AntHart

(MODS) if not in correct section please move… My apologies 👍🏼
 

Hey guys,

Potentially selling my EQ6 pro synscan.

It’s been Darkframe tuned (just received back) Its had all new bearings and grease, rail kit, Rowan belt mod and has a 2 year back to base warranty from darkframe.

ive owned the mount for 7 years, never been outside for prolonged periods , handled like a new born!ha tripod and weights in good condition too.

I don’t have an ‘official power supply’ always used my bench top variable supply

…..

reason I’m thinking of selling is just because Ive took a real shine to wide field with my dslr over the months I didn’t have it while it was being serviced/tuned ( took way longer than I thought ..covid I guess!?) 

I’d like to delve in to that area for a bit and possibly upgrade my 6d lenses or maybe even swap to Sony ( blame Alyn Wallace!lol) 

I’m waffling sorry… 

What do you guys think it’s worth? Not sure what to ask for. 

Pictures below are from David at darkframe that he sent me but I’ll take some more photos.

cheers. Ant 

Hey

Im thinking of buying a star tracker to use with my full frame 6d (astro modded) and 14/24/50/135mm lenses...and possibly a RedCat/Z61

 There’s basically 2 on the market...

Ioptron SkyGuider pro And the Skywatcher star adventurer pro
 

massive difference in price!

whats the best bang for buck?

Any owners out there with any info plus pictures of your rigs would be great 👍🏼

On 18/05/2020 at 13:56, haitch said:

It makes me think "Fisher Price... My First Imaging Rig" 🤣

That’s brilliant  white/black, orange...that’s a cool combo but that orange and turquoise... no no nooo!haha! 

On 16/05/2020 at 04:47, fwm891 said:

I'll chip in my thoughts here.

First look at the prices of these items new and add them up.

An edge HD 8 OTA will set you back (FLO's pricing) £1274

Edge HD reducer f7  £349

Starizona Hyperstar $999  £825.07 ( plus postage and taxes) (just VAT 20%) £990

Total: £ 2613.00 (approx.) 

I have owned an Edge HD 8 and I have to say I liked it very much so no problem with the OTA and images were good across the FoV with APS C formats but suffered a little with FX formats. A set of Bob's knobs is an essential to ease collimation (occasional tweaks against a bright star).

It needs a good mount (I have an iOptron CEM60 Standard - not EC) when using at it's f10 configuration, at f7 you'll get away with a smaller mount at f2 you'll need a mount to take the weight of the system as tracking requirements are reduced a little.

I never bought an f7 reducer for mine so I'll leave any comments on those to other users.

My interests have always been for wider FoV's so I seriously considered a Hyperstar unit for the Edge HD 8 and the more I researched the more I was put off in favour of getting the RASA 8.

What put me off the Hyperstar was the fact that users were having to re-collimate when the Hyperstar was added  to the Edge HD and again when it was removed and returned to an f10 or f7 configuration.

I will bow to Hyperstar users here too as I have not had any personal experience with a Hyperstar.

So I ended up selling the Edge HD 8 (because I wanted the wider FoV's much more than the f10 FoV). I bought an f7 115mm APO refractor and an 8 inch RASA and I'm now a very happy old man. Both scopes have been fitted with twin Losmandy dovetail bars and my guide scope (TS 80mm) has Losmandy rings on it so when I change the scopes over I simply swap over the guide scope too. My kit is observatory mounted.

You have a lot of research to do and I've found that 'the complete package' can be a compromise. The Edge HD 8 is a very good OTA and I'm sure it's dedicated f7 reducer is good too, would be an easy configuration change from f10 to f7. The Hyperstar (to me) is probably a luxury you can do without to start with. Put the £1000 towards a better mount, a mount you can live with for a long time, what ever OTA's you put on it...

