dd999

Thanks for the reply - I'll give it a go

2 hours ago, happy-kat said:

If you have an android phone then look at DSLR Controller.

It doesn't look bad, but my android phone isn't on the list of compatible devices, plus I would need the cable as my dslr isn't wifi enabled - plus I'm not sure DSLR Controller over-rides the settings of your camera (like Magic Lantern does), or simply gives you the same controls your dslr gives you - but on a mobile format (?)

Magic Lantern seems to override the live mode exposure restriction .....and adds an intravalometer which is a bonus.....and although free, it apparently doesn't come risk free.

My dslr is well outside warranty, but equally I don't want to ruin it. 

For astro this must be a bug-bear for many (as I can't manually focus in live view if I can't see the stars), and just wondered how others were getting around it. 

I think I know what the problem is with the camera.

My 600d does not have the built in settings to allow the dslr to still show a true live example of my current settings on live view, if the camera deems the exposure too dark or over-exposed. So on the lcd display I can't see what I'm looking at, even when turning up the ISO to 6400 (it's showing the flashing 'Exp.SIM' symbol). So by changing my ISO my lcd screen does not change the view.

I have read the only way around this is with the Magic Lantern install.

Is this the best way to go - or is there another way I can 'force' the 600d to display my true settings in liveview, so when I increase ISO (so I can try and focus!) it will give me a true display?

15 hours ago, rickwayne said:

Zoom lenses are in general not well suited to astro -- too many compromises in their design, and slower than comparably priced primes. (Yes yes, #notallzooms. In general.)

I've seen some great work done with inexpensive old manual-everything prime lenses.

While an alt-az mount can track, it will display field rotation in longer exposures. Just the nature of the beast.

 

Ideally I would prefer a prime lens. If I can find a suitable 200mm in budget I'd take it. In the main my astro will be through the telescope, I'd just like a back up option. I am seeing some good examples on Astrobin on the 70-300mm zoom lenses - and if I were able to start there in the interim I'd be happy.

Although the AZ GTi is alt-az I have on order the EQ wedge plus counterweight and bar to turn in to an EQ mount

34 minutes ago, Fozzie said:

I got up for 3am, but alas no joy due to clouds...  One thing that is bugging me though and its probably me.. what elevation are you folks seeing here, all the images look to be quite manageable, however the sky live is showing hugging the horizon between 2am and 3am around 6deg..?

 

I've been wondering too!?

I drove for an hour at 3am to one of the highest points of the country (and still missed it!) - whilst others wearily just leaned out their bedroom window and took a few snaps!

My area is showing 30% cloud coverage for tonight's viewing - and then no chance until the weekend. 

Not getting in until 5am this morning and only having 3 hours sleep last night, need to decide whether to chance it again. 

Haven't had an all night double header like this since my clubbing days! 

1 minute ago, alacant said:

No need for a telescope. Your camera outfit is more than capable. If you want to invest in anything, maybe you could consider a tracking mount?

Cheers

I only have the stock 18-55mm lens, although I am looking in to a 70-300mm lens upgrade.

The AZ GTi mount is a goto as well as a tracker  ......I have contemplated trying just with camera and lens, which would make it completely portal, but whether a 300mm lens would be enough and would it really give me similar results to using a 130pds or 72ed?

It's something I am in the middle of researching, so any experiences would be very useful to know

17 minutes ago, Paul M said:

I won't argue with that. My interprettion of the image scale and the dawn glow was that Neowise was off to the left. I did an extreme stretch in Photoshop looking for a hint but only picked out one other star that I decided must be 112 Tau which seemed to confirm the size and location of the frame. I used Stellarum too but I wasn't there!

I think you're right. In the cold light of day, and with a fresh pair of eyes, I've just looked again at the time I took this (3:50am) and used SkySafari (it wasn't Stellarium) again to replot where I was.

Really zooming in I think I've caught Elnath, as well as possibly Haedus in the real top left. If that's the case then I was merely a small swoop away from catching it  ....... boy don't I feel even worse 😉

29 minutes ago, Paul M said:

My guess is that if you'd swung the camera to the left a bit you'd have caught it in this image. I had a close look at your image and stretched it a bit. You've picked up Aldebaran to the lower left of Venus so, considering the other images that were sucessfull, I think it was there for the taking!

