Newforestgimp

Startools looks promising actually, had a brief play with it and seems quite straightforward. Im enjoying Siril, as a one product does all its pretty darn good and I think perfect for anyone like my friend who doesnt really want to get involved with the computer side of things at all. The photometric colour balancing basically took a dark post stack image and made it pretty good in one action. Not heard of DarkTable, will check it out. Thanks

Thanks, Yes, I'm getting a bit better with GIMP, trying to narrow down a few steps and processes to have a 'go to' workflow that works 90% of the time. Without too much time on Nebulosity so far SIRIL has been the most straightforward for me followed by DSS. Ill try APP when the weather improves as its only a 30 day trial.

Good Morning SGL, I'm very new to AP and currently evaluating different image processing software to see which one is the one or combination to use for me. At the same time for a friend who simply doesn't want to get bogged down in endless hours of tweaking. So far I've been experimenting with... 1) Deep Sky Stacker, followed by GIMP - Very Manual lots of complex settings and jargon in DSS, Steep learning Curve with gimp 2) SIRIL standalone and also followed by GIMP - Upfront file planning required but once done very easy to use, image processing a bit confusing. 3) Nebulosity 4 standalone, (not yet tried outputting to GIMP) - stacking and bias/flats/darks pre-processing a bit complex with lots of options, seemed to produce a finer detailed final stacked image, but as yet not managed great stretching (could be my data isnt sufficient yet for this tool), colour seem muted but more natural. Just wondering what other suggestions there are, and what people's experiences are of the onboard post processing. Ideally a one stop simple package that produces consistent stacking results with enough post processing ability to give a satisfactory image without necessarily the need to go into GIMP/Photoshop and best of all FREE ! As a complete noob I'm assuming there might be an astro specific program that has a series of automatic features or scripts and gives a reasonable result without going to the professional levels of minute tweaking ? I'm more content to fiddle with GIMP but I know my friend wont, he simply wants to see what he has captured of a night without spending hours at a laptop. Thanks in Advance Andy H

Perfect thank for the advice 👍

Thanks guys, I did think it might be 2” even though that isn’t 48mm. with regards back focus I’ve set it to the 12.9mm as recommended on the WO website, I’m using a dslr currently so I’m hoping that’s correct.

Ok, so, Ive taken delivery of my WO FLAT61 and i notice it has a 48mm internal thread for use of a filter only I cant seem to find any 48mm Filters ? LOTS of 49mm or any other size you care to mention. Anybody using a particular light pollution fileter in conjunction with the WO Flat61A ? Many Thanks.

It was that pesky Baud Rate, set that to the value above 9000 (115200 or something i think it was) and it connected ! and via the usb port so no need for a £35 eqdir cable etc. All working with Stellarium and CdC too, hopefully will get to try in anger if we get anything like a clear sky that i can at least try aligning with. So unless I've really misunderstood everything it should be a case of connecting Guide Cam to laptop and configuring with PHD2. Got to say moving the mount around using the game controller is pretty cool, and will hopefully make aligning even easier.

SUCCESS!!! I have successfully got control of my EQM-35 PRO mount via laptop with no Handset involvement using the USB to B2 (Printer Cable) and also now can control the mount via a spare game pad. Next step guide camera which was where this all started 🤣 Thanks to everyone who contributed...... (Still cant decide on which camera though 😉 ) Andy H

Hi, read both messages, I’ve got a method that works for Stellarium which is basically the cloudy nights link you supplied. It’s no big deal if I have to use the hand controller in the chain it’s worked fine up til now, hopefully it will be easy enough to add guiding into the mix, maybe without EQMOD, maybe just with phd2 and Stellarium/CdC For the T7 guide camera that is another on the list, you can get from Ali express for about £70-80 I know it will take a while but I’m in no rush to guide just yet.

Thanks for the notes, I will take a fresh look soon, I'm sure it will be raining all day at some point 😉 No Guide camera yet, my connection query came about due to the SVBONY only having one connection port back to the PC. compared with say a ZWO. In the meantime, while skies have been cloudy, I have been experimenting indoors with doing away with the handset and connecting direct from Laptop to the Synscan Module without success. I can only seem to get it to work via Stellariums own control protocol rather than ASCOM/EQMOD. When it comes to guiding i really just want the simplest most foolproof way of starting out, something that is going to "just work" i dont really want to be spending hours checking Ports, Drivers, Hubs in the middle of the new forest at night. I appreciate some methods may be better than others which is why i asked the initial question "Is some guiding, better than no guiding ?" Thanks Again

