david_taurus83

That looks great! I had seen your argument before with regards to the L-Enhance vs UHC. I might just get a decent UHC filter and pop it into the Redcat and 6D and see how it goes. I take it the UHC passes a broader spectrum than the L-Enhance but should also cut out a lot of LP as opposed to a normal LP filter?

48 minutes ago, oymd said:

Thanks David. Good to know.

BTW, I noticed in your sig you have a CEM25P. Would that mount carry an Esprit100ED well for AP?

Thanks

Ossi

Not quite sure. I did have an Altair 102mm doublet before. Probably a bit lighter but longer than the Esprit. I think it all weighed in at 8kg fully loaded and it managed fine. Its a good little mount that punches above its weight but needs a bit of tlc to get the best of it. The 80mm f7 doublet I use now is probably better suited to it.

57 minutes ago, oymd said:

Many thanks..

Who is Es Reid by the way?

Respected UK lens designer. FLO get Es to check and adjust, if necessary, collimation of the Esprit scopes before shipping to customers.

59 minutes ago, PadrePeace said:

Try reducing your backfocus slightly.

I don't think you can do that on these. The internal corrector is fixed so the correct distance is when you reach focus.

If that was a full frame sensor then I'd expect it to not be perfect in the corners but an APS-C should be better. Are you absolutely sure there is no play in how the camera is mated to the scope? Does is have a rotator? I have found the rotator on my Altair 0.8 reducer induces tilt if the grub screws around the outer side of it are not exactly the same depth. Slightly off topic, I know but until I get my hands on my Redcat I don't know the mechanism works. At this stage I'd at least let the vendor know you are experiencing issues. They might recommend trying to utilise the tilt adapter to see if things can be improved. Are you sure the push pull screws on the tilt adapter are all slightly loose and there's not one tighter than the others?

17 minutes ago, Swoop1 said:

Plate solving is something in my future. I have tried it unsucessfuly so need to learn the process a bit better and understand the information I need to have to hand.

No worries. If you've got an hour to spare some day and want to give APT a go, have a look here. Once you get it sorted you'll never look back!

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/334568-setting-up-platesolving-in-astrophotography-tool-apt/

12 minutes ago, XavierL said:

Thanks @david_taurus83! I will try again, hopefully tonight (the forecast looks promising ATM🤞) and report back.

Hopefully it's better, I've just ordered one myself!

I had a quad before (Altair 70EDQR) and it was very good, even with my 6D. But you absolutely have to nail focus down as it also sets the correct distance from the internal corrector to the camera sensor. You might find better focus will improve things a lot. Try again but on a patch of stars with no nebula. CCD Inspector works better if its just stars. 

Hmm are you sure focus was bang on? Looks a little soft to me. I'm not liking those star shapes either. Looks pinched..

Has the camera been modified? 

Just bear in mind that you will need to expose for twice as long with that filter.

Need an Apple device to open that link Stu. No good for us mere Android users!

What camera is that? Surely there's a way to calibrate the filter wheel position? I'm sure this can be done on stand alone wheels.

What temperature was it when you took this? Did you flip out the screen?

If your using it for imaging why dont you just plate solve and you don't need to do any star alignment?

If its just the flats, then there's no harm trying to software bin if you've already got some. If they don't work then you could try some evening flats when it's a bit cooler.

9 hours ago, johnturley said:

 

I also find it annoying that you can no longer purchase most software on CD/DVD and instead have to download it, which sometimes can be tricky trying to get the right program to download and install (often multiple websites appear), plus you are usually limited to installing it on just one PC.  

John 

Pixinsight can only be downloaded from the developers website. It can be installed on several PC's at any one time with a single licence. I currently have it on 2 laptops and even on my scope mounted mini pc.

I have the CEM25 and I'd expect the 26 is identical inside mostly. Good mount, but I've had to open it up to adjust the belts on both axis. Even with all slack removed from the belts mine still has some backlash on the dec axis so dithering can be a pain if its a big movement and takes time to recover. Most annoying feature on the 25 (to me anyway) is the adjustable tension on the worm housings. Too much and it binds and not enough leaves too much play in the worm. This appears to be removed from the 26 though with a simple on and off clutch. That being said, when you get it dialled in right, it guides great. Really well to be honest, up there with the AZEQ6 I used to have. I regularly guide at 0.5/0.6" RMS with peak to peak errors at around 1.5". I have an 80mm doublet on mine so around 6kg fully loaded but I used to have a 100mm doublet and that was fine as well. I had to buy the mini pier extension as pointing straight up runs the risk of camera catching the tripod without. Balance absolutely has to be spot on to get the best of them. You will need an off axis counterweight on the main CW bar and maybe a side weight on the Dec as well, depending on your scope of course. Mine was £700 or so when I bought it new though current prices seem a bit high for a mount of this size imo. 

If you want something small and lightweight and will only use it with a relatively small setup, then it's probably the best goto mount in its class, but be prepared to get the allen keys out, tweaking, balancing to get things just right.

 If you want something that just works well out of the box, is easy to balance, isn't bothered about a few dangling cables, bit of wind etc, go for the heavier EQ6R or AZEQ6, or in between with a Rowan belted HEQ5 if you can find one.

Hi  Nick,

What mount are you using?

Yes, it makes a difference! PHD was probably trying to correct based on the previous orientation of the camera. Any time you move the guidescope or camera you should do a fresh calibration in PHD. 

Did you recalibrate after moving the guidescope? 

Can you create a folder on the desktop and call it Astro or something or other. Then click the 3 dots in Sharpcap settings above and navigate to the folder?

Just create a new folder on your desktop and call it SharpCap Captures

Will a 1.25" filter cover the sensor if you use the adapter to fit inside the 11mm spacer? Cheap ZWO IR/UV filter is only about £25 or so.

On 26/05/2021 at 11:18, tomato said:

 

To be fair, I wouldn't reject this from a stack.