ONIKKINEN

13 minutes ago, gorann said:

I got the price from the original post with the link to AliExpress.

Changing my location to Sweden changes the price to include VAT, where as any other country leaves the VAT out of the price? Weird. So yes 1530 USD with VAT, whereas the ZWO 1800 USD does not include VAT. With taxes added to both there is still a 700-ish USD difference.

I expect customs to hold the package until taxes and fees are paid since i was not billed VAT at checkout.

7 hours ago, Nik271 said:

I have been tempted by  the GoTO mounts but what always puts me off is that you can't operate them manually for precisely such eventualities or when you want a quick visual session and can't be bothered with the electronics. I have EQ5 and I wish to get something a bit sturdier and professional in the future, but they all seem to be motor driven only. 

the EQM35 PRO can be used manually, if you have slow motion control knobs. The opposite to the motor side of the worms are free and the motors spin freely but with a bit of gearbox resistance if they are unpowered.

I use manual knobs when adjusting backlash, much easier when you feel it. Of course i left them at home though.

1 hour ago, gorann said:

The Rising Cam is 1530 USD at AliExpress (your link) and the ASI2600MC is 1799 USD (https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/asi2600mc-pro-color or https://optcorp.com/collections/zwo-sales) so the price difference is not that great in my mind. A major advantage with the ASI camera is the dramatic drop in read noise at gain 100 (where the HCG high gain mode is turned on), so I always use gain 100 on mine. The Rising Cam does not have that feature apparently. It will be interesting to see your experience with the Rising Cam.

I bought it for 1224 USD, its on sale right now. Not sure where you got your numbers. Looks like most camera manufacturers are running a sale now but imo the price difference is still significant.

I find the RisingCam graphs impossible to read, especially considering that gain starts at 100. The graphs look similar if you remove the ZWO parts before gain 100 though. Sharpcap sensor analysis will tell me what is the best gain im sure.

I use the same telescope i use for everything else, my jack of all trades and master of none: OOUK VX8. With the Native focal ratio of F4.4 it is not optimal for planetary observations having a 30% or so linear obstruction, but so far i have no complaints. Not that i would know even if it could be better since this is the best scope i have looked through.

But Jupiter shows nice detail in multiple distinct bands and some noticeable "swirls" between them. The Moon is always a joy to look at. Sharp as a knife views guaranteed at reasonable altitudes.

Can you elaborate on what you mean with "10mm lens". I will assume you mean 10mm eyepiece? As in the piece of plastic/metal/glass that you put into the telescope and then look through?

Could you tell us what the model of telescope is?

If all else fails it could be that the Moon is just too bright. With my 200mm aperture telescope the Moon is not observable AT ALL without specific light blocking filters.

So, what kind of telescope are you looking through? Aperture is the key factor here.

It looked like i was blessed with stable skies, clouds in the far south but should not interfere with Jupiter, Saturn and the lovely orange full Moon. Of course i packed everything i should need in to my car and set off for an observing location better than the 16, something SQM skies i live under. Everything is FINE.

I arrive on site, see that the skies are favourable and the seeing would appear to be average or better than average, judging from how much the stars appear to twinkle. Jupiter is obscenely bright and Saturn is clearly a naked eye object, which is a nice turn of events after the Finnish summer. First things first, i plug in my power supply to my OOUK VX8 mirorr fan. Plugging the fan in as soon as i arrive on site is usually good enough to equalize the mirror to ambient temperatures. I polar align with a smartphone app to a reasonable degree. I dont plan on doing long exposure ( not that i could, with the July skies) so i am fine with a "good enough" type of very fast polarscope alignment. I spent more time than usually for balancing my OTA as i found previously that fighting backlash is really annoying, and if i have to spend 5 more minutes to make it even a bit easier, i will.

After this i aligned my finder red-dot with my optical train using a 19mm eyepiece and a street light a bit of a distance away, all good for now.

