Iceman120

Hi all, hope everyone is getting some clear sky, went out earlier in the week and captured Orion from home but due to light pollution couldn't get much data. I tried again tonight but with a SVBONY CLS clip in filter and had completely different results. This is my first time using a filter and seem to have some strange artifacting on the brighter stars. Some advice on this would be appreciated. Canon 550d non modified with a Kenlock 135mm prime lens at F4 on am iOptron skyguider pro. Without filter 121 x 30s @ ISO 400 10 darks 10 bias With filter 216 x 30s ISO 800 30 darks 30 bias constructive criticism always appreciated. Thanks for looking Rich

thanks for that, I've read some good things about that scope. Roll on March lol

Great image mate, what mount do you use as I've just ordered an Evostar 72ED Cheers Rich

this is the lowest ISO i have used other than photographing the moon. i was going to use ISO 800 but where orion is in the sky, it sits in a big glow from birmingham. example below. single frame ISO 400 30s single frame ISO 400 60s (not sure why the belt stars have a weird halo after converting to jpeg) to me i figured id get better results shooting ISO 400 than 800 unless i do 15s subs to get rid of the light pollution. any feedback on that would be great cheers rich

hi guys, been ages since i got out to do anything due to having a baby back in august and first time imaging from my bortle class 8 garden tonight due to the lockdown. Captured the Orion Nebula with my canon 550d on an ioptron skyguider pro with a 130mm lens at f4. pretty happy with the result. Considering modding the camera so it can detect more of the Ha but not ready to break it yet lol 121 x 30s @ ISO 400 10 darks 10 bias stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in photoshop

hi guys, hoping to resolve this issue before a second attempt tonight. i was testing a filter i brought off ebay last night. i was using a canon 550d with a 130mm lens at f4 ISO 1600 and only shooting 4 second exposures. this is a single sub i took 10 of these and then stacked them in dss which gave me this image why is it so pink? and how can i fix this? thanks rich

I've been doing some research and from a few people who have brought the scope i linked have said its not very good and is a waste of money. Looking elsewhere i think i have narrowed it down to 2 scopes. wondering if anyone has opinions or experience with either one. firstly a Tecnosky Apochromatic refractor AP 70/420 ED V2 OTA (astroshop.eu) or Skywatcher Evostar 72ED DS-PRO (OTA) Telescope Harpers Photographic can anyone shed any light on these thanks rich

Hi all, I'm looking for a decent wide field scope that would be suitable to put on an iOptron Skyguider pro. capacity says 5kg. I have a canon 550d which weighs about half a kilo according to google. I was looking at one of these due to its price tag and only weighing 2.6kg but I'm not familiar with the brand. SVBONY SV48 2" Refractor telescopes OTA F50090 F5.5 I'm not looking to spend much yet as towards the end of next year I will be looking to upgrade my whole set up but at the minute money is tight due to the year we've had. Thanks Rich

thanks for spending your time, both images are beyond my expectations by far and has gave me some inspiration for my next trip out, think my answer for more detail would be more subs as this was only about 25 frames so only 50 minutes worth of exposure where as other people are doing many hours. thanks for all your advice and time I really appreciate the help.

oh ok then, that clears things up, i understood it with telescopes but when it came to the camera lens it was confusing me a bit due to the f stop. my lens measures at 52mm so will attempt to make one today and test tonight if we get any clear patches

wow that looks so much better, thanks for taking the time to have a play around with it. I will definitely be keeping your work flow for further reference and hopefully mine will look that good. yesterday you said about making a bahtinov mask, when it comes to the aperture, am i using the size of front lens and dividing that by the f stop number? thanks

heres the original stack from dss, let me know how you get on, will be interesting to see the result from someone who knows how to tackle the post processing. Autosave003.tif

ok thanks for the advice. think ill stick with my setup from the other night then and lower my ISO. I first levelled the tripod using the bubble level on the skyguider, then adjusted my wedge to be pointing somewhere near the 52 degrees (my location), then try and point the guider in the rough direction of polaris and then spent the next hour or so twisting knobs, i used a free app on android called "PolarFinder" i had looked at getting one of these, will probably be my next purchase if i dont make one in the meantime. thanks for the link looks really useful it is stacked, 25 light frames. 10 dark frames and 10 bias frames. will attempt flats next time. I used deep sky stacker to put them all together using recommended settings, then imported the tiff file into photoshop and had a play around with the levels and curves and used camera raw filter to try and bring out the galaxy more but ended up blowing most of it out. i have redone it in the siril program that you recommended, had a quick run through and got a better result so thanks for that. here it is there is some vignetting that i presume the flat frames will eliminate? and maybe slightly oversaturated but on a whole, i think a better image. thanks for all the feedback guys i really appreciate it. hopefully next session which hopefully be this weekend i can get an even better result.

thanks for the feedback, hoping to get out friday night, thinking of shooting with my 135mm lens that will go as fast as f2.8. spend more time on getting my alignment right and spend longer of the night imaging it. so hopefully will be posting an update pic this weekend.

