alex_wells88

Thank you to all for your comments! It turns out the camera was just not perfectly flat to the mounting, and light was hitting the sensor at a slight angle. Once lined up properly I had a nice sharp image And excellent point about through window shooting, Han Solo

Hi Olly, Thanks for the reply! The drawtube (I presume this is the tube that moves out of the scope as I focus and has a ruler etched into it) extends 10.5cm and seemed to have plenty of travel either side of focus. I have a 1" extension tube on the camera mount, but it seems that if push the extension tube all the way in, I just focus out the same distance, and if I pull it out, I have to travel the drawtube the equivalent distance closer to the scope. I'm probably missing something obvious, but the extension seems to just act as a longer draw tube and I have plenty of extra play in that. I'm wondering now if the camera was mounted at a slight angle to the scope, as it is only affixed by two screws. Alex

Hi! I am very new to astrophotography, and I have 'upgraded' from a 200mm camera lens I was using to a Explore Scientific ED 80mm apo. I don't have clear skies yet so can't test it astro-objects, but with my daytime testing, I'm a little confused about the optical clarity I'm getting with the DSLR mounted on the telescope vs with a camera lens vs with my phone down the eyepiece; so I'm hoping someone can help! Attached is my comparison images below: 1) Nikon D7200 coupled directly to Explore Scientific ED 80 2) Nikon D7200 couples to its 200mm telephoto lens (and zoomed in to match the FOV) 3) Samsung phone photo down the 25mm EP + Diagonal mounted on the ED80 As you can see, the camera lens seems to provide a much sharper image, as does the phone down the eyepiece.... Have I coupled something incorrectly? Would a field flattener help with the sharpness in the middle of the FOV? Why does the eyepiece yield a better image than camera direct to scope? Many many thanks for any replies!