david_taurus83

The background does look very noisy. Dont think I ever noticed it like that on my ASI1600. Theres always a good iteration of MLT on the shadows?

2 hours ago, Epoxy_guy said:

I think the trick is to create pockets into which the epoxy can run.

 

I think the trick is to look at the dates of the last post before posting!

Modern Astronomy has a sale on the QHY version of the 1600, the QHY163M.

https://www.modernastronomy.com/shop/cameras/cooled-ccd/qhy-cooled-ccd-cameras/qhy163m-mono/

As for filters, they are usually LRGB sets for sale in the used market. Not much to go wrong with filters. I'd look for Baader filters personally. If I was watching the pennies, I'd go for an LRGB Ha set in a manual filter wheel. Oiii is handy to have if you want to shoot bi colour. I had an Sii filter, I think I used it twice in the 12 months I was using mono.

I've mainly used Pixinsight. It's very good but has a lot of tools so unless you follow tutorials you'll be lost. Ive just started playing with Photoshop and I'm liking it so far. Again, watch a few tutorials but my initial impression is it's far easier to produce a decent picture. I've only used levels and curves so far. I like how everything is adjusted with sliders and as Olly says, you can see what your doing. Turning the layers on and off and you can easily see the before and after effects.

That sounds like very poor customer service indeed. Does the filter not have some sort of guarantee? Have you posted on Cloudy Nights as there are far more American members on there?

Edit: I've just seen your post on CN. It's a bizarre stance by AstroDon to take. If they're that confident their filter is perfect and cant possibly be faulty, then why dont they replace it like for like? At the very least they should accept its return for an inspection?

I have one and I do get halos when used with my 70mm quad. However, I didn't get halos with my WO 71mm triplet and flattener prior to this! The filter was screwed in front of the flattener then so I think it depends of the design of the optics. M45 stars are very bright anyway. I bet when you stretch it the stars will overpower the halos anyway.

The star on the right looks like the stars Adam was getting on his Esprit.

@Adam J did you get sorted in the end?

1 hour ago, Starwiz said:

Can anyone tell me how I can qualify the performance of my guiding?

Are your stars round???

NO: Investigate for causes of backlash and stiction, adjust if necessary.

YES: Touch nothing and leave it the hell alone!

Like knobby I also image with a GTi after scaling down a lot of astro gear until we can move house. I bought a Star Adventurer first but quickly got bored with manually aiming a 330mm scope and manual meridian flips!

I bought mine second hand but it was virtually new. I opened mine up and inspected the innards. Gave everything a bit more grease where it needed etc. The RA side of things is fine. Hardly any play and it tracks and guides well, I get similar figures in PHD to knobby. Dec though, is very poor on mine. It has loads of backlash. It's not a gap between the teeth of the gears either. The actual output shaft of the dec motor on mine has a lot of lateral play. No way to adjust it. That said, I can still calibrate in PHD and it guides fine. I wouldn't even contemplate unguided imaging with this at a focal length over 300mm.

My kit is just under 5kg and I still need 2 x 1kg weights to balance it. I got a metre length of M12 threaded bar from B&Q for a couple of quid and cut it to size with a hacksaw.

It makes for a super portable setup! I can lift the lot with ease with everything attached in and out of the house making for quick setup and packing away.

Bearing in mind its also recommended to stop the Samyang down to F4-F5 for better sharpness...

First one is noisy, second one isn't.

So yes, well worth the extra few hours!

16 hours ago, Simon Dunsmore said:

Thanks Folks, 

All your advice seems to make sense. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees😀

I think I need to go pick up both mounts to test the weight. Right now I am leaning towards going with my ED72 on a Heq5 Pro goto. 

But I'm going to keep chewing it over. 

Cheers 

Simon 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/348847-astro-equipment-for-sale/

I like it. You wouldn't see it on before 9pm though! Surprised me tbh! It's a bit like how Logan was made as the adult version of XMen. 

