Leon-Fleet

Single sub, which is my best shot of M42 from Sunday nights session. Taken with my Nikon D90 and 400mm lens tracked with the SA. Taken at Iso 800 F5.6 for 120s. Rough crops and edits in PS Camera Raw. My intervalometer wasn't playing ball so only have a limited number of subs. Also Polar alignment was poor as my tripod is very wobbly, and the ball-head is not so great, so micro adjustments for framing was hard, (also knocking out the alignment every time) Definitely, need to work on my focus and polar alignment but happy with the results. I'm going to try to stack the few frames that I did manage to get If I can figure out the processing.

Hi All, I'm looking at upgrading my manfrotto tripod to something far sturdier and taller that can accommodate the SA etc. I'm 6f3" so ideally having a tall tripod makes life easier as long as it doesn't get blown about by the wind. I've heard the eq6 is a good shout but perhaps a little on the short side, but or the manfrotto 055 potentially still wobbly, or vixen porta ii. I'd like to spend less than £60, but is that realistic? What do you use or recommend? Thanks Leon

Thanks Ian, I ill check them out. I will

Thanks Stu, let me know when you are planning the next trip and I’ll try to come along for sure.

Thanks Geof, I’ll look into joining them, I’m always down at Alice holt with my kids so might be a nice change to go with adults !

Hi Don, thanks for that mate, yeah I'm not far from south downs so it's a great shout. So lucky hi have it that close. I’ve thought of going to old Winchester hill . More of a planned outing though tbh, i think I need to find somewhere within 15-20mins from home so I can get there do an hour or 2 AP and get home on a school night! Cheers for the link too

Fairly new to the area is anyone here local? Is there any local meets, clubs, star parties etc. I have heard of HantsAstro and Buster farm, I'll go there next time there is a meeting. My back garden is surrounded by trees so I'm Looking also for places close by that would be good for AP. Thanks

Slightly different question, but still SA related. Now I have got my SASA and dslr for imaging which is great. am also using my konusmotor 500 scope for visual only which I’m really enjoying. Next step is to combine it all and try to image with the scope, dslr and SA tracking. I was wondering am I able to put the konus on the sky adventurer? I think the max limit for the mount is around 5kg. Any known issues? I would like to know if any of you have telescopes scopes on your star adventure or just use it with a dslr and guide scopes? Thanks

Defiantly on manual on the camera. Just the wrong type of lens. Still I'm not disheartened, I'm Going to do some more widefild wit the 135mm instead, and see what I can do with that.

The intervelomiter was counting down but the shutter was not firing.

Yeah the lens is auto focus only I have the camera set to manual and the switch On the side of the camera switched to manual too. It didn't make any difference unfortunately.

Thanis Knobby, I Watched this same video last night. I figured out the problem is actually because the lens is an automatic. As soon as I put the 18-70 mm manual lens on it worked. Very frustrating as I was aligned and had Andromeda centred and focused.

Hi Dave, I think it's because it's an auto lens, no option to set it to manual. as soon as I put on my manual 18- 70 it worked fine.

Ive been out for a while this evening, I managed to take only 10 minutes to polar align! Found Andromeda and get a few very shakey shots of Andromeda but that's where I've hit a wall, my nikkon AF 70-300 lens won't work with the intervelomiter. I can't remotely shoot or manually take any shots because of the shakes. I switched to my 18-70mm but can't see Andromeda.

Thanks. It's not too heavy I'm sure of it. I'll eventually put a guide scope on it too ?. But I'm ages away from even thinking about it.

That's what I thought. It's the OCD in me ? cheers Dave

Ready for tonight ! Gonna practise polar aligning and then fire off some shots of Andromeda. Hopefully he moon won't wash out all my shots! One thing though, when I put 6 at the bottom on the polar scope it obviously puts the camera at a funny angle. Is this ok ? Feels a bit strange to me.

Great first image, well done !

I found this really helpful thanks ?. Getting loads of great tips from this thread, and am inspired by the quality of the pictures taken with this cracking bit of kit. Loving it's versatility. Clear skies