powerlord

@RobSTIf you have (or get) an Ha filter, you can get great results (imho) with a DSLR camera, combining some Ha NB with your RGB. I got this for example with my 6d (with my 72ED not Samyang, but principle still applies)

So.. it was still terrible. I'm keeping this thread updated as I suspect it may help others. I think I was sold a pup that has been taken apart many times. After lots of hunting around a reading, I see that the 'corrector' has to be in a certain orientation. Its confusing and surprised me, as I'd really just thought it was a bit of glass holding the secondary in place - there is no obvious 'lensing' going on...but apparently they correct astigmatism.. which is exactly what I have. apparently there should be a 'serial number' which 'should be at 3 oclock' or a mark lining up to 3 oclock. well.. initially had no luck seeing serial number or marks, but then I took it apart again later in sunlight, and after lots of viewing at different angles I now see the outside covered in old, removed sharpie lines. all around the ege! That made me realise it had been taken apart loads of times.. then finally I noticed the serial number - I'd been expecting some professional etching, not a hand written scrawl on the edge I'd just initially thought was a scratch! So - I've stuck it back together with that serial at 3oclock, and tonight I wil attempt to collimate. I've read the standard way, I've also cut out a mask to try the duncan method. Really hoping, fingers crossed this time I can get it done. I'm gonna use the 1200D live view on a 7" HDMI field monitor to do it. Sacrifice a viginal chicken for me please, as I've about had it with this thing. stu

I was saying the other day in a thread we could do with a new section for controllers, as there isn't one. i.e. seperate from software, as if it's a 'black box' controller like asiair, it doesn't really fit anywhere else. ASIAIR, maybe astroberry, etc Equipment / Discussions - Controllers how about it @admin ? stu

Thought this might be a fun thread? As it seems to be many of the DSOs have rubbish names, plus it's interesting how people see different things in the same images. The rules: post a pic of a DSO you took post (optionally cropped/rotated) versions, with one annotated to show the 'thing' you see. optional posts from others can 'correct' pic and show what they see. nothing too rude (awwww) So.. to kick it off here is my pic of IC1396 - the elephant trunk. My goal - to see the elephant. And I reckon I do. And a crop and rotate where I see the elephant.

ha! I can't see that - I reckon I might start a 'what you see in a DSO' thread - and folk need to annotate the pic! Here's where I see the elephant,because I'm now thinking as obvious as it is to me, maybe its as obvious as ET is to you!

It looks bad enough it might be worth just using controller to move RA slowly, and look closely.

Put review on Google, on trust pilot and anywhere else you can. Write letter clearly stating failure to supply services and what they will need to do to remedy or you go to small claims in 7 days. If no remedy, raise in small claims.

ah, crub that - user error. I've just worked out, the focus connector DOES screw off - just very tight. I then screwed on the Sky-Watcher EvoFrame Camera Rotator for Evostar-72ED DS-Pro, and found that I can screw off the nose of the OVL flattener, which then screws right onto the rotator. Looks to be the same distance to flattener as previous. So now all screwed on all the eway to the filter wheel - at feels a lot more secure. 🙂

Hi chaps.. I want to take some targets with my 72ED and my 2" ED barlow. Together with the flattener, it does all work and focus as expected, but that is a heck of a lot of hardward hanging off the 72ED focuser by only copper spring friction grip of 2 M4 bolts. Is there a better way ? The copper/spring fit does seems to be removable for a threaded fitment. I'm not sure of the correct terms to all these bits, so not sure what to look for if something else is available. stu

t-riing method is best. The other way is called projection imaging. You probably do not have enough length for the DSLR to focus (55mm is the usual). With maks/SCTs they sometimes have enough focus to make it, but with a refractor, you probably need an extension tube between the t-ring and the scope. how exactly is the t-ring attached to the scope just now ?

optolong https://www.firstlightoptics.com/light-pollution-reduction/optolong-uhc-light-pollution-filter.html Seems to do the job.

I shot at iso 3200 with 180 sec subs. 47 of em. I think around F2.8. there was a fair bit of light pollution to deal with in processing. It certainly is a nice lens. My diy electric motor focuser was useful to get the stars sharp, plus shutting the aperture a bit of course. I do want to try it with my asi1600. Hell I wonder if even the cheapo sv105 i have might work ok with it fully open. I'm shooting with this on my second mount while doing mono stuff on the main one. I use az gti in eq mode for this. Could not get guiding to work properly last night though - had to just shoot unguided, but I think my PA was good enough to make it work. Gonna burn latest 3.30 firmware on the az gti before next outing and hope that fixes the guiding. stu

Well, got a Samyang 135mm last week. Here's first light. 141 mins with canon 6d and FF clip in UHC filter. It's.. ok.. just very very busy with stars. reduced them a hell of a lot, but still seems busy. I have to say, i reckon the pelican should be renamed europe - seems like great britain, spain, etc to me 🤨

is this the double you mean ?