 

 

Some very good points you’ve mentioned...like I say though this is purely for information, not intending to buy, was just one of my many questions I have 👍🏼 Cheers

On 18/05/2020 at 09:27, MattJenko said:

Something I found in my experience in this hobby is that it is worth finding a configuration that works and sticking with it. This comes from having a setup and tweaking over and over again over the course of session after session to fine tune how it works and behaves. Having a scope which requires basically disassembly to convert between use cases breaks this and sets you back to square one each time and is the classic case of jack of all trades, master of none. I don't doubt the Edge 8 is awesome in whatever configuration it is capable of, but that will come from being in that configuration for an extended period of time, making the flexibility of that scope a little of a double edged sword. If I was to buy one of these scopes, it would be for a particular purpose, not because it could in theory do many things.

That’s a very very good point! ...like I say it’s just for information, not intending to buy 👍🏼

The Celestron Edge HD 8 inch ..........

• Experience our best optical performance with EdgeHD’s aplanatic, flat field Schmidt-Cassegrain optics for pinpoint stars all the way to the edge of today’s largest imaging sensors and widest eyepieces
• Versatile design accommodates 3 focal ratios: native f/10, f/7 with the addition of a focal reducer, or ultra-fast f/2 imaging with a removable secondary mirror and third-party accessories
• Celestron’s premium StarBright XLT coatings provide maximum light transmission 

Going over the specs.

 2000mm FL at f10
1400mm FL f7 with a 0.7 reducer
400mm Ish f2 with a ‘starizona’

Am I missing something here?lol

Sure it’s not portable, it needs a hefty mount but for about £3000 in a fixed pier/obsy setup would this be something to consider over 3 separate scopes?

Many of you probably know I’m new on here so constantly asking questions but if anyone has any feedback that would be brilliant.

Im not looking to go out and buy this being a beginner it’s more a question of the hunger for knowledge and wondering if one day this might be a really good setup to consider vs multiple/different scopes

Cheers

Ant  

9 hours ago, Neil27 said:

These are fairly new on the market and provide a comprehensive Package possibly for your needs.

 https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/rvo-horizon-72-ed-doublet-refractor-full-imaging-package.html

Not sure I could live with that colour combo!lol 😯

57 minutes ago, Dr Strange said:

Seconding the recommendation on the Esprit 80. It comes with everything you need to image with save the DSLR. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/esprit-professional-refractors/skywatcher-esprit-ed-80-pro-triplet.html

Hi,

I clicked the link and took a look...I’m not sure the imaging circle that provides is enough for my camera ( full frame ) ... from the website...

An M48-fitting doublet field flattener is also available to flatten the field and minimise aberration and distortion. When used with the field flattener the Esprit-80's imaging circle is 33mm.

The 6d needs an imaging circle of 44mm to cover the sensor fully.

Thats a real shame!  

7 hours ago, pete_l said:

Full frame, wide field, including flattener, less than £1k .....

Have you considered the 61EDPH. 61mm f/4,5 (274mm fl) 5 element - three of which are the flattener, "usable" up to full frame.

Thanks mate, I think for full frame that FL is a little short but does look a tidy little scope 👍🏼

8 hours ago, TerryMcK said:

For widefield I have the William Optics ZenithStar 73 and flattener. You’ll still have a bit of change from your £1000. It has an imaging circle that fully covers a full frame dslr.

Thanks mate, the WO Z73 looks a beautiful scope! 

13 hours ago, Obi Wan Ken00bi said:

Esprit 80ED or WO Zenithstar 81, those are extremely high quality triplet refractors you wont ever need to upgrade from (if you want to stay in that focal range).

You can also opt to go bigger and get a 100/700 APO (doublet) like Technosky, but I'd rather buy the brands above.

I own the Esprit 100ED which is perfect match for the EQ6 and love it to bits. Pic attached ( 1st = full colour, 2nd = narrowband)

Those images are gorgeous!! 😁 Thanks mate...I was looking at the Esprit 80 also but thought with the flattener it would be a bit over budget? I do like the WO scopes, the Z81 is high up my list!

can I ask which camera you used for those images?

