Mick W

Thanks. I kept thinking the fact that the distortion is only on the right could mean a problem with the focuse tube but I wasn't sure. I'll give it a look next time we have a clear night. 😉

I ended up buying the SW ED80 and I must say it's a little belter. You have to zoom in 400% at least before you see any CA and then it's negligible. Happy camper.

Hi all. Hope you're keeping safe. Tried using my SW 200P last night with a coma corrector/Canon 650D/HEQ5 pro/APT/PHD2 and results at set up were terrible as you can see. Is this something to do with the optics or polar alighnment error? The PAE in PHD2 was over 11 arch sec with the weight of the tube. Is this the fault or do you think it's something else? I quickly switched to my SW ED80 and the results were far suppierior. Now I need to work out how to add a 2x Barlow when the camera is attached directly to the flattener and the FF screws straight into the tube. Any ideas on that will be very welcome too.

Good point. I'm on a HEQ5 shooting with a 650D both modded. I'll hopefully be getting out to dark skies as home viewing sucks. As I posted this question I started reading lots of SW ED80 comments again and that has got me thinking. Damn sight cheaper than the OTAs I have mentioned and portable. As a photographer of 30 years I can't believe how complicated this is. I went Nikon and bought the lenses I needed for that set up, end of story. The choices for AP is insane.

Woof! Nice looking scope and mid price point.

Hi all. The title says what I need to ask. I have been wracking my brains looking for a new refractor and I have narrowed it down to these 3. I know it's a big jump in price from the WO and TS to the Esprit but I thought I'd throw that in the mix. They will be used only for AP so I have looked at the faster triplets for all the reasons you would. Anyone have a preference or advise or even an addition to the mix? Thanks

Nice one.👍

G'day all. Another cry for help from a noob. I recently got hold of a QHY6 that I want to use as an auto guider along with a Skywatcher 9x50 SCOPE. I have bought the adapter and tried it in day light and all seems to work but trying to use it at night is a ball breaker. The screen on PHD2 is blank no matter how high or low I crank the gain. I managed to get something this evening with a fuzzy blob that is supposed to be Capella but no forward or back focusing of the scope brought it sharp and there was no sign of any other stars in the FOV. What am I missing? I know it's an older model and I have had to load older versions of PHD2 and Sharpcap to get recognition so I'm wandering if I've been sold a pup. The reviews from back in the day seemed promising so I know it can't be a bad camera. Any ideas on how I can use this before I bin it and go for a ZWO as I should of done in the first place. Any help would be most welcome. I'm on Windows 10 if that makes any difference and Sharpcap has now decided it doesn't recognize it again.

Outstanding reply and thank you very much. That has given me a lot to think about and I now see it's not the end of the world. Bravo and love you work Novi. 👍

Thanks Novi. Wow! That is depressing. I've been using 2 Skywatcher reflectors for the past year (130 and 200P) and I thought I'd give a refractor a go for more wide field imaging. I didn't want to break the bank just yet and see if I liked the results then step up to the big league. I thought the specs on the Svbony wouldn't produce the kind of aberration shown here. That's practically unusable and is going to take some serious photoshopping. I think the image of Capella might of been mixed in from a previous shoot and it is with the 220P reflector. I can see a purple circle behind the star that looks like a reflection of the scopes mirror. Is that right and if so how on earth do I get rid of it? I know people keep saying what an expensive and complicated hobby this is but man it's just relentless. Still, it's in the blood now and I'm in for the long haul.

G'day all. I received my OTA (above) from China this week and managed to get a couple of hours imaging. The scope is supposed to be an achromatic doublet but the results don't bare that out or am I doing something wrong? As you can see from the Pleiades there seems to be massive chromatic aboration around the main stars. In the image of Capella there is a purple halo but that also shows up when I use my reflectors. I just had my Canon 650D moded (IR filter cut) and I'm wandering if that is a factor? If we get a clear night tonight I'm going to test with my Sony A7rii to compare. I'm a bit of a newbie to AP but a pro photographer of over 25 years and theses images are not giving me the satisfaction I expected. Any pointers/advise would be most welcome. Equipment used: Svbony SV48. HEQ5 pro. Canon 650D. OVL Light Pollution Filter 2 Inch

Hi. I did. The bloke who sold me the camera sent a link to old versions of PHD2 and Sharp cap. It seems to have worked to a point but the tool box and camera settings in PHD2 are greyed out. Any ideas? I'm a bit of a newbie and this is a very steep learning curve.

Hi all. I just received a QHY6 CCD camera I want to use for guiding but PHD2 won't recognise it. I can get it working in APT and CCDCAP so the driver is good but not with Sharp cap or PHD2. Has anyone has similar issues? Gutted as this is my first guide camera purchase. Thanks for any advise.

Kimi waffles. I took some great advise and went back to basics learning how to use the scope before I started mucking around with programmes. I did however find the EQMOD toolbox. I then found starting up in the same order every time made everything work. EQMOD-APT-CDC.

Hi all. Has anyone had any dealings with the above scope? I'm looking for a refractor with these specs and the price is well within my budget. How does this compare with other similar scopes like the Bressier 102/460? I'm using it for astrophotography. Any advise would be most welcome.

Thanks. Will do.

From what I gather I have loaded all the right drivers. 64 bit for Windows 10. AV software??? The APT can see the camera and lets me shoot but if the image is still in the preview pane and I hit live view it crashes. Is there a way once you have taken a test image you can turn it off? I don't see anyway of doing that. Do you open EQMOD and have that running in the background when you open APT? I was hoping to get some practice tonight but I just looked at the weather report for here. No clear skies again.

Hi all. A quick APT question. I can link my Nikon D700 no problem and shoot but if I have the previous image on the screen and I hit live view APT crashes. Does anyone know of a fix for this? I'm very new to AP and the headaches and confusion just keeps mounting up as I'm sure you can all relate to. Thanks.

Thanks for your help chaps (hate saying "guys"). I'll try out these recommendations.👍

Thanks Peter. Think I'll stick with what I have at the moment and get used to that first before I start buying anything else like EQDIR modules etc. Knew it wasn't going to be a cheap hobby but man.......:o)

Hi Peter. Thanks. I tried running both the 2.09 and the 200k but both look like they're for the HEQ5 and 6 and they won't open properly. Very glitchy. Takes 2 minutes to open and impossible to close without restarting. I have the EQ5 pro and just can't find EQMOD. I can run both APT and Stallerium so not sure if I need to run EQMOD now. Very new to this.

G'day all. Newbie here. Setting up my new EQ5 pro I have downloaded the ASCOM platform V.209 but it doesn't come with EQMOD toolbox. I also don't see the EQMOD full control screen just a small version of a hand controler. Anyone have a link or advise that can help? I'm trying to run APT and Stellarium together and I'm chacing my tail. P.S. I'm a Mac man and had to buy a PC laptop to run these programs so I'm a tad frustrated with the cross over. Any help so I can get some sleep would be great.