If you'd had Cappela center frame you'd have had Neowise too.

🤦‍♂️ ..... that's comforting lol

Yes I saw Aldebaran in the shot in Lightoom (I tried too stretching and zooming to see if I had picked up). If that's the case and it was further to the East then I was pointing - then Stellarium was way out! ....... at the time I took this Stellarium had Venus spot on but it showed Neowise almost dead center in the shot above! 

Well done to all who managed to capture the spectacle.

I drove out to the South Downs, had a great view across to the NE horizon but alas I mis-timed everything and arrived around 10mins too late. The sun had faded the last glimpses of Neowise and although trusted binos in hand, I saw nothing. 

The weather forecast down here on the south coast isn't showing clear night skies until early hours of Saturday morning, and by then it'll be visible all night. Let's hope it keeps it's mag and I'm not left waiting another 25 years to see a comet.

My consolation prize for staying up all night and an hour round-trip roadtrip at 3am, was Venus across the morning sunrise. Not quite Neowise, but silver linings and all that

58 minutes ago, alacant said:

Hi

If you persevere with this telescope, it would be a good idea to lose the Barlow, fit a 2" focuser, and a larger secondary. Then move the main mirror closer to the secondary. that way you will achieve focus at f5. But once you've done that you will have spent a touch less than...

... the 130pds which is a drop in replacement, colour free, works out of the box with your 600d and is half the outlay of the 72ed.

Cheers and HTH.

 

Yes I agree. Pointless for all those modifications when the 130pds can be bought for around £180 - although my mount is the AZ GTi, and payload is only 5kg. With a 4kg 130pds and an estimated 1kg for the 600d, I'd be worried I'd start pushing the mount too much, especially if I start trying to add a guidescope........which is where the 72ed came in. That and being easier to travel with.

Decisions, decisions.

2 hours ago, happy-kat said:

Enjoy your camera, practice with it during the day.

When you shot the Moon with the kit lens what aperture did you use?

Where was the peak in the light histogram?

Take night time images with the kit lens and practice stacking and processing. Then expand to talking calibration frames as well. Plenty to learn and get to grips with before introducing a telescope.

Trying to sprint before I could walk has always been a downfall of mine.

Looks like my aperture was f10. Although around 4am I tried again, better results this time. Lowered the aperture to f5.6 and dropped ISO to 100.  

Think I got here a few mins too late! 

Have only been waiting 25 years

30 minutes ago, Pete Presland said:

WOW, it looks amazing!

Hope you're kidding! 

I'm on top of one of the highest points of the South and can't see anything! 

Thanks all

I must admit it thought an exposure of 10 seconds at ISO 6400 would have produced more than a completely pitch black photo. Maybe the Barlow is creating a dimming effect, but is seems strange to such a magnitude.

And yes Carol I do agree about the Barlow workaround. I am looking to upgrade to the 130pds or a refractor such as the Evostar 72ed. Would be nice though to be able to prove at least a foundation concept with this new dslr and my existing scope. It surely can't be that hard! 

As the 600d only turned up on Friday, and is a used model, Im also trying to make sure its not faulty - although daytime photos seem to be OK. 

Taking away the scope and Barlow - If I take a 5 seconds 3200 ISO photo with my phone I'll see a photo showing a sea of stars and a light coloured (almost washed out) sky - same settings on my dslr shows no stars and a pitch black sky!

I just feel this newbie has another setting somewhere over-writing my settings for letting in as much light as I can. 

Tonight for the first time I have hooked up my Canon EOS 600d to my 130p.

I am using a 2x Barlow to help achieve focus, and using a WiFi goto mount. After alignment I focused on a relatively bright star - and could see the star in my live view. Great. 

Took a photo with ISO 800 on a shutter speed of 1 second (on an altaz mount). The star shows. Although just the one star, not a field of stars (or at least a few stars). 

I ramped it up to 3200 ISO, and still just the one star. I then went to M101 and tried some photos ranging from ISO 800 on 2 seconds right the way up to ISO 6400 on 10 seconds - and nothing but a completely black image! 