EDIT.... since found this ...

An M48-fitting doublet field flattener is also available to flatten the field and minimise aberration and distortion. When used with the field flattener the Esprit-80's imaging circle is 33mm.

I don’t think the imaging circle is enough to fully cover a full frame sensor...

Thanks again 

Ant 

Hey

Wondering what you guys would spend your money on if you had a up to a grand and wanted a nice wide field refractor (inc flattener/reducer if req) for a full frame dslr.

The mount i have is an EQ6-Pro...also planning on buying the ASI120mm guide cam and possibly the Evoguide 50ed guide scope
Interested to see what you’d choose 👍🏼

Hey  

Quick Question about polar Alignment and what you guys use..maybe even a poll??

A dedicated camera like the QHY or iOptron? - OR - Sharpcap/software based using the guide/main scope.

Whats the pros and cons of each 

Open to all ideas 👍🏼

Hey

I’ve been wondering about dew heaters and controlling.

Why would I need a controller?

Whats wrong with just plugging it in and leaving it at ‘full power/not controlled’?

There must be a reason for a controller to exist and the only reason I can think of is that if the scope gets ‘too hot’ it’s bad?

I know the idea is to keep just above ambient to avoid dew.
These little bands draw only a few watts, I’ve even got one that’s usb powered for dslr lenses, that’s got no controller.

Id be using on a 2” guide scope and a 3-4” refractor 

I’m still new to this so might be obvious  but If someone could please explain a bit more about it I’d really appreciate it...I’ve searched around but can’t seem to find the answer 

Thanks,

Ant

Hi

*any mods  - not sure if correct section to post? - feel free to move if not 👍🏼
 

 I’m looking to power a mini pc/Intel NUC whilst out in my camper van.

It will need 19v , upto 5A

I have a big leisure battery setup (220ah) so powering it isn’t an issue.

Trying to find some sort of 12v to 19v 5A converter is...I’ve seen cheap ones for a fiver and those buck converters but I’m not trusting that to power an expensive PC 

Is there anything like a Pegasus pocket power box that has a 19v DC (smoothed and reliable) output anyone knows of?

Even a ‘branded and reputable company’ made 12v to 19v laptop charger maybe?

I know many will reply saying why not just use a laptop????

This is a mini pc designed for acquisition AND editing.

I could just buy a laptop yes, but £ for £ they are over priced and underpowered, last around 2 hours until needing a charge and I don’t need a screen as I have a 27inch monitor/tv already installed in the van (luckily enough this takes a 12v DC input so no messing around) 
 

My current home pc isn’t suitable for editing anyway so my plan is to build a system that is capable of doing the job of a cheap acquisition stick pc/mini pc and also powerful enough to edit.

Intel NUCs are brilliant for this job...I can use in the van to get the data and easily take inside once home to process.

i could build a do it all NUC for around £500 ...a mini pc for acquisition and then a full desktop pc as well for editing would be at least a 1/3 more.

If anyone has any experience powering something like this directly using a converter .. Or even uses a 12v DC car laptop charger that outputs 19v and is reliable please let me know.

How do you guys power laptops if using out in the field/star party’s etc without a mains hookup? 👍🏼

Thanks

Ant 

1 hour ago, michael8554 said:

Canon 6D is a great imaging DSLR, with big pixels, and low noise at high ISO, I have one.

But those big pixels make it unsuitable for shorter focal lengths.

Image scale is about 5.4arcsecs/pixel at 250mm,

In other words, seriously Undersampled, yielding coarse resolution images

2.4arcsecs/pixel at 555mm might be okay.

I use mine at 1280mm FL, which is 1arcsec/pixel, some might consider that a tad Oversampled if anything.

