Icesheet

Seems to me the HEQ5 would be the best choice for you as it would be a seamless transition. I would get a belt modded one if you do. 

I have to say personally, I have a draw towards the iOptron offerings just now. Part of me wishes I had gone with my instinct as I now seem to have potential issues with the EQ6-R I just bought 

I haven't guided for some time now but I was recently out guiding for the first time with my new EQ6-R.  The first night I used an Orion mini guider with Altair GPCAM2 and the guiding I was averaging  was 1.7"RMS. I spent most of the night trying to work out why as I had routinely guided sub 1"RMS with this on my old HEQ5. In the end up I only managed 40mins imaging time. However, the stars looked good albeit probably bloated.

I had read about the PPEC function on the EQ6-R so the next night I decided to run AutoPEC on EQMOD to generate a PEC curve and load that to the mount so I could use the PPEC function and hopefully improve my guiding. I also used my main imaging set up of Esprit 100ED and ZWO ASI1600mm to give me the highest resolution I could achieve at 1.43"/px. I have loaded the PHD2 graph and log below. As you can see the first hour or so was used to record AutoPEC on EQMOD. This averaged 1.22"RMS error. When I switched to PPEC this dropped down to 1.02"RMS which although better still left me disappointed given that my HEQ5 gave better results and that was just a push the button and go job.

I then ran the guiding assistant which I have never used before. Screenshots attached from that below. The main take home from it is that my mount seems to have excessive DEC backlash of  over 7sec!

I have to admit that I am no expert with this so I'm hoping someone with experience can look into this and advise. Is this backlash the main source of my poor guiding or is there anything else going on here? Can this be solved by optimising guiding parameters and perhaps balancing my set up better to counter it or is this backlash severe enough that it requires some mechanical attention? I'm really reluctant to get the tools out for such a new mount.

As always any help or advice appreciated!

Edit to add:

•Not entirely sure what seeing was but at least average probably better  

• I believe there was a focus issue with the GPCAM the first night so that probably contributed to the poorer guiding the first night  

PHD2_GuideLog_2019-11-11_011955.txt

1 hour ago, kirkster501 said:

£1500 for the CEM25-EC.  I was expecting a lot less than that......  Will be keeping the NEQ6 in this role for now then.  I then get a free weight training workout every time I do my wide field then

You could always go for the CEM25p at £725. Still guaranteed +/-10 arc sec or less. That should be plenty good for unguided exposures at 135mm. Plus you have your guiding set up anyway 👍🏻. 

That looks like a fantastic little set up! How do you find the CEM25 EC? It’s been interesting me for a while as a set up for my ASI1600 and Samyang. Gets tiresome pulling out the EQ6 for that. 

2 hours ago, Adreneline said:

This is my first serious attempt using my Canon 200mm lens with ASI1600, unguided with all data collected with a ZWO ASIair and focussed using a ZWO EAF.

The image has minimal cropping and the star shapes are pretty reasonable even at the extremities of the image. The image comprises 20x120s of Ha and 10x120s of OIII, processed in PI and PS.

Comments and criticisms welcome.

Thanks for looking.

Adrian

Great image 👍🏻

Im curious how you focused the lens with the ZWO EAF?

I think most people looking for an astro camera at that price point would normally be a fairly serious astrophotographer and be looking at the CMOS/ CCD offerings. I would have thought there would be more interest in a moderately priced astro APS-C sensor camera for beginners/ intermediates.

Having said that they have periodically released Da’s and Nikon had the 810a. Considering  the mark up on the regular model no doubt they’ll make money from the ones they do sell. 

Officially released now

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dpreview.com/news/4797098001/canon-unveils-the-eos-ra-a-full-frame-mirrorless-astrophotography-camera.amp

As far as I’m aware you can’t purchase a copy outright anymore. You used to be able to buy the old version but it’s not available anymore at least through official channels. You might be able to find a version somewhere but you’ll still probably pay around two years worth of subscription and not get any support if there are any issues. 

If you really don’t want to pay a subscription you could consider PixInsight or one of the free processing packages

Edit: @Buzzard75 beat me to the post button but as he says basically!

3 hours ago, Star101 said:

Basically the guy in the video is saying...Spend £5K on a Retina MAC with 8 cores and cut your processing time.

I think half that price PC with 12 cores would be a better deal  

Let’s be fair here he says nothing of the sorts. He actually states the point of the video was to demonstrate how PixInsight utilises multiple cores and threading to speed up processing time (which was the point of the OP), not that you need that Mac to do it. We we are all free to choose the hardware to do the job as is he.

I’ve actually found him to be the most knowledgeable of the YouTube astrophotographers. Worth a follow. 

Looks like Dylan O’Donnell recently made a similar upgrade decision as you. 

13 hours ago, FLO said:

Also an interesting spec sheet comparing the CEM40 vs GEM45. 

3 hours ago, cotak said:

This is a really odd ball marketing strategy. The two are essentially the same with one having 5lb more payload which is nothing at all.

