Guiding conversion project for 200p and EQ5

[stan26]

Returning to the converstation late, I agree with the idea of a separate EQ3-2 thread, if only so it helps with search results.

James

If/when I get time in the next couple of days I will put it up on here........

Stan

[1981suede]

QM, where can I get some of that foam? Trying to make your adapter.

Cheers.

[Quatermass]

I got mine from an old camera case but builders pipe lagging or those kids toys made out of this sort of foam would do so long as its not too soft it should do the job pipe lagging is what I would go for from b&Q take along your finder scope and try it for size.

[pixueto]

Well, I just got the dual axis controlled modded. I hope it'll work! Checked the RA and Dec buttons and it seems that I haven't broken anything. I ordered the GPUSB adapter from shoestring as it's 30 quid cheaper. In the website it says that he is busy and orders can take a while to be delivered. I wonder how long it will be till I get it.

Guys, I got my first telescope last September, a 8'' dobsonian. Then I realised that I wanted to do spectroscopy and imaging rather than visual so I sold it in December and bought my SW 200P. Started imaging planets with no tracking, then in January got a dual axis motor and a Canon 350D so I could have a go at DSO's. I was very pleased with my first two targets but since the weather isn't helping. Now I am considering autoguiding and modded my controller. This is madness! I blame it on the weather and this thread.

[Quatermass]

Hi Pix

Glad you got the dual axis controller modded it works great with my GPUSB adapter so I dont see you having any problems there. It took about a week to get my GPUSB adapter from shoe string astronomy so 5 days or so. Your journey from planets to deep sky is a bit like mine. I started off with a skywatcher 130p and taking videos of planets with my mobile phone then got rid of the 130p for the skywatcher 200p and EQ5 and a single RA axis.

There is so much to learn about this hobby but that's what keeps me interested in it. I didn't want to use a laptop but have to admit that know I am its pretty cool to control your telescope mount with a laptop and I am pleased I can get longer exposures for my deep sky targets now. The Canon 350D is a great little camera as well I got mine on ebay for 130.00 last year and its brilliant.

keep us posted on how its all going when you get the GPUSB adapter and wishing you clear skies.

[pixueto]

I got my canon from UK astrobuysell for £140 and I love it to pieces. If you get cables long enough for your webcam and your mount you could run the show from home, couldn't you? I'm planing on doing this from my sofa and going out every 10 mins but I wonder if it will be so enjoyble then. Wouldn't it be too easy? Surely one doesn't feel as involved in the whole process if the computer does everything?

[Quatermass]

Well I have the cables to run it from inside but I like to be out there and close to my set up so I use a fisherman's bivvy as a shelter and have everything set up inside that. Its no hassle to set up and means that I can use my binoculars to observe with while I am out there. I am going to change my shed around when it gets warmer so I can have everything in there this year. I can run the telescope from a distance of 10 meters with my cables from the shed and reposition it if the trees are blocking my targets. Sometimes its nice to just go back to normal observing but there are so many things I still want to get images of and I enjoy imaging more then just observing. Well I kind of think of imaging as an extension of observing really The weekend forecast is set for clear skies so getting ready for another session soon.

[Quatermass]

You might like to down load backyard eos you can try out for free for 30days and you get a cool red screen converter that is great if your going outside with your laptop. It has some cool features on it as well I was testing my canon out with it yesterday and it would certainly make focusing better as you have a much bigger image to work with.

[pixueto]

Thank you, I asked for a trial key. Seems quite cheap.

[austen4]

Went out tonight, just come in and left it all for exposures while I get on with coursework. I did this whole mod but used a Logitech Pro 9000 for guiding. It works fine and I am getting 10 minute exposures which nice pointy stars. The only problem is that the webcam feed on PHD is quite grey which maybe someone could me some advice on helping. I am so happy that it all works and cannot wait to image properly now. I would definitely recommend doing this. I will try some higher exposures tomorrow night as it seems to be clear aswell as tonight.

I would like to thank anyone who has helped in this mod even if they have not posted.

Thanks again everyone

[Quatermass]

Hi Austin thats great news glad it all came together for you.. im out tonight having another try at the horse head what a difference a guided set up makes ten times more faffing about but well worth it. Do post your results on here for us all were still following this thread :) try using the brain setting and change the noise reduction settings in there also take darks and use 0.5 works for me.

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Edited February 18, 2012 by Quatermass

[austen4]

Hey QM,

I have set to 0.5s but still seem to be pretty grey . Oh well at least it guides, I cant complain as I have saved much money from it!

Thanks

EDIT: misread the brain setting and will try that. Thanks!

Edited February 18, 2012 by austen4

[stan26]

Great news austen, well done mate!

One thing that the guiding has highlighted from my point of view, I really haven't got dark skies at all Anything more than 5mins and I'm down to ISO200 or 400 max. Theres just to much skyglow on my southern horizon. I blame neraby towns of stowmarket / needham market. I have been looking at getting a 2nd DSLR to mod, but I think an astronomik CLS filter will be my next purchase. I could do 10min subs with my canon 200 lens even on the EQ3, its just the LP that's holding me back .....

stan

[austen4]

Ahh Stan thats a bummer. My southern horizon is quite good actually but my northern sky is appaling. I live south of London so thats the reason. I am limited to southern objects but hopefully when I go to France for holiday I can capture so amazing stuff. I have a skywatcher LPF which works great. I have no yellow glow on my pictures.

Has anyone got any advice on other filters for astrophotograhy?

Thanks

[malc-c]

In PHD there is a slider in the middle between the buttons - this adjusts the contrast, but it's a balance between setting the exposures (normally 1.0s ) and the contrast to give enough signal to noise ration for PHD to track.

