Imaging setup - opinions please :-)

[MartinB]

He's got just 3 more weeks!

[FLO]

Well you've got a guide camera and hopefully 2 scopes. You just need to be able to able to have them set up on the same mount.

Just thought, I guess I am going to need some guide-scope rings ... can anyone recommend a brand?

[MartinB]

http://astrodevelopments.co.uk/

Bern has some very nice ones as well for £48!!!

[FLO]

Thanks Martin,

What are the pros & cons of mounting the guide-scope side-by-side compared to piggy-back? I guess balancing would be tricky with the former?

Sorry about all the questions but I have lots to learn if I am to put together a working 'rig' (see, I'm learning the lingo ) before Kelling.

[jcm]

Sorry , a bit late in contributing to this thread.

I have the SXVM7 ( smaller chip than the H9) and the guide camera. Both work well. I do control them using AstroArt V4 rather than the Xpress software - it just works and guides better with the AA V4. I have been thinking about upgrading but got a modded 350D instead.

John

I also have the ST80 as guide scope , this works OK with the guide cam , though accurate focus is needed for good guiding.

[centroid]

Just thought, I guess I am going to need some guide-scope rings ... can anyone recommend a brand?

You've probably got them in-stock Steve.

Skywatcher scope rings!!, around £17 a pair retail, but you can give yourself a 10% discount if you like.

That's what hold my ED80 on top of the LX, and with a minimum of engineering modification, make for a good set of guide scope rings.

See:

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php?topic=13810.0

Dave

[peonic]

Let me just completely redo this post and try and explain things a little better. Initially, when I was planning to be using my C6/SLT102 combo for imaging I ordered an ADM Side-by-Side bar from Rother Valley (awesomely well engineered bit of kit, highly recommended). However, when I decided to splash out some savings and get the 250PX / ED80 this setup proved to be unpractical. The 250PX is a BIG [removed word] - and using the ADM plate it mounts about 3" off the centre of the mount. Even with the ED80 being a good 6" out the other side, the weight is crazilly skewed towards the 250px. There's no way to shift the 250px's weight any more central - and and I really don't want to start loading more weight on the ED80 side (I'm already using over 20Kg's of counterweight to get things balanced - close to the max weight limit).

While I'll stick to using the side-by-side plate for widefield imaging (where I'll use the SLT102 to guide) - for imaging with the 250PX I've switched to a standard piggyback setup. I'd got a pair of ScopeTeknix 5" guide rings which'll do the job for now, but their construction is a bit on the cheap-and-nasty side - made from some REALLY soft metal - so I've ordered another set of ADM rings. Love ADM's stuff - really nicely put together, and can't recommend it highly enough.

For the actually guiding, I'm going down the 'cheapskate' route right now - modded lx spc900c and PHD. So easy to setup and get working that it actually feels like cheating. Managed to get 5 minutes without trailing so far (shame the light pollution got so bad by that time that the sub was utterly useless!). Not sure what features the SXV guidehead would give you over a cheapy cam though - anyone want to explain?

The QHY cam's linked a few posts back certainly piqued my interest tho - going to try and dig some more info up, just in case my boss decides to be extra generous with my bonus this year

Chris

[FLO]

Just thought, I guess I am going to need some guide-scope rings ... can anyone recommend a brand?

You've probably got them in-stock Steve.

Skywatcher scope rings!!, around £17 a pair retail, but you can give yourself a 10% discount if you like.

That's what hold my ED80 on top of the LX, and with a minimum of engineering modification, make for a good set of guide scope rings.

Thanks Dave, looks like a neat job

Thanks for explaining your guiding setup Chris, I look forward to seeing it in action at Kelling 8)

[FLO]

An update:

I have succumbed to the attractions of a William Optics Megrez 90 and William Optics flt110 with the William Optics 0.8x Flattener III and TMB Flattener (I already have a DSLR).

What can I say.... I am weak :toothy9:

Officially, they are for FLO to use as demo/review/star-party scopes

So, having got carried away with the refractors, I needed to re-think how much I should spend on a camera.

At the SGL meet at Kelling, I watched Steve (Kai Herb) imaging with his Atik 16. The resulting Dumbbell image, processed by MartinB, really did it for me so I have ordered one from Ian King Imaging.

I won't be guiding initially so the imaging set-up now looks something like this:

WO Megrez 90 or FLT110

HEQ5 PRO

Atik 16 Mono

Atik filter wheel

Baader LRGB filter set

Baader Neodymium

Baader Narrowband H-alpha Filter

I'll keep you posted

[FLO]

PS: Have found Jim Ferreira's site, full of images taken using an Atik 16 with small-aperture refractors:

http://www.lafterhall.com/ccd_imaging.html

[MartinB]

You're going to have a ball

[Kai]

Looks like its going to produce some nice images with that kit Steve

It will be nice comparing images 8)