teoria_del_big_bang

23 hours ago, geordie85 said:

Yep I've suffered sellers remorse several times. I sold a side by side mounting bar, then bought all the pieces to make another one. 

I've bought and sold several idas light pollution filters. 

2 SX filter wheels. 

I've bought 3 geoptik ccd adapters. 

I sold a Samyang 135mm lens, less than a year later I've ordered another one. 

2 canon 600d cameras. 

Very recently I sold my WO Star71 then less than a month later replaced it with a WO Zenithstar 70.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry for you. I am obviously not so odd as I thought (or is it we are all odd ??) .

I must admit certainly at this point I have no plans to let my WO Z73 go 🙂 

Steve

On 11/01/2020 at 16:32, John said:

I do sometimes get pangs of uncertainty when I decide that something has to go but, for me, seeing something not being used much or at all is much worse. I do try and move on redundant gear and take solice in the thought that the new owner will put it to use, which is what it was created for.

 

Yes, I think your attitude is so right.

One thing that helped me so much to get into  AP was the ability to but good quality 2nd hand gear to create a useable setup early on. If I had to buy everything new either it would have been a much inferior setup or it would have taken much longer. I think the ability then to pass some of this onto others that also may not have the cash for new gear is all part of the hobby, or at least on this forum anyway.

I have been amazed at the quality of gear I have bought off this forum and ABS to be honest (although 9 times out of 10 when I see an advert I am interested in I can find the seller also selling on SGL), unless damage has occurred accidently then I think astronomers do really cherish their gear.

Steve

1 minute ago, tooth_dr said:

Steve

EXACTLY the same thing going on in my head!  I bought my EQ6 over 10 years ago new, and I'm quite close to pulling the trigger on a new mount, making the EQ6 redundant.  I find myself saying I should keep it and use it for x,y,z, outreach, travels, on the patio etc.  I know in my heart it wont get used, but I'm thinking - just in case - why sell it.  IMHO you are better selling it, and I hope to do the same, cos stuff that sits around just deteriorates quickly.  

I know you are right.

Steve

I had a plan, very simply my HEQ5 was at it's payload limit so needed to upgrade. Part of the upgrade would naturally mean parting with the HEQ5 to regain some much needed cash (Bought this as my Christmas Present now Boiler playing up and really needs replacing not repairing yet again).

I received my CEM60 with Tri-Pier from FLO as usual within just over 24 hours and had a play with it and love it.

So time came today to dismantle my old friend and put it up for sale in the usual places.

BUT, I cannot believe how sad I felt when dismantling it 😞 . I feel such a silly so and so but I feel sort of some attachment to this inanimate object. Only had it just over 2 years but have replaced all the bearings (even though when I striped it down I do not think they were required), added the Rowan Belt modification, spent ages tweaking the backlash out of it the best I could, and when I needed a Losmandy saddle upgraded the original saddle to a dual load saddle.

Now although sense tells me to sell it as planned I am now wondering whether to keep it in case I ever start to do some imaging other than on my patio. It seems to make no senseas I will probably not use very often but I am a bit of a hoarder anyway and really struggle to part with anything I think will be useful one day (my garage is testimony to this fact 🙂 ).

I guess the sensible thing is at some stage getting a more light-weight tripod for the CEM60 as the weight difference is not that much to make the HEQ5 any better then the CEM60 for travelling and keeping two setups on APT for each mount may lead to mistakes being made.

Steve

2 minutes ago, laserguide said:

I just don't feel ready to jump into mono cameras yet,wirh separate filters etc. Maybe one day 🙂

I love my mono but think maybe you are making a good choice if that is what feels right for you. Mono would mean more expense in filters and wheel so your budget would be depleted when it came to buying the camera. Also it is less complex and good results may come quicker too.

Steve

I have these being delivered today as a late Christmas present as I was not at home over Christmas and New Year my wife felt I deserved something nice.

Looking at up and coming weather looks like I may not get use out of them anytime soon 😞

Steve

On 31/12/2019 at 14:03, geordie85 said:

First time I've ever had anything printed. I've a feeling they edited my images as they do look slightly different to when I view them in Photoshop., especially M16 as it looks blown out now. 

Great idea and nice images.

I often find images can look quite different on a laptop or computer monitor to when printed.  I have a 2nd monitor for my and also a dual monitor setup for my desktop and colours and intensities look different on all of them. Maybe I can adjust them to all look the same but I think even then if I print an image on paper the colours look different anyway.

