Ande

Hi all. I need an intervalometer for my Canon 80D. Any recommendations for a good, 3rd party device? I don’t want to spend too much, as it will only be a stopgap whilst I’m waiting for the ASIAIR Pro to come back to stock.

Just bought one of these, and am absolutely delighted with it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B088H64CSV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Very well priced for what it does, but not exactly cheap. Rated at up to 30kg’s, so plenty of scope with it, no pun intended. I can have it set at it’s maximum height, and it is still lovely and solid, and allows me to polar align without having to limbo dance.

I must confess, I have just googled some images, and the star produced by the WO mask does appear to offer easier precision. I’m quite tempted.

That does look good. Very pricey for what it is though. Maybe that’s why there are no reviews.

I have looked at those, but the whole eco-system seems very pricey for 3D prints. Although I have heard that people seem to like them. I’ll put them as a maybe. If I have a lucrative Xmas that is

Cheers @geordie85. I’ll put that down as a possibility

Thanks @nicoscy That looks excellent. Unfortunately, I don’t have a 3D printer, nor do I know anyone that has. That’s something I would like to rectify in the future though :

Recently bought one of these lenses, and am slowly getting everything together for imaging. Next on my list is a Bhatinov mask. Is there one made specifically for this lens that is worthy of recommendation? I’ve seen a few 3D-printed ones on eBay, but not sure if they’re any good.

Hi Joe. I would strongly recommend reading the opening post in this thread: It will give you a realistic notion of what to expect

@Moonshed Managed to take a few snaps. Ignore the world’s shabbiest curtains, as I’m in my work’s digs. Ignoring the round mounting plate that I have swapped over, this is how the DEC bracket was originally intended to be used by Ioptron, with the long end at the top. Which was clearly an oversight, as it means that your equipment has a higher centre of gravity than is necessary, whilst the weight on the other end has less effect being on the shorter end of the bracket. This is how I would like it to be, as per Peter Zelinka’s setup video. It is also how Ioptron show the mount in their manual now, so they clearly acknowledge the oversight. The problem is, that by rotating the DEC bracket by 180 degrees, the polar mount has also rotated, and is now upside down. And in these pics, you can see how the DEC bracket attaches, and that it only possible to attach it in one orientation. Meaning that the whole assembly, including polar scope, has no choice but to rotate with the bracket. Hope this makes some sense. To be honest, the polar scope is still usable, just that it’s now upside down. And the OCD inside of me likes things to be how they are supposed to be. Especially after stumping up a reasonably hefty sum of cash. Of course, the other problem that might become an issue, is that the polar scope light only comes on when it is correctly orientated, ie number six at the bottom. And I guess in the new configuration, that may or may not work depending what the internal mechanism is for the light is.

Hi Keith. I’m working atm, but will try to take a couple of pictures later

Thanks @rickwayne My Mac is getting on a bit now, so certainly no powerhouse. I might be better off utilising the flight sim PC, especially for photo editing as it is fairly fast, with a decent gfx card. Regarding compatibility, I have been fairly careful to choose components that will operate with the ASIAIR, as that will be the keystone of the entire rig, once I can actually buy one. I shall also get the ZWO-mini for guiding. Then, further down the line, I hope to bag a RedCat, because it is an itch that needs scratching. And I would like to think I can then halt any more purchases, and call my kit complete. Although I can’t promise that I won’t be further tempted by new, shiny stuff 🤣

Thanks @happy-kat. I’ll have a play with the camera, and try to figure out how to get the histogram displayed. I’m currently in the middle of a 10-day shift, working away, so am not getting much hands-on time with the new gear.

I did have a play with the Canon Connect app, but it seemed very limited. I may well have missed an option that opens up some more commands, so I shall give it another look.

