LaurenceT

Very comprehensive presentation of your settings Lee.

That's what I use but I put a 4Kg kettle bell in it to stabilise the tripod.

Thanks, I'll investigate that.

Some lovely rigs here. If I could find a way to attach a long dovetail plate to the underneath of the Astrokraken bracket that would give me more leeway to connect more devices such as Asiair and get better balance.

I'm interested how people using the Evoguide 50ED as the main imaging scope are balancing their rig. Are you balancing using the RA axis or dec axis or both....(you can tell I'm still finding my way around this mount in EQ mode, my nomenclature may be way out!) I'm pretty certain that @bomberbaz and @TerraC are using this 50ED. The problem for me is that I'm using the Astrokraken bracket system which is great but the dovetail bar is too short for adjustment to get good balance.

Thanks, that makes sense.

So do I need to go through the alignment process in the Synscan app first?

Firstly I don't even know if this is possible! I can control my AZ GTI with SkySafari 6 plus but I seem to have hit a brick wall in my research about the possibility of tracking. According to what I have read the process seems to be: Align the mount using the Synscan app, open SkySafari and align using SkySafari to the last star in the Synscan alignment process just used. Then select a target and GOTO, the mount will then track. Have I got this right or am I barking up the wrong tree? The mount is in AZ mode.

Seconded, the Feisol is a well made product generally, unfortunately that model appears to be unavailable in the UK at the moment. I was fortunate enough to have a Novoflex panoramic head left over from my landscape photography days. Many of the really cheap ones are not worth having. There is a Novoflex version like mine available on Ebay right now: Novoflex panoramic tripod head | eBay There is a newer version but it's much more expensive. My old version works very smoothly, maybe something to do with the German engineering. Using the panoramic head as described here is an excellent way to avoid messing with the clutch or tripod particularly when pointing north.

Which bit is inaccurate? Very nice

How did you mount yours?.........lol

I was recently faced with the same dilemma moving on from a mirrorless modified camera. I found a used ASI533mc Pro at a very good price of £650. I've not seen anything lower anywhere.

I have 2, one in Alt Az mode just for grab and go viewing with lunar and planetary AP and one permanently set up for deep sky AP (when I eventually get round to it!)

Thought I'd do a little lunar photography with my 130pds and Altair planetary camera but walked outside to see it tangled up in the neighbours trees (the moon I mean 😀). Turned my back to the moon to find the Pleides and discovered what people mean by the full moon washing out the sky! Luckily I'd earlier seen M42 with the Startravel 102t that arrived today, lovely sight and as an utter newbie I'm pleased with the optics. Now watching Ben Fogle in Chernobyl with a glass of Scotlands finest.

The Samyang 135mm is an absolute joy.

That's an almost exact mirror of my philosophy in starting astrophotography with the AZ GTI in equatorial mode. Keep it light and simple in respect of the capabilities of the mount in particular and also ones own experience of AP at this stage and, particularly in my case, keep it as cheap as possible. I made a false start using Sony gear as I've been a long time Sony shooter generally and was heavily invested in Sony. Nothing wrong with Sony gear at all but there were limitations when it came to expanding the gear. With Canon or Nikon as a starting point you will have more capacity in terms of gear compatibility.

When I was buying my OSC camera I mentioned to the seller that I would probably sell the 135mm Samyang and get an Askar FMA180 but I'd need an OAG because I couldn't find a way to mount a guidescope. He replied that it would be "a short descent into hell" so I avoided the Askar😅. I don't know how accurate his assessment was.

I actually returned the lower powered TP-Link router and have taken delivery of the AC750 that you use just to make sure of extra range, for the extra £12 odd it seemed worth it. Can I just confirm the settings I've applied to connect via the TP-Link router? I've setup the Asiair connected through the app ( iPad PRO) and set frequency to 5Ghz and closed the app. Connected the ethernet cable from the AAP to the router and set the router to AP/Eng Ext/Client mode Connected the ipad to the TP-Link wifi 5Ghz network and re-opened the AAP app. It seems to work well, I can hear the mount slewing through 3 internal walls although I can't test it's full range as my wife is away today. When she returns she will be able to help me test the full range of the router/AAP.

Thanks @Budgie1, I was able to achieve focus on distant trees this morning.

So the back focus of the field flattener of 17.5mm is not a factor in adding a camera that requires 55mm? You can see the depth of my confusion😅

You could well be right Lee, the image train diagrams I have seen all mention 55mm but I was unclear whether that was the maximum hence my complete confusion. How does this tie in with the back focus of the Skyguider FF with it's available 17.5mm?

I'm just finalising my first imaging train since migrating from a star tracker and mirrorless camera/lenses but I'm not really getting to grips with backfocus. My scope, an Evoguide 50ED has a backfocus of 20mm. I'm connecting a Skywatcher field flattener for this scope which has a back focus of 17.5mm and I'm connecting a ZWO ASI533 mc Pro. Because I have added the FF the back focus of the scope+FF is now 17.5mm, is this correct? When adding my ASI533 mc Pro camera in order to achieve focus I can simply screw in the camera with the 11mm T2 extender in place, is that correct? Could I, should I so wish, add "anything" between the camera sensor and the FF as long as doesn't exceed 17.5mm and still reach focus? Thanks for looking.

I don't know if this has been mentioned but I use a photography levelling base to level my tripod. It's something I've used for years as part of my landscape photography.

What was your view on Siril? I've looked at APP on YouTube (yes, I know 😀) and liked the step by step guide, just like to know before pulling the trigger on a year's subscription or trying Siril.

ZWO recommend connecting the guide camera to the usb port on my 533mc Pro but I can't really see the difference to your suggestion.