serbiadarksky

14 minutes ago, smr said:

Ok I think I'm getting there. 

One thing though, I want to slide the 'fine tuning mounting assembly' into the mounting assembly but there are no indentations or anything to lock the mounting bolt into it.. it would be screwing metal into metal - damaging the paintwork in the process. Or is that just the way it is?

Yes just slide it into

29 minutes ago, smr said:

Stunning images! 

I received my Star Adventurer today. I am a bit confused though as how to set it up - do I use the equatorial mount or my tilt pan head ?

 

The wedge is the bridge betwen the mount and tripod and it can really help you with the polar alignment, however if you own a Polemaster you dont need the wedge!

Welcome to the forum @smr!

I can help you with the Star Adventurer as an experienced user of it!

Feel free to send me a message with any question!

Some images done with the Star Adventurer+600D+200mm lenses (135-200 i used)

On 29.11.2017. at 23:00, Andywilliams said:

they are great captures...I didn't even realise that we could capture images so beautifully with this gear .....I have a lot of work to do !!

I guide it, thats the key

1 hour ago, Andywilliams said:

wow ! wow! wow!......this certainly gives me a standard to aim for !! outstanding images!......what programs are you using for stacking and processing?

cheers,

Andy

DSS and Photoshop 6 and camera raw

15 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

I’m trting to work out what you mean by sand? Obviously a language thing but I can’t work it out!

Not sand, only dust sorry

2 minutes ago, Bobby1970 said:

I have used the polar align feature in sharp cap a few times, it seems pretty good, the thing is, i wonder about knocking the PA out just by loosening and retightening the RA clutch to be honest. Once i get the alignment in sharp cap so it is reading just in arc seconds i call it a day and go with that. Not done any guiding yet, but it is coming soon. How much do you need to reduce ISO levels by so that you don't end up with a totally washed out image after say 5-10 mins ????

This thread is great by the way, keep the contributions coming guys and girls :-)

 

Believe me, I knocked that thing out of pa hundred times........so boring

Than I fixed my tripod to the ground (woth bricks lol) and very gently moving the clutches

It depends, am I picking the nebulosity stars etc or the dust and sand lanes?

I usually use iso 200 for target and iso 800 for sand and 8min exppsures for target, 10min exppsures for dust 

I will keep answering, I enjoy it

1 minute ago, Bobby1970 said:

That makes your images even more impressive in my mind. Or is it a case of the guiding correcting for any inaccuracies with polar alignment????? Don't fully understand how it all works TBH lol

 

I use the phone app for the star adventurer mini, its work perfect

Yes, guiding can correct a BIT but you need good polar alignmet becouse its guide only in RA axis, so if I missdone the alignment even wirh guiding I still get trails sometime

Polar alignment is the key for me, I find it very easy to do but some imagers think about hell when you mentione the PA foe them

Just now, Bobby1970 said:

What do you do in terms of polar alignment? I assume you don't just use the built in polar scope? 

I use the built in polar scope, thats all

2 minutes ago, Bobby1970 said:

At the weekend i stuck my Altair Lightwave 72ED-R on my SA just to see what i could do. I think its 400mm ish focal length.

 

This was 60x60sec after using the polar alignment tool in sharp cap with the scope and altair gp cam first. It is also cropped a little too.

Its not a bad image

Maybe the focus is out a bit, and try to edit it to pull off the sand and dust betwen the stars

5 hours ago, Icesheet said:

What is the maximum focal length people have had success with the SA, guided or unguided?

I see there is a 380mm example here. Anyone had success at 400mm+?

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

52 minutes ago, M Astronomy said:

I don't think you can call these good results. These are absolutely INCREDIBLE.

I put blood and time in thoose images

This 7 images represent more than 150-160 hours of imaging,sitting in -10°C to check all the photons on the images, stacking them, editing,but firstly-no GoTo system so the hardest part is to find the target (okay maybe not for orion or Rho)but Spaghetti and Ghost nebula 

@Bobby1970 this is my rig except the camera, now I use a 600D modded not the 5D

Pretty simple but works perfect

2 hours ago, Bobby1970 said:

Can I just ask. You guys talking about 8 and 10 minute subs, that is guided right??

 

Yes, I guide it with a small scope and guiding camera mounted on the counterweight bar and actually thats the counterweight for my rig

600D+200mm lenses on the mount

Guide cam+guide scope on the counter for that

1 hour ago, SteveNickolls said:

Cracking images, can you tell us the fuller imaging details, camera, lens, number of exposures etc?

Cheers,
steve

Here you go Steve

I use a modded canon eos 600D or thr t3i

Lenses are always the same, 200mm f2.8 set at 200mm and f2.8-5

All the images have more than 70-150 stacked images

Exposure time varry a bit from 8min for star colour and nebulosity and 10min for picking up the dust lanes

I get good results too with the Star Advenutrer and a 600D

Always I keep the exposure for all objects 8-10 min each sub

50 minutes ago, SteveNickolls said:

Here's a cropped image of the Sadr region in Cygnus taken earlier this year on 19.9.2017 using the Canon 600D DSLR with my 135mm Samyang f/2 lens on the SA mount. Image from x70 forty five second light exposures at ISO 400 plus x20 dark frames and x50 flat and bias frames. All frames stacked in DSS and processed using StarTools.

Cheers,
Steve

I like this image

Can you tell me why only 5sec exposures?

With 135mm you can go up to 3min

Well

My experiece says that you can go up to max 400mm unguided to 30-40 secs exposures with pinpoint stars, above that you will get trails

5 hours ago, Icesheet said:

I would love to know how you're getting 8-10 min exposures especially @300mm, that's amazing!

 

Are you autoguiding?

Yup, I do

1 hour ago, M Astronomy said:

Love this image! Exposure, ISO, aperture?

I'm glad to hear that you like it!

Iso: 200

Exposure time: 8-10 minutes each

Number of images: 60

Aperture: set at f3.5

This is a shoot from few nights during last weekend

Star adventurer with a modded 600D and 200mm lenses