Cheers Alan. I shall have a peep. My “to-do” list is growing by the hour 😀

I like the pilot analogy. I used to do a lot of paragliding back in the day, and, although not strictly a “pilot”, a lot of the adages still applied. My favourite was, “Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than being in the air and wishing you were on the ground”. I had two occasions where that really rang home, but that’s another story. When I said the ISO was “cranked up”, it’s just the mad way my brain interprets things. To me, in this instance, up means higher quality, or less noise. I was exactly the same with gearboxes in cars when I was young..... Because low gears generally meant higher revving, I considered them to be high gears. I confused a lot of people, and found myself constantly confused. Thanks for the advice. There’s some great stuff in there. I shall certainly be composing a checklist of sorts. If it can make things a bit more systematic then I can plod along methodically. I do have a red dot finder, but will need to work out a mounting solution for it. It’s a Telrad, so quite a lump of a thing. But it’s a great piece of kit, so I’ll accommodate it somehow or other. I realise I can use the self timer on the DSLR, but not worked out how to incorporate it with Bulb Mode yet. Not sure if I even can. I might draft the laptop to perform this duty, as a stopgap measure until I can get my hands on the ASIAIR. I will be sure to look into the software suggestions you have given me. Thinking about it, I may scrap the notion of using the Mac. The laptop will be more versatile. The only stumbling block is that I intend to use my IPad with the ASIAIR, and I’m not sure how much I will need to try to transfer data between the IPad and the laptop. My experiences in the past with the PC/Mac relationship have seldom been good ones.

I did look at Photoshop as an option, but the subscription model doesn’t sit particularly well with me. I’ll take a look at some of the other options mentioned. I did download Deep Sky Stacker this morning, but not sure when I’ll get a chance to gather enough images to test it out. Although the link you posted sounds a great solution in the meantime. I can pull up something on YouTube, and then try to replicate the steps using those sample images. A couple of years ago I spent a week in Alston, Cumbria. The whole area was stunning. If you live anywhere even close to that in beauty then you are a lucky individual. The skies were amazing, like the skies of my childhood, when light pollution was nowhere near as bad as it is today. Be very interesting to see what you are able to capture come the glorious day.

Hi all. Not sure if I’m missing something obvious here...... I’ve set the declination bracket with the camera mounted on the shortest end, with the counterweight on the longest, as per Peter Zelinka’s setup video. Even though Ioptron actually now show this configuration as the preferred option in the illustrations in their manual, it means the polar scope is now 180 degrees out (upside down). Question is, how do I get the polar scope oriented properly? I know I can simply loosen the clutch and spin the whole assembly upside down, but I’d rather my camera was at the top when checking polar alignment. I’ve noticed that there is a grub-screw on the red collar. Do I just loosen that and then rotate 180 degrees, or am I going to find a shaft with a flat on one side only? I don’t want to mess with things unless I really have to, as I’m a disaster waiting to happen 🥴 Hope some of the above makes sense.

Thanks @nephilim. Yes, I definitely captured “something”. In fact, looking at the best of the pictures from last night, “something” flatters it somewhat 😆. I was very surprised to learn that a 30 second, single exposure at F2 is enough to blow out the Orion Nebula. I had the ISO cranked up to 100 as well, expecting hardly anything to get through. I shall definitely heed your advice though, and stop the lens down a bit next time, and see what joy that brings me. Stellarium is a program that I have on both my phone and iPad. And I have had a play around with the telescope simulator view. Very handy indeed. Regarding the polar alignment, I have the Polar Align Pro app that I am very happy with. It allows me to use the exact same graphic as the Skyguider reticle, which helps enormously. I shall dig the laptop out later today, and certainly check out Sharpcap. I will also endeavour to download, and have a play with Deep Sky Stacker. Not looking forward too much for that, as I watched a few tutorials and none of it seems very intuitive to me. Also need to consider a photo-editing package. Would PC or Mac be the better option? I have a Mac, a fairly competent gaming rig used for flight simulators, or my i5-based laptop. I am very much interested to hear your verdict on the lens once your camera lands. Good gear, plenty of experience and dark, Cumbrian skies sounds like the perfect mix

