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OK so I've got the book now and having a good read through, answered loads of questions and raised loads more! Finally had a clear night so dived into the garden to take a couple of shots to try and evaluate my light pollution and get some ideas of where to go next.

6341245501_880bf74193_b.jpg

1st Night Sky by FrogDriveR1, on Flickr

ISO 800 f/4.0 24mm 21 sec's

Not the best of images but as i mentioned was really trying to get an idea on my next steps really. Am i potentially going to be able to do reasonable astro photography with this sort of background light?

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That could be a lot worse... what I think is affecting you more, is high level clouds reflecting the light back at you. You can see whisps of it lower right, above that and lower left. I think with a 7D, you'd get away with a much higher ISO value as well. That leaves a large question open, but that's another debate ;)...

Try taking at least 10 exposures of the same length and stacking them in DSS.

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Thanks for that, it probably wasn't the best night either as the moon was reflecting a lot of light as well. Its back to no sky again tonight so its game over for a couple of weeks but its good to know there is some potential.

I notice that the mount that everyone says to go for is the heq5 how do you achieve say 2 minute exposures unless its the synscan model?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

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Focal length has a large part to play in how long you can track for before errors become a problem (that assumes you have a decent polar alignment). With mine I can do 2 to 3 minutes with my 80ED (600mm) and 5 minutes with ease at 50mm (I'm sure I could take longer exposures but never seen the need).

The only difference between the syntrek and synscan models is the goto hand controller. Goto has no bearing on tracking accuracy just makes finding targets easier. I have a syntrek model and full goto using eqmod (superb but of free software for sw eq mount computer control) and a planetarium package.

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@JGS001 so im having abit of a rethink on the mount and rather than spending 100's thinking about starting off with some widefield and noticed your rseq1. Well impressed with that and think something on the lines of that would make a good starting point. What would i need to essentially copy what you have done? Would only be looking at an ungripped 7d + either 17-50mm or 12-24mm on it so not much weight at all. My thinking is maybe got for a mount and telepscope that i can use for widefield as well?

Sorry if any of that is jumbled as ive just finished nightshift!

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  • 2 weeks later...

To be honest I think thatched camera gear in question might be too heavy for an eq1. I use a 450d and the kit lens, so all in pretty light, and 2 minutes is only just achievable. With the lenses and a 7d, I think you'll be struggling. In fact i'd like to get a sturdier mount than an eq1, to be honest.

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Hi

Thanks for replying, well i managed to win an heq5 last night, just the basic one so i think ive covered all my bases so far regarding the weight issue. What other bits did you use to mount your camera on your rseq1 as i may copy the top half of it?

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I have used the 7D with a 100-400 f4.5-5.6L on my EQ3 Pro...

I very rarely drag the HEQ-5 out ...

I use a length of Dovetail with a large B&S head fitted.. Once the mount is PA's and tracking at the sidereal rate you can point the camera at any part of the sky you like using the B&S head - This allows me to image around the Meridian without the hassle of Meridian flips...

You might want to look into a dew band and controller.. I use 5" ones they fit all the lenses I have at the moment...

Peter...

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