david_taurus83

Hi Matt. I used to take 15m exposures at unity gain with an Ha filter and though the amp glow is significant, its removed completely with darks. This is 16 x 900s subs.

32 minutes ago, RayD said:

There aren't an awful lot of mounts that can work "off the pallet" with default settings.  Even my AVX working off the handset or EQMOD had to have location and limit settings etc. set.   With the Mesu200 there are a number of settings which need to be configured to suit your particular location/equipment and, once done, they shouldn't need changing again.

I think there has been a few noted issues with Mesu200's, but I think these are so memorable because they are so rare, you certainly don't see pages of continuous issues.

Like @Skipper Billy, once the necessary settings were configured, mine worked and has worked flawlessly since.

That's what I meant! They need setting up and testing to get the best out of them! I would imagine it's the same with these new Trident mounts.

7 minutes ago, Skipper Billy said:

Mine did / does......

Perfect tracking and guiding with default settings? If so that's a remarkable feat though I know of another member who has not had it so easy recently but that's a different topic.

2 minutes ago, Northernlight said:

Come on - if you had a new mount that you had been waiting anywhere between 1-3 years for then you would probably have it setup within a few  days max, and i'm pretty sure you would also pretty sure you would stay up until 11pm to test it out.

Maybe, if I lived within 30° of the equator and had plenty of long dark clear skies. Up here at 52° i tend to have to put up with clouds for the majority of the year.

48 minutes ago, Northernlight said:

In regards to the JTW trident - I'm just curious why no reviews, images or anything being posted by the person who received the mount "a while back" before the 28th may. 

 

Tbf I've not known anyone on here who has had a Mesu, stuck it in the obsy and its worked perfectly off the pallet. So theres likely lots of testing and software setup. Plus a lot of people dont bother imaging from May to July.

5 minutes ago, Jonny_H said:

Thank you.

I have been considering going down the modding route but the issue is I still use my camera for 'normal' use from time to time.

My other suggestion would be to keep an eye out for a modded 450D. These come up for sale now and again and for around £150 they are cheaper than a good LP filter such as Astronomik or IDAS filters. What scope do you have or are you using camera lenses?

Modding your camera would have a greater impact than any filter but not necessary either. Galaxies and star clusters dont need modded cameras.

Cant say about guiding performance but it noticeably tightened up stars. Got rid of the bloat halo. Especially noticable in Sharpcap when I was polar aligning.

Very good little scope. Better build quality than you would expect. I use mine with an ASI120 as well and I also use it to polar align with Sharpcap. I bought mine with the ZWO non rotating helical focuser and it helps to fine tune focusing but not essential. Also, adding a cheap IR/UV cut filter onto the camera really reduces bloating and tightens up stars nicely.

You won't achieve focus with the flattener and it's designed for correcting a refractors field curvature. Coma correctors are used for Newtonians and the lens element is located in the nosepiece enabling you to have correct back spacing while keeping the camera close to the focuser.

25 minutes ago, kirkster501 said:

..... great M27 by the way!

Thanks!

Dont get me wrong, I still think mono is King and I really miss it for narrowband but it really frustrated me due to the weather.

I dunno about devoting lengthy periods of time to one image. Kinda got fed up with waiting weeks or months for a clear night to image a couple of measly hours per channel on mono. So went back to DSLR. If theres a clear spell of weather I might devote a few nights to get 10 hours but last session I only got 44 mins on M27. Still came out ok! I try to enjoy the hobby!

I platesolve with my CEM25 and the setup is left relatively intact and just lifted indoors after but if I was to strip down fully each time I would think resetting the zero (home) position each time would be standard procedure. I assume you are exclusively using the hand controller?

I'm in the same camp. Forever picking fault at what I have, always thinking something else will be better.

I think I've had about 7kg on mine with a 102mm refractor. Managed it fine. Balance is very critical. I've had to add an off axis weight to the dec axis. Their very sensitive, even to cables hanging. What scope are you looking to put on it?