Having recently acquired some new gear, I managed a very tentative trial run this evening. It was all very “amateur hour” as I fumbled about in the dark with lots of unfamiliar stuff. A bit pleasure and pain. I was delighted to have managed my first polar alignment, which appeared to be fairly accurate. Although it was a frustrating affair trying to line it up with the Skyguider Pro, which has the annoying habit of pulling everything off course and away from Polaris as soon as you try to tighten, and lock things into place. I ended up having to pretty well tighten things up before adjusting, and then fight through the now tight assembly. I’m pretty sure that can’t do things any good. I shall invest in the Williams Optics replacement wedge assembly, which is supposed to be a substantial upgrade. Next up was trying to get centred on a target, with an unfamiliar tripod, mount, ball head and camera, whilst in complete darkness because I’ve managed to lose my red torch. It was quite unnerving not knowing what nut loosened what, lol. Every adjustment had me clinging onto the camera just in case. So, eventually I managed to get the Orion Nebula framed quite nicely, and took a few pics. Because I hadn’t figured out how to activate bulb mode on the new camera, a Canon 80D, without holding my finger on the shutter button, I was limited to 30-second exposures or less. So I experimented a bit between 15 and 30 seconds, with different ISO settings, but never considered changing from F2, as my poor brain was feeling under siege. I don’t know how you lot do it, lol. So a few pictures of the Orion Nebula were obtained. They certainly won’t be winning any awards, but I’m quite pleased with them as they are my first ever Astro shots. The focussing was definitely out as all the stars are a bit snowball-like. But I’ve learned some stuff, so that’s a good thing. Need to purchase a Bhatinov mask, and also take the plunge and try and get my head round the software side of things. Upgrade the mount to the Williams Optics wedge, so polar alignment isn’t so hit and miss. And figure out how best to operate the new camera. A bit of a comedy of errors for the most part. I wanted to capture the Pleiades after my Orion session, but the ball head reached it’s limit before I could frame it. Pretty sure all I had to do was loosen the clutch, swing the whole thing through 90 degrees or so, and realign the ball head, but my brain was addled, out there in the cold and dark. So I decided to play it safe, and come back inside before anything expensive fell off 🤣. I’ll have more time when I get back home, and will be able to setup properly during daylight in preparation. I should have a lot more confidence then that things are as they should be. Setting up in the dark this evening was a bit of a worry. More positives than negatives though, so that’s progress in my book

Thanks both. Regarding Backyard EOS, I’m going to hold fire initially, as I’m hoping to purchase an ASIAIR as soon as I can. The thought of having a laptop, and all of the associated gumpf that goes with it fills me full of dread. It is very much Plan Z atm. I’m not doubting, for one second, how good it is. I just want to try and keep things simple. And looking at the way the app is laid out for the ASIAIR gives me hope. Cheers Alan. I did notice the Custom settings option, and made a mental note of it. No idea how to implement it yet, but I shall definitely delve into it once I have found my “go to” Astro settings. I’m just a bit cross with myself as I was trying to swap the declination bracket configuration around as per Peter Zelinka’s excellent setup video. I made the rookie mistake of using the included Allen key, which dutifully turned into cheese, and buggered up two of the heads. I know, I should have stopped once the first screw failed, but you don’t do you? So now I have a plate that refuses to move, and an ill-balanced rig. And, because I’m working away I don’t have any “proper” tools with me. Looks like Amazon time again

Wow! Thanks Heather @Tiny ClangerThat is really kind of you. I have a few spare hours this afternoon, so shall have a good look at that video. I need all the help I can get 😄

Thanks @nephilim The lens is, indeed, a beast. Both my new 80D and Samyang lens arrived this morning. I have to say that I’m currently in the land of the bemused. It’s the first DSLR I’ve ever owned, and, erm, well..... It’s a bit complicated isn’t it? 🤣 I had an old Pentax SLR back in the day, so thought I might have a tiny heads-up. I thought wrong. Still, there is an absolute wealth of YouTube stuff to bring me up to speed. Very impressed with the auto focusing of the EOS system. The kit lens is an absolute joy to use. However, after taking a few snaps with both lenses, the Samyang is streets ahead in just how amazingly sharp it is. I took some snaps of a tree about a third of a mile away, and am astonished how much detail it has picked up. Yes, I think I shall follow you in ordering the Bhatinov mask. My own eyes cannot be trusted to focus a camera properly. Even with glasses on. Currently enjoying blue(ish) skies in Exeter, and I was half-hoping that it might continue into the evening so that I could test a few things out. However, the reality of it is that I need to get better acquainted with camera, lens and Skyguider before I attempt anything. I have deliberately held off from the software side of things. Stacking software etc. My little brain will melt if I have to deal with anymore variables just yet. Exceptionally excited though.

On the original link you posted, does the focus ring make focussing more precise? It looks like it should as it effectively increases the diameter.

Thanks. I’ll have another peep