Then obviously its time to plug all the cables and power on the mount to start my night! Of course it would be easier to do if i had packed everything i needed. I had not.

Only then i found out that i packed everything except the synscan hand controller...

So, the observing report for today is: Moon looked nice and orange, Jupiter and Saturn looked like stars.

6 minutes ago, nfotis said:

 

Obviously, software compatibility is important. As far as I know, there's a Touptek native driver and application, and most popular capture software supports these cameras via ASCOM as well.

A thread about the monochrome IMX571 Touptek/RisingCam camera:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/773197-touptek-mono-imx571-risingcam/

 

The colour IMX571 version is discussed here:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/739387-risingcam-imx571-camera/

 

First impressions from the Lacerta version:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/780769-lacerta-touptek-dspro2600m-first-light/

 

N.F.

 

I am using N.I.N.A for all my deepsky acquisition and from the looks of it there is at least some compatibility with RisingCam models in the "nightly builds" versions of the software: https://nighttime-imaging.eu/downloads/Setup/Nightlies/1.11.0.1114/index.html

It looks like RisingCam drivers were recently added, fingers crossed that everything works out.

1 hour ago, newbie alert said:

The misconception is people associate the starburst as ampglow..with cmos it has many amplifiers ( one on every row) so the starburst comes from the circuitry not the amplifiers 

Different manufacturers use the same chip  but use their own circuits etc ... more to a camera's performance than just the chip

I am very interested in seeing how much of a difference these things make, ill make sure to run some tests once i get my hands on the thing. This will be my first cooled camera so i have nothing to compare it to, but there are a boatload of other IMX571 sensor cameras in use so it shouldn't be that difficult to make some comparisons.

What is this "starburst" you mentioned, i was not able to find much information on this?

1 hour ago, newbie alert said:

People need to realise that noise is created by the camera itself rather than the sensor... so the way the camera is constructed around the sensor plays a massive part in its performace

Im sure it cant be worse than my 11 year old DSLR that is mostly noise.

Is there a learning source for this noise thing and cameras in general? I just assumed that the sensor creates the image and the associated noise with it. Sure there could be amp glow from internal electronics but the descriptions of the product specifically mention some anti amp glow design.

I just placed an order for the colour version of RisingCam IMX571, expected delivery in about 3 weeks.

Too cheap to pass on, less than half the price of a ZWO IMX571 version. The sensor is the exact same one so i cant really see how the important bits could be all that different, i guess we'll find out!

Sure, bright objects are good to go already. The Moon and Jupiter are probably at least a bit enjoyable throughout summer but polar aligning will be impossible as no stars are visible. I am able to PA now but was not just 2 weeks ago.

Still waiting for a while longer here. Late august is when i expect to start my DSO season again...

I'll add my 2 cents to this as a fairly new guy in the hobby.

I mostly image, but bright and easy objects like the planets and the Moon i do like to observe visually.

I live under horrible bortle8-9 skies, and there is sadly not much to see in terms of deepsky objects. I usually drive a bit out of the city to a bortle 6-7 zone but the story remains the same, not much to observe.

Imaging however is possible under bright skies and i am able to see the objects as i imagined them. It helps that we have maybe 30 suitable nights a year for astronomy, so plenty of time to process pictures. I would imagine a lot of newcomers are from big cities where owning or using big visual scopes is not very convenient and small scopes are drowned in city lights.

I havent actually visited a moonless bortle 4 or better with visual in mind yet so my opinions might change when that happens.

Small and unregulated power supplies are a recipe for frustration and disaster, especially once it gets colder outside. Voltage can drop below 12V well before the charge should be empty which is something you should definitely avoid when trying to run a computer/cameras with something. This is especially true once you start adding things to the setup like dew heaters, maybe cooled cameras etc.

