PadrePeace

On 01/05/2021 at 13:36, CloudMagnet said:

Fantastic, I always think this is an easy target until I look at my results the morning afterward. I would honestly be interested if you could put together a decent image just from the 13 hours thrown away!

Sorry for the delayed response. To be honest I started this during an unfavourable moon phase having had virtually no good nights for weeks. The initial data looked ok as I’m fortunately in a Bortle 4 zone so I often push things a bit. However, it was obvious in later sessions without any moon impact  that better data was obtainable. 
That said, I stacked it all in APP to see what could be produced and then canned all of the moon impacted lower SNR stuff and those with the occasional guiding issue.
Bad subs only take your image quality one way and this target was tricky enough on a good night.

On 01/05/2021 at 13:31, geeklee said:

Great image @PadrePeace  Dedication getting so many subs, but even more impressed with how many you threw away - I was having a twitch or two just reading that!  

It's unusual to see a scope and mount like you've listed being used with an uncooled 224MC - you've done a brilliant job.  Fantastic detail and colour and I really like that close in FOV.

Appreciate you kind comments geeklee. It started as a trial of the art of the possible really. I do have other ‘more conventional’ mono and OSC cameras for a rig like this but wanted to push the 224 to see what it could deliver with a near perfectly matched pixel scale rig. 

16 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

It is a beautiful image!

Thank you. 

Kind of you to say and thanks for the help and motivation to press on to 3000 subs. That allowed me to be so clinical with the cut. Shame they weren’t all top quality or this could have been very interesting. 

Just starting on NGC4565 tonight with the same rig. With the dark window closing through May I guess this may be a lesser project from an integration perspective. Nothing to loose though.

10 minutes ago, jetstream said:

Thanks I will next winter. I get very cold here and with low humidity at times but I can see that temp difference in the camera itself causing issues maybe. Only one way to find out!

I’d think if it’s not too cold to guide it’s not too cold to use this as a primary imaging camera. Stop before your hands stick to the scope!!!😄

43 minutes ago, jetstream said:

This is a very good image!

I wonder what the lowest temperature is that this camera will work in? I live in Canada with cold temps and just bought this camera for lunar/planetary. It would be nice to be able to play around on some bright DSO without spending many thousands.

The issue will be the humidity as the sensor cell is not sealed. If you are in very dry cold air I’d guess you’d be okay. Mine ran at 75% humidity at -2C with the dew point at -3c and it coped fine. Camera temp was approx +4.5C when running constantly. You may get an issue if you stop shooting for more than a couple of mins as the camera cools really quickly when not active and that may cause fogging. Go head and give it a go and 
good luck.

Though M101 is a relatively large target it is quite dim and this required a significant effort to get detail into its core. I took 31hrs of 30sec exposures which I then thinned down to the best 18hrs of data. Processed in APP and PS it was tricky keeping the core detail that I had imaged from blowing out.
Lots of advice and lots of very small curves stretches was the key in the end. Hardly sharpened it much with noise reduction undertaken as and when noise just stared to appear during stretching.
As the sensor is biased towards red, colour balancing with green and more so with blue was also necessary.  
Taken at Gain 200 with a UV IR cut ASI224MC uncooled camera, APM107/700 scope on an AZEQ6. 

It’s a good little sensor if you have the conditions (cold nights) and use Flats, Flat Darks and take Darks every night as the sensor temperature varies being uncooled. For info, I found it ran at about 6 degs above ambient once it was steadily running subs off. 

Hope you like it. 
 

Well, that’s true from a pure marketing perspective but let’s see what real life has to say about changing customer habits.
I bought a new car (made in the US) last Aug, a new 4K TV last week and a new sewing machine for my wife only two months ago. Didn’t see 30% increase in storage or shipping cost on any of those else I would have no case to suggest here. Just saying. I think for this thread all points have been made so we will see won’t we. 

48 minutes ago, Jiggy 67 said:

I know this is going to be controversial but I don’t think Sky-Watcher prices are that bad compared to other brands. They are a well established, trusted company which produces a wide range of good products for all levels of expertise. This is demonstrated by the fact that they are probably amongst the highest sellers and manufacturers (in the guise of Synta) of astro gear in the world.

