Stefek

The mount itself will deal with that , especially with relatively light scope. I have just taken 8mm threaded bar, cut it to about 20cm and screwed into the hole on DEC saddle . Asked my neighbor to cut me few pieces of steel with 30mm diameter with various lengths (from 5 to 50mm) and drill it and make the thread in the center. Now I have various weights that I can just screw closer or further and balance the scope (Esprit 120 or Edge HD 8 )perfectly . I regularly have guiding RMS in 0.4-06" range.

This is my second ever image taken with mono camera and narrowband filters. It was taken on Ocrober 25th, from Botle 5/6 location. Scope: Esprit 120 f/5.5 , camera QHY268M , Filters Antlia 3nm SHO. Exposures Ha : 82x240" OIII : 80x240" SII : 73x240 All comments/suggestions are welcome as I am still learning using mono camera. Thnx. Higher resolution on Astrobin [URL=https://astrob.in/c44e97/0/][IMG]https://astrob.in/c44e97/0/rawthumb/gallery/get.jpg?insecure[/IMG][/URL]

Yes , this looks close, but it looks that there is also some tilt present . Perhaps some small fine tuning of distance and than tilt .

I had HEQ5 for a while. Also did belt mod as well as the same Geoptik saddle. I used it for photo in a combination with 8" SCT (Edge HD). From the weight point of view that is a piece of cake for the mount, however it was all together a bit sensitive to wind. At native f/10 , even with wind of 1.5 m/s , imaging was close to hopeless. That is not that much related to the mount itself , it was more a combination of of long FL , windy location, camera with small pixel, and so on. The mount is now with one of colleagues and he is making brilliant photos with Esprit 80 on it. So , long story short , for visual , the mount will handle weight of 11 or 12 kg with no problems . With better tripod than mine was , photo with that kind of weight could be reasonably managed, but if more than that for photo, I would consider "larger" mount.

Of course , Vlaiv , as I said , there are no ideal clouds , and if there would be some , one would need them to show up and disappear when we want exactly . I just wanted to say that in an experiment as we perform there is hardly any method to measure the background only. Although your idea with the same Alt/Az is intriguing (as alwys 🙂)

As Vlaiv said in his first sentence, there is no way that you correctly separate background from useful/wanted signal in an experiment in which the response from the sensor is very similar/equal to both phenomena that you try to separate. Although one can do excellent job by guessing it applying experimental or mathematical "tricks" , it is still just guessing . If one would be able to experimentally identify or even measure only one of two , the accuracy of separation would improve . In that respect , I think , combining images from different positions is a step in right direction . I was wondering whether som clever combination of images with or without filters could add value . Also if one would have ideally cloudy night , with clouds being perfectly homogeneous , one could possibly be able to measure the background only , at least the LP component of it . But unfortunately there are no perfect clouds😀, so the background remains guesiing and observer dependent. ☹️

I do not know which protocol it uses really. Maybe I did not express myself 100% precise. What I wanted to say is that iOptron Commander offers most of EQMOD functionality , just I like the user interface a bit more than EQMOD.

GEM28 is ASCOM compliant mount. The ASCOM driver is called iOptron Commander, and so far , I found no problem with compliance. I normally have the following software that need access to the mount NINA, Sharpcap, CdC , PHD2. All 4 packages running at the same time can access the mount with no problems. I briefly also tried Stellarmate and it connects to the mount normally. iOptron Commander is in fact EQMOD with a bit different (better?) user interface I use USB cable to connect my PC to the hand controller of the mount.

I had HEQ5 , replaced it with CEM70. Later bought GEM 28 (with encoders though) to have something portable. GEM 28 is far lighter , yet with reasonable payload. I am using it with my C8 SCT for planetary or for some small DSOs. Works perfect. So far , I saw no proofs for HEQ5 outperforming GEM 28 . (except small difference in payload). It is just my personal feeling that iOptron mounts are somehow better built , or should I say more modern . One could take the whole rig with tripod easily and carry it around, but it is still sturdy enough for long FLs

I am using DeepSkyDad AF3 autofocuser with Esprit 120 . Works perfectly with my relatively heavy rig (Reducer, 7 pos filterwheel and QHY268m camera.

