Budgie1

With the weight of the EQ5 mount, I wouldn't like to put it on top of a standard photographic tripod. It just wouldn't be stable enough. When attached to the tripod, the EQ5 isn't that heavy to move around and is a very stable platform for visual & imaging. Also, if you want to do astrophotography, I would get the EQ5 with GoTo because it works out cheaper than fitting it later.

With the ASI294MC Pro I got from @SamAndrew I've only used the ZWO native driver and the ASCOM driver and both have the same gain settings. Software wise, I've used the ASIAir Plus but mostly I use APT, this uses the same gain & offset settings from the native & ASCOM drivers. Similar to @scotty38, I use a gain of 120, based on the ZWO information he posted above. I have only ever use this gain setting and the only setting I've tried to change is the offset. I started with an offset of 8 (seems to be the default offset for the ZWO native driver) and then tried 30 (default for the ASCOM driver). I found the noise levels on the final image went up when I use offset 30, so I went back to 8 and stuck with that. If you're not using any filter with this camera, I would advise at least trying a UV/IR cut filter because the front window in ASI294MC doesn't have this coating and it will help to control the stars. Rather then posting some of the images I've managed to get with this camera, there are a few HERE.

I'm going to throw another option into the mix and suggest the Skywatcher Evostar 80ED DS Pro with the dedicated Field Flattener/Field Reducer. This is a refractor scope and is slower than the 130/650 at F6.37 with the reducer, but gives a slightly larger field of view. It is smaller than the reflector, so less bulky on the mount and less effected by the wind. It also requires no collimation or coma correction, shorter cool-down time and has good optics and focuser for astrophotography.

Hi and welcome to SGL. Firstly, if you're not familiar with the EQ5 setup, there's a good video HERE which runs through the setup, polar alignment and setting the Home Position. The cheapest and easiest way to get started with astrophotography on your EQ5 mount is with a simple Vixen dovetail and bolt your camera to that. This will fit onto the mount and then you can do your, 1, 2 or 3 star alignment with the synscan handset. For this you'll need to use the screen on the camera in live view to locate the stars, so choose nice easy to spot stars. You can also use one of these bright stars to set the manual focus on the lens, again use live view and x10 zoom to get the focus as good as you can. Now choose your target, to start with I suggest an nice bright object like M42 Orion Nebula or M31 Andromeda, ans slew the mount to that object and start the mount tracking. It makes life easier if you have an intervalometer or remote shutter release so you're not touching the camera when you take an image. Take a test exposure at something like ISO 3200 for 10 seconds to make sure you can see the target in the field of view. Then, when you're happy with the framing, start taking images. The ISO will depend on the light pollution where you live or the Moon phase, but look at somewhere around ISO 400 to 1600. The exposure setting depends on how well your mount is tracking. You can start off with 10 seconds and increase the exposure time until the stars start to trail, then reduce it again until the stars are pin-point again. The wider the lens, then less star trails you'll notice. When you first start, you'll want to image several targets in one night (Target Hopping). Try to resist this urge and get as many exposures of one target as you can because it will give you a far better result in the end. You will also find some good tutorials to get you started in THIS THREAD and if there's anything you're not sure about then feel free to ask or do a search of the forum. Your next task will be stacking and processing your images and that's a whole subject on its own! Good luck and have fun.

I use APT and when I got my ASI294MC I used the ZWO driver, which set the offset to 8. I read about the ASCOM driver being better than the ZWO one, so I gave it a go and I'm sure that set the offset to 30 when I installed it. As it turned out, when I used the ASCOM driver, I seemed to get noisier images with it, so I went back to the ZWO native driver and put the offset back to 8. I may go back and have another go with the ASCOM driver but I'm just not getting any clear nights up here. I had one in October, none in November, five in December and none so far this month. While everyone has been having cold clear nights in the last couple of weeks, we've been under cloud. As a result, any clear nights I do get, I don't want to waste with experimentation.

