Paul2019

So after much deliberation I decided to purchase the am3, Sharpstar 50edph and reducer. 
 

review on the 50edph when it arrives and clear skies show their head! 
 

I came to the conclusion that I just needed to go for it, and while I was there I bought all the parts for a new pc for pixinsight whilst I was at it! 
 

thanks for your replies and help,

paul

On 26/12/2023 at 23:19, Elp said:

The main benefit of a HD mount is the lack of need for counterweights, so useful if you setup and break down each time or if you need to pack it all together or carry it off site. The added benefit of the ZWO ones (and equivalent that have HD drives in both Ra and Declination) is you don't need to spend time balancing in both axis either, extremely useful for your pds. They can also carry relatively large loads for their incredibly light weight and small form factors.

If your current mount is performing and not offering any inconveniences then there's no real need to replace or upgrade it, only you can decide this also due to your financial investment.

I understand your "want" to change scope or get an additional, I had the 130pds and though it offers fantastic value and sharp optics, it needs considerable tweaks to get it up to good performance, but being a Newtonian it will also always be cumbersome compared to a small refractor if you need to setup every time and it will also be more susceptible to breeze vibration if not setup in a wind shielded area, something refractors are less prone to.

If you want wide, a small refractor frames targets much better. If you want wide AND fast, consider the Samyang 135mm F2 lens instead, an equivalent refractor can't touch it for raw speed and it's one of the best astro imaging optics period, crazy considering it's not even designed for the purpose. There is a slight quality lottery with them, and you may (will) get tilt issues but you can get them at decent prices used if you're patient. I've been using them for a few years with the 183, works fantastic, have a look at my latest project of the heart and soul nebula in the deep sky imaging section.

Amazing images, I actually used to own a decent sy135, very much regret getting shot now! Your very much correct in that I just don’t want to make the required tweets at this time to the 130pds and with the 183, the FOV isn’t as wide as I would like for some targets I would like to image. 
 

your heart and soul looks amazing, far better than my attempt last year. Albeit this was with an EQ6r, sy135, and 2000d. 
 

which leads to the next point, 

On 27/12/2023 at 14:49, Xsubmariner said:

Hi Paul, you mention astrograph and reducers so I assume your primary goal is DSO Astrophotography (AP).  What is no clear is if you require lightweight equipment and easy mobility. You have implied financial limitations. 

May I suggest you consider lower cost mount options along the lines of the NEQ6 etc, this will free more funds for the inevitable extras that come with DSO AP (focus motor, guide scope and camera, filters, filter wheel if mono). My mobile system consists of an NEQ6 (dark frame tweaked) mount that has ably supported up to 130mm triplet with full AP accessories. Depending on DSO target of interest I swap out the 130 for an Esprit 80 or Redcat 51. AP is an exciting hobby that can get expensive very quickly as your expertise grows. Enjoy the journey and good luck.

the reason I sold my eq6r was due to the weight and setup time involved, now with the EQM I’m having a similar issue. Not that I’m unhealthy or unable to move it but it deters me from making use of the limited imaging time available. 
 

I suppose that I know the am3 is the mount for my needs (weight, portability) and I intend at least initially to use the skywatcher tripod from the EQM, but should I prioritise this over optics? 
 

Either way, I need a small widefield refractor for my imaging needs this will be either: 

Redcat 51 (currently number 1 on the list) 

Askar FRA300 

Sharpstar 50EDPH plus matching reducer

ZWO FF65

Now if I don’t get the mount my budget will enable me to get any scope on the list but if I go for the mount I may either have to extend the budget to get quality optics or take a punt on the Sharpstar which frankly could be a bit of a gamble as it has no proven history yet…. 
 

this post may even just be me convincing myself that it’s a good purchase for my needs. 
 

thanks 

paul

Looks like you managed to get focus eventually! I’ll leave the diagonal conversation to others that know better than I, but I think you over exposed when you got focus. 
 

I’ve only used my ASI183mm pro on Jupiter to get somewhat focused to PA but I know that I had to use video mode and very short exposures <50ms to actually get a view, maybe that will help with your conundrum? 
 

HTH 

Paul

10 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

When you say better telescope from the 50ELP do you mean better match your field of view requirement or something else?

As in a full blown astrograph, thinking potentially along the lines of a fra300 or a Zwo ff65 or potentially a WO GT series scope. 
 

Whilst the general advice given that I’ve seen tends to be get the best mount you can afford, I’m more on the cusp of get a better mount than I already have or better optics and utilise what I already have. 
 

difficult decision, one half of me says that I need a better mount but the other says if I get a widefield refractor (albeit likely without massively wide views with my camera) that the EQM will be plenty sufficient. 
 

thanks 

paul

Hi All,

currently running an EQM3-5 and I’m pondering an upgrade. 
 

Scope wise I’m currently using a 130pds with an asi183mm pro. I’m not particularly happy with the FOV I get for most deep sky but it’s pretty decent for galaxy work. 
However, I’m not enjoying the colimation or addition faff with coma correctors. 
 

So I’m considering buying a refractor, either a redcat or perhaps the new offering from Sharpstar the 50edph with matching reducer. 
 

leading to the main question, should I upgrade to a AM3? Evidently I’m sure the EQM will be fine with a short focal length refractor and if this is going to be my main imaging rig, will I feel the benefit of the AM3? If I didn’t upgrade the mount I could afford a substantially better scope. 

thanks for your reply’s

paul

Amazing work guys! Let’s keep it coming 😀

Here’s mine, M31 through a Samyang 135

and DSLR. 