Thanks Guys. I think initially the cables and connections are the thing I need to get clear. I can get Stellarium to control my mount which is fine. I tend to do all my alignment prior to using Stellarium to drive the mount to my selected target. I use a printer cable from laptop to the usb on the handset for this. where it seems to fall down is when I try and connect via EQ mod & Stellarium using ASCOM. Again Stellarium will connect but it won’t drive the scope via ascom connection and EQMOD won’t even connect. ive tried connecting to the handset and directly to the synscan module that the handset plugs into but only via usb (I don’t have the LAN type cable) I’m suspecting that if connecting directly to the synscan module I need the LAN type cable ?? After many failed attempts im tying to get the star alignment and Goto sorted from laptop to do away with the handset before I consider buying a guide camera and guiding. thanks again.

Thanks Jon, I’ll admit a lot of what was covered there went right over my head. im looking for the most straightforward connection initially, the connection from the laptop back to the mount, is that to the usb socket on the handset or the usb socket on the separate synscan module which then has the multi port cables to the motor drives.

Anybody with experience of field flattener ? Specifically compatibility with William Optics Zenithstar 61, is the William optics flat 61 flattener £100 better than say the OVL/Stellamira generic 2” Field Flattener ? ive resigned myself to needing one but which ? then there is also an Altair Astro Flat-60 which is similar in design (screw fit) to the WO £99 but Altair Astro didnt know if it would fit. more confusion 🙈

Thanks @JonCarleton, am i understanding correctly.... USB cable from Guide camera to laptop running PHD2, USB cable from Laptop to mount ? but which port on which part of the mount, I have an EQM-35 PRO with Handset and separate module that the handset plugs into. So far my non guided routine has been... 1) Polar Alignment on mount 2) Switch on mount, and perform 2 star alignment 3) Once aligned successful I connect the handset to my laptop via "square" USB to standard laptop USB (Printer cable) 4) Start Stellarium and find and slew to target from Stellarium I wonder if you could describe how i adapt this routine for connecting a guide camera, which port, which lead etc ? It would help my understanding greatly before i take the plunge 🙂 Thank You

Thanks I'll see if i can hunt one down 🙂

I Agree (now) although in my defence with this one having slider and helical i assumed there would be enough to use a diagonal, im wondering if one of the really cheap tiny Diagonals is worth a punt ? or a different eyepiece maybe ? dont want to give up just yet 😂

Ingenious, but a little too hands on for my Lazy brain. 👏

This is what i feared, however, to achieve focus 'straight through' the focuser is almost all the way out hence why Im assuming i need more inward travel than is available to accommodate the WO 45deg ? or am i thinking the wrong way here.

Hi All, I have a 9x50 svbony sv106 finder scope with slide an helical focuser which works admirably in straight through mode with a bog standard 25 “super” eyepiece. my question is when I introduce a William optics 45deg image correcting diagonal into the train I can no longer achieve focus. I assume the WO45 is increasing the focal length beyond the limits, is there a “short FL” diagonal option ? I’m not concerned about image corrected 45 or 90 deg, this is purely for comfort. Any suggestions ? thanks in advance...

All very interesting, would I be naive to suggest that the SVBONY SV305/pro although same price as the ZWO 120 mini might actually be the better device ? And if turned to unguided imaging in main scope it might be a better versatile option ? im not anywhere close to understanding the technical blurb on the various cameras yet.

Yeah its starting to get close to the price of something with more of a proven track record or at least more users. I just dont like spending money when something a little more left field might do a better job. I apply my cycling factory knowledge to most purchases (stay with me) most stuff is made in the same factories and badge engineered, so you can pay a premium for the branding and underneath is the same chinese carbon fibre. Not sure if the same goes for astro gear.

Thanks i will take a look, the T7 was another i was considering, so ill def take a look.

My current scope for imaging is a WO Zenithstar 61, would that change the advice ? thanks for the reassurance on the sensor front.

Hi all, I wonder if someone can clear my confusion and doubts. I'm very new to AP & I’m currently using a crop sensor DSLR an old EOS30D & a newer 1300D for my Astro shots, both are APS-C crop sensor. 1) If i were to buy a new DSLR for mostly AP should I look for Full Frame, APS-C, micro 4/3 format ? 2) am I worrying unnecessarily about the number of LONG exposures the sensors are ‘exposed’ to having a detrimental effect on the sensors themselves ? Is there such thing as ‘sensor burn’ like there is with OLED & LCD TVs had screen burn from exposure to static images ? many thanks