Even if the dslr wasn't achieving full focus surely at 6400 ISO and a 10 second exposure I shouldnt have just a black photo? 

I also tried taking some photos of the moonrise without the telescope but using the standard 18-55mm lens at 55mm using ISO 800 and a 1/20 shutter speed but everything was so dark, you could just about see the moon. Even on 1600 ISO it was the same.

Is this normal and if not, what am I doing wrong? 

Skies look great. Shame about the 30mph winds! 

Still planning a 3am jaunt to dark skies reserve nearby

Shame at an estimated mag 0 it's too close too the sun still to see with the naked eye. 

Had contemplated a pre-dawn drive early Monday morning to a dark sky area with close to horizon visibility to try and see, but as I'll only be armed with binoculars and a dslr it may still be too faint at the moment. 

Just depends how quickly the mag is going to drop now as it drifts away from the sun

A popular option is the 1kg weight and bar for the Star Adventurer.

This though won't directly fit on to the AZ GTi - (different size screw heads) so it will need a M8 to M12 joiner - for this I got on ebay. This is the route I went down, but I'm waiting for it to arrive in the post.

The weight from the EQ2 is around 3kg I think. Not sure if the bar fits, I haven't tried it.

I had a similar question - I live in what is showing as a Bortle 4 area, but almost next door to us is a hospital with three large flood lights on all night long....and frustratingly towards the south from my back garden.

How much of an impact to the sky visibility would this usually cause? ... does this type of impact reduce you down a bortle or two?

Do light pollution filters help filter out this type of light as well as street light glow?

So amazing what a phone can achieve - esp with a small refractor.

Some great examples. Assume the second to last of the moon was through your dob?

Looking good - fingers crossed!

Next clear skies looks to be Monday morning for a glimpse. Just need to find a high enough elevation across to the North East. Haven't seen a good comet since Halle Bopp in the late 90s.

2 hours ago, Damien2904 said:

Thanks for all your advise....so it doesn't sound like I'm going too far wrong. 😀

I'll look up about the Bahtinov Sean....I've seen on Youtube you can make your own...lol I don't think I'd have the right skills and patience for that though. 

My Nikon does have the video function, I have been using it to try focus before capturing the photos, think I read somewhere that it is best to do that? Can I ask what you mean by locking the focuser, on the camera? I must point out that the world of camera, photography & telescope is all new to me so if I sound dim then please bare with.

Taking videos, converting & stacking is something I later found out that I could try, but I'm yet to try this due to the unfavourable weather recently.

With regards to the softwares, I understand that RegiStax, AutoStakkert, Siril etc are all Windows programmes....I have a MAC and haven't had much luck finding one similar, does anyone have some suggestions? I'm currently playing around with (well...actually I'm learning from scratch 🤯) Photoshop which does have a layering/stack function, but I don't have the images yet to trial. 

My videos are .MOV so I need to convert to AVI....hmmmmmmm? Have to look up how 🤔 

I'll try the ISO at 200 next time deffo 👍, I did manage to get an image of the 4 moons, the shutter was something like 1 sec so Jupiter was BRIGHT!

You can just see Io beginning to peep out from behind Jupiter on the right.

 

Thanks again.

Damien

Yes I'm afraid Jupiter and its moons together will need two photos. One at a low ISO to capture the detail of Jupiter - and then a high ISO for the moons (try 1600 or maybe 3200)

Then you'll need something like Photoshop to merge them together 

I did something similar here - it was only taken with a mobile phone (not a dslr) but hopefully gives you an idea 

No, the backpack option is coming with both the 70mm and the 80mm now....... https://www.celestron.com/products/travel-scope-80-portable-telescope-with-smartphone-adapter (unless this isn't the ST80 people talk about?)

Backpack 80mm option is £70 (no rings or bar) - whereas the 80mm OTA with rings is £100.

Rings alone are around £20, and then a dovetail bar another £10 or so - doesn't seem much in it.

You may want to drop the ISO on Jupiter - try around the 200 mark. 1/20th a second sounds about right.

You won't get the moons, and it will appear darker, but you should get a little more detail and less of a wash out