Northernlight

I'm just interested in the mount, but i've lost count how many times it's been "Shipping This week". I'm interested to see how it stacks up against the Mesu.

By heck these deliveries of mounts are taking some time - mark said they were shipping 4 week ago, so I guessing he must be personally delivering each one on foot lol

Paul - i'm going to duck out of this thread now - wish you the best of luck which ever way you choose to go.

Nigella looking at your images i can see what looks to be the same Flex issues as paul has been having 

Nigella - just for clarity  have you done any DSO / galaxy / Nebula imaging with the scope yet or have your been primarily been imaging Sun, moon, planets etc ?

Hi Paul, 

Try googling Astrobin VX10 - it's a very telling tale .   It's a good idea to check with Nigella and will be interesting to see what she comes back with.

One think it might be with doing is contacting OrionOptics and asking them to make you a focuser reinforcing plate

Rich.

sorry for the Brutal honest approach- but i went through all the pain with a Skywatcher 200P so if i can save someone else the pain i will try my best

As  a good  comparison i recently order a custom TS ONTC 10" F4  -   The tube is 7mm thick carbon tube vs 2mm thick aluminium on the VX10 so there is no flex and virtually no expansion or contraction so the focus is remains stable all night and collimation doesn't shift under a heavy load.

Also - i ordered a conical mirror so there are no mirror clips to cause diffraction spikes and the mirror is screwed into the primary cells so it cannot move  under any circumstance, so no shifting as the scope moves across the sky.

The trouble is that if you want a good imaging newt you have to pay for it - i got a good deal and got it discounted down to £2,100

You can get Skywatcher Quattro's fairly cheap which are designed for imaging - just dont expect them to work out of the box as they will need a focuser upgrade, and some tweaking like spring upgrades etc.

Rich

looking at the extreme star shapes, i think it might be a combination of both the tube and flex in the focuser.  if you have nice light guide camera - check the scope colimation and then try an image with the light weight guide camera and see if your star shapes improve. if you get better star shapes then it's flex in the tube or focuser or both.

Unfortunately most people get lured by the aperture and fast optics of an Newtonian for imaging - but the reality of a imaging with a Newtonian is that is requires a purpose built scope otherwise it's just ends up being a lesson in futility.  For imaging with a Newtonian you need to consider the following 

• you need a very stiff tube to ensure that there is no flex in the tube itself
• You need a good focuser to ensure that  there is no moment in the drawtube
• Ideally you want a carbon tube to minimise and tube expansion or contraction which can change your focus as the temperature changes
• The type of coma corrector you use  maybe be determined by your tube length / focuser position
• For imaging you usually need a much larger secondary to ensure a big enough imaging circles to cover your sensor.
• An imaging newtonian needs to have a good primary mirror cell to ensure colimaiton does not shift as you move across the sky.
• You need to have a very stiff secondary spider to hold the weight of a larger secondary.
• Good quality, smooth / well figured mirrors.
• You also need to consider back focus constraints of a newtonian when selecting coma correctors.
• and whilst not essential it's preferable to have a conical mirror or to have the primary mirror masked off to reduce diffraction spikes from the clips
• Also keep in mind the tracking requirements on a mount to perform steady tracking / guiding on a big newt is a lot higher that a Refractor.

Unfortunately for the VX10 - because it is not designed as an imaging scope - then the only item from the above list that it possesses is a good primary mirror cell and maybe a good mirror. This is not to say that it's not a good scope - it's just not designed for imaging.  if you get a good one they are great for visual and planetary imaging (Sun, moon, planets etc) with light weight camera's.

I have seen posts of people spending over £1,000 trying to turn even their Orion Optics CT carbon tube version into workable imaging scopes 

If you want to do imaging - do yourself a favour and save yourself a lot of pain & time by selling the VX10.

If i was fairly new to imaging - I would recommend just sticking with a Refractor as they are hassle free and in most cases just work straight out of the box. Yes a typical 4-6 inch refractors is never going to match a newt on resolution - what people forget is that on most nights of average seeing a big newt will loose that resolution advantage, as well as having to content with much more difficult tracking on a large newt - where usually an off-Axis guider (OAG) and a good mount is required.

Also trying to image with a big newt on a Heq5 Pro is just asking too much for that mount - You would need a much more capable mount to get good tracking / guiding results.

Just my 2 cents from my own imaging experiences  having imaged with Fracs, Newts, RC's, & SCT's and apologies that this might not be what you want to hear - but trying to image with your scope on a Heq5 pro is just never going to work and will just lead to constant frustration.  So i recommend selling the VX10 and getting a second hand refractor.

Cheers,

Rich.

hi, i wouldn't recommend a Baader.

I would recommend following this web page  https://www.astrofotoblog.eu/?p=856  as it makes very interesting reading.  I think the biggest issue you will have with the VX10 is the tube flexing.  If you are using a light imaging train then you might be ok, but when you start adding in heavy coma correctors and given how thin the tube is - it will likely flex and pull you out of collimation.

I looked at the VX10/12 and did my research and quickly found that it;s only really designed for visual -Also consider that the secondary is designed for visual so the imaging circle may be too small for your sensor. 

to turn this into an imaging scope - you may need to consider reinforcing the tube on the underside of the focuser and maybe buying a bigger secondary mirror.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad new, but i think this is just the reality of your situaiton.

