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Chris Tardif

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    Aurora, Ontario, Canada

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  1. Yes. RASA 8 weighs 17 pounds the CEM 40 can handle 40. Check out Ben's Astrophography on YouTube. He's got a 22lb Newtonian on his. Looking back on this thread, I commented when I was about to receive my CEM-40. Ten months later I am very happy with it. I have the usual photography kit including me ED-102. I took it out once when it was below -15c. The mount performed significantly better than I did. It turns out that I didn't need a mount that could perform at lower temperatures because that's just too cold to be imaging. My limit is -10c.
  2. There is a forum run by Explore Scientific for the IEXOS-100 and other PMC mounts. You will find it here: https://espmc-eight.groups.io/g/MAIN Chris
  3. Plate solving is your friend. This web site: http://nova.astrometry.net/ will allow you to upload an image and it will label the stars and other objects within the field of view. You can integrate the software into your imaging and alignment process. One such piece of software can be found here: http://www.astrogb.com/astrogb/All_Sky_Plate_Solver.html
  4. I am guiding. My success with this mount without guiding was 30 seconds.
  5. I use a DSLR on mine. I also have it set up for autoguiding. I don't think you're going to get sharp images without autoguiding unless you have short exposures. I am using a 400mm lens with 3 minute exposures. I found the link: https://espmc-eight.groups.io/g/MAIN/message/3767?p=,,,20,0,0,0::relevance,,prototype,20,2,0,32000376 I use SharpCap for PA and it works well. I am a big fan of my "little mount that could"......It's managed to do everything I asked of it so far. Although today I'm going to ask it to hold my new 102mm FCD-100 which I am going to pick up right now! In the mean time:
  6. They do have a polar scope in development. No firm ETA, but they are testing and I think it will be out by the end of the summer.
  7. I have one. It is my first GOTO mount and I've only been at this for less than six months. As everyone knows there is a steep learning curve with astrophotography and I picked a challenging mount to learn on. The big question is what do you want to use it for? If you want to use it for visual observing with a small refractor as shown in the video then you should be fine. If you want to use it for astro-photography it can be challenging. The biggest issue with it is polar and star alignment. I use SharpCap and ASPS for polar alignment and plate-solving respectively. Without them I think it would be impossible to use for astro-photography. There is no polar scope...they have a hole that runs through the axis which they want you to look through and find Polaris. It's completely useless. The second problem is adjusting the base. The only way to adjust it is to loosen the base and move it right / left. It can be done, but it's not like there are adjustment bolts. I spend a lot of time with polar alignment even with SharpCap. If the mount is used strictly as advertised and according to its specs you should be fine. I have been using mine successfully with 400mm and 70-200 lenses. Keep in mind it is a $500 (CDN) mount and like all things in life you get what you pay for. All in all I am happy with it, but it has some considerations. also suggest you read through the support group. https://espmc-eight.groups.io/g/MAIN. Visual observing with a small refractor and the tablet / Explore Stars App I give it a 4/5 stars because of cost and full features. Astrophotgraphy maybe between 2-3 starts because of polar and star alignment challenges, but in the end I'm at a place where I'm taking 3 minute guided exposures on a $500 mount...so that's pretty good. I will say that support is excellent. Jerry Hubbell the Explore Scientific VP of engineering is active on the support forum as well as Kent Marts their support lead. Both are great guys and very helpful. Hope this helps. Chris
  8. I am expecting delivery of an Explore Scientific 102mm FCD-100...should be arriving tomorrow by 5pm if I believe FedEx....and yes I completely realize I am putting the cart before the horse. I just started tinkering with this hobby in February when I bought an Explore Scientific iEXOS-100 mount. It was $500 CDN and I got it as a "proof of concept". My plan was to use cameras and lenses I already had to see if I enjoyed this. What I learned so far is that this is an immensely satisfying and frustrating pursuit. I ramble.... All of these mounts will hold my new refractor. My questions are do I buy the forever mount (CEM60), the cheapest mount (EQ6R) or the newest mount (CEM40). All of which will meet my short term needs and all of which have drawbacks. The CEM60 is expensive, the EQ6R is heavy and the CEM40's minimum operating temperature is -10c. Living in Canada it can be -10 from December to March. The CEM40 is the front-runner...maybe I just wrap a dew-heater around it. My two month plan is to put the ES-102 on the little iESOX-100 mount and watch it cry while I figure out what to do. I hope to have the new mount by end of summer. Thanks!
  9. Nothing like being late to a thread, but in my quest for a new mount (still undecided (CEM40, CEM60, EQ6R-Pro)) I found a graphic that shows how the capacity of a mount falls off as the diameter of the OTA increases. It lives here: https://astro-physics.com/mach2gto I would think that all mounts would behave in a similar manner.
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