david_taurus83

Does anyone use this wide open with a full frame sensor? I opted for the Canon 135 EF as it has autofocus and control both focus and aperture in APT. Not very good for astro wide open though! Below is an example of the Canon 135 on my 6D at f2, f3.5, f4 and f5.6.

Its teeny tiny on a 700D at 1000mm.

Agree with all the above. A small 70mm scope with a 0.8 reducer will enable you to image M31, M42, Horsehead, NGC7000 etc. Once you've done these you'll start looking at smaller targets and that's where your 1m focal length will excel. My only criticism of that camera is the pixels are very small for 1m focal lengtj and you will be oversampling at 0.5" per pixel so you should try binning 2x2 to get it up to 1".

Be mindful that if its one of Juan's cameras (Cheap Astrophotography) that he removes the anti aliasing filter in some of the 600D's and the sensor cleaning function won't work. The biggest issue I find with DSLR sensor dust is it can move around during a session, im assuming by the shutter action, and rendering flats useless at removing the artifacts. He's left the LP filter in my 6D and the ultrasonic cleaning is quite effective, as long as I remember to take flats before I switch it off or the battery runs out!

You should get the sensor as clean as possible with the blower and if you have an alcohol based cleaning kit, use that to clean it also and if available put a clip filter into position to keep any more dust out.

What scope you got?

Don't think they assign a number to them?

47 minutes ago, wxsatuser said:

Oh yes.

What camera? How would it fare with a 6D for example? Below is a gif of my Canon 135 f2. Examples at f2, f3.5, f4 and f5.6. F2 is unusable for astro on my 6D.

Regarding the Samyang 135, does everyone use it wide open?

The 50mm 1.8 is a good shout for widefield. Used, £60 on ebay.

22 minutes ago, Yooster said:

Email received from FLO. I hope not, had my heart set on one.

You are correct. It is unobtainium on the FLO website. Follow up email from me again it is!

1 hour ago, Yooster said:

Was looking to get a CEM25P but I gather iOptron have discontinued them.

Anyone know if there is going to be a direct replacement for them or should I try and snap one of the few up remaining? I need portability and it fit the bill

What makes you think they are discontinued? They are still advertised for US customers to buy directly from their website. I hope its not discontinued as I'm trying to get a replacement motherboard for mine!

Cracking little mount though!

Great improvement! I'd give it a bash as it is and see how you get on. If you do feel the urge to tinker its best to do it around a full moon as opposed to a darker night.

Think you need one of those phone holders that clamp onto the eyepiece so it holds it steady.

4 hours ago, northantsnick said:

Finally sorted this afternoon. 

There were quite a few steps which I had to get from multiple posts. But now all sweet with Apt 😁😁😁

Is it as per the workaround? Ie very slow rates? Tbh, if i needed to manually slew i used the EQmod controls for Skywatcher mounts or the Commander box with my CEM25.

16 minutes ago, Horizon_Brave said:

lol, I'm curious why it's a bizzare post? Lol but thanks for the response...So would you say that it's just better in general to go with the LP filter over a normal IR/UV filter? Since it cuts both ?

Apologies. I read the post and I thought the link was to an advert for a filter. Re-read again and I can see your honest question! But yes, you can have LP filtration as well as IR/UV cut with the same filter. The IDAS D2 I use for example has UV cut up to 400nm and IR cut after 700nm.

Most decent LP filters have IR/UV cut. Astronomik CLS-CCD and the IDAS D2 LPS for example.

A bizarre first post imo...but welcome anyway!

Can't say I've heard of that app. There is an alternative in Magic Lantern which is a firmware you install on the SD card. It has lots of extra controls in it but the main ones of interest are a bulb timer and intervalometer. I used it on my old 600D and also use it now on my 6D.

https://magiclantern.fm/

1 minute ago, Dannomiss said:

Would I be able to see your images? Not coming up in your post? 

That post was over 6 years ago.

Long story short, I've sold nearly everything astro wise but retained my CEM25P, Canon 6D and ive bought a Canon 135mm F2 lens. I was going to go for the Samyang 135 but they are rare second hand and a good example of the Canon 135 came up on ebay for around the same price as a new Samyang. Ive been eager to try it out but I've been waiting on a clip filter for the 6D. I decided to test it out last night regardless. I have to say, it was very refreshing to work with such a simple setup. No laptops, no guiding, just the camera on the mount. The 6D at 135mm is around 10" per pixel and the max PE of my CEM25P is around 17" over 10 minutes so no problems with tracking errors. I done a 1 star alignment on Vega and also used it to focus the lens, I only done this once for the night. Slewed to NGC7000 for a few test shots and fired away. I expected the previews to be washed out all white due to my light pollution but even at 30s ISO1600 at F3.5 the histogram was only just above half way! I setup Magic Lantern on the camera to snap 120 x 30s shots and left it to its own devices. No peering at a laptop screen every 10 seconds. No over analysis of every spike on a PHD graph! Went back out occasionally to check on things but no drama to report. After an hour and a bit the sequence finished so i took some flats. I have to admit, I missed the laptop here as Av flats rarely work for me but I set the exposure value to +3 and took 20 or so anyway. No darks as couldn't be ar$ed! Threw it all into Pixinsight to preprocess and then had a mess about in Photoshop. A mess about is an accurate description as I haven't a clue what I'm doing in there. I'm more surprised I managed to get anything decent considering I took this with no LP filter.

Overall, a very simple and relaxed session was had, and a nice carefree faff about in Photoshop. I could get used to this hobby...

I never got on with Stellarium and syncing so always have, and still use, CdC. APT can also still send the FOV to CdC as well.

As soon as I'm in the market for mono again it will be an 8300 chip.

It can be done.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/eb04dn/3d_printable_eqsplitring_style_tracking_and_goto/

Is this bright enough to capture with a static tripod? With 135mm lens wide open?

Not that you need telling, as your images are stunning, but have you tried processing just the Ha stack? Did you take any subs under moonlight? It does look a bit softer than the single sub but also very clean of noise.

36 minutes ago, MarkAR said:

Open up an original image, then take some short subs tweaking the camera orientation till they are as close a match as possible.

Or invert an original image and line it up to that.

Not sure if you have to re-stack the whole lot or if you can combine stacked and new subs in PI. Or maybe two stacked sets. Worth trying, might be a Pixelmath thing.

Think the OP had taken images on iTelescope so can't orientate the camera.

If you remember the original reference sub used for your initial alignment, then you would only need to use that for any new subs. Or use one of the registered files for the new files. So no, you shouldn't need to align everything again.

I processed some data someone took with a 6D and I was pleasantly surprised with how little noise it showed compared to my old 600D. So I had a grand idea and I bought a 6D with the intention of shooting RGB and mono at the same time with a dual rig. I got a bit carried away tbh lol.

The ASI1600 was great for narrowband. But I got a bit frustrated with LRGB as I could only ever seem to grab a few hours on one filter and then had to wait weeks for another filter. Maybe it was just bad luck with the weather. In the end I sold most of my gear and went with a small portable setup with the 6D. Built up again and just recently sold all again lol. Currently holding onto the 6D, 135mm F2 lens and a CEM25P.

I have this awful habit of slimming gear down to acceptable levels and watch as it mysteriously grows exponentially again over 6 months..🤔