16 hours ago, Neil27 said:

It might be worth contacting JTW directly yourself to get the necessary information if it’s not forthcoming from this forum. The manufacturer may be able to put you into contact with new owners as well to get the relevant first impressions and their own experiences of what is still a very new mount.

The load capacity for my own uses is way over what I plan in the future so although I am interested in the Trident, if JTW chose to develop and manufacture a similar design with say 30 to 35 kg load capacity at a competitive price around the new CEM70 price point, that would be of great interest to me.

Neil i think that ship sailed a long time ago  lo l - Can you imagine his response if i emailed him. He would think i was just messing with him

2 hours ago, tomato said:

Back in 2014 when I had the cash burning a hole in my pocket for a decent high load capacity mount, I nearly bought a second hand Paramount but was persuaded to go the Mesu Mk1 route by numerous imagers singing it's praises on this forum and just as  important, that it could be purchased from a well respected UK dealer.

My approach would be to go for a mount that was already out there being used and producing results, there is always the possibility that something better will come along, but on that basis I would never buy any imaging gear.

Tomato - until 4 weeks ago i was in the very same boat - but unfortunately the money did burn a hole in my pocket and i blew £2,000 on a 10" ONTC new with upgraded conical mirrors - Oopps need to save to replace that 2k dent in mount fund.

13 minutes ago, AngryDonkey said:

I fail to understand why you need to bring this to attention every few weeks? You say you have no axe to grind but it seems otherwise...

and I fail to understand why people are so apposed to me asking if people have received their mount yet ?  As I have mentioned i am in a position of wanting to replace my EQ8 and maybe i'm just keen to see the result and to see if they are good enough to persuade me reconsider this mount.

24 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Tbf I've not known anyone on here who has had a Mesu, stuck it in the obsy and its worked perfectly off the pallet. So theres likely lots of testing and software setup. Plus a lot of people dont bother imaging from May to July.

Come on - if you had a new mount that you had been waiting anywhere between 1-3 years for then you would probably have it setup within a few  days max, and i'm pretty sure you would also pretty sure you would stay up until 11pm to test it out. Call me cynical  but i'm being to wonder if that mount picture released by JTW was a pic of the mount in his own shed.

Wait for it...........no doubt the pro Mark/JTW brigade will be along presently to start flaming me lol

Hi Neil,  Yes i am still looking to replace my EQ8 at some point - and that's why i had been watching this mount for so long.  I also looked at the E-Fric with great interest but the imaging capacity is just too low for me which is a shame as the intro price was fantastic.

In regards to the JTW trident - I'm just curious why no reviews, images or anything being posted by the person who received the mount "a while back" before the 28th may. 

Dare i ask if anyone has actually got their mount yet - Not seen any posts about any getting their mounts or posting their results yet.  Just surprised that  the person who received their mount some time ago hasn't posted any results or findings.  on 28th may JTW posted "The first Trident mount is delivered! This is a nice milestone. It actually arrived a little while back "   so this suggest that the person had their mount well in advance of 28th may - so potentially they have had the mount for over a month now 

Just would have expected to see some images taken with the mount or some tracking results  - very curious.

Nice Image, but i think i'm settled on just getting another Mono camera to maintain the resolution.

That is good news if they do release a new mono chip as all their new stuff seems to have gotten rid of the amp glow issues.

In regards to the ASI1600MM i can only go off what i'm told by my astro retailed - but i'm inclined to believe him as the Panasonic chip the ASI1600 uses is no longer made, and they are apparently selling through existing stock. So  in my book - i agree with my astro retailed and consider the ASI1600 to be EOL.

Francis - Are those Halo's around the bright starts internal reflections due to the filter ?

Well i suppose as long as they can honour the 2 year warranty then it shouldn't be a problem.

I was told by my Astro dealer that the ASI1600 is discontinued and that no more are being made and that ZWO are literally just selling through the stock they have of these camera. This is why i ruled out the ASI1600 as an option.

Maybe i'll email ZWO directly and see if i can get an answer direct from the horses mouth so to speak.

Are you not concerned that the ASI1600 is end of life at not being produced anymore ?

Yes  it at what cost. If they come back with anything over £1000-1500 then it's not worth it. I managed to get arik to arrange a collection tomorrow,  so hopefully will have a repair cost next week.

Great if you can afford a large sensor based camera or have 2" filter than can accommodate a large format chip. In the meantime i'm in limbo waiting for a new APS-C format Mono camera.

2 hours ago, SamAndrew said:

Consumer digital camera market? that died 10 years ago. It amazes me there's any R&D going into consumer camera chips that don't fit in a smart phone.

you raise a very interesting point there - case & point being that i have a pretty decent sony Nexus 5 camera but i can't remember the last time i used it as my smartphone takes far superior images & video even in the dark despite it's tiny chip in comparison to the Nexus 5. My wife also has a compact camera and i can't remember the last time that was used either. Yet every year Sony, Nikkon, cannon etc bring out new camera with new sensors - so the demand must still be sufficient enough to make it worth their while.

Will be interesting to see in 10 years time if the convention camera market is all but gone and replaced by phones or similar devices - but is yet another can of worms altogether, but interesting to muse over.  I know one thing - it would be fantastic if we started seeing some of these AI features from smartphones creeping over into Astro cameras as the difference it has made to smart phone photography has been Phenomenal

having a nightmare with UPS just to get is shipped properly insured to QSI/Atik - but i'm not hopeful for the amount of smoke that came from the camera.