These were all taken with a ZWO ASI294MC Pro, Evostar 100ED DS Pro or 80ED DS Pro on an EQ5 mount at the start of the year and later upgraded to HEQ5. IC1396 - Elephant Trunk Nebula M42 - Orion Nebula IC342 - Hidden Galaxy NGC6960 - Veil Nebula M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

Offset of 8 is the default for the ZWO drivers, offset of 30 is the ASCOM driver default. Did you swap drivers at any stage or did the new PC use the ZWO drivers as default?

I do have comparison images between Photoshop CS3 and Pixinsight. When I started back into astrophotography, I already had PS CS3 so I stacked in DSS and post-process in PS. When I knew I was going to stick with the hobby I started looking for software which would allow me to do a better job with the post-processing than I was happy with in PS. I went for the trial version of PI and followed some tutorials (I found this one very handy! ) and this is one of the first images I processed in PI, it's NGC7000 taken with a standard Canon EOS 2000D attached to a Evostar 100ED DS Pro. First is the best I managed to get with PS and my PI version below and they both used the same DSS stacked image. I should add the disclaimer that; some on here have far better skills with the likes of GIMP & PS than I do and can produce some spectacular images with those. I use PI because that's what allows me to get the best out my image data. HTH.

Having now used both laptop and the ZWO ASIAir, I would advise using the ASIAir Pro or Plus. This has everything built into it and only requires attaching to the mount with a 12v power supply. It will connect to your DSLR, & mount, it will suggest targets, take you to them, plate solve and then run an imaging plan on that target. The only thing you need to download is the ASIAir App on a phone or tablet. With the ASIAir Plus, the WiFi is better than the Pro version, so you can setup and monitor the progress from indoors. If you want to progress and start guiding at a later date, the ASIAir supports this as well. The only drawback is that it will only support ZWO astro cameras plus Canon & Nikon DSLRs. I notice from your signature that you have a GPCAM 178C, which it won't support.

Take your time with the stretch and do it in increments, maybe even switch between Levels & Curves. I'm happy to put it through PI again, if you want. Been cloudy up here so don't have any of my own data to process.

Have you looked at the EQ5 Pro, it's lighter than the HEQ5 and still has a 6.5kg payload for imaging. Much easier to handle if you have to carry the mount outside to setup. It may not have the guiding accuracy of the HEQ5 but it's still very useful. I started off with the EQ5 and then got the HEQ5 last year. I now use the EQ5 for my smaller setup with a DSLR and Samyang 135mm F2 but when it was my only mount I had my Evostar 100ED DS Pro on it with a DSLR and guide scope.

I used to use a Canon EOS 450D with the Canon 18-55mm EFS lens on a standard tripod for the Aurora when I lived in the Western Isles. I normally shot ISO 800 or 1600 and varied the exposure to the strength of the Aurora from 10-30 seconds using Bulb and a manual remote shutter release. You really want as wider FOV as you can because they're normally spread out across the sky. The longer the exposure the more colour you'll get (reds & purples) but you give up some of the detail. These are two images from one of the best shows I saw in the Western Isles on 25th October 2011. They are both with the lens set to 18mm and 800 ISO, the first is a 30s exposure and second is 45s, but the stars are starting to trail. And yes, the red was visible to the naked eye that night, the only time I've ever see it in 16 years living up there. Have a great time and I hope you get to see a good display, it's some experience!

If it's just the darks that you're concerned about, have you tried stacking your 300s Ha subs both with & without Darks to see what the difference is? I stopped using Darks with my DSLR and only calibrate with Flats, Dark-Flats & Bias frames because I couldn't see any difference in the final stack. That saves either taking the Darks during or at the end of a session or have to build a library for all temperatures. I don't know how this would work when using an Ha filter on a DSLR, but may be worth an experiment, just to see?

If it's any consolation, I imaged the same targets on 3rd January. I managed to get 22 x 4min exposures at ISO800 before it got cloudy. This is with a modified EOS 1300D attached to the Samyang 135mm F2 lens, set to F2.8. So, even from my Bortle 2 location, it needs more integration time without the Moon.