Hi all, 

I figured since it’s been such a rough year for astrophotography that maybe we could have a years showcase thread. 
 

i thought it would be nice if everyone shared their favourite image of the year! 

1 hour ago, Elp said:

You can capture lum as long as you have the lum or UV/IR filter at hand.

Either option, if you want to make a quality image, you need many hours of total time, at least 10-20 minimum. So in my experience, yes you can technically get an image in one session via OSC, but it's not necessarily any faster, in fact mono is technically faster as you're utilising all pixels on the sensor as opposed to 1/4 or 1/2. The main impact is your post processing workflow is slightly longer.

With mono you'll be astounded by what you can capture with a HA filter alone on emission nebula, you could if you wanted just continue with this and produce excellent greyscale images. You also have the benefit of imaging in LP, even right next to the moon which I've done though the latest OSC narrowband filters may have a thing to say.

I've got both, including a 533MC. But my 183MM is my workhorse.

Why the 183 opposed to the 533? 

My DSLR has died! So I need to get a new camera and it makes sense to get a dedicated Astro cam. 
 

it must be of the Zwo offering and essentially I’m half scared to death to get a mono camera having never used mono and with the seriously limited number of imageable nights I worry that I’ll never manage to get enough subs to make an image. 
 

In addition to the terror of going mono the other consideration is cost, so first question is if I go mono can I start luminance captures until I can afford a set of RGB filters and later narrowband filters? 
 

In my mind I feel that the camera will either be a 533mm or 533mc (cooled). 
 

my current scope is a 130pds with gso coma corrector but I think I will probably change to a stellamira ed80 doublet in the nearish future. 
 

I would love some reassurance on the mono front and advice in respect to if this camera is the best suited model that’s currently on offer! 
 

thanks 

Paul 

Find user of the zwo120mm mini here, use it with asi air and has been faultless for me. Easy to use, setup etc could ask for better 

Looks great, only feedback I can offer is to not use the l-pro filter for non broadband targets. For ha you want the l-enhance, l-extreme or l-ultimate. I suspect the l-pro is why you have those circular artifacts too. 
 

stars are nice and round so your doing something right! Don’t forget to share your next one too 😄

Looks great 👍 love seeing what objects people can get in these little fracs, helps with buying decisions. Thanks 

Had a Google for an adaptor, as previously mentioned it appears to be non possible. Thanks for the help

Hi all, 

Fun question! I’ve seen some Sony Samyang 135mm for sale considerably cheaper than the canon alternative. I was wondering if it is possible to use a Sony lens on a canon DSLR for Astro work? 
 

eventually I will upgrade to a Zwo camera then use a m48 mount but until that point will it work? Cost saving is around £200 

This led me to an interesting question, as you didn’t mention if the camera is mono or colour. Can you use regular narrowband filters with a colour camera? Or are you limited to the duo, tri band filters such as l-enhance or l-ultimate. Sorry for the hijack 

Thanks, looks great! 
 

one of the big things I struggle with is colour. I’m colour blind and never get it quite right. Recently I’ve tried using the photo metric colour calibration in PI and just leaving it there. 
 

sadly I think I overdid the star reduction and dbe on the image but looks much better in your version. 
 

big learning curve in processing arguably more so than acquiring the data in the first place! 

43 minutes ago, alacant said:

Hi

Amazing detail for just 90 minutes. Love it.
I've had a go at altering the image. With your permission I'll post it here as it's difficult to describe otherwise.

Cheers

Please do, love seeing what others can do with my data 

After much regret selling my EQ-6 on last year; I have decided its time for another crack at it all. I'm planning on repurchasing a Samyang 135mm and an eqm35 mount as I feel this would be a much better size and should work well on the target payloads I intend to image with. For now Ill utilise my trusty Star Adventurer mini and 50mm Lens, I was in fact hoping that tonight I would of got some perseids shots but alas the sky gods decided otherwise. 

I've been busy reprocessing some data I got last year on the Heart and Soul Nebula and thought I would share it with you! I think I may have over done the star reduction. Taken with Samyang 135, Eq6-r, Canon 2000D, Optlong L enhance. Approx 1.5 hours intergration 

Clear skies 

M45 between and through the clouds 30 x 120s subs. No time for flats because of the rain! Came out to the kit soaked. 
 

processed in pixinsight but only lightly as most of the tools I use didn’t like my data. 
 

still nice to get back out for a bit, really struggled recently with the weather 

I don’t have the mount you describe and I’m very beginner myself but just going to throw it out there,

Is the date/time correct? 
Your latitude and longitude correct? 
Mount Level? 
3 point polar aligned with good accuracy? 
 

I only mention these because all of them have bit me whilst learning to use NINA and my new mount 

Looks like a good result for half hour and a rough polar alignment! 
 

I’ve been developing my setup and spent a lot of time recently imaging the Cygnus loop and found that using starnet++ and running some star reduction really helps it pop in post processing. 

Thought I would add this here, due to varying circumstances I only got half hour of data again! But used the eq6 and a L-enhance filter and the difference is quite remarkable 

Here’s to comparisons for you first we have a Canon 50mm stm f2.8

next we have the Samyang 135mm f2 

both imaging the Cygnus loop, using a eos2000d. Around half hour intergration each using PI and the same processing workflow (although the Samyang is probably slightly better processed as my skills improve albeit slowly).

But I’m super new so couldn’t offer any advice but know myself when considering kit direct comparisons are always helpful. So hope this helps 😊