JimothyC

If it can be controlled by EQMOD, which according to the post above from FLO, it can. Then I don't see why not, I'm hoping to be able to do the same myself..

I'd also like an eqmod cable. I ordered a counterweight bar from Astroboot, but anything M12 will do. The one I got was 20cm long, but I think I'd have been better off with something a bit longer, to help balance my payload.

A nice man from DPD has just turned up, although he's not the postman he did bring me a shiny new ZWO ASiair and a ZWO ASi120mm mini. I've had a quick fiddle with the ASiair and it looks quite promising. It seems to dumb down your available options, but if you're looking to simplify your setup, it could be worth a go. I'm going to use mine when I'm away travelling in the van. I have an unrealistic vision of me sitting my the camp fire while I control things from my iPhone. The ASi120mm is already working much better than the QHY5L-II-M i have. The USB C Connector seems like a much better idea for astro cameras than the usual USB A. The downside is I have to buy yet another cable, so my matching set of Lindy cromo cables is maintained.

I'd be tempted to get rid of the camera strap. Any breeze at all and it will be flapping around and adding vibration.

Only just seen this, sorry I missed it. Looked great. Hopefully they'll do another next year.

Little bit of a breakthrough tonight. Not sure if it was the seeing, what with it being a little cooler, getting the focusing nailed or changes to the processing (I added PIPP to the workflow). But I'm starting to get some more detail out of the shots and finally starting to get some indication of the polar regions. I was starting to worry that I'd never get to see them with my little Mak. I suppose it could also be due to the dust storm settling and Mars being a tiny bit closer. Either way I'm happy with the improvement. These are the best 2 from the evening, the first might be a little over processed, or I might have just been staring at it too long. Shot with a Skywatcher Skymax 127 and an ASI178MC camera, sat on an AZ GTi mount.

And it's too large to fit . Oh well, come back clothes peg, all is forgiven.

A nice man from DPD turned up today with a little parcel from my Aunti Flo. Inside was a Mak to SCT converter and a Crayford focusser for my Mak 127. Sorry clothes peg, you've served me well, but now you're redundant. Oh and a couple of Bahtinov masks so I can make the most of my new found precision.

I’m presuming you’re screwing the camera directly onto the t thread on the back of your flattener. You might find one of these helpful. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/baader-t2-extension-tube.html sorry just reread your post and realise you’re already ensuring the correct spacing. Ignore me, I’ll go back in my box ?

When I attach my zwo camera to my field flattener, I add a 40mm extension to it to get the distance to the sensor roughly the same. Maybe you need to do the same? There should be a line on your DSLR indicating where the sensor plane sits. Compare that with the distance the sensor on your ZWO will sit. It should be the same distance. Im no expert on this, but it seems like a likely cause to me.

I've been trying to create a travelling astro imaging setup using a Star Adventurer and an Altair 70ED refractor (not the APO unfortunately). I've not been having much luck with it until now, but after getting a QHY Mini Guide scope and camera to add to the setup things have improved considerably. I'm not sure if it's the better polar alignment I get by using the guide camera and sharp cap pro, or if it's the guiding, but I've been able to do pretty reasonable 10 minute exposures with a 420mm scope on a cropped frame Nikon D7500, so around 630mm equivalent. This is my first successful image at deep sky imaging and is a combination of 30 x 60s, 10 x 90s, 10 x 120s, 5 x 240s and 2 x 600s @IS0 1600. I wish I'd done more longer exposures, but I didn't entirely trust the mount. The graph in PHD2 showed a lot of work being done to keep things on track. But you can definitely mount a 70mm scope and DSLR on a Star Adventurer and get usable images from it. I've not modified or tuned the mount in any way, but I have added an additional counterweight to make the payload balance.

I’m thinking of one of these as an electronic finder scope rather than as a guide scope. I’m using a Skymax 127 on an AZ-GTi on my balcony and once setup I don’t have enough room to look down a rdf. This and the narrow field of view of the scope is making initial aligntment a bit of a challenge. I thought with one of these and a ZWO camera I could do it all remotely from the comfort of my sofa. Is there any level of adjustment to ensure it’s pointing to the same place in the sky as the main scope? Or is this just meant for autoguiding.