teoria_del_big_bang

It was on the camera

Count me in - My camera and FW arrived today and so I guess another week of cloud also came with it 🙂 

Steve

7 hours ago, tomato said:

Light relief on an Astro kit price hike thread, can’t be bad.

Yes it will be "Always look on the bright side of life" next 🙂 

Steve

6 minutes ago, tomato said:

Roger that.🙂

5 minutes ago, Skipper Billy said:

Point of order - its either 'over' OR 'out' it cannot ever be both. 😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃🙃

'Over' means over to you.

'Out' means conversation end.

As a mariner it annoys me to hear that phrase in films etc

 

I did hear this on QI, before that I too would have thought it was normal to say over and out, as you say from various films I had seen.

Steve

3 hours ago, malc-c said:

I'm beginning to question being a member of this forum.  Seems these days I seem to  unintentionally end up sticking my foot in it and upset people.

My comment was based on what Terrac posted.  Naturally there are two sides to any story

Anyway... time for me to just lurke and browse the forum, rather than try and contribute or voice an opinion

Malcom,

You will feel different in a day or two I am sure.
You have been a member for a long while and make some great contributions to SGL.
If I count how many times I have put my foot in it or said the wrong thing then I will need more fingers.
Also somebody on here really upset me not long after joining and felt the same where I though should I be on the forum or not and did consider just not participating anymore but glad I thought again. 

Remember it is a forum which means everybody is entitled to their opinion or to calmly state their thoughts, whether right or wrong.
I think it will be a sad day when you stop posting so please think again. Nobody was hurt or really offended, as I read it Steve was just stating things from his (or FLO's) point of view and I don't think was particularly upset by your remarks, so you have no reason to feel you have (In my opinion - there may be others ha ha).

Steve

51 minutes ago, Endolf said:

I've finally got an image to show. The stars in the corners are not great, back focus was out, I think I've improved it, but the weather isn't looking like I'll be testing any time soon.

Just under 5 hours with the QHY268M on the SharpStar 61 EDPH MkII, with the Antlia pro 3nm Ha and SII filter and their 3.5nm OIII.

Well yes the stars in corners not quite there but still great image for 5 hrs of data. The target itself is quite detailed and good contrast with a lot of the finer stuff visible. I don't know how much of that is due to filters or camera but an impressive early image 🙂 

Steve

56 minutes ago, SiriusB said:

It doesn't have to be an expensive hobby. As others have stated the cost of entry level is way lower than it used to be even with price hikes.

   I doubt Astronomy will be the only sector hit by price rises this year.🤔

Probably saved me some £,I've suddenly lost any great desire for a larger ED. 😉

True.

I think many of us make it expensive because we want something new and shiney and probably not because we need it.

And a price hike will probably not change people like that (and yes that includes myself) will it ???? Probably not.

Steve

20 minutes ago, wesdon1 said:

I was under the impression that the retailers had raised prices because they saw an opportunity to make more profits because their new products were now being sold used on eBay et al for more than their new prices!!?? Maybe it is the suppliers ?? Possibly for similar reasons i outlined ?? I'm really surprised the mainland China prices were so similar to UK retail prices ?? That's quite a shocker bc one would expect the prices to be much cheaper at source!?? Strange ? Oh my goodness i really hope prices do drop significantly post Covid!?? But either way, I'll never fall out of love with this amazing Hobby!! The only thing that truly mystifies me is why there aren't so so many more people in love with this beautiful Hobby!!?? How can one not be utterly blown away by the views above us!!?? 

Wes, Liverpool, UK

I can't say I looked on every website for astro stuff but certainly looked at ZWO cameras and some other stuff such as rotators and filter wheels  and I think I even looked at mounts as I was definitely looking for an upgrade at that time (mount had to be a fair bit cheaper though as although I was in Business class I guess I would have to ship it separately, which surprisingly is not that expensive if container shipped)  but as said know make stuff was really not that much cheaper than UK, certainly not half price which a lot of other non astro stuff was, and surprised me as well, so I am not in the know but suspect the mark-up by our few UK retailers is not massive.
And I was working with a couple of our Chinese engineers so they searched and rang up places for me, it was not the fact I was English and the retailers there were conning me they rang up or asked by email in Chinese any questions I had.

Steve

10 minutes ago, wesdon1 said:

Hi. Yes I totally understand the Covid issues, and yes I would agree their will inevitably have to be some increases in prices, but just as an example for you, the extremely popular Skywatcher 200p Dobsonian Telescope was priced £289 a few days ago, and now it's priced at £399!!?? That's wayyy too much of an increase, surely!!?? I was looking to buy a new Dob, a 12 inch SW Flex-Tube, but now after price increases I'm not sure whether to!?? I can actually see one potential plus point to all this though ?? ( I hope!?? ) at some point in the future, the Covid situation will settle down, and all the people who bought Telescopes during lockdown for something to do, rather than because they genuinely love the hobby, will all likely start selling their Telescopes and equipment, and the law of supply and demand ( Hopefully!! ) will mean that the second hand market will be flooded with Telescopes and equipment and prices should drop down again!!?? I sincerely hoper so!!?? lol.

Wes, Liverpool, UK.

