Marmo720

11 hours ago, Elp said:

No, it charges full VAT at checkout like most websites shipping to UK do post Brexit.

Your total price importing should be:

1. Item cost (paid to vendor),

2. Item cost VAT at + 20pc (paid to vendor),

3. Shipping cost (paid to vendor unless the unlikely scenario you have the option to arrange courier yourself),

4. VAT on shipping at + 20pc (paid to vendor),

5. Import duty (paid to courier company or destination countries local parcel service upon item arrival into destination country, they then remit HMRC together with the VAT passed onto them previously by vendor), this rate is dependent on the export commodity code declared by the exporter of the goods on the invoice attached to the package, you can look up the commodity code on the gov website and find the percentage rate of duty. As a rough estimate add (1+3) and multiply it by the import duty percentage,

6. Some couriers may charge a small handling fee for managing the delivery and customs process (paid to courier upon import),

7. Currency conversion charge from your payment method issuer, may or may not apply, it's usually cheaper to pay in the host countries currency or what currency they're asking for (will be applied to your item payment transaction on your card account only (ie vendor doesn't receive it, it's an additional charge to you)).

 

When I've looked into it via ZWO, there's little to no saving. Other items I've sourced I've saved a lot. Many items the brand won't sell direct due to existing distribution agreements.

Thank you - that is very helpful! 

Does Aliexpress pay some of the vat etc so you only had to pay a small 5% fee? Otherwise there wouldn’t be any difference between Aliexpress order and direct from ZWO I thought? 
 

Thanks for the help by the way! 

2 hours ago, tomato said:

I purchased a RisingCam IMX 571 via Aliexpress, I had to pay import duty on it when it got to the UK, about 5% of the purchase price.

Is that total of all the fees? 5% to order the 2400/6200 from zwo direct would be a great price compared to cost here. 

Thanks - very tempted! 

Yeah I did the same months ago but I don’t think the population of 2400mc owners is large enough and those that have it tend to hold on to them it seems. 
 

Also anyone selling it at 70% of new would probably be looking for £2400 ish I think. I am tempted with the £2900 ish price from Aliexpress that you mentioned earlier if that definitely covers taxes etc. Do you have a link for that as never ordered from Aliexpress before. 
 

Otherwise might order from ZWO directly and see what happens when it gets here  

On 22/08/2023 at 14:11, pmlogg said:

Thanks for that.  It was the support and software compatibility I had most in mind but the accessories are another issue I hadn't considered.  Similarly, I'd not noted the backfocus differences but I think I could manage that with the adapters I have now.

The front plate of all the versions, except the QHY, seem to have the same hole pattern and 2.5mm size.  I have an M54 ZWO filter drawer that I would want to use with the camera.

Did you end up going for one and if so, which? 

Hopefully this is the right section but please move if not!

I am considering purchasing my first non-refractor scope in the form of the Celestron Edge HD 9.25. I do exclusively astrophotography and live in bortle 8 London. My aim for getting this scope would be for planets/galaxies/smaller nebula at F7 mostly and occasionally F10 when required. I will also try the hyperstar in the future but that isn't my focus for now as I have smaller refractors I use to image those FL.

My questions is if the edge HD 9.25 will be fine with image on a Cem 40 mount on a tri-pier? I like this mount for how light it is (although the tri-pier is heavy!) so I can setup every night. My imaging camera is the ASI 2600mm pro. The largest scope I have used with it is the Esprit 100 and that worked very well. I don't think the weight of the edge HD 9.25 will be a problem but more the long focal length - even if I used exclusively at F7. 

Anyone with this setup and can help with suggestions please? I have looked online and a few posts in CN say it won't work while others say it will so I am split!

Thanks in advance. 

Hi @oymd - just wanted to say thank you for this write up. I was able to align subs taken from different telescopes and cameras and process them after. Couldn't find out how to do this with any other software and PI was confusing to follow. So your guide was really helpful! 

I thought I would ask here instead of new topic - what is the ideal setup for dual rig with 1 set of LRGB HaSiiOii? I can't afford to double up on some of the narrowband filters so checking how to maximise with 1 set.