Michael

also, I’ve seen the word ‘seeing’ being used in these calculations.

youll probably get a laugh out of this...is that more to do with sky quality (bortle) that the weather?ha! Eg would 20% seeing relate to a something like bortle 5

if that’s the case, I tend to travel to image and camp out over night, the location is a bortle 2/3. My home is a bortle 6  

Cheers...and sorry if that’s not at all what ‘seeing means’ 

1 hour ago, michael8554 said:

Canon 6D is a great imaging DSLR, with big pixels, and low noise at high ISO, I have one.

But those big pixels make it unsuitable for shorter focal lengths.

Image scale is about 5.4arcsecs/pixel at 250mm,

In other words, seriously Undersampled, yielding coarse resolution images

2.4arcsecs/pixel at 555mm might be okay.

I use mine at 1280mm FL, which is 1arcsec/pixel, some might consider that a tad Oversampled if anything.

Michael

Hi Michael,

WOW! 1280mm...I wince at even thinking of that FL at my level..complete imaging beginner.

ive read a lot about sampling/ arc sec per pixel, not going to say I fully understand it all but I get it. 
 

Basically...my camera is great..but it’s rubbish if it’s on a small wide field refractor. 
To get the best from it my FL needs to be long...and for a beginner that’s not really the way I want to go.

Are you saying, in complete dummy terms I either need a different/dedicated Astro camera to make best use of a small wide refractor OR have to buy a long FL scope if I want to use my 6d

This is why I love this hobby!...Nothing at all is simple which is what makes it so rewarding to get a cracking image  

Cheers 

2 hours ago, rl said:

What do you mean by wide-field in this context? Do you have a set list of targets you're going to try? The EQ6R will carry virtually any scope you can pick up with one hand. 

Is there any mileage in looking for a scope with a built-in flattener? Looking ahead, this preserves all of your back focus for incidentals like filter wheels, flip mirrors et cetera, and this sort of scope is usually designed to cover a 44mm diameter imaging circle.. I've always likes my TS65Q for this reason. It's obsolete now but it has a 70mm successor. It's a chunky little beast but no problem for an EQ6. Of scopes affordable to most people, it is the best engineered of the ones I've seen with regard to astrophotography. The very early ones had issues with pinched optics in the cold, but that was very quickly fixed. 

 

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/index.php/cat/c224_Flatfield-APO-Refractor-Teleskope.html

 

RL

Hi  

Basically I’m a beginner imager, I bought my mount 2nd hand a few years back, i chose to buy something heavy duty and way over the top to ‘future proof myself’ in a round about way...plus the price was too good to pass on.

Ive only ever used it with a naff cheap frac for visual and also attaching my dslr to it with lenses, all with the hand controller.

Im now looking to take a step up and look for a small telescope. The reason I use the word ‘wide field’ is because I’m told it’s the best first step - dslr with a small wide refractor.

hence I’m looking for something around 250-500mm...I know that’s a wide range in FL which will be great for certain objects and not suitable for others.

also, your comment on the flattener, its an add on item, it’s not ‘built in’ at least in the scopes I’ve looked at...I just thought it was something I’d need using full frame sensor.

Then... there is my sensor size/pixel size to consider...under and over sampling...trying to get the magic 1-2 sweet spot using the (pixel/FLx206.3) calculation...I think that’s correct..

This leaves me stuck!

With my camera (6d) that calculates to around 700- 800mm FL to be considered a good match.

I know using a shorter focal length scope (300-400mm ish) isn’t the best idea but my thinking is, I’ll still have that scope once I eventually upgrade my camera.

An astro camera is probably a bit above my level yet, especially as once I Do upgrade I’ll go the mono route and filters which is the end goal for most i imagine.

Im starting to go down the rabbit hole now!ha

Im basically just looking for my first imaging telescope to use with my 6d for now and also in the future with a dedicated Astro cam and Have a FL that’s wide enough to get those larger objects, be nice and sharp and spur me on to delve deeper in to the hobby.

