DaveL59

The issue you'll get with IR from the illuminator will be where it scope/camera is positioned relative to the IR source. If it can hit the front of the scope/lens then you may well see flare in the image as you would with back lit scenes in daytime. Should the IR source come into the FoV of the scope/camera then it'll be like shining a torch, you'll get a big bright lamp in the image. An IR filter won't cut either effect at all as its just too bright. I see this with my cameras that do have IRcut filters. If you are placing a camera in the obsy then it'll be very close to the scope so IR reflection and illumination of the surfaces may well cause some effects. Best to place the camera low, possibly blank off the majority of IR LEDs so there's just enough IR to pick out the detail you need, and mount it below the region where the scope may need to navigate to.

here you go, not swift in this article but I expect they are a similar arrangement and it explains how the focuser is put together. Help repairing focuser - Binoculars - Cloudy Nights Looks quite fiddly to do and the rubber grip would need to be slid off to access. Probably why I didn't worry to do it at the time as mine were working. I just ran a couple drops of oil into the end which eased things up and figured I'll get round to doing a full strip down later.

Hi John I've yet to pull the pair of those I have completely apart, the focus movement is a little scratchy so must get round to doing that one day. One thing worth checking is are the two eyepieces straight and level and securely held by their centre clamp bolt at the pivot. If they are free to tilt/rock then they can bind on the tube they ride over and can give the impression of the focuser mechanism binding. I've only taken these apart as far as removing the eyepieces and top plates, then the prisms & carriers so I could do a full clean of the glass surfaces at this time. Given the big improvement and that the focuser was working ok I've not gone any further yet, I believe there is a pin in helix type arrangement under the large focuser wheel so its possible that pin has come loose. I recall some information on that somewhere on the web, will post if I do find it in case it helps. Yours do look in pretty good shape otherwise, they are a very nice bino and very solid build quality so hopefully you can get them sorted to enjoy them properly 🙂

under win-10 you can use the editor built into the photos viewer app I believe, which would let you crop a section out by moving the start/end points to where you want them to be. Doesn't sound right to open video with the "Photos" app but it is there already and may do what you need. Just click on the "Edit & Create" button top right and select what you want to do. Also there's VirtualDub and then perhaps use Castrator (http://www.astrokraai.nl/castrator.php) to crop things more centered.

Yep the weather of late has been a bit of a let down for sure. I did have a fiddle with phone control of my Sony A77ii but its so limited its of little real use. Till I get an intervalometer sorted I just use the old remote shutter release from my M9000 film camera as luckily its the same connector 🙂 Might have been easier tho to have just set the self-timer to 3 or 10 sec to allow the vibration to dampen down till you have the controller, but now you have the phone working you've both options...

ahhh seems it can be lucky being single and living alone once more 😉 Tho sadly all fast moving cloud here so am indoors in the warm instead, such is life.

The CZJ Sonnar 180mm f2.8 is pretty nice, tho huge and heavy being a medium format lens, there's a thread in the photography section for it. Works nicely on my Sony A77ii tho 🙂

I guess there's also differing needs according to the scope used. A lot of the older scopes were "slow" but the short fast scopes these days put different demands on the eyepieces so there's a lot of options now out there. For many of my older ones I've had them apart for cleaning the glass surfaces and where not already, blacked the lens edges which has made a slight improvement on the views. The teeny tiny lenses in some of those sure were a pain to work with tho!

if your phone has a pro mode for the camera you could try turning down the ISO and increasing the shutter speed to tone down the over-bright areas and show the texture across the surface. Case of try different things till you find what works but a nice first shot to get you hooked 🙂

ahh Roy, I did look at trying to accumulate some of the Zeiss ones, but I'd so go bankrupt in a flash looking at the prices they go for 😮 Seems the better route would be to buy a telementor with some of them already included, not that those are a budget buy either.

ahh the kidney-bean shaped one? Tis a moose (wireless) and the one above and to the right of the eyepieces is a vintage Zeiss Sonnar 180mm f2.8 or rather the hood only in view. The newest eyepieces I own are Vixen NPL 20 & 10mm and the Svbony 8-24 and 7-21mm zooms. I don't count the kit ones that SW and Celestron supply 😉 I more generally would use the TAL plossls, the zoom and Vixens on the main scopes, but for the TAL-M I use the originals as the 1.25's don't come to focus unless barlowed and tbh they do give good views up to x139. The 0.965's are used in the vintage frac and are good, tho I do sometimes pop the 1.25 adaptor in and use the more modern ones too. That said, the old ortho's give nice sharp views so on the right night I'll use them for planetary as well.