Thanks, I Hit my goal which was to see that freckin elephant!

Thanks Carol, I think you are right. At the time I Thought I'd maybe went a bit far. I pushed it to get rid of grain noise while not losing detail, but it has went a bit 'painterly'. I appreciate your comments, especially as your images are some of my favourites. Coloured stars: ah.. Well took subs last night, so will have a go today and see what I can do. One of the best things about AP of course, is I can learn what I can for now, leave it a few months for something else, thrn come back to the raw data and do a completely new image with it.

yeh i think im missing some sii from that area, so all I've got is the Ha. that was the lowest part when i was shooting, so it might have got swamped in light pollution ? here's the sii for the top right - nowt there. only one to get anything was the ha - hence the green

A slightly more subdued version..

I admit I may have gone a bit overboard with colour saturation... when i get the coloured stars in there I'll tone it down a lot I think. It didn't look quite as garish on my imac monitor in my defence.🤔

Hi chaps, this is my first pic I'm posting to the non-beginners imaging group. At 6 months experience with a telescope, and 5 taking photos, and 1 month with a mono camera - I'm very much still a beginner, but I'm really please with the way this one is coming on - so I'm hoping it's good enough to be on here ? This is my first project in mono and NB. First time shot NB, first time mono, first time editing mono, etc, etc. ASI1600, 72ED, EQ5 EQstar pro mount plus some on my EQ6R-pro when it arrived. shot with asiair pro, guiding with an asi120m. It's 7.5 hours Oiii, 7 hours Sii, 6 hours Ha. At present mono stars. Tonight I'm hoping to grab some RGBL for the stars only and will pop them in instead of the mono from Ha that I've got in there just now. My aim was the focus (sic) in on the trunky bit bursting out, and to get clarity enough to just about see the elephant's head. Which I reckon I've got. It was stacked in APP, but then edited all in Affinity Photo, with starnet++ used to process stars separately., I should have waited till I got colour stars.. but hell.. I've been shooting this for a month now - 7 sessions.. and feel like I want to post it now 'cause firstly - I'm kinda pleased how it's coming out, and secondly to get some feedback so I can work that into the final edits once I get colour stars. So err be gentle, but not too gentle 🙂 I've maybe kinda saturated it a bit much, though I also kinda like it that way. the stars clearly need doing properly. My Oii was even after 7.5 hours not great - I'm in Bortle 5/6. Plus I'm just learning what works here really - some shots were gain 125 @360, some at 139 @360, some at 300 @360, then last 2 sessions at gain 200, 600 seconds. I did sort of forget that my framing at the start of the night isn't going to be the same at the end of the night - so I have had to crop in more than I thought. If I was gonna do it again, I might stick with 300mm or so and shoot it with my canon 300mm F4 L. I tried putting it into startools, but it was crashing all the time trying to load the fits. And when I did get them loaded it just kept producing horrible pictures. I'm sure it's entirely down to the 'pilot' here.. but I have read the manual, etc - and I thought I'd sussed it for OSC stuff... but gave up for this with it. I found affinity photo was fine for it tbh. I then decided I'd use starnet++ to strip out the stars and work on the composition and processing without them, and stick em back at the end. Which I really like as a process. I reaaaallly want to shoot something new now, as it feels like I have elephant on the brain. So other than shooting some short RGB for the colour stars tonight I'm on to a new target... not sure what, but might give either the samyang 135 or samyang 14 a try... stu

I find dslr live view with bahtinov still much better than preview. You get far more instant feedback - do remember to use you camera zoom controls though to zoom into the star to focus. And have adjusted your menus so you get 10x zoom.

Ive been using a cheap sketch thing too, mayne best use the tablet then - it's a decent samsungso should have a decent colour temperature when set to white.

Hi Vlaiv, I shot video with and without the x2.2, the x2.2 was the better of them. Still poor, but more detail than without. I think I shot with 135 gain though, so that's something to try next time, thanks. though frankly I'd rather not be using the wee Mak if I can get the C8 working properly. stu

Does a blue bias really matter? You can correct that surely? I find the same thing with my cheap sketch pad, but as the point of flats is getting rid of dust, spots, vignetting.. Does it really matter?