[Quatermass]

So far I have had good guiding results at an iso of 800 and exsposure time of 5 minutes an 8 min at 400 iso is about the same. The horse head tonight was going ok till the wind picked up it whistles down my garden and the 200p picks it up like a sail worst luck. I know im pushing the limits with my set up and a windy night tips the balance. Going to need a better guide cam for those faint stars as well but still had a great night and mars was amazing to observe and capture on the webcam so feeling satisfied with tonights efforts.

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[gthomas]

Great news austen, well done mate!

One thing that the guiding has highlighted from my point of view, I really haven't got dark skies at all Anything more than 5mins and I'm down to ISO200 or 400 max. Theres just to much skyglow on my southern horizon. I blame neraby towns of stowmarket / needham market. I have been looking at getting a 2nd DSLR to mod, but I think an astronomik CLS filter will be my next purchase. I could do 10min subs with my canon 200 lens even on the EQ3, its just the LP that's holding me back .....

stan

Stan, I'm just north of Bury St Edmunds so I have the same problem to the south. Plus a pub 200 yards to the west so I'm pretty much stuck with north and east.

I have just purchased a seconds 450D in order to have it modified. I tried the CLS filter on my unmodded 450D and the red channel is down to less than 25% of the signal without the filter. So my feeling is that the CLS is only going to be of any use with a modded camera.

[stan26]

Hi Glyn, There seems to be quite a few of us on here from suffolk!

Its interesting what you say about the CLS. I was under the impression that it only cut the light transmission at mid spectrum where LP falls into but let the good stuff through. Obviously any element in front of the sensor is going to have some impact on light transmission but 25% cut at the red end is a huge downfall with astro work. Maybe Ill have to re think my options....

Stan

[Quatermass]

Results from last night. This is about 8 subs of the horse head 4 at 5 minutes iso 800 and 4 at 8minutes iso 400 no darks or flats or bias used but for 8 shots I am impressed it took 60 subs darks flats and bias to get the same results before. Its not great by any means and it was windy last night so had to bung out a few subs but it does show that with more subs and darks flats bias applied this can be greatly improved upon.

Only trouble is that with longer subs you get more noise to deal with so I think I will reduce the time and go for 3 minute subs guided. You get used to doing shorter subs with un unguided system and although longer subs are ok for bringing out more detail as shown here with just 8 subs compared to 60 shorter ones its a balancing act. And as Stan points out if you have LP to deal with as well it can in fact make your final images worse.

Also having fun imaging mars with the webcam its high up at midnight and ideal for capturing with the webcam.

[stan26]

Nice one QM! That 200p must be a real challenge to use, hugely demanding on the guide setup, I bet even an EQ6 would struggle, so any half decent image from you EQ5 setup is a result, you should be proud of that!

You're at the complete opposite end of the scale to me with regards to FOV framing your object. I've moved onto my new Canon 200mm lens for optimum image quality but traded off the FL so I'm purely widefield large targets now (ST102 mothballed till galaxy season). Have you considered getting a wider field scope, i.e ED80...? It would make your guided EQ5 a right killer of a DSO setup, and a lot less demanding on the guiding.....

Stan

[Quatermass]

Yes stan I was thinking of an ed80 or mybe like rick a 150p. The weight limit is at the limit for my setup but a smaller scope would be a great addition. Any wind and im stuffed but tonight I have stuck with 3min subs. Stacking shorter subs 3-4 min gives a better result a think. Phd confuses me sometimes when I hit a star and calibration starts the star gets shifted right of the screen and I lose my framed target other times it just moves the star left right up down a little and starts guiding. Does that happen if I move the guide scope away from the main area to find a brighter star? Whole different kettle of fish this guiding lark but its fun learning a new skill :)

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[stan26]

Tell me about it mate! It takes ages for me to set up now I'm guiding, a whole different ball game. I have never had the problem where PHD moves the star off the screen, But I do know what you mean about your image target moving off center It is annoying. This is another reason you would benefit from a wider scope. With your 200p it wouldn't take much for PHD to take you off target during the calibration stage. I think the problem is with our mounts, PHD needs to make the star move to work out the directional axis, but it take a while to clear the backlash hense the star moves off the screen or way out on a limb. I'm sure even with the tweaks I have made to my EQ3 PHD doesn't even clear any backlash in DEC during the cal stage. That said (touch wood) I have had very very minimal problems with guiding so far. I guided for 3 continuous hours last night in the howling wind, and so far tonight I have been going since 7:30pm. This is using all the same settings that I applied at the start of my M42 project, even though I'm at around half the weight with my widefield rig.I still say its all about weight balance, get it nailed and your in for a good session!

BTW, if you where considering an ED refractor, have you seen these....? Starwave 80 ED Refractor Telescope :: Refractor telescopes :: Telescopes :: Altair Astro

Absolute bargin!! I almost cancelled my Canon prime for one.....

Stan

[Quatermass]

That star wave looks very tasty I must say :-) Going to have to sell my fishing gear next at this rate. I think next on my list will be a qhy5 then an ed80 then a large overdraft

Just taking my darks and flats now but what a lovely starry night it is. I love this hobby its got everything I love doing in it stargazing photography diy projects creative processing and the great out doors.

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[stan26]

Your right there QM, it is a superb evening out there, I just wish i didn't need to be up early tomorrow

Just finished the darks, now about to set DSS off to do its thing whilst I sleep...... (rosette WIP)

Well mate not sure about fresh water but if you're like me and into sea fishing then I don't blame you for selling up, its **** these days! Cod are like clear wind free good seeing nights in the UK, Far and very few between!

Stan

[Quatermass]

your doing ngc2244 I want so badly to have a go but a blasted tree is in the way love to see your results on that. Yes I was into sea fishing years ago fished a dunwich and sizewell but its toooo cold on the beach and the cod are rare and few. No rather freeze doing this instead

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