200p needs an EQ6 class mount for imaging imo. And even then it will need good guiding for 1000mm focal length.  HEQ5 prob fine for visual.

42 minutes ago, Kev M said:

It can be done...but it will cause a lot of heartache and frustration.

Get the 450D or better.

Really? The ASI1600 didnt have live view when I had one and just looping single exposures was the way to focus on that. Same principle with the 350D. It shouldn't be wrote off first without giving it a go. I agree with everyone saying stretch to the better mount if possible but I agree with the OP about using his current camera to begin with.

6 hours ago, Nerf_Caching said:

How do you plan to focus a star through your telescope then? Live view does make focusing less of a pain, unless you want to squint through the viewfinder!

It can be done. Just take an image in APT with the bahtinov mask on and adjust between exposures.

As has been already said, the HEQ5 is the better mount but eats into your budget quite a bit. That said, the EQ5 Pro is more than capable with the 130PDS. If constrained by a budget I would be looking for second hand kit. The SW mounts are pretty solid and rarely go wrong. The HEQ5 dont stick around for long either on the used market, they are that sought after. Again, the 130PDS comes up for sale and nothing much to go wrong there either. Have you factored into your budget a coma correcter, bahtinov mask, EQMod cable, power supply etc?

As above, you shouldn't need to align a second time. How did you do the initial alignment? A small criticism of your workflow, especially as you are learning the PI ropes, is that you appear to have pre processed all your individual channels at the same time before moving on to the next step in the process. Personally I would have done one channel from initial calibration through to integration. I tended to learn the process quicker this way as I was repeating the entire cycle 4 times (LRGB) whereas you have processed all your data but have only complete 1 full cycle. That is, of course, if I have interpreted your workflow correctly!

2 hours ago, fwm891 said:

The comparison: http://www.astrosurf.com/buil/atik_vs_zwo/

 

Are you referring to the apparent inability to control offset? In the drop down box that says unity gain is also the option to select custom. Once selected, the offset slider becomes available. AFAIR anyway🤔

1 hour ago, fwm891 said:

Some features of the 1600MM Pro can't be accessed via Ascom whereas the Horizon can. All a bit swings-n-roundabouts...

Which features are you talking about?

Originally I wanted the Atik mainly because of the UK customer service and the reputation they have for quality but I was swayed by the cheaper ZWO which comes with all the adapters you need. Rarely hear about issues with the ASI1600 anyway. I assume your aware of the microlensing issue of this sensor which will affect both Atik and ZWO versions.

1 hour ago, heliumstar said:

As John said, quality. I don't mind cheap ebay products. I bought plenty and they are satisfactory. In theory those Lynx cables should be of higher quality so why not. I don't mind spending a little more for a better quality promise. Also, orange is cool

More like Astro Tax to me! I'm that tight I use those cheap solderless connectors and make my own cable!

19 quid for a cable?!

What's wrong with these?

I've missed this! Will there be a YT upload like Ep 1?

Done some more tests last night. I tilted the camera on the left side as initially thought but it didnt appear to make much difference while checking focus again in APT. So I tilted the right hand side and went to about 0.6mm. After taking a few subs it looked a bit better. Not perfect star shapes but they look smaller. I only managed 22 x 120s subs on M27 but they present a nice image for such short integration. This is the full frame with no cropping at all.

And the inspection version:

Star shapes are still slightly pointy on the edge but perhaps I'm asking for too much with the full frame 6D. I usually crop out edge artifacts and the bottom mirror shadow anyway. From experience they look smaller in the subs where previously I was used to seeing good focus and tight stars in the centre with larger stars towards the edge.

I cropped the image down to show how this scope would perform with APSC sized chip and as expected, very good results.

For reference, here is an unprocessed image of M101 with slightly enlarged stars on the edges.

I cant decide if I've made much of an improvement?!