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Excellent, thanks. It's just for guiding so you've saved me a few quid 😁

Hi all. I'm slowly putting together an imaging setup and have been looking at guide scopes. It'll will be paired with a 150PDS and either the HEQ5 Pro or AZ EQ5, as yet undecided. I'm looking at the Altair 60mm guidescope or the SW Evoguide 50ED. I'll be mounting it on a dovetail attached to the tube rings. Are they going to be fairly similar in performance?

Lots to unpack there, a lot of which I have no idea what it means 😄 But the more info I have, the more I can start researching and getting to grips with. I'm starting to think I'll need to move to a nice high mountain top to get enough clear sky time to get to grips with it all. Any recommendations on good books to guide me through getting started?

Thanks. I want to keep it below the £200 mark so that could be a good option. Would there be much difference between that and the SW one?

Thanks. I picked up a 2nd hand EOS1000D and have had a couple of sessions imaging the moon via my laptop. I'll have a look at guide cams for sure. Imaging is 2nd to visual so no great hurry to get all the gear at once. My first set of EPs didn't last long before I started upgrading so I don't want to rush it 😄 I downloaded sharpcap but it doesn't recognize my camera so I've been using EOS Utility. Can you recommend any other free software that would do the job or will that suffice? I've also downloaded registax and gimp but haven't had the need for them yet.

Morning everyone. Just about getting the feeling back in my toes after a chilly night observing 🥶 I'm currently saving the pennies for an AZ-EQ5-GT (will be used with a 150PDS, coma corrector also on wishlist) for stepping up to DSO imaging and was wondering if there are any other essential bits of kit I should be saving for as well to get me going?

Excellent, thanks. I didn't think I'd need one until I started trying out DSOs, I'll pop it on my wishlist.

Hi Folks. I finally got to have a go with my DSLR last night after weeks of rubbish weather. I'm using a 150PDS on manual mount and an EOS1000D (remote operation via EOS Utility) with 2.5x PM. This was the best of the batch. I'm reasonably happy with the result but couldn't get the whole image in focus. Is this just limitations of the setup I'm using or could it be an issue with the OTA collimation? Also, is there a difference between shooting in black and white or shooting in colour then editing the image to black and white?

Plenty to be getting on with and lots more to learn. Much appreciated

Thanks for the link, very useful tool.

I had a look and it is the APS-C size. All useful information so thank you. A tracking mount is next on my wishlist as I'd like to give DSO a go one day. Would a 4x/5x Barlow be of any use or is that going too far the other way?

Ok thanks. I have a 2.5x powermate so that will be handy. What do you mean by crop sized sensor? Other than hovering my phone over the eyepiece I'm completely new to this.

Excellent, thank you both. I've downloaded EOS Utility on my laptop (had to get it off Canon's Hong Kong site, for some reason the UK/EUR/US sites only have the updater) so was planning to use that to remote control it. Just need to wait for some clear skies now to start playing 😁

Hi Folks. I've just got myself a DSLR to begin learning a bit of astrophotography. I'm using a 150-PDS on a manual mount so was going to start with the moon. Very new to photography in general so could do with a few tips on suitable setup for getting some at least satisfactory shots.

Thanks. It was more for when they're in the focuser as I make notes and look things up on my phone while observing (keeping one eye covered) so it's for those gaps. I like the ideas for the ones not in use though 🤔