david_taurus83

Not familiar with AP mounts but they are a 'premium' mount so I would have thought you could shoot 5 minutes with a short focal length scope.

What mount? Periodic error will come into play with longer subs as well. Plus any imperfections on the gears will show up as sudden spikes in longer subs.

That's the first I've heard of that? I've always stuck the LP filter in front of the reducer. Don't usually get any problems with halos. If you stick it behind the reducer then it will mess up the spacing and you'll have to compensate. Some say you add a spacer thats 1/3rd thickness of the filter glass. I say experiment either way.

Fantastic! 

We want pillars!

Hi. When in bulb mode, if you manually hold down the shutter button on the camera, does it still give you the error?

Yes, a RDF will definitely help to aim your scope.

You've got almost 4 arc seconds peak to peak so it definitely worth trying to smooth it out. How is the balance of everything? What guiding rate are you using? Have you tried the PEC algorithm in PHD?

14 minutes ago, powerlord said:

One thing to add - the continuing to have to do the gome palaver every time is a pain. I'd love to know if this is normal or an eqstar pro quirk.

Additionally I've never got meridian flip to work. Whenever you goto something on the opposite meridian it never works and goes all the wrong way. the only way I've found around this is to manually (well..via controls) move it to the other meridian, plate solve and goto somewhere close a few times.

No idea what thats about.

So parking the mount at the end of the session doesn't work? You still need to do the strange startup sequence each time? Do you use EQMod? 

7 hours ago, Lotinsh said:

I really want to get into astrophotography, but seems like by what I've been told, I need a tracking mount, so far all I have seen are going for 1k+, and that is not cheap, I thought they were maybe like 300? But Jesus Christ is that expensive, are there any options below 300 Eur for starting out? I don't need a go-to or something like that, just the cheapest decent option.

My telescope is Heritage 130p with stock mount.

What camera were you considering to use with the Heritage 130? You sure as hell won't mount a DSLR on there.

In the UK we simply haven't got the luxury of cherry picking data like this. Unless your imaging close to the moon I'd say stack them and see. 

I think the previous owner lives in a nice dark spot!

2 minutes ago, Rustang said:

I've posted the final result with this data in the deep sky imaging section, I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself properly 😊  but to get a decent result for me starts to have an effect on the quality of some of my images, as said I have a feeling its down the to sensitivity of the sensor as most other images I see have a crisper, better contrast that doesn't seem have an effect on the quality of the image, the more curves and stretching I do to gain contrast starts to effect things. It could just be me/the equipment I have but I just wanted to make sure I could change a setting/do something different somewhere that's all. 

Are you comparing your images to others using the same camera/sensor? I'm not sure what exactly your asking?

A gradient wipe would do wonders with that. Here's what a simple S curve will do on my phone.

Hi Peter. If you really want to keep your current mount, and are going to use it for AP and perhaps can live without a hand controller, then what about this device as an alternative?

https://astro-gadget.net/gadgets/control-of-telescopes/eqstarproeq5-goto-drive-upgrade-kit-for-eq-5-cg-5-meade-lxd-lx-vixen-fr-gp-dx-gpd2-orion-skyview-and-bresser-eq-4-eq-5-mounts

There is a member review here:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/377411-full-eqstar-pro-review/

Set it at 1 in APT and 2 in PHD. That will get you a roughly 10 pixel or so dither on your 6D.

Edit: It'd not really clear what the 1 to 5 scale is in APT. I've always left it at 1 and used the PHD scale which is the number of pixels on the guide camera to dither. So 2 pixels on your guide camera is almost 10 arc seconds of movement.

I believe @Adam J has one of these so can probably offer better advice.

Did you have it set at the correct backfocus of 55mm?

I would say there's not much in it between Sharpcap and the Polemaster if you use either with the Polrmaster camera. But with a longer focal length and guide camera/imaging camera I would say SC hands down is more accurate. 

I bought the 7-21mm zoom directly from the SVBony website as it was a bit cheaper than those advertised on Ebay. Arrived safely in a relatively short time, around 2 weeks I think. Have also bought the 30mm guide scope. It's as good as the ZWO/Astro Essentials 30mm scope. Looks and feels very good quality, both products. Recommended. 

For the money I'd consider a mini PC especially if your going to be mainly using it from home and are in range of your home WiFi. Can use any kit you like and any capture program. I have NINA, APT, Stellarium, Sharpcap, Carte du Ciel, even Pixinsight on mine. I control it via VNC on my phone mainly. Can be away from home and control everything if needed. 

38 minutes ago, Grant93 said:

When winter comes the 4:30AM get ups won't effect imaging when it gets dark at 6 🤓

It's a nice thought but since I started this hobby a few years ago the most opportunities occur between April and August. Winter sadly just seems to bring Forever Cloud.

17 minutes ago, StuartT said:

Ok. But do I need to change it in ASPS each time I use a different scope? Or only change it in APT?

 

I can't honestly remember. I've usually only worked with 1 scope and focal length at a time. Set it to your primary scope anyway and if it gives you issues with a change of focal length just change it again. I find its the focal length in the Tools tab of APT that needs to be right.

3 minutes ago, StuartT said:

Thanks. The reason I ask is that ASPS seems to have a focal length box in the settings dialog. But maybe I just ignore that, do i?

Put the focal length and pixel size/sensor size into ASPS as it needs that info the install the correct catalogues. 

Yep. Captured this DSLR image last weekend with a new Redcat 51. Started at 12 and finished at 2am from a bortle 6 location. Just confirmed my thoughts that you absolutely do not need astro darkness to image. Used a broadband IDAS D2 LP filter as well. No duo band like the L-Enhance etc

I mainly use Pixinsight but often find myself moving over to Photoshop for tweaks. I have some books on both PI and PS but I can't seem to learn anything new from them. Watching other people on YouTube has always gained me a better understanding of the processes. I do wonder about all those processes though. I'd love to see a tutorial or workshop where the user used even 80% of the available processes to create an image.