Rickvanman

Thanks for the suggestion. Do you know which software? I use the Canon 1300D and Canon is not offering a RAW codec download for that model.

I'm running windows 7 Professional on a x64 System and have downloaded and installed the official Microsoft Camera Codec Pack (6.3.9721.0) (have tried both versions (x64 and x86) but neither got the thumbnails to show in windows explorer. The CR2 images are created on the Canon 1300D. According to the Canon website, they are compatible and no additional codecs are required. Does anyone know how I can get the CR2 thumbnails to show images? Preferably without having to buy 'viewing software' from iffy-looking websites TIA

Well the good news, is that tonight the guidescope seems to be working well. Ive had perfectly round stars all evening with 3 and 4 minute long exposures, so I'm a happy bunny! I think the fix was calibrating it after I had altered the focal length to the correct 162mm. I didn't even need to run the guiding assistant. Have spent all night photographing the Wizzard Nebula which is right in the NE direction where I usually get star trails even on shorter exposures, but the guidescope has handled it admirably. I'm just sat here in the shed now, waiting for my darks to finish. Then j

I do recall running the guiding assistant during the evening, it ran for ages making small adjustments - wasn't really sure what it was doing (or rather what I was doing!) but I did enter the reccommendations it suggested at the end. I'll spend some time now searching to see I can find the correct camera and guide scope settings for my starshoot. It looks like another clear night so I've already set up the scope again for another session tonight - will be sure to hit shift this time when starting to guide. Thanks again for the help - I'll try to report back tomorrow to let you kn

Okay, i've uploaded the whole thing to the link below. Looks like the 162mm focal length starts on the 4th session. http://www.mediafire.com/file/no7kpeazhuospne/PHD2_GuideLog_2017-08-27_215354.txt Appreciate any insights. Thanks again.

PS - Please Note that I actually changed the Focal Length to 162mm (from the default 50mm) in all subsequent guiding sessions (using the Orion 50mm guide scope) but it had no noticable effect on the guiding behaviours.

Aha! Starting to get the hang of this now - just found a 'guide' log. The document is huge, so I just pasted one of the start/end sessions below. Let me know if you need more. PHD2 version 2.6.3, Log version 2.5. Log enabled at 2017-08-27 21:53:54 Guiding Begins at 2017-08-27 22:53:20 Dither = both axes, Dither scale = 1.000, Image noise reduction = none, Guide-frame time lapse = 2, Server enabled Pixel scale = 21.45 arc-sec/px, Binning = 1, Focal length = 50 mm Search region = 15 px, Star mass tolerance = 50.0% Equipment Profile = ricks starshoot Camera = StarShoot

Wow! what I would give for a chart to look even close to that flatness - mine was flailing about wildly, reaching far off the chart yesterday

Ah, yes, found them - thanks. There are a whole bunch of logs and I'm not sure exactly which log relates to the example photo as the file timestamps are not matching up with the photos taken, but the behaviour patterns of the autoguider were pretty consistent throughout the session. Below I've pasted one of the shorter logs. Appreciate any insights Thanks again 19:03:33.665 00.003 4836 PHD2 version 2.6.3 begins execution with: 19:03:33.665 00.000 4836 wxWidgets 3.0.2 19:03:33.665 00.000 4836 cfitsio 3.37 19:03:33.665 00.000 4836 CoInitializeEx return

It's a USB lead going to the PC (printer USB cable type) and then a phone-type lead running from the camera to the mount. I'll have a look and see if any guide logs were made automatically.

After a 2 month wait, we finally got some clear slies last night so I had a chance to finally try out the Orion Starshoot autoguider. Sadly, I spent a long and very frustrating night just trying to get the darn thing to guide properly, but wihout success. I was getting great tracking results from my HEQ5pro mount on its own, round stars on any exposures up to about 30 seconds, but as soon as I engaged the tracking scope, it was driving it all over the place (see attached pics). I'm using the 50mm guidescope that comes in the "Orion Magnificent Mini" kit, and I made sure to enter t

Thanks for the tutorial, Art, that's fantastic!

Hi Steve, it was the basic mod, where only one of the two filters is removed from the camera. I believe only the red balance filter was removed, and the original IR/UV filter remains.

After publishing my latest YouTube video showing me bumbling my way through trying to photograph stars from my shed, someone commented I should use a Baader semi-APO filter on my refractor telescope ( explore scientific AR152 ) along with a IR/UV Cut Filter. Using a semi-APO filter makes absolute sense to me, and reading up on them, they look like a really worthy investment. However, as I'm using a basic Astro-modded DSLR camera ( Canon Eos 1300D - I just had the basic mod: single filter removal), the idea of adding a IR/UV Cut Filter is not making sense to me. Wasn't the filter t

For now I'm doing everything in photoshop elements 14. Although I'm tweaking the images in DSS prior to saving them.