RayD

I'm not so sure that anything with cabling apertures can be classed as light tight.  I did a short video here showing the issues with light leak even on a fully screwed SX arrangement.

I have the EFW2 and 3 also, like Adam, and I'm not certain I would suggest any of them as (daytime) light tight, albeit for night time imaging they are absolutely fine.

Great result there @PhotoGav and aside from the sat trails the results are looking excellent.

I had a good heart to heart with myself in Spain a couple of years ago when having a bit of a bad session with them.  I balanced the pain of them in my images against the benefits of having them there, and the benefits came out on top.  I was sitting 700m up a mountain with satellite broadband, mobile phone, satellite TV and using a GPS dongle on my mount.  I came to the conclusion that they have become a necessary evil for the way I live my life.

Fingers crossed the worst of them, Starlink, doesn't get out of hand and become impossible to process out!

Great thread.

They do a dual type which will work on either.  Handy to have if you swap over OTA's.

You can put on a longer dovetail plate and put a weight on the front to help.  This is what I do with mine and it works well.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adm-counterweight-kits/adm-dovetail-counterweight-kit-dual-v-and-d-series.html

Depending how far out you are, you may only need the longer dovetail and shift the whole lot forward a bit.

10 hours ago, barkis said:

 

I was an avid reader in my early teens and well beyond. I liked nothing better than  
visiting the local library. Endless shelves filled with books of all genres.
Time has changed that though, my concentration is not a patch on those early years, a
product of both the  aging process, and Google 😀.

As much as I was never really a prolific reader, I did and do love a book occasionally but I still prefer print to screen, generally printing out manuals and instructions so I can read them in physical form.

4 minutes ago, barkis said:

Oh I'm sure you are right Ray, it makes sense to me. Obviously a tribute the man's contribution
to a great asset to mount control.  
Cheers matey for your fast response. I can  cease worrying about it now 😀.

No problem, Ron.  Good luck with the read, you're braver than me 🙂

Just now, Alien 13 said:

I am in two minds regarding Betelgeuse, would be great to see it go bang but it would ruin a majestic constellation..

Alan 

I agree, Alan, but the desire to witness a once in a generation (or more) event just seems too hard to resist for me.

Very interesting read, thanks 👍

7 minutes ago, barkis said:

I've been reading the Eqmod document, and boy, is it an in depth read or what 😅.
The heading for the Home position read has a bracketed expression that I don't understand.
Perhaps someone can explain what it means to me.
Thanks in anticipation.
Ron.

                              Technique 1 for setting the home position (from Mon) 
                             I just know I will have to kick myself when it is revealed. 😀

 

I believe this refers to the EQDIR connection, Ron.  I think it is reference to the original Author (Mon Sarmiento) and the EQDIR interface he developed (although I could easily and usually am very wrong).

Yep, all been mentioned above regarding camera & guiding.  With regards to the 'scopes, I have a TS 80 Photoline and Esprit 100 and of the 2, I would rate the Esprit slightly better overal in terms of image quality.  The dedicated flattener makes it very easy toget excellent stars across the whole field, which I found a little bit of a chore with the TS and the generic flattener(s).

Both very nice instruments, though, and both very capable.

5 minutes ago, Jkulin said:

Yep Ray, I'm almost ready this end, just a few more connections to solder up, wire the feed to the ASC, a little trepidation setting it all up as Steve has a custom Ascom driver an interface, so will have to get that established in SGP, will know on Wednesday when we travel down,

Here's a Video Steve sent me of the control working: -

Wow that looks superb, John.  Don't know what I was expecting, but that is much quieter and smoother than I was expecting.

I totally agree with Carole in that the focus looks a little soft.  Also 200 frames seem a pretty small number if you are looking to pull out a fair bit of detail.  By way of example, I would usually use a minimum of 1,000 (usually 2,000) and stack the best 30% of that lot.

23 hours ago, Jkulin said:

Spent Friday and Saturday fitting the floor boards and then finished off just before the rain the flooring, which I had from ages ago, contact adhesive secured, now just need to do all the connections but need the rain to stop:-

Very exciting, John.  Just need the lid now!

Just now, John said:

Meow-lon ?

Boom boom 😂

2 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

That's what I meant! They need setting up and testing to get the best out of them! I would imagine it's the same with these new Trident mounts.

Yes, they definitely need to be set up.  This new one will need to be set up in exactly the same way as it's using the same controller.  Sitech is a bit quirky, and not that intuitive to use, so it does take a bit to get your head around.  I hope this new mount doesn't get bad reports and bad press because people are struggling with Sitech and not getting the best out of it because they haven't got the controller settings right.

10 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Perfect tracking and guiding with default settings? If so that's a remarkable feat though I know of another member who has not had it so easy recently but that's a different topic.

There aren't an awful lot of mounts that can work "off the pallet" with default settings.  Even my AVX working off the handset or EQMOD had to have location and limit settings etc. set.   With the Mesu200 there are a number of settings which need to be configured to suit your particular location/equipment and, once done, they shouldn't need changing again.

I think there has been a few noted issues with Mesu200's, but I think these are so memorable because they are so rare, you certainly don't see pages of continuous issues.

Like @Skipper Billy, once the necessary settings were configured, mine worked and has worked flawlessly since.

Absolutely sensational.  I could literally pan around that for hours.  I'm viewing on a 5K Mac and boy does it look good on that!

Bravo all involved, top class.

Very exciting! 

17 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

there are plenty of odballs who deny the spherical Earth

Seems somewhat ironic that Flat Earthers are oddballs 😂

APP (Astro Pixel Processor) also works on Mac, but the options generally are fairly limited.  On PC, love them or hate them, you can pretty well take you pick of the bunch.

1 minute ago, Jkulin said:

Thanks Ray, I'm a bit apprehensive really as I just hope I have enough clearance for everything to rotate and that there will be enough room to fit a 10/12" Newtonian at a later date, thus the reason for raising the dome higher.

I have built a new computer system that will remain permanently inside the dome (rather than use my laptop), but again am concerned about the clearance for the OTA with gubbins to swing round with enough clearance. I did buy a curved monitor so if needs must the I can mount it on the wall.

Part of me wishes that I had gone for a RoRo Obsy as then I would never have a problem with clearances, but as my garden faces south it does get some savage winds hitting it, so the dome should help improve things.

Fingers crossed, John.  It looks like you've done as much homework as you can, so you must be due some good luck 🤞

Nice job, John.  You must be super excited over this.

1 minute ago, JMarkJ said:

ok thanks, looks like id probably be better firing my old windows "98 laptop up again which i use to use before......

Definitely.

8 minutes ago, JMarkJ said:

Hi, are all the usual software like registax good with MacBooks? or has anyone got some recommendations ?

 

thanks

Some, but not that many work with Mac unfortunately (I use Mac for everything, but all my imaging stuff is PC).  If you run Mac you may be better using Bootcamp and stick Windows on.

Some of the processing software packages work on Mac, such as Pixinsight, but still not that many.

Thanks, Steve.  An excellent summary of the challenges being experienced by you and pretty well all operational retail outlets at the moment.  I'm sure (hope) the vast majority will be understanding and patient.