People take a darks library of various exposure lengths and various temperature so they dont have to do them each imaging session. You can use the same darks over and over again. It's best to take the camera off the scope for shooting darks with a metal dust cap to keep light out. If you only have a plastic cap you could line it with foil for the same effect. If your struggling to reach a desired temperature indoors you could always put the camera outside where it will get to lower temps. I had an ASI1600 and it would cool to around 40°C below ambient. I done all my imaging at -20°C with that camera.

48 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

There’s a setting in DSS cosmetic tab that causes halos with the D2 if ticked think it’s hot pixel will check later 

Not with my case. It's the quad scope/filter combo. Halo is in the subs. See below, example with filter and example with no filter.

4 hours ago, bottletopburly said:

Are you using DSS by any chance 

DSS stack as it's easy and also Pixinsight to see if theres any difference. Why?

37 minutes ago, Sidecontrol said:

This looks great and lovin the detail in the horsehead and flame nebula, my biggest problem I'm having atm is the extreme vinguetting, with my lenses.

Thanks! Pixinsight is good but PS has it's own tools and techniques for processing. I've not had another play yet but been watching plenty of videos. Doug German has some good beginner videos on youtube also.

Honestly, I started off with practically the same kit as you. I ended up buying a bigger mount to match the scope when ultimately I sold the 200p and bought a small refractor. Knowing what I know now, i would have kept my EQ5 and bought the small refractor first. Give it a try first. If you still want a bigger mount for a bigger scope in the future can always sort it out then. Fyi the SW mounts are very robust and not much really goes wrong with them so not risking much by buying second hand.

With the 60D on the 200p your image scale will be at 0.89" per pixel. This will require excellent tracking and guiding, around 0.4 to 0.5" RMS, imo beyond the regular capability of SW mounts. It can be done but you will have good nights and bad nights. On my old AZEQ6, which is belt driven, I regularly seen guiding averages of 0.6 to 0.8" per pixel. With a 200p and a camera like yours I bet I would have seen tracking errors more often than not..

Why not keep the EQ5 and use the ED72 on that? I'm using an AZGTi in EQ mode and i can get guiding averages of around 1.5 to 2.0" RMS. And it's not even designed for AP!

What will you intend to image?

What camera will you be using?

A 200p is a challenge in it's own right, regardless of the size of the mount.

58 minutes ago, kirkster501 said:

Yes, familiar that plate solve will get you to so the object in the centre but then getting the camera at the right orientation by eyeballing it is a PITA and I end up that my registered subs have to be cut significantly and I am fed up of this now.  I've never quite worked out this rotation thing in SGP, it never seems to work when I have tried it.

I wish SGP had that frame markers feature too like that APT has.   

Platesolving should tell you the image orientation. You just rotate until you match the original frame.

Platesolving for me gets fairly close. If you use APT you can also create a framing mask. Pick your reference image in APT and you can create a mask in the form of circles around a number of bright stars. Save the mask and when you return another night, centre the image with platesolving again and load the mask. The circles will be where they were the first night. Rotate camera until the stars match the circles.

As also mentioned, platesolving will also tell you the orientation of the frame.

Like Olly and Gina, I also try and image with my camera in either landscape or portrait.

@Adreneline I found one of these handy brackets for my ASI1600. It let's you rotate the camera body independent of the rest of the imaging train. Adds about 6.1mm to your spacing.

https://www.365astronomy.com/TS-T2-Thread-360o-Rotation-Adapter-and-Quick-Changer-Extra-Short-5.5mm.html

23 hours ago, Simon Dunsmore said:

Thanks folks,  really appreciate your input. 

Would this work with sharpcap and as a guidescope on my Skywatcher ED72? 

https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/starwave-50mm-guide-scope-gpcam.html

Thanks 

Simon 

That would work just fine.

As would this:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/guide-scopes/zwo-mini-finder-guider-asi120mm-bundle.html

I use the Astro Essentials version of the above 32mm guidescope. No problem with finding stars for guiding and also works great with Sharpcap.

Ps. you dont need one but a cheap IR/UV cut filter on the end of the camera (either of above) nosepiece tightens up the stars nicely in the guidescope.😉

Buy the best laptop you can afford.