Current thinking is:

Telescope 1 - RGB Sii Oiii

Telescope 2 - LHa

Thanks,

Mo

Really appreciate the discussion and I am learning so much - thanks all! 

At the moment, my planned setup (and I welcome comments/feedback!) is shown below. The resolution range is between 1.4-1.6 per pixel and so hoping the scale is close enough to not notice the difference once combined and processed. 

I have read that Pixinsight can register and stack subs from different telescopes like this but not had the chance to test this. Is that true or would I need Registrar?

1 hour ago, sloz1664 said:

I have the same scope & purchased this Reducer and works well, although it is micro sensitive regards spacing to obtain a flat field.

Steve

 

Thank you! That is good to know that it works. No one on the Altair Facebook group responded so assumed it wouldn't work.

I did the same but forgot to add in the weight for 2 cmos cameras, 2 EFW and the Skywatcher finderscope saddle is not light! But everything is solid and symmetrical so hopefully easier to balance.

I am still waiting on my 1600mm order to get the dual rig working. No clear nights has helped with the wait  

5 hours ago, carastro said:

I don't think I have weighed my set up Mo, but I so long as everything is balanced I don't have issues.  

I must admit to trying out my ED120 and ED80 as a dual rig on one occasion on the HEQ5 and even that seemed to work OK as well but I decided in the end I was pushing my luck on that combi and have not used it again. 

Since I don't use a CMOS camera I can't advise on sub length, but with my CCDs I can do 600secs no problem.  

Carole 

That is great to hear. I am sure balancing will be interesting but I intend to keep things in place once setup so hopefully works out long term. 

1 hour ago, sloz1664 said:

Unfortunately, I don't think the Altair Wave 80 has a reducer as I would have got it anyway for wider fov imaging. Unless other reducers work with it? Altair suggest otherwise from their support chat.

Is your Wave 80 the triplet scope?

Steve

Yes, the one linked to below but from a couple of years ago. I have the 1x Planostar flattener with it.

https://www.altairastro.com/altair-wave-series-80mm-f6-super-ed-triplet-apo-2019-457-p.asp

@carastro Just wanted to check if you had any issues with weight with your setup? I have most parts I need but realise now my total weight once all setup would be 11kg. I haven't gone past half way for my HEQ5 Pro before so wondering if I need to reduce the weight or it would be OK? I normally do 60sec subs and not sure if I need to reduce that or OK to go longer subs if needed in the future?

Thanks

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

I think that Altair Wave 80 is the same as TS 80mm APO? I use TS x0.79 reducer / flattener with it with ASI1600 for wide field.

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p5965_TS-Optics-REFRACTOR-0-79x-2--ED-Reducer-Corrector-fuer-APO-und-ED.html

On my "upgrade" list is this - and I think it will work also, but you'll have to dial in the spacing yourself:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p11122_Riccardi-0-75x-APO-Reducer-and-Flattener-with-M63x1-Thread.html

 

Yes it probably is the same. I have seen some people ask whether the 0.79 reducer would work on the Wave 80 despite the Altair website only mentioning the larger wave telescopes. The website suggests it might work though but with less spacing tolerance:

https://www.altairastro.com/altair-planostar-3-inch-079x-3-element-reducer-for-102-115-130mm-altair-triplet-refractor-285-p.asp

2 minutes ago, carastro said:

Actually I think we did "tell you about it" when you first started - lol.

Carole 

You certainly did. Evidence of me asking if £1k was enough is somewhere in this forum hahaha. Oh those days  

Thank you for all the feedback - very informative and helpful. 

@vlaiv Thanks for the breakdown. I had seen snippets of this in different places but good to have it together to think through. Unfortunately, I don't think the Altair Wave 80 has a reducer as I would have got it anyway for wider fov imaging. Unless other reducers work with it? Altair suggest otherwise from their support chat.

At the moment I have the 1600mm and the 183mm. Planned to sell the 1600mm but as the money had already left my account and I was so close to a dual rig, I am now contemplating spending more money to get a dual rig setup 🤣 This hobby!!!