I also think that they haven’t made significant price increases in recent years, though I may be wrong, I just don’t recall any. They are reacting to the market conditions in order to stay in business and, yes, make a profit. I still think their prices are very competitive 

Monopolies in the guise of SW/Sentra is what I’m talking about in terms of customer power not really having a voice. What else is a entry level AP guy supposed to buy when a HEQ5 costs 1k and the scope close to the same and that’s not the end of it( my AZEQ6 has gone up £600 in the 15months I’ve owned mine). That’s a big step up from a 130 reflector on an EQ3!

Just asked Steve at FLO on the thread you shared how we, as  mear customers, are supposed to hold SW feet to the fire. We all know we will and are still buying their gear. I see it like petrol prices. Glad I’ve gone EV and those prices have actually come down slightly in price inspite of the C19 thing. 

On 10/02/2021 at 16:49, FLO said:

In the current circumstances we should expect price increases. But, as consumers we should also expect prices to reduce when shipping costs reduce and hold feet to the fire if they don't. 

Steve 

How do we do that Steve?
We either buy their kit or we don’t and I cannot see us not. Other manufactures will be watching the ‘customer mood’ on increases and if they think they can make more by holding prices up they will. Astro gear is niche and hence a monopoly for the big fish. 

I’d be amazed to see the SW 1.75” tripod for £109 ever again.

Thanks Astronoodles for the thread link. Certainly not trying to start up an issue here. 

Over the past year or so there seems to have been a noticeable and significant hike in the cost of new SW gear. I’d say this is in the order of around 30% which is hard to qualify on global pricing trends or taxes.
 

Is it supply issues due to C19 or the Chinese adding tariffs for countries they don’t like at the moment?  

This mass produced and often long time unimproved gear is now selling for premium prices which is being reflected in second hand prices as well even  for quite old gear. 
 

Simple question....Why?

What about the hypothesis that people that own seriously expensive kit don’t feel the need to publicise issues on forums such as this as they reasonably expect a certain level of customer after sales care for the price they have paid and likely get it as the top dollar brands don’t want the negative publicity anymore than the owners do. Just saying....

For the rest of us we should be thankful that FLO offer arguably the best after sales care in the business. 

Software for me as well. 

Probably needs a tadge more back focus would you say AdamJ?

Took this shot of Virgo and some of its Galaxies last night. It represents 82 x 80s subs at 120 gain, -15C taken atop of a iOptron SGP, unguided with a ASI294MC and a 2" Astronomic L3 filter on the front of the scope to reduce blue bloat.  Stacked in APP with Darks, Flats and Dark Flats to suit.  The only post processing was LP removal in APP, Deep Space Noise Reduction on the black areas only, colour enhancement and sharpening on the galaxies only all in PS and that's it. The stars are totally untouched. Enjoy! comment.......

Certainly a tricky one AdamJ. I

I would personally want to know if there were quantifiable issues and not just guess work. And there in lays the issue.

I’ve asked for and received this kind of support on this and the CN forum in the past. The quality and accuracy of that advice has varied and ultimately it has to weighed up by the recipient. 

The risk is always that you get well meaning amateurs ‘scaring the horses’ which leads to more issues than just a scope problem. 

I’m convinced that a poster’s reputation will precede them so listen to those you feel or know by reputation you can trust. 

Personally, I’d take your inputs all day long for the reasons I listed above. Others need to see how they feel and go from there. 
 

offer an opinion and wait....

My first desktop came with a 40mb hard drive which we ‘future proofed’ to 100mb.  Moores law... Just saying. 

Noticed that Atik are not altering the retail price by 30% between the two versions as other manufactures do. Or, alternatively, are you paying more for the colour than you should? Hard to say. 

I thought the very same AdamJ but of the images I looked at on Astrobin no filters were declared as being used. 

Funny how that happens. You are the only one that has to be happy with the outcome so glad to help. Guess the extra F stops will be good for daytime shots as well. 

I have the FMA180. Looking at some of the brightest stars in ACL200 images on Astrobin the halos seem to get further off centre the further out the bright stars are from the centre of the image.  This is not the case for the FMA180 and halos can be dealt with in post processing or, as AdamJ said, get the Astronomic L3 filter which does the cleaning up for you. 
One of my canon 650D modified images with the FMA180. 

Clarkey,  is that 30% import duties charged by our customs guys or charged by Europeans to ship to the UK?

What a star, thanks. 

Thanks for following up. So is it just a FOV modification then?