help with guiding

[cal1985]

Hi all, i have just bought myself a new HEQ5 a celestron 80mm guide scope and a synguider.. i have been using a eq2 without guiding for about 2 years and finally got the money saved up for the good stuff! i spend around 3 hours last night poloraligning and getting everything perfect with the mount. the goto works perfect and no star trails for about 45secs to 1min. what im really having difficulty with is the guider and new guide scope. i tried to image orion last night and when the synguider picked up the star it would hop to and from differnt stars, so i thought that maybe they were to close. . i then tried to imaage M31 but couldn't get any stars to show on the synguider, i tried to up the exposure time and the noise level but nothing... is this a bad guide camera i have bought or is this somthing im doing wrong ?

[rocketandroll]

Hi all, i have just bought myself a new HEQ5 a celestron 80mm guide scope and a synguider.. i have been using a eq2 without guiding for about 2 years and finally got the money saved up for the good stuff! i spend around 3 hours last night poloraligning and getting everything perfect with the mount. the goto works perfect and no star trails for about 45secs to 1min. what im really having difficulty with is the guider and new guide scope. i tried to image orion last night and when the synguider picked up the star it would hop to and from differnt stars, so i thought that maybe they were to close. . i then tried to imaage M31 but couldn't get any stars to show on the synguider, i tried to up the exposure time and the noise level but nothing... is this a bad guide camera i have bought or is this somthing im doing wrong ?

This thread should be in Imaging discussion, not the deep sky imaging gallery... but someone will probably move it :-)

The Synguider is a PITA... that's the simple answer :-)

I tried to get one to work (through an ST80) for three sessions, ending up loosing three great, clear nights. The trouble with it is, when it's not working, it's almost impossible to find out WHY it's not working... there is no feedback from it.

I tried desperately to resist going down the laptop route for guiding but, having done it now.... with an SX Lodestar (incredible little camera) I wouldn't ever do anything else. Seriously, ditch the Synguider and go get a Lodestar or a QHY5 and a laptop with PHD on it....

BTW: Does the EQ2 even have an ST4 guide port?

Ben

[AndyUK]

(I agree - This should really be in imaging discussion, but anyway...)

I'm not going to argue with Ben's opinion (after all, we're all entitled to our own), but Synguiders seem to be "Marmite" devices... and I loved mine..!

After the first night of familiarisation, 10 minute subs became my default exposure with my modded DSLR (+ clip filter) and I had great fun with it through my ST102 for many months (until it started getting warm and the DSLR noise was getting too much for me).

I would have liked to have kept it, but I was also getting what I believed to be flexure issues with my guide-ringed, piggyback mounted ST102 on my MN190. To reduce the weight (and minimise flexure) I decided I needed to use a finderguider instead, but I was completely unable to focus the Synguider using the finderscope's helical focuser. So, as I'd also decided to "upgrade" to a mono CCD camera (making a laptop essential) I bit the bullet, sold the Synguider and now, like Ben, bought an SX Lodestar.

In my personal opinion, the Lodestar is certainly more sensitive than the Synguider, and it's a lovely bit of kit, but despite the fact that I HAVE to use a laptop now (with the CCD camera), I'd still prefer to go back to MUCH simpler "old" days:

1. plug the DSLR into the focuser (focus/frame)

2. attach the Synguider into the guidescope (focus - using pencil mark on ST102 drawtube as a starting point)

3. adjust exposure / noise settings to obtain optimum BRI value on auto selected star (or manually selected if absolutely necessary),

4. calibrate (reduce DEC/RA aggression by half)

5. set the remote timer unit on the DSLR

6. Go.

Again speaking personally, I don't find using my laptop outside that much fun at all - I really don't like exposing it to the elements - but I do acknowledge that the ability to actually see the night sky and the selected star on a "proper" screen is much nicer, and it's certainly a LOT easier to select a guide star. However, if I could have a "mobile" setup where I didn't need a laptop (ie using a DSLR), I would seriously consider buying another Synguider again.

(Oh, by the way, I'm a marmite hater! )