@carastro Thanks Carole - I was inspired by your setup on your website as well as Sara. I am going to use the SW guidescope mount to align both telescopes. 

@ollypenrice Thanks for the guidance. Good to know with regards to the split for RGBOIII on one camera and LHa on the other. I believe Sara also does something similar. The reduced resolution with RGBOIII being not a huge significance is key in my thought process. My plan was:

1) For any target that could fit in the smaller FoV, I would use both telescopes where the higher resolution captures LHa and the lower resolution would compliment with RGBOIIISII. The field around the target would general be stars and so don't need to crop.

2) For any target that was larger than the smaller FoV, I would just use the wider FoV telescope combo and move the filter wheels around as required to capture complete data set. 

Thanks,

Mo

I have been reading up on dual rigs and considering the move myself but one thing I haven't seen an answer for is the difference between having equal/almost equal telescope + camera compared to combining different telescope + camera combinations. For example, I am considering this setup: 

1) 1600mm + Altair Wave 80

2) 183mm + Redcat 51

The combined FoV would look like:

In a dual rig, would it simply be the case I would crop the larger FoV of the Redcat combo and should then have double data for the Altair Wave 80 FoV? Any issues with doing this that I am missing? 

The advantage with this setup is then for a single rig, I have 4 different setups I could use from small to large targets while still being able to dual rig most targets.

Is there a big advantage to having matched telescope + camera that I am not aware of? I notice @ollypenrice and @swag72 use matched/almost matched setup. 

Thanks

On 17/10/2016 at 21:34, Gonzo said:

a sneak peek of the new box... (still a work in progress...)

The pier has been shorten by 10 cm, the box has a foot print of 90cm by 95cm (about the same as the previous box), the height has yet to be set but it should not be more than 70cm (give or take a cm or two, was about 90cm or so before).

It's going to be a roll on roof, mounted on telescoping rails. Outside walls will be ACM panels, then a breathable membrane then the inside walls of the box will be 5 mm plywood.

My tried and tested simple ventilation system will be put back, with some improvements. I did notice that the solar powered fan vent wasn't running at all on overcast days despite having a battery (I will sort this out).

@Gonzo or anyone else, where are those pillar legs from and would they work with the HEQ5 extension such as this:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/skywatcher-eq5heq5-extension-tube.html

Thanks

That's one way to combine your chores with your hobby

50 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

I'm giving the standard and wholesome advice but let me tell you that I used a rig over a two-year spell in which over-correcting flats were a persistent nightmare and which we never really fathomed. We found a solution which worked for a while and which, overnight, suddenly stopped working. Sometimes this game is beyond reason...

Olly

I hear that! I learnt the same with my canon and doing flats. Worked well for a bit, then flats stopped until I figured out why after weeks of trial and error. 

Frustrating but when it all works, very addictive! 

2 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Rather than asking folks to download the originals, I think you'd get more interest if you just made JPEGS of the files and showed them here. For the purposes of showing what's going on this would be fine.

My understanding is that the CCD trick of using a master bias as a Flat Dark (a dark for calibrating your flats) does not work. You need to shoot Flat Darks at the same settings as your flats.

As Roland said, the third image in his post is pretty flat.

Olly

Thanks Olly. I assumed people would prefer the raw masters to check but will do JPEGs going forward. 

Good to know regarding dark flats instead of bias as I come from Canon which worked fine with bias. I have tried the stack with dark flats and no luck. 

I am planning to do a clean capture session starting over just to make sure I haven't missed anything. 

Does anyone here have the Altair 1600m and can help with what settings they use? Would be very helpful and appreciated.

Thanks 

Below link for the master files if that is useful. Is the master dark ok? 

https://we.tl/t-XG1Jmo2rMZ?src=dnl

1 minute ago, RolandKol said:

Also,

I think it is worth to mention, - if I recall correctly, Mo did Darks and Bias via APT on Windows,

Lights and Flats, - via EKOS/Kstars on the RaspberryPi.

 

 

Yes, thought that might be issue so I will retake a new set of bias, darks and dark flats today before the rains come in and see if that makes a difference. 

The M51 data I attached are from clear night without clouds.