 700 pounds over the 294c. Not all peoples have the cash to everything at once when they start out so buying a used DSLR is what they do. That is the market position that a DSLR has always occupied and the 294c does not change that. Astro backyard is a channel based around advertisement, look at his recent video he puts a hyperstar onto a scope and says it's for galaxy imaging. That's a terrible idea, he does it purely because he has been sponsored to plug the hyperstar. If you want to watch someone more informative then try out Chucks Astrophotography.

You could get problems like that if you are pushing the power supply past its max rating. In any case some sort of power supply issue.

I will be installing a bathroom extractor fan in mine this weekend, it has been very damp this winter and I have developed some mold in the obsy. I am also going to get a UVC bulb to run for a couple of hours once per month. Personally I think that warm and damp is much worse than cold and damp. I also dont think that there is much point in a de humidifier in a role off roof as you are unlikely to have a sufficiently good seal. So i would just look at ways to keep the air moving. Adam

Yes of course but you will need different calibration files for each of the cameras / scopes. The V2 has the Hub but keeps the original screw less front panel. The V2 also has no buffer memory. So the new one is less prone to dew on the sensor window and it works a little better with older USB 2 interfaces. You will see no performance difference when using USB3 though. The buffer can also help if you are using a longer USB cable to attach the camera to your PC. Adam

Nice image, out of interest is there much in the way of OIII in this target, I know there is signal in the tadpole nebula close by.

My personal experience of imaging is that anything faster than F5 starts moving into more trouble than its worth territory. But I suppose if you are going to go that way I think that scope and reducer are as good or better a solution than any.

He is a advertiser, he plugs all the equipment he is given in exchange for sponsorship money or for keeping the equipment. As such I would take everything he says with a very large pinch of salt.

Personally I have always found this guide about as clear as mud.

Honestly don't think that the 294 ended the use of DSLRs in astro-photography. You can pick up a used DSLR and modify it for well under 200 pounds that is significantly cheaper than a 294.

Exactly in this day and age they are not needed and actually problematic as allot of the time it can just end up tilting adaptors etc as the compression ring closes on the cut.

I attended this last year and it was really excellent. I will be going again this year. @FLO I see you are not listed as an exhibitor at the moment? Adam

Its pushing my HEQ5 Pro to the limit so I can confirm that was a very wise decision.

When you removed the foot mount thing, did you put a screw into the hole that was left behind because if that is getting in the way of the light path it would cause something like this.

In general there is no point in digging deeper than the local water table either. The biggest point with this is not stability during imaging (you will get that with a tripod on a patio), its that you want to set your polar alignment and not have it change over time as the pier settles or the water table rises and falls. Adam

Do you see where the soil changes colour? Thats the depth you actually needed to go down to.

Should be an excellent choice of sensor at the very least. I just wish that they produced a mono version.

Yeah I am going to go with quality control. I have often wondered how many times people blame the scopes optics when problems are actually being caused by the corrector. Adam