Yes, I hadn't really looked till now but some of the SW scopes especially have gone up a fair bit but it will be the suppliers that are causing the hike not the retailers .
Funnily enough  I was in China with work over Christmas 2019 to 2020  and intended to buy some stuff over there such as a new camera and a few other bits I could transport back easily but in all honesty it was not that much cheaper in China than in UK from most reputable retailers. Maybe 10% less if that and in the end didn't bother as for the small saving it wasn't worth the possibility of  paying more in import duty or hassle if something went wrong within the warranty period.

Big issue is I bet the prices will probably not drop when the shortage is over, certainly not to the pre-covid leves I bet.

Steve.
 

What sort of increases were you particularly shocked about?

I am afraid with covid and the fact many of our equipment comes from China has meant a shortage of many items which does inevitably lead to price rises but I didn't think the suppliers I use had hiked them ridiculously, but I admit apart form a new Astro camera and filter wheel have not really bought anything of huge cost anyway.
And for some stuff Brexit may not of helped with transport costs and paperwork.

Ebay I am afraid will milk the situation and do try to ask some crazy prices, I also tend to stay clear as unless new you have no idea about the quality of items.

Unfortunately it can be an expensive hobby unless buying only 2nd hand and even then that market does maintain a fair percentage of the cost of new.

14 minutes ago, Astrokev said:

Maybe I didn't ask the best initial question!

Perhaps I should've asked what is the best software combo alongside PHD2 to enable me to capture images using dithering between exposures.

If you can sort your USB issues then APT and PHD2 work very well.

Steve

14 minutes ago, Astrokev said:

My aim is to to have my laptop in my warm room, rather than next to the scope, but this requires longer cable runs. Any ideas to improve this would be very welcome! Thanks

And thats the aim of most imagers.
Getting this to work flawlessly was my biggest headache when I started. I tried long USB cables and I think sometimes just depends on what USB hub you are using or cable quality, and how far between mount and laptop / computer.

I think USB2 can be okay to 10M  but  for USB it is recommended to use 3M or less total length, although I am sure some use longer with success but I always had issues.

I now use a RPI running Stellarmate at he mount and connect via remote desktop or similar but when I used APT successfully I tries all sorts of USB combinations including a 10M active cable. I never got the active cable to work at all and had issues with all other combinations. I needed about 10M minimum and around 13M was more comfortable. Sometimes it would work all night other times it would fail mid session and sometimes I just could not get anything to work.

In the end it was not a cheap solution but used USB over ethernet and worked flawlessly at well over 20M.

I used one of these and well worth the money. I also got a flat Ethernet cable which meant I could get it through a window and almost fully close it again without damage to cable. Its 4 port USB2 so you may be able to forget the hub. Yes it is not USB3 but I don't think USB 3 is necessary and USB2 is plenty fast enough for image transfer.

Never failed me.

There was one for sale on SGL a while ago but can't find it so may have been sold.

StarTech.com 4-Port USB 2.0 Extender

Steve

As above yes to all.

Only Caveats  I would say (in my opinion) are:

• Use a good quality powered hub
• Ideally connect camera direct to USB port on Laptop - this is my preference but no reason it could not go through hub I just prefer a direct connection to laptop as this is where most data is being transferred.
• Keep cable to laptop relatively short (3M or under). Or use USB over ethernet, or at least a good quality active USB extension not the cheap ones Amazon has to offer. I never had much success with active USB cables but I know others on SGL do.
• Always use good quality USB cables, I have always found Lindy Cromo series very reliable.

Steve

All I can add is that you take a screen shot of the application when you expect the circle to appear - not sure whether this will help at all but somebody may spot something that has occurred.

Steve

4 minutes ago, PeterCPC said:

It's the latest. 1.3.2.8.

I am on same version so sorry I cannot offer anymore help.

Steve

I use mine on Win 10 pro but never seen that issue - what version of software are you using ?

Steve

Always a bit of a faff getting the BF just right on a new setup. I always tale a photo when happy and then mark where all the spacers go and their sizes, in case I have to go back to that setup after a strip-down.
Good luck I hope you get it near enough to give your new toy a tryout soon 🙂 

Steve

Well inside the requirements then which are just over 31mm (guessed at actual distance to filter) but looks like you are good to go and just need some clear skies now 🙂 
So you best get some practice in before mine comes because there's bound to be cloud over all Yorkshire and into Lancashire then 🙂 

Steve

2 minutes ago, Deeko said:

Just in case anyone finds the info useful I have now connected the 268M to the ZWO FW. to achieve this I used up 19.5mm of back focus = 12.5mm default BF + M54-5mm + 2mm T2-T2 adapter.

What size are the filters 36mm?

Steve

Does com3 not appear if you click this down arrow ?

1 minute ago, AlanP_ said:

Thanks Steve! I woudln't want you to go through that effort  Thanks a lot though!

What software do you use now?

No worries it wont take long.

Steve

Just now, AlanP_ said:

Maybe ill try different software..

It should work, thats the right cable. When you select the mount is it like below 
 

What I cannot see without connecting my HEQ5 is the properties but maybe if you post a pic I might remember what to do. 

Steve

There should be lots of people on SGL using APT and HEQ5 but if nobody else helps by tomorrow I will get my HEQ5 out again and seehow it connects.

Steve

Unfortunately I no longer use APT or HEQ5 so not the best person to help.
According to the log you sent only com port 3 is available so assume that is connected to the mount.

Steve