I have both OSC and mono versions of the same chip. Each has some advantages and disadvantages. I started with OSC and later bought mono version. 36 mm filters are large enough. If L-Extreme, than 2". Btw, there are some nice filter drawers that you can put in front of your camera, so that you do not have to screw in filters every time. Advantage of OSC is that is cheaper all together, you get all colors at once (does not mean you need less time than with mono), and it may look somehow simpler (it is not really) . Mono camera gives you better resolution , it is actually faster then mono, you can image in light polluted areas , but is far more expensive. Just a set of good RGB and NB filters with filter wheel will cost more than the camera. If I would have known what I know now , would have bought mono only. Either one (OSC or mono) will be perfect match with Esprit 100. Why is this camera better than others? Simply because there is nothing else that is CMOS, 16bit, APS-C format and such pixel size, and without amp glow. If you wish you can see few of my images with both cameras https://www.astrobin.com/users/Stefek/

When you have a filter between flattener and camera, you should add 1/3 of the glass thickness to the backfocus distance.

Hi, when you say astronomy , do you have only visual/observing on your mind , or you are also thinking towards astrophotography ? .

The components that are used nowadays in consumer electronics are quite generic. Sensors or other components are sometimes selected on quality and marked "scientific" or "military" or sometimes "industrial" grade. In such case the manufacturer using such graded components would not miss to claim that with bold letters in their marketing materials. Have to admit that I did not see much of that in marketing messages of usual camera suppliers. Makes me thinking that in fact they are all the same if coming from the same source. Of course could be wrong , but so far did not see much of proofs ....

Thank you. Was playing a bit with OSC and dual band before. Actually got my first ever scope and astro camera in February this year. So I am still very much newbie. Learned a lot from all of you here, on CN, ....

Bertolt Brecht said once: " It is a bigger crime to establish a bank than to rob it" ..I wonder was he in the hobby as well 😊😊

So far I only tried Optolong L-Extreme and the filter does nicely what is made for. You can get reasonable images from light polluted place. It can't do miracles and blue channel will be affected by moonlight or by strong LED streetlights , but still reasonable images. Stars color will be messed up though, but that can be handled either with synthetic green or by simply taking RGB frames for stars .

This is the first light of QHY268M camera and SHO filters. Before I done everyting with OSC Images taken on October 17-19th, Bortle 5/6 location Esprit 120, f/5.5, QHY268M, Antlia 3nm SHO filters Total integration almost 18 hours Ha 83x240", OIII 93x240", SII 93x240, color mapping : R-100% SII, G-100% Ha, B-100% OIII

How long is your USB cable? Have you tried communication via USB2?

I have QHY 268M and Omegon veTEC 571 (which is in fact Touptek , like Altair and several others) . Both have the same Sony IMX571 sensor like ASI2600. I did not have any issues with such leakage or anything similar.

GEM28 is a class above EQM35. It is more like HEQ5 . I use to have HEQ5 and I have GEM28 now. IMHO , GEM28 is more modern, lighter and equally or better performing than even HEQ5 (this is valid for particular mounts that I have/had , do not want to generalize) The only advantage of HEQ5 is a bit more of payload.

Few observations from my side: Many of CMOS cameras do have window heater built in (like ZWO , QHY) , for some, it can be switched on/off in camera (ASCOM) setting. If heater is not built in , ZWO and some other manufacturers do offer camera window heaters. Combined with regular application of desiccant tablets, dewing should not be real issue. Amp glow is not that big deal anymore on recent cameras and dithering combined with good stacking takes good care about hot/cold pixels, so dark frames are not that essential. Good to have them , though. Reasons for taking flats( or not) are the same for both CMOS and CCDs

Well, it depends a bit what are you really after : many photos or good photos. It often gets somewhat forgotten that OSC has Bayer matrix and yes you collect all channels at the time, but just 25% per R and B and 50% per G, compared to mono. So, is OSC that much faster? Not that much. Light pollution plays also important role. In light polluted area, mono camera will perform better. I do have both 2600 OSC and mono versions. L-Extreme or other dual or multi-band filters are great, they help with LP , but then again , they are much slower than without them and they are not in the same league with real narrowband filters combined with mono camera. Either way, buying 2600MC can't be wrong , especially if you get good dual band filter. If you go with mono , think once more should it really be 1600 or something else in that price range . There were some reports about reflections from sensor cover glass. Clear sky, whatever you buy .