AstroNebulee

Very nice indeed George 👍. I'd be interested to see how it balances with your guidescope and AAP there. Let us know how you get on when your az gti arrives 😊

I would agree with most here. I've ever used batteries in mine. At first I did use a talentcell battery pack from amazon and powered the mount nicely for several nights in a row costs around £50but worth it for portability. I now power it all via a 12v 5a mains supply to power the mount AAP and camera. When plugging in the external power source you would of thought it should override the batteries as @Shimrodsaid. Maybe the batteries need to be out before a separate external supply is connected, though I've never tried.

It's looking fantastic Laurence, I've enjoyed watching you build your 'cheap' az gti set up 😉. I would say upgrade to the adm vixen saddle though, so much more secure and clamps along the dovetail nicely and not on the single screw point. Just an idea 👍, can't wait to hear your first light report😊

It all depends on the wedge really. I used the sw sa one and have the WO one now. There's nothing wrong with the SA one atall just a bit clunky, the Dec adjustment can be a bit corse. You can fine tune much easier on the WO and it's much beefier too. I love using it. I didn't mind using the SA wedge at all, I only upgraded as I sold my sa 2i to fund other things.

Loving the homemade counterweight. Hope the strip down, regrease and meshing does the trick, I've yet to try my adjustments yet.

That's great it works much better on a newer power supply, hopefully uou can get the asiair mounted somewhere underneath the dovetail as I found it the best way for me to keep everything nicely balanced.

There is a mac version of the software on this page. https://adgsoftware.com/phd2utils/ Yep quite agree Ray, as long as we are happy with our images at the end that's all that matters 😊

Hi Ray If you download the PHD2 log viewer here PHD2 Log Viewer - PHD2 Guide Log viewing tool (adgsoftware.com) you can open the logs from the AAP into this and view your guide graph, calibration , check out all sorts of your settings used. I don't understand much of them to be fair but may prove useful. They have a total rms value for the whole imaging session and whilst I regularly guide around 1-2 rms or so I thought it works out to 3 rms normally even thought the RA and DEC get under 1 rms. Just a bit of fun for me and we know the az gti cant be comapred to other big boys rms. I'm not saying mine is right (which it most definitely isn't haha) but I like to look at it every now and again. I'd like to check mine out wurh the new meshing alterations I've done, when clear skies allow and sensible imaging nights without work. 😁

I can't comment on the new SA gti as no one knows enough yet on how it will compare to the az gti, it does have slightly more teeth in the RA gearing over the az gti and is heavier than the az gti. Though it will be expensive compared to the az gti even when you factor in the addons which most you have eg. Wedge, guiding, AAP. Just add the counterweight and bar and your there. My set up including cw is 5.9kg so over the mount suggested payload but still ok. All I'll say with the az gti it's goto... and in EQ mode with a counterweight system I can get 3 min subs easily, never tried 4 as I'm comfortable with that but could do it even 5 mins I expect when guided. Cheers Lee

As I live in a 1st floor flat and image from the communal garden I cannot leave my set up unguarded, so once set up and the imaging run going, I'll just check the subs and guiding rolling in and make sure all ok, have a cup of coffee and maybe take the 7x50 bins out for a browse or just gaze up at the sky watching meteors go past, learn the constellations and stars. I'll browse sgl too. It does get bitterly cold at times.

I've always set mine to 0.9x too. Nice guiding again Ray, do you have the total rms guiding figure that's in the guidelig on AAP. I usually have my guide stability 4" and 3 secs as I dither (but that's just my set up and not a suggestion to you 😊) I can't remember what scooe you have again? I'd go for longer subs now 2 - 3 mins should be a breeze. Nice work though Ray for your second time with it 👍

Excellent Ray. That's some brilliant guiding figures there indeed, you should be well happy with them. I agree the asiair is a real fantastic piece of kit, gets you up and going in no time and making it so simple. I'm looking forward to you first light images with your new 533mc pro. 👍

No light leaks but have a read of THIS POST I made when I first got the Filter Drawer and make sure you get the right holder. Since making that post I bought another spare filter holder (with lips ) so I don't have any issues I haven't spent it yet haha 😁, will be a while yet, would like to get the L3 first as that's more a priority. Thank you I'll give the post a read up 👍. Just read it and when I do order it I'll order the one from FLO and if ever needed use some black tape and elastic band, I wouldn't change the filter out at all, I can't afford more haha

Thank you. I'll save for a filter drawer and add to my shopping list which includes the Astronomik L3. I don't expect my filter is hurting in the rotator atm so time to save the pennies. A question, do you suffer with any light leaking using the filter drawer? Cheers Lee

Hopefully your camera arrives soon Steve. I did have the zwo 1.25inch one and did the same as you are going to do by putting it in the adaptor ring and up close to the sensor. I did go for the 2 inch version eventually to cut out the vignetting I got on my 294mc pro and it seemed the rotator was as good a place to fit the filter and seen it done by @StarlightHunter I'm pleased to hear the astronomy bug has bitten again, I believe we all go through losing mojo for it at some stage. The shorter evenings really get me. Lee

No problems, it's the zwo tilt adjuster bought from FLO https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-accessories/zwo-t2-camera-tilt-adjuster-ii.html Cheers Lee

Hi My zwo ir uv cut filter is placed as shown in the photo attached. Is there a preferred place to have the ir uv cut filter. I do not have any reflection issues with it here. It's a 2 inch zwo ir uv cut filter My set up is sw 72ed - sw rotator with filter - ovl FF - spacers-zwo asi294mc pro (with tilt adjuster as suffering with sensor tilt) Cheers Lee

Thank you Vlaiv. The zwo filter isn't the greatest in my situation and in another thread I created on star bloat with my 294MC pro, the Astronomik L3 is widely suggested there, so I'm saving my pennies for that one 👍

Great, pleased you've got focus achieved now. I see that it's all screwed together now, did your Stella mira FF come with a nose piece? If you wanted to frame your dslr image differently reattach the original visual back to the focus tube (arrowed in orange) then slide the FF with nose piece into the visual back and tightern thumbscrews, thus us what I used to fo with my dslr so scope with thumbscrew visual back - FF with nose piece - t ring-dslr

Very natural process there, I like it, thank you. My issue came from when trying to remove/reduce the vast amount of stars on the image or as I like to call it crudely crimes against processing.

Yep it's the fits one that's the linear one, I can't remember why I posted a tiff one, I think it was the results from a star tools process.

Thank you Olly, lots to go on there and try out on my processing. The eraser is something I've never used before in my processing workflow. Cheers Lee

It's the ovl FF so basically the same as the Stella mira one. I will try it without the FF at some stage when I get clear skies and especially at weekends with it dark so late and work early in mornings. I did try a dedicated sw FF before but couldn't achieve focus with it as not enough inward travel. This is because my 72ed is the slightly older 'long' tube version. So I'm stuck as regards to FF.

Thank you, the L3 seems to be the one for my set up as suggested👍 Also so it doesn't matter that my 2 inch filter is where it is in my imaging train eg scope - rotator with filter screwed in - FF - extension tubes - 294mc pro combined with tilt adjuster?

So am I correct in thinking, say I use the remove blue/purple halo action tool in a new layer (as I normally do) then I can reduce the opacity to actually bring some of the blue/purple fringing back in to try to offset some of the hard grey halo left behind? Excuse if I sound like a doofus.