Not asking for much am I! ..sorry for the long reply 👍🏼

10 hours ago, ThomasF1234 said:

The RedCat would be a good option or something like the Zenithstar 73 however you would need a flattener for that I think

I really like the Z73, I’d need a flattener yeah for full frame..

im surprised no one has mentioned anything about the Altair or any other brands apart from william optics.

12 hours ago, rl said:

What is the mount (and therefore the weight limit?) If it's a star adventurer you're stuck with a 5kg all-up limit.

Is this going to be unguided?

I've owned the ZS61+flattener on a SA mount and it was very good over an APS-C sensor with 60sec subs. sometimes 120s. Can't usefully comment on the rest.

Hi,

my mount is an eq6-pro...yes, I know it’s not a ‘portable’ mount but I’m happy carting it around  

I’d only go un guided on the RedCat up to about 90s subs, anything over that FL I’d guide.

Cheers

13 hours ago, MattJenko said:

Why not a Canon 400L for that kind of focal length?

I can only find used in poor condition (mpb) in 300mm, can’t find a 400mm in budget, plus I believe I’d get better glass quality in a telescope?...plus I don’t need the auto focus, extra weight etc.

Cheers

Hi,

Im looking for a wide field portable refractor to use with my 6d dslr.

i have a Samyang 135mm f2 ..this is more of an upgrade in focal length

i realise my camera isn’t the ‘best’ for using with a scope being full frame without a flattener so I’ll have to take this extra cost in to account.

ive been looking at..

1.WO red/space/whitecat range (no flat req). 250mm

2.WO ZS61 or  ZS73 fpl-53 (plus flattener). 360mm/390mm

3.Altair 72 edf fpl-53 (deluxe cnc imaging version) plus flattener. 432mm

4. Altair Starwave 80ed-r (fpl-53 version)plus flattener. 555mm

Would be great to hear any recommendations from you guys using any of these scopes..or ones I’ve not though of..

Cheers

5 hours ago, newbie alert said:

Sorry I can't help as I don't use stellarium but I find NINA very glitchy, one day it works the next it don't, one day it remembers my profile the next it don't.. too unpredictable to use, so I just use APT now..for me it just works..can't be having wasted nights because of glitchy software,i tried asking questions on their forum but just full of know it alls that just want to take the £!$$.. can't be dealing with that either, so I just use APT for capture and NINA for framing/ coordinates..

Im between APT and NINA myself mate, NINA looks really nice but if it’s got issues then that’s obviously more important. Like you say don’t want to be wasting precious time fixing bugs.

although it could just be something I’m doing or not not doing.

ive not actually got it connected to my mount/scope yet, just basically installed the software to test out.

id be happy to use either so if I can’t sort it out I’ll give APT a shot 👍🏼

Hi,

I’m having trouble getting NINA and stellarium to talk to each other.

This is with the software on the same pc, not a remote setup. I’m Using win 10 pro 64bit

ive tried the stellarium config, remote control plugin, ticked load at start up, both port numbers are the same (8090) it just keeps saying the same thing in NINA every time ..that I still to need to set it up...

 Any one encounter this problem and know what to do?

i also tried in stellarium ticking the ‘server’ box too in the remote control plugin and when a windows defender ‘allow’ box popped up say yes...didn’t work.

ive tried re installing both programs and starting from scratch but still no joy.

please help!! 👍🏼

31 minutes ago, kryptonite said:

I'm interested by your Raspberry Pi comment - what OS is it running? I currently run my imaging from an old laptop, but a Pi sounds cleaner..

I’ve been looking in to this and while it is possible to ‘get’ windows on a pi it’s certainly a struggle and some say not worth the hassle. I’ve even read that it’s locked to 1gb of ram! 
Anyone who knows more I’d be happy to hear it 👍🏼 Definitely open to options.

I would 110% go for a pi if APT or NINA worked on it but these are windows only and I want to go this route software wise.

I also want to run windows 10 pro so I can have the Remote Desktop embedded software , the way I see it a program that’s built in will run better than any 3rd party app.

...sorry to hijack your conversion