But, whatever those images look great to me on this monitor 🙂 

Steve

16 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Looking at the photo again it's hard to tell, but I think you are right, it looks like it only holds Vixen.  So apologies for that.

I still think that the upgrades are unnecessary at this stage.  I happily used vixen for 10 years, and only changed to Losmandy because I bought a scope that came with it.

Apologies not needed, I understand exactly what you were getting at and I would agree and I only changed the clamp due to upgrading to a new scope that came with a Losamandy.

Steve

13 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

It’s ok to disagree! But the clamp included with the HEQ5 does both vixen and losmandy so there is no real benefit to upgrading it 

Are you sure, I admit my mount is a few years old but definitely only had a Vixen clamp before I modified it ?

I started with Astronomy around 2 years ago and after a lot of advice from SGL bought a 2nd hand HEQ5 as my intention was at some stage to get into Astrophotography.

Over the two years I have modded the mount by adding the Rowan Belt mod and updated to a Geoptik Universal Dual Load Mounting Saddle Plate which does require a new puck as well. Both are great upgrades but not entirely necessary as the mount for the price is an excellent piece of kit and quite capable of decent tracking to take great images without any modification.

Personally I would buy the mount as it is and upgrade as you need to or can afford to.

The supplied saddle is fine although yes only handles vixen dovetails but clamps them securely. I only upgraded when I went to a much heavier scope that was supplied with a Losmandy dovetail.

Steve

3 hours ago, Jkulin said:

Having had a CEM60EC, I think you’ll find it’s handling capacity is as stated by iOptron of around 60lb.

iOptron work on quoted imaging loads, so my 120EC is 120lb and my 40EC is 40lb

Thanks for that, currently I do not think I will need anywhere near that, but in the future who knows?

Steve

9 hours ago, wornish said:

Congratulations.  Please let us know how you get on with the CEM60 when it arrives.

Cheers, I certainly will weather permitting 🙂 

Steve

Great image and probably for the first time ever I am praying for more rain for you and bring some relief to you all.

Steve

I am no expert but I think normally the SII is strong for this target so if you do get a chance then maybe concentrate on this ??

Steve

Well it's a very nice "cobble" 😉

Steve

On 01/01/2020 at 12:41, wornish said:

I  was thinking of moving from my AZ-EQ6GT to the CEM60 but in fact it doesn't really give me any real benefit.  The Imaging load capacity on my Skywatcher is virtually the same as the CEM60. The CEM60 built-in USB hub sounded good but actually it is only USB2 so no good for my ZWO astrocamera.

I  have come to the same conclusion as Vlaiv and decided to stick with what I have now and perhaps upgrade to the MESU 200 mount level of precision if I ever get a permanent set-up.

Yes I thought the same about the USB, why USB2 in this day and age. I think a lot of people remove these and then route their own cables through the void so still manage to avoid trailing cables that can affect tracking.

Anyway I have gone ahead and have a new CEM60 on order, 18Kg payload recommended for imaging is easily enough for me.

Steve

13 hours ago, alan potts said:

Read with interest Steve, but the only thing I would say is 73mm WO and a 100mm Esprit, not really an apple with apples comparison, the ES is over an inch bigger and indeed a fine scope also more than 100mm longer F/L. I wanted that that scope but you beat me to it by about 2 minutes.

Alan

Yes I agree with that, both the apples and oranges thing and that it is a great scope, or so many on here seem to say that so I can only think it is true, and for me time will tell if it helps me to obtain better images, but at this stage most is probably down to me and how I continue to progress.

What I really meant was that if I had not seen this for sale (and sorry for whipping it from under your feet -- he says "tongue in cheek") I would probably have spent just a little less and bought another doublet as that was the way I was heading when this opportunity appeared, in essence even 2nd hand was a bit more than I had budgeted for and thankfully my very understanding wife was fine with the extra outlay 🙂 

Steve

1 hour ago, MKHACHFE said:

Agreed. I almost bought a cheap goto last year. I'm so incredibly happy I held out and researched night after night, narrowing down my options till the XT8 was chosen. I honestly feel that had I gone with a cheap goto, I would not have been as enthusiastic about this hobby as I am. A dobsonian seemed like the best for price to performance ratio. 