Hi all. Went out sunday night to a bottle class 4 site and shot some pictures of the andromeda galaxy and the orion nebula. I recently brought an ioptron skyguider pro which was on a cheap tripod I had brought off amazon some time ago. Took me an hour to get polar aligned which I dont think was too bad for my first time. I was using a canon 550d with a 70-300mm lens at f5.6. 25 stacked images of 2 minute exposures at ISO 3600 (thinking that might be way too high after seeing most people use 1000-1600) using deep sky stacked and 10 dark frames. Any feedback appreciated Thanks

Hi guys First of all apologies if there is a better section to post this in. Recently brought an ioptron skyguider pro. Only had chance to use it once the other night and had a result that I'm happy with but I'm using a cheap tripod I brought off amazon and it's not very sturdy as it's only rated to 3.5kg. Was wondering what people would reccomend for £100. Can add some pictures later today Thanks

Yeah I wasnt expecting the photography side to be as easy as the observing side. Been watching videos on youtube the last couple of weeks and have thought on a few occasions. Why is everyone using wide field refractors when if you're observing everyone recommends getting the biggest scope they can afford but the smaller wide field refractors are more forgiving? I think I'll get the 200pds as I am mainly an observer but keeps my options open for tinkering with the photography side of it later on. If things dont go smoothly I could always get a refractor further down the line and make it an ap set up. Thanks for all the advice

I have just sold my 10" dob as I don't like the manual movement, I found it a real pain and frustrating as it was quite loose, tried the method of adding weights but wasn't to my liking, I had a 80mm go to refractor a few years back and enjoyed using it a lot more than my 10" dob but when I did actually get something in view it was a game changing image comparing the 2 which is the reason I am going for a newt. At the moment I'm not interested in upgrading my camera as I'm not 100% sure I will progress into astrophotography, I see other people getting these great images and would like to have a go at them myself, If I start enjoying it and want to take it more seriously then I would either upgrade my DSLR or get a dedicated astro camera. What issues could I expect to run into? thanks for the comments

Hi guys, looking to get either the Skywatcher Explorer 200P or the Skywatcher Explorer 250P DS alongside a NEQ6 Pro mount. My main focus is observing but would like to have a go at astrophotography as well. I was wondering which is a better scope or if there are any differences. I understand most people who are into astrophotography recommend getting a smaller scope as you get a more forgiving field of view so tracking hasn't got to be as perfect but its is not my main goal and when I do get round to it I will be using a Canon 300d to take the pictures. thanks for any advice in advance

not to worry, it is my fault which i thought would be the case. just looked at the details panel on photoshop, says the ISO is actually only at 100 which is my own stupid fault. hopfeully get some clear skies this weekend and i can try again

hi guys, new to this so bare with me. last night i went out to try and capture an image of comet neowise with my canon 300d dslr camera with a 50mm lens. I used ISO 800 with an exposure time of about 4 seconds. the lens is a F5.6. i used manual mode and set the image to save as RAW. when i got back from work this evening i opened it with photoshop and increased the exposure and this is the image i get. you can just about make out the comet on the upper left hand side, well i think it is lol but is this a camera setting that is wrong or is it the camera itself?

No not yet. Do you have one for sale or can you recommend one?

Yeah I have actually ordered it now should be here Tuesday with some clear skies coming in Thursday and Friday so looking forward to giving it a shot. Also got a new 2" 13mm lens coming so hoping for some pretty sweet views. Jupiter Saturn and mars all visible about 1:30 out my back garden. Could give me a chance to attach my dslr and try a picture but we'll see what happens. If I get anything decent I will be posting them

Thinking of getting of these https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-explorer-200p-eq5-pro-goto-telescope.html

Thanks for the replies. I already have a crayford focuser fitted. It's as alkaid said. The constant nudging and the lack of stiffness even after tightening it up. Because it's the light bridge with the trusses it's too heavy and unable to be put on a equatorial mount without modifications and a couple of grand spent on a mount to be able to take the weight. Without weighing it I'd estimate it weighs about 20kg ish. Only other option I have is to add some kind of gear drive into the base of the dob. Been looking into a lot of options today and now thinking I may get either the 10" dob which is go to or a 8" reflector on an equatorial mount also being a go to just so I can have tracking capabilities. Any suggestions?