LaurenceT

Thanks

How does the integration of the astroberry/stellarmate with the Asiair work?

His DSLR is compatible with the Asiair as is his other gear and he's talking about getting an Asi guide camera.

The Nikon D600 has been officially tested by ZWO. Sorry, missed the post by @SmokeyJoe

I moved from Astroberry to Asiair and it was the best decision I've made in my astrophotography journey. The power question is an interesting one, I have been using this in my search for an ultra portable setup: Celestron 6.1 Ah Powertank Lithium LT | First Light Optics Many people would criticize this as being inadequate to power an Asiair but I use it to power the Asiair only, my mount and the camera are powered by smaller Talentcell units (Amazon). I have run this happily for 2 hours but of course many imagers would need something running for much longer. The capacity of the Celestron unit is 73.3 Wh which is inside the the FAA rules: Pack Safe – Batteries, lithium (faa.gov) "Lithium ion (rechargeable) batteries are limited to a rating of 100 watt hours (Wh) per battery. " I don't know what the rules would be in taking more than one battery on board.

That's certainly bizarre behaviour, have you updated the firmware to the latest version?

I'd be grateful if someone could help a non-engineer with this. I have the same setup and on checking mine the gap is obvious. It doesn't seem to affect performance but is there a risk of damage to the EAF?

Thanks for pointing out the Altair offering, I hadn't seen that one. You've provided me with a great deal of information.

That's clearer now, many thanks.

Many thanks for that, not being in the slightest way an engineer I'm having trouble visualising what you mean. The orange bar is in fact a WO dovetail bar, one side being Vixen compatible and the other side being Arca Swiss although that's probably a red herring!

Having recently acquired an Askar FMA 180 I would appreciate any ideas for mounting this with a my Evoguide 50ED guidescope/camera setup on an EQ mount. I can only come up with a solution involving a comparatively cheapish Geoptik side by side mounting plate, (why are the other mounting plates so expensive?)

My pleasure Matt, it was great meeting you.

"trippy view".....love it🤣

To scratch my itch for an ultra-portable lightweight widefield imaging setup, I'll mount it on my Az GTi. I did puzzle a bit about mounting it on a dovetail bar but found a screw that fitted it together. Doesn't include the camera, just trying it out for size. My thanks to @Second Time Around.

Pentax cameras have sensors that do star tracking with the Astrotracer function, I'm surprised it's not been incorporated into phone camera sensors. Then again, maybe it has and I've missed it. PENTAX: The choice for astrophotography / explore | RICOH IMAGING (ricoh-imaging.co.jp)

Thanks for that. I've had a look on Ebay and decided the best solution would be a tripod lens collar. The diameter of the lens at the best place is about 61mm and the internal diameter of the collar is 65mm so I'm sure I can find an adhesive something or other to stick to the inside of the collar to absorb the excess in size, just not sure what. In fact I've bought 2 because the asi224 camera is the same diameter so I can mount the collars on a dovetail and support both of them. Sorry to waffle on but I'm pleased I may have found a solution. Edit: I've just put the Vivitar on my Sony body and I'm quite pleased with the quality of the lens. 1/400th, f5.6, ISO4000.

You're quite right, I hadn't seen those images. I think they're excellent, you're further down the road than I imagined.

Excellent images

I used to have lots of fun with elderly Canon FD lenses adapted to my Sony FF body. I bought them all from Ebay over the years but sold most of them when I realised how much people value them these days. I did keep this one for some reason and it gets good reviews and when stopped down to F4-5.6 is said to be very sharp. I'd like to have a go with this and my ASI224mc planetary camera probably for some EAA to start with but I'm hitting a brick wall with regards to mounting the setup onto a dovetail bar. I've managed to secure an FD to T2 adapter.

If you follow that link there is a lunar image taken with your kit.

Is your setup this one? Sky-Watcher CAPRICORN-70 (EQ1) 70mm (2.75") f/900 REFRACTOR TELESCOPE - Optical Vision Ltd

UKAstoBuyandSell website

The kits you refer to sold by retailers are within spec for visual astronomy, it's when the extra kit required for astrophotography is added then the mounts can be overloaded so it can be said that retailers are being somewhat disingenuous in their marketing of scopes/mount combinations for example in the Skywatcher PDS range. I spent many years as a hobbyist wildlife photographer, many times I was asked what kit I used to produce a certain image and there much anguish from beginners when I told them the cost of lens/body exceeded £5000, if you want to play the game at a higher level then you need to stump up the cash. I sold virtually all my photo gear to get into astrophotography 2 years ago and I'm still at a quite basic level for gear, I won't be going any higher! My combination of EQ5 and 130PDS satisfies me both for visual and astrophotography although I haven't done much of the latter with the 130PDS yet.

My EQ5 copes very well with the 130PDS. With the 150PDS plus all the ancillary bits of kit you will be probably over the load limit of the EQ5 of 6.5Kg. My camera, Asiair and guide scope add up to 5.3Kg. A quote from that thread: "My first set up was the EQ5 and SW 150pds and I quickly realised that it was too heavy when the camera and guiding was all attached"

Welcome to this forum. You say that you want to have a look at an EQ mount, I have an EQ5 mount, certainly not the strongest around but then neither am I! I'm fairly close to you in Camberley so if you want to have a look at mine I'd be happy to oblige.