Hi there and welcome to the forum and a Merry Xmas eve too. For the RDF there should be 2 adjuster wheels which you can tweak the aim left-right and up-down so that you can get the star under the dot to correlate with the eyepiece view. It is far easier tho to do this in daylight on a fixed target such as a reasonably distant street lamp (which you can also do at night) or a building/aerial. Reason being is that it won't move while you are making adjustments where a star/planet will do. As for magnification that will be largely dependant on seeing conditions but always good to start with the 20mm for lowest magnification then work up to the 12. The SR4 sadly aren't usually very good when supplied with modern scopes (which do you have by the way?) and you may find the view is better with the 20 and x3 barlow, perhaps the 12+x3 barlow. That would depend too on the quality of the barlow which may not be too great - is it a plastic bodied one? For Mars, it is quite small as are all the planets but you should be able to see it is a larger orange-ish disc compared to a bright dot that stars appear as. More magnification may tease out a little detail but how far you can sensibly go will depend on the scope being used too. Ideally an upgrade to better eyepieces would give a better experience but again Mars would still appear small. Have you taken a look at the "what can I expect to see" thread? It gives a pretty good idea of what to expect when using a scope, sadly a crash to reality for many new scope owners who are taken in by the pretty images on the ads and box. At least it may help correlate your views to what you perhaps hope to see 🙂

Wow I seem to have collected a fair few in the short time I've been dabbling in this hobby. The vintage 0.965-inch set The older TAL 32mm fit from the TAL-M and TAL-1 and then there's the TAL 1.25-inch ones along with a couple old ortho and of course the brass plossl from 1950's (0.965 inch) that came with the vintage scope I bought a few months ago

Be careful with the multi-outlet adaptors as you often find the plug used has the positive (centre) not fully recessed so it is very possible to make accidental contact and short stuff, especially if the end makes contact with the mount body - a few tales of woe on fried mount electronics on here. Best to tape over or cap any plugs that you are not using just in case. For the PSU, all the 12v gear you could in theory run off a single PSU if it has enough capacity. Best to add up what your load is and then add 50% or better double it and buy that rating. More expensive but you should see less issues esp during surge loads like slewing. My EQ5 goto is in theory max 2A during fast slew so I run that off a 5A PSU brick with no issues. I'm not imaging or using dew heaters tho. As David above says, the newer tech batteries are better than lead ones, the LiFePo ones are much lighter for the same effective capacity and are not as maintenance sensitive, as in you do not need to keep them on a top-up/float charge. Downside is they are very expensive by comparison, at least at single unit pricing. I have thought to phase out the lead batteries in my UPS units but the LiFePo costs are a few times that of lead, tho they may well last the equivalent of 3x the replacement cycle (3-5 years) of the lead ones. If you can keep the battery off the ground, perhaps in an insulated box, that may improve your runtime results a little if the battery was warmed up to room temp before you started.

Batteries lose performance in cold conditions so you would find it'll have apparently less capacity. Assuming it is a lead-acid battery from the 17AH rating, you'd also see voltage drop off once down below say 60-70% so in effect your 17AH would be more like 8AH in those conditions, perhaps. I may help if you can keep it off the concrete but even so the cold temps will still have its effect on performance.

yeah its plastic unfortunately so if teeth have been lost then warranty replacement will be the way to go. Given the time left to the holiday I doubt they'll be able to do anything nor will the postal services, so if you can now reach focus, may as well have a couple days use out of it before sending it back...

you may find that the tripod column is 1/4 once the head is removed, just a thought 🙂

does sound like the best option considering it's a new scope so warranty should cover getting it sorted.

what's the screw thread in the base of the mount you're looking to fit, 3/8 or 1/4-inch? If 3/8 you can get an adaptor, assuming the head on the Braun is removable (likely but worth asking, perhaps) unless you plan on mounting it on the ball head.

well done, hopefully less cold on the hands when using them and doesn't look so bad. Heck I'd not be in a rush to get them re-done at cost so long as they look reasonable and are usable 🙂

I think the issue you'd have will be stability on lightweight tripods, esp with a 5KG load. A carbon fibre one might work or one designed for video use but the latter won't be compact or light and either won't be low cost. Perhaps a lucky used find might land you something but I'd expect even then you'd be looking at £80+

What's the travel on the focuser like tho Alan? As short as the OP's pics? I'd expect it should hit focus with the erecting diagonal, ok not the best for stars but focus should be possible and this seems to be the problem they are having.

ouch that doesn't look like much travel at all, a different focuser to the one on mine so hopefully someone who has direct experience with one of these may be along to advise further. For sure you'd need the diagonal or an extension tube. Are you feeling that it gets closer to focus as it hits the furthest out it will go? If that's the case what you could try is unscrew the lens off the barlow and fit that into the scope first as an extension, then the diagonal and eyepiece and see if that'll reach focus.

any chance you can post a pic of the focuser at its furthest out and as you have it set up for use? My LT70AZ drawtube gets focus at around 2-inches and can go much further. This was on some treetops around 150m away. Not sure if yours has a locking screw as mine doesn't, but there's no clicking when extended. Almost sounds like you've racked it back off the end of the rack but I don't think that's possible from the design as on mine the end of the rack gearing is an un-machined/formed block which would act as an end-stop. Is the focuser very slack to turn or quite firm/tight?

welcome aboard. Is it the RA motor or the gearbox internals that are worn? UK based but they may be able to rebuild if they are still in business, or there may be someone in the US that can service the gearbox AWR Technology (Astronomy - Electronics) Telescope Maintenance