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Tim C

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Everything posted by Tim C

  1. It really is amazing what can be managed with short subs! I'd never have managed that - clearly went to a *very* good home πŸ˜ŠπŸ‘
  2. Having never shot through a RedCat, I'd be interested in your opinion on the difference in quality - I was very pleased with the EVO, and in a former life I was a TV Production Manager used to scrutinising image quality for pixel-grade defects so consider myself very fussy. The built-in rotator of the RedCat was the only thing I can remember wishing I had, but I got a 3D printed set of tube rings for the EVO that solved that problem. Once I'm in a position to reacquire, it'd be edifying to know if it's worth splurging on the RedCat just for the sake of a uniform colour scheme 😎
  3. The two run-outs they did get, they were hanging off an EVOGuide 50 - a poor man's RC51 - it's good to know they're getting an upgrade! 'For Sale to a Good Home' is a genuine philosophy of mine πŸ˜‚
  4. I did! I had it out on two occasion for a few hours, but always take very diligent care of my kit 😊 Other than career shenanigans making it a necessity, without a garden I always felt a bit worried taking it out into the 'burbs at funny hours so neither got as much used as I'd imagined when buying. Glad you're happy with your purchase Iain, and may they serve you frequently & well ✌️
  5. I found the PTFE tape didn't work very well for me, so looked into greasing it - got a tub of this: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/SILVERHOOK-SGPG01-Lithium-EP2-Grease/dp/B007D56WNE/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=silverhook+multipurpose+lithium+grease&qid=1620905698&sr=8-3 Lightly daubed the threads and built up the amount over a few applications (be cautious you don't overdo it and run the risk of globs collecting at the base of the thread, from where they could drip onto the mirror) until I was happy, and now it works brilliantly.
  6. I completely forgot to say - great choice. The nifty fifty is the first lens anyone should buy for their DSLR, and the Canon version is frankly ridiculous for the the price. My only contribution on that particular beauty would be to set your f-stop to around the 2.8 mark. As tempting as it might be to shoot wide open, with this particular lens, you will see a real benefit in sharpness by going just a few stops lower. Happy hunting and congrats on your acquisition πŸ‘
  7. Good point, I did forget to mention with mirrored DSLRs you do need to use an adapter with a corrector lens included to reach infinity focus - there is a slight degradation but it's negligible considering the money spent in my opinion! I have my mirrorless hat on most of the time nowadays, no need for a corrector lens. I just like to sing the FD praises when I get the opportunity, I really was very surprised at the image quality for the outlay
  8. If you're after a budget option for deep-sky, see if you can find a good 200mm f4 FD lens on eBay, and pick up an FD-EF adapter while you're at it. The throw on the focus wheel is huge, it's a dinky little lens, the built-in hood is awesome - I usually stop mine down to f5.6 to tone down the CA for astro, though happily shoot with it wide-open daytime. Considering you can find them for Β£20-30 they're a bargain.
  9. As does this! https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/662625-canon-fd-to-t-adapter/ A variety of options to play with there I think (and a few adapters on the way that are likely to get sent straight back 🀣)
  10. This looks promising... https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/733394-connect-camera-lens-to-astro-camera-name-of-adapter/
  11. While (mostly 😏) patiently waiting for my 183 to arrive, I've been exploring some lightweight, cheap and portable lenses to experiment with once it arrives. I've got a beautiful WO z61, but don't have access to a garden and have to do most of my astro out in public spaces - where I am, the most I've managed before something sketchy has spooked me into packing up and getting out of there was about 45 minutes, so am looking for something a bit more inconspicuous until my garden situation changes! To that end, after a little reading and some eBaying, I saw a Canon FD 300mm f/5.6 going for £30 in great condition and thought it was a good place to start. I have ordered the ZWO EF-T2 adaptor, and I am trying to puzzle out if I will need to get an FD-EF adaptor designed to focus to infinity using a built-in lens (most of which I've found provide an additional crop factor and from reviews tend to degrade the image a bit at wider aperture), or if I can use the basic FD-EF conversion ring without the infinity focus element I would need for a DSLR, given I can manipulate the distance the ZWO sensor is from the FD lens with extension tubes? That would be much cheaper, and wouldn't have the annoyance of additional and average glass in the train (plus the impact on the focal length). If I can make this work, I'll have something in size and weight akin to a RedCat, but with a bit more punch in focal length (albeit I am sure with an image quality that doesn't compare, but neither does the expenditure)... I just really am a bit lost among the diagrams, formula and varieties of builds. Any advice or pointers welcome - this is my first dedicated astrocam, I am very familiar with DSLRs, but definitely need a hand with image trains!
  12. As above for the clutch - on polar alignment, if you're only doing visual or planetary photography, that will be fine, but if you're doing deep-sky photography you will need to be much more precise. The AZ-Gti doesn't have any off the rack polar alignment options (it was intended for AZ after all) but you could use a guidescope/cam combo and do it via a laptop-based programme such as SharpCap, or mount a simple visual polar scope to your rig (this will take a bit of fiddling to get it lined up sufficiently accurately if you intend to go much over a 60 second exposure at a longer focal length than around 400mm for astrophotography). There are other, simpler options such as the ASIair but the cost starts going up quite a bit and you need to start thinking about what you want from your gear and how committed you are - I speak from experience! If you give more details about what your intentions are and what equipment you have, you'll get awesome, helpful, friendly answers here. I know I learned a lot a couple of years ago and now feel in the position to pay it forward o7
  13. For what it's worth - my experience with this little beauty has been fantastic. It's given one of my housemates their first view of Saturn's rings with a 5mm Celestron Xcel and a x2 Barlow (Edit: the exit pupil is a bit of a bitch past a certain point but not impossible by any means). Took a little while to focus but got a satisfying image, after enough effort to make it feel earned but not onerous! I do read that the quality control on these is supposed to be appalling so your mileage may vary, but I think mine is awesome. Cheap enough as well that one day I might feel bold enough to follow one of the guides around here about taking it apart, flocking it and maybe replacing the prism to see just how far it can be pushed! The c70 has taken a lot of flak online from what I read in the past, picked it up on a whim when I saw it on sale for Β£80 and absolutely love it. Using it with a Meade zoom on a fluid head tripod is a joy πŸ€“
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