Cheers

Yes definitely worth it in the long run. Yes I have now spent loads more money as many said I would but at least the majority has gone on good bits of kit that really worked for me. Another good thing I have found is that the Astronomy shops I have used have been so helpful and have not tried to push more expensive item on be because of my lack of knowledge which is good in this day and age where often Sales people will try to get as much of your cash as possible. Anyway going off track of this thread a bit here so apologies to the O.P. 

Steve

7 minutes ago, carastro said:

They see the pretty pictures and think - I'd love to do this.  

Little do they know what lies ahead LOL

1. The cost.

2. The frustration.

3. The huge learning curve.

Carole 

How right you are, and I got into this even though many on this and other forums , including your good self, did try to tell me what was involved.

But, despite all the above on those odd occasions it all goes right what a feeling it is to get an image of something so distant and so feint. It really does make all that  worth it, despite knowing at the back of your mind things WILL go wrong again at some stage 🙂 

Steve

On 31/12/2019 at 19:22, tomato said:

If Olly with his er, robust set up, has software gremlins, what hope for the rest of us?😳

Whilst I do not wish any gremlins on anybody it kind of makes me feel a bit better knowing even the experts can have problems as well. I hope that doesn't make me seem shallow 🙂 

Some very wise and true words there.

And mostly summed up in the first reply about catching the bug.

I am pretty much still a newbie and started around 2 years ago with my first scope. Luckily I found this forum before I bought anything and got some good advice. Like most starting out for the first time it is so easy to be underwhelmed with what you see to begin with. I think expectations are always so great when you start that you think you are going to get Hubble views of the universe and see huge galaxies and nebulas everywhere you look.

Also there must be so many starting out like this buy without good advice and then their very first scope is up on Ebay again or in the loft after a few weeks because they just bought the wrong equipment. Without this forum I may have been one of them.

Luckily my first scope was a 2nd hand Dobsonian, cheap so did not deplete my available cash too much but capable of great views. No fancy goto, which originally was a must for me, but that was good it was like the difference between satnav and reading a map. Satnav very convenient (when it works correctly) but in the days of atlases you kind of knew where you had been to get to your destination and if you did it enough then you didn't need the atlas any more you had learned something.

And the views through the scope were certainly not underwhelming. Yes the stars were just bigger dots but so much more of them, so many it was hard to comprehend what was out there, and clusters, and feint galaxies. It was bewildering. A great start to a great hobby for me, and maybe this would not have been the case if I had bought something off my own back?

I am I admit mainly into imaging but still have all my visual equipment and with retirement looming and more time to stay up on those all too often rare clear cold nights I will be using it all again.

But as said when you stop and look things just appear you never say before, it is amazing there is no doubt.

 Steve

8 hours ago, Rusted said:

However, the corrective elements now available to combat coma are even allowing short focus, large aperture telescopes to produce superb visual images.
But only in excellent seeing conditions. Like Florida?  Or at high altitudes. Yet another red herring to avoid giving a direct answer?

Nice answer, and as I suspected it is not that black and white anyone can give a one line answer to this.

In the very simplest terms then, If my pockets are not bottomless but I have a reasonable amount to spend on an imaging scope (say around £1000), and at this stage I am not after perfection as I am still trying to get to grips with imaging anyway but just want some decent images, would I be right to say I could not go far wrong getting a fairly high end doublet with flattener and that without spending considerably more I am not really gaining much.

I know I have the SW Esprit 100 but it was bought as new 2nd hand at a price I couldn't resist, if I was to progress from the WO73 and to buy new I would probably have got another doublet.  Due to weather and working in China last 8 weeks I have not had a lot of chance to use it yet but my first (and only so far) image seems better than with my WO 73 but I have no real way yet of knowing whether this is the scope or me actually improving my techniques.

Steve

Very nice image, and a happy 2020 to yourself as well 🙂 

Steve

Good luck with this one, I really hope you get some good replies because I searched this forum and some well known others with the same question and never really saw a proper conclusion. So may different answers and probably 20% saying Doublets better for imaging and another 20% saying Triplets are better and the rest sort of saying that not all doublets are equal and also not all triplets are equal, which is pretty much assured to be is true but then when some of the more knowledgeable one went into the reasons why it kind of got above my understanding and all I really understood was that price wise doublets are cheaper because they are obviously easier to make but a good doublet is far better than a poor triplet.

Sorry I cannot answer your question but will watch your thread to see if I get a better understanding myself 🙂

Steve

Yes that last image well worth the effort - very nice 🙂 

Steve