 

This is what I was getting at, although I didn’t want to quote specs I had been given as it was not my place to do so. I’m not an engineer but I can’t see why the ‘upgrades’ couldn’t have been added to the existing CEM40.

Also, looking at the expected retail price there’s  every chance it will be squeezed by the cheaper CEM40 offering and the competitively priced CEM60. 

You could always leave the stacking to run overnight then it’s ready for you whenever. Sounds like you’ve made your mind up to upgrade though and it wouldn’t be a bad investment anyway. 

I don’t use PixInsight but I’m surprised it’s taking you that long. Despite it being an older processor it’s not exactly a slouch and you have a more than decent amount of memory. The graphics card doesn’t sound bad either. I used to process with a lot worse specs than that and it didn’t take that long (DSS and PS) 

How many subs are you stacking and is there anything else running in the background?

Anyway if you are going to upgrade check how the software handles the number of cores/ threads. For example Photoshop does not necessarily benefit from hyper-threading. For most processes it’s the clock speed of the CPU that is most important and not necessarily the amount of physical cores or the ability to hyper thread. Not sure if that is how PixInsight handles things but best make sure whatever upgrade you are making is the best for what you will be using it for. 

It’s no criticism of iOptron and it certainly seems like they know what they are doing. The CEM design and performance in particular appears to be leading the way in mounts at their price point. However, particularly with this model it seems the differences are not that significant. At least not significant enough to merit a whole new model. Ironically one of them would be beneficial to me so please carry on as you are iOptron 😉

It will be interesting to see if we see a GEM30 in the future too. Looking forward to the official announcement. 

Yes, iOptron confirmed this was in the pipeline to me last month. An iEQ45pro replacement. 

I don’t quite understand why they have a GEM line and CEM line that have many similar features and therefore compete with each other. 

The specs I was given were pretty similar to CEM40 but with some manufacturing differences and of course the extra 5lb payload. 

Thanks, will do 👍🏻

Hi @FLO,

Any news on the iOptron delivery? Do you expect to have any CEM40's amongst it??

8 hours ago, MattJenko said:

Mine handles more than 8kg. SA, dovetail, counterbalance and the rig above is more than 8kg and it is solid in all manner of heights and configurations. Not sure about actual max though.

Thanks! Seems like a safe bet then and you cant really beat the portability. 

On 27/08/2018 at 08:53, MattJenko said:

I have the old version and the x0.79 reducer as well. I screw reducer directly into the end of the focuser and certainly don't use an extension, as the focuser is racked right in on the focuser as it is! If you are struggling, you could try inserting the reducer into the focuser as opposed to screwing in the end. This is less secure I found, but it means you can push it in further if it doesn't quite reach focus.

 

Hi Matt, 

I'm looking at getting this tripod for it's portability but I've read conflicting things about the payload capacity. Some sites say 8kg and some say 15kg (including Berlebach official site). What sort of total load do you have on it and have you experienced any problems with any of your setup's on it?

Thanks

Chris

Thank you! I just noticed that when I did this it seemed to turn the clock on the polar scope too. Was worried it was perhaps putting me off and limiting my exposure length.

I have a question for Star Adventurer users. After polar alignment can you release the clutch knob slightly and to help frame a target or by doing this do I compromise my polar alignment?

3 hours ago, Josh40996 said:

I use a Nikon D3200 for my images, I don't believe it is holding me back at the moment. I'd imagine you'd be best upgrading other equipment before the camera.

1 hour ago, M Astronomy said:

I would try and get better results with the equipment you have. Most DSLRs these days can get decent results with a standard lens and tripod. Keep trying! If you upgrade with the expectation of getting good results straight away, you will be disappointed. All the gear, and no idea as they say. Be patient, ask questions and most importantly get out there and have a go!

+1 to both of these!

I use a D3200 and I'm more than happy than the results I'm getting. 

5 hours ago, happy-kat said:

How heavy is that 500mm scope?

 

Ok, I've weighed everything. 

Scope- 2.3kg (2kg without rings)

Camera Body- 0.5kg

Orion Mini guider with GPCAM2- 0.75kg max

So total equipment weight would be 3.5kg max. 

Does the counterweight count towards the payload? If so ~4.5kg. 

Waiting on some parts so I'll see how I get. From reading it seems the focal length coupled with tracking error may be the limiting factor. 

5 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

I think you might have to Still, nothing ventured...

Louise

Still, as you say Louise...

It's around 2.5kg with the finder scope and rings attached. Removing them would take it to around 2kg I guess.

1 hour ago, serbiadarksky said:

Well I had the chance to test out 400mm on the SA unguided, max exposure was 45sec, 50sec, 55sec with trails 

So I would say 50sec 400mm is max what you can get

Ok, so guided you might expect to get longer subs or maybe even similar exposures times with a longer FL? I have a 500mm scope which I'm keen to use. Seems like I'll be pushing it but there's no harm in trying I guess. Just worried if it doesn't work out it I might not necessarily be able to tell if it's down to my lack of experience or the limitation of the mount.