Space Oddities

So I tried with the scope up and the camera, and indeed, it's a "drag creator". The focus didn't change with the weight of the camera, in fact, even slightly pushing or pulling didn't have an effect. Which is convenient and well thought if I need to adjust focus during imaging Thanks for your guidance!

Ah, I see what you mean! Well that's what I was afraid of: the weight of the camera changing the focus when the scope is in an exotic position. I'll do some tests when I get home! Thanks Ray!

Thanks for your answers! Well, that was my initial guess, but when I tighten the knob, the focuser doesn't lock I'm not sure if I should try tightening it more. I'll try to contact the manufacturer! PS: here is a pic from the bottom, and there's indeed no knob to turn:

Hello! I recently received my little TS-Optics PhotoLine 60mm f/6 FPL53 Apo. It's basically the same scope as the William Optics ZenithStar 61 and the AstroTech AT60 ED. It looks great, but I'm a bit confused. I would like to lock the focuser when I'm done focusing on a star, but I don't know how. Initially, I thought I should turn that big red knob on the top, but it doesn't seem to have any impact on the focusing system. Actually, it doesn't seem to have an impact on anything... Did I miss anything? Or do i have a faulty scope? Thanks for your help! Pierre

Indeed! It's really stellar I started using it for daylight photography as well, and it's excellent in this field too

Interesting topic! Great to see what you can achieve with a limited setup Here is a modest contribution to the topic: I took this photo of M42 with a tripod and a Samyang 135mm on Christmas Eve last year in Switzerland I believe I took about 200 subs of 1 (or 1.5) seconds, stacked in DSS. Pardon the strange colors, that's one of my first astro pictures and I was trying a few things back then! I love this image, because it didn't require a heavy or expensive setup. Astrophotography can seem unreachable for many, and it did for me, but it's actually not so difficult to get decent pictures Provided you have some time and a tripod!

I have read many times that these lenses are a bit soft for DSO, even though they are good for wildlife and sports. But that should not stop you from trying! Lens performance is subjective, after all. I could only find a couple examples on Astrobin, but that's the Contemporary version (which I think differs from the Sports version): https://www.astrobin.com/gear/61400/sigma-150-600-mm-contemporary/ There is also the Tamron, not the same brand of course, but that will give you an idea of what can be achieved with similar specs: https://www.astrobin.com/gear/36000/tamron-tamron-150-600mm-f5-63-di-vc-usd/ Also, when I want to find examples pictures with a given lens or scope, I usually type e.g. "astrobin canon 400mm" in my search engine. Astrobin is good for referencing the gear used, and there are always a lot of sample pictures to analyse!