Well, to bring a bit of enthusiasm back for you, here's my effort from last year with ASI294MC Pro.

What I don't know is whether the ATP uses the un-stretched or histogram stretched version of the image for plate solving. Your log says it couldn't find enough stars and you said above that the image taken when using GoTo++ was black, like a dark frame. Did you apply a histogram stretch to this image to see if there were stars in it or whether it was just a black image? If there were stars with the stretch then increasing the gain setting is faster & more effective than increasing the exposure time. One other thing; when you were doing this plate solving, was there a LP or narrowband filter in the imaging train? If so, it would make the image darker then with just a UV/IR cut filter.

Okay, so on the top image you have the exposure set to 20s with gain 100. This will be the settings for the image when you hit the "Shoot" button. This image is being plate solved with no issues? Normally I would increase the gain on my ASI294MC Pro to 300 for plate solving with an exposure of 10s. This give a nice bright image for plate solving and then I put it back to Unity Gain of 120 in the imaging plan. In the Point Craft settings, you don't have a default exposure set, so it should default to the same settings you have on the Camera page (20s @ 100 Gain), but I wonder if it is. Unfortunately the log you posted doesn't show an image taken during the GoTo++ phase, so we can't see what exposure has been used. It may be worth adding something in there, like 10 or 20s, then that will always be used by Point Craft, no matter what you have set in the Bulb setting on the Camera tab. I can't see anything else obvious at this stage, but I would try increasing the gain when plate solving.

Can you post a screenshot of your Camera Tab settings and the Point Craft Settings window? This sounds more like a setting issue than a hardware/software problem, so seeing what settings you're using may identify where to look.

It'll get you going but it lacks a bit of detail.

It would be nice if there was some sort of manual for the App! 🤣😂

First off, check the exposure setting in Point Craft. Open Point Craft > Settings > about half way down the window "Default PointCraft Exposure (s)". This setting is what APT will use during the GoTo++ part of plate solving. I think the gain is taken from the Camera tab gain setting. Also in the setting window, check that you don't have the box marked "Use PS2 for Near Solving" selected. I also have the "Solve un-stretched DSLR images" selected in my settings but I don't know if this will have any effect.

WB is normally White Balance, so maybe White Balance (Red Channel) & White Balance (Blue Channel)? I've not tried the video mode with my ASIAir Plus yet, so can really help further.

The ZWO diagram for the ASI533MC & the ASI183MC Pro says it's 6.5mm from the sensor to the front face of the camera. You may be thinking of the 17.5mm distance normally quoted when the 11mm spacer is fitted but on the OP's setup he has the EFW fitted directly to the camera. So I was working on 6.5mm + 20mm for EFW + 16.5mm spacer + 11mm spacer = 54mm from the rear of the reducer/flattener lens to the sensor. Then make up the remaining 1mm with the spacer washers which normally come with the camera or EFW. Maybe the back focus on the Evostar 72ED is different to the 80ED & 100ED I have?

#3 for ASTAP. 👍 I had a few plate solving failures when I only had PS2 and ASPS installed. Added ASTAP, it's really fast and I haven't had a failure since.

So, for the back focus (going on your photo) you have 6.5mm from the front of the sensor to front face on the camera, the EFW is 20mm and you've added the 16.5mm spacer = 43mm back spacing. If you add the 11mm spacer in front of the EFW and use the thin round spacers to get your extra 1mm then you'll be on the required 55mm. With the EFW, if you're using 1.25" filters then this does need to be as close to the sensor as possible, otherwise you start getting vignetting. For daytime exposures, reduce the gain down, as you only want to get a rough focus then use gain zero, and reduce the exposure times down to the 1 or 2 seconds, maybe even shorter. When you start imaging at night, you'll need to check the focus again because it can change with the ambient temperature. So, if you're focusing manually, I would recommend a Bahtinov Focus Mask to make life much easier.