I would recommend buying something like a Jackery or an ecoflow river, i bought this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ECOFLOW-Portable-Flashlight-Generator-Emergencies/dp/B091YMZKRY/ref=pd_di_sccai_1/258-3720988-0828560?pd_rd_w=vLeyA&pf_rd_p=2529c273-c9d4-4495-807e-68ed4dfade5e&pf_rd_r=6DN7500CZGHV1AC9G8HJ&pd_rd_r=83988aa6-6fd4-4f76-aa7d-4160a538ac07&pd_rd_wg=4vkOc&pd_rd_i=B091YMZKRY&psc=1

It is heavier and bulkier than what you would prefer, but its not unwieldy as it has a nice handle. I carry mine in the same hand as i carry my tripod and can still remain fully mobile carrying a mount, 8inch newt, camera and guiding equipment.

Proper power supplies like these are very expensive but you will permanently leave any problem related to power behind. One of the best purchases i have ever made, never looked back!

You could also try setting up a Windows 10 mini pc to do the same thing as an asiair, but have guaranteed updateability and more choice of software to use. To use this kind of setup you will still need something to control it with a remote desktop app. I use mine with either a phone or a tablet. depending on how mobile i want to be. It was a bit of a pain to setup but once i got it running i can do whatever i want with it, including some quick processing on the go to check what im working with.

Win10 mini-pc will probably be a bit cheaper than an asiair pro, but not a lot. Asiair pro however will definitely be easier to use.

I went with a mini-pc setup because i dont want to be locked out of options and i want to use all available software instead of depending on what ZWO enables on their product.

12 hours ago, Pixies said:

Seeing was good, often great. I've only been doing this for a couple of years and tonight was the best  view of Jupiter that I've had. The shadow/dot was sooo conspicuous, it almost looked 3-D.

I have a very limited sample size of times I've observed with a decent telescope but this was definitely the best seeing i have seen so far, maybe its all downhill from here... Wind had completely died down and i was at a remote-ish location with no real local ground thermals as i was looking over a field and a forest. At times Jupiter appeared to be frozen, almost like it was etched to the eyepiece, of course it got too bright very soon after but it was great for a while. The shadow itself looked almost fake with how well resolved it appeared, like a dead pixel but in my eye.

Jupiter was 16 degrees at highest this night, and the highest I've ever seen it, im excited to see how much of an improvement next year brings!

Observing with an OOUK VX8 fitted with a 2.5x barlow.

Started out with the 9mm, as the seeing was dodgy at first or my scope had not fully cooled to ambient yet. Im leaning towards the cooling here since it is 29c inside and 16c outside. I did have the cooling fan on while setting up the mount which usually works but maybe this was too extreme.

First time seeing a shadow transit so i didn't know what to expect, not even if its visible, but man it was as obvious as anything can be. Sharp black spot on an otherwise very bright Jupiter. It was so obvious that it was the best marker for seeing whether i was in critical focus or not, very easy to tell the difference! Also this was my first time seeing the GRS, although im not quite sure if that was it. Contrast on other parts of Jupiter was very low, definitely less pronounced than all other atmospheric bands for example and i don't really agree that it was red. Seeing improved consistently as time went on and it was somewhat more obvious towards the end, but not what i expected. As far as i know the GRS is shrinking all the time, i dont think it would be given the same name if it was discovered today.

The great red spot is in my opinion not great or red. It is a spot, ill give it that. Still great to actually see it myself.

I am running an EQM-35PRO quite near its maximum payload capability and can confirm that small differences in voltage are a big deal. My RA stepper motor can start slipping at below 12.5V while it never happens above this. Under 12V is a complete no-go especially anywhere near the meridian.

Switching to a car plug (with the engine running and producing over 14 volts) and/or a proper 13.6v output powerbank pretty much eliminated all slewing problems.

10 minutes of rotation on Jupiter on 12.7. Still starting out with video capturing but i think i got the hang of it now, at least im not getting worse.

Shot with a OOUK VX8 and a Canon EOS550D in movie crop mode and magic lantern raw video. Each frame is 35% of the best frames from a 2 minute 38fps video, shot roughly back to back over a span of 10 or so minutes. Effective focal length is hard to say, but i would assume just under 5000mm. I used a 2x barlow on top of a 2.5x barlow, but Jupiters size appears a bit larger than what it should be if the focal length was increased by 5x. I am guessing that either or both of the barlows increase the focal length more than intended with a longer than eyepiece backfocal distance like with a DSLR.

Videos captured at 02:10-02:20 local time, which is unfortunately still very bright this time of the year, Skies were noticeably blue-ish when looking through an eyepiece visually. Very surprised to see good detail, both visually and on video!

Processed with PIPP, Autostakkert2, Registax for wavelets and photoshop for a bit of curves/colour/levels adjustments.

I was extremely surprised to see such an obvious amount of movement over a short amount of time which leads me to believe i should take shorter videos next time, maybe i could recover more detail if i get lucky with seeing.

6 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

If you are mobile and can get somewhere up high on a hilltop or somewhere where you're shooting over low thermally radiative ground materials (green fields are good) then you can really minimise the effect of the low altitude targets and get nicely improved images with the kit you already have. 

I appreciate the might not be possible for you (it certainly isn't for me, I can only shoot form my back or front garden and that's it). But something to think about maybe. 

 

Its definitely possible, in fact the opposite is impossible as i have no place at home to put down a telescope and see anything other than concrete or city lights.

Fields i can find left and right, hills maybe not so much even if i wanted to carry my kit up a hill. What about lakes/the ocean, would evaporation from a body of water be better or worse than ground thermals?

My telescope is certainly not a mewlon but seeing that an image like that is even technically possible at low altitudes is crazy.

On my latitude Jupiter will be at 18 degrees and Saturn at 10-11 this season. I had my first quick try at video lucky imaging on Jupiter and while its not great i can certainly recognize it as the planet (attached pic). I got this dawn/twilight when the skies were still very bright, not that it matters with Jupiter being so bright right?

I am running an OOUK VX8 with a 2.5x barlow and a Canon EOS 550D. The 550D is workable in the way that it can capture at "movie crop mode" which is a 640x480p 50fps uninterpolated sensor crop (just the center pixels of the sensor) but obviously it is not all that great QE and noise-wise. The 2.5x barlow is less than ideal for sure too, i think a 4x or 5x would be more optimal. I am not a stranger to general long exposure stuff but planets i haven't gotten to yet. The fast newtonian is also not ideal but should be workable, i hope.

Lets say i buy an ADC and a 4-5x barlow and maybe even a planetary camera with smaller pixels. Is it fighting a losing fight that i could just try another year or would i be getting reasonable improvements? I do have better uses for money too but seeing Jupiter just got me anxious to improve.

120s video at 50fps, stacked 10% best, some sharpening etc.

It looks quite soft, focusing was difficult since there were no stars i could bahtinov mask focus on (too bright). Focusing on the target is guesswork with the low resolution un-zoomable video live view, but focus is definitely improvable by luck and repetition if nothing else.

My very first DSO astrophoto from last september. Taken with a DSLR at 100mm focal length piggybacking on a Celestron Asstromaster 130MD. The motor kit allowed me to take 12 second exposures without noticeable trailing. This is i believe around 12 minutes of exposure, processed in DeepSkyStacker and GIMP. I didnt know what i was doing at the time so that is why there is a gradient, satellite trails and weird colours.

Still this started my descent into the rabbit hole and neither the bottom or the hole in which i fell are visible anymore.

New user but not quite new to the hobby, i am now almost a year into the hobby with most of it being dominated by trial and error in astrophotography.

I have made many bad decisions already and know how to fix them (money...), but as im stubborn i will still attempt to make things work for far longer than i should. I am currently running an OOUK VX8 on a Skywatcher EQM-35PRO (bad idea, just dont do this) with a 10 year old DSLR and a basic guiding setup. I am sick and tired of the Finnish summer and cant wait to get back to astronomy when we actually have something that could be called "night", well at least a month to go in the mandatory break and plenty of time to browse forums!