Equipment advice

[zubenelgenubi84]

Hi everyone,

I'll try to lay this out as logically as possible. Your advice on any of my plans is much appreciated.

Aim - To do some astrophotography, wide field "piggyback" and "prime focus" through a scope for DSO. Take a snap of all those M objects, the usual things

Currently I am am enjoying looking around with my 10x50 Olympus Binos on a standard tripod and getting to know the night sky

Equipment I have:

Canon Eos 700d

Canon remote shutter

Standard "kit lens" (18-55mm)

Books - Covington's astro book, turn left at orion, make every photon count.

Tripod (about 60 quid from Curry's)

Here's the dodgy bit... (what I think I need)

Mount:

Initially I had a Skywatcher EQ5 Synscan GoTo. I have been reading into things a bit more and I think for long exposure imaging I need to bump this to an HEQ5 Pro Synscan GoTo. As far as I can figure if I was observing only I could get away with spending less. For imaging though I have read many times that the mount is King.

Scope:

Skywatcher Evostar 80ED DS-Pro Outfit (reasons - seen other people with them and doesn't have a huge focal length, nothing scientific...)

Lots of sundries like:

power supply for the mount (Skywatcher powertank probably)

Adaptor and ring for attaching the camera to the.

Focusing mask (Bahtinov)

I think I may need a Skywatcher polar scope as well, not sure if included.

dew heater, required?

Some kind of ball joint thingamajig to piggyback the camera to the scope for wide field.

headlamp... red.

tea flask

What does everyone think? Am I going over the score on the mount? is the scope a bit much? or am I right on the money?!

thanks for your time.

Zub

[swag72]

The HEQ5 and 80ED is a proven performer for imagers. Something you may want to add to your list is a reducer / field flattener. If you are using a DSLR then you want to get the corners sorted and get as fast as possible. You may also want to consider a Light Pollution filter and some form of guiding rig a little further down the line.

I don't think that aiming for a proven performer is OTT at all. I think with regards the mount and scope it makes a lot of sense. This combo is well used for a reason. Take the guessing out of the game and follow the advice and experience of others. It will save you a lot of hassle in the long run.

[zubenelgenubi84]

thanks Sara, that's exactly the approach I am going for regarding taking guessing out of the game

Reassuring to hear I am on the right tracks equipment wise.

I have bumped into the reducer/field flattener before but not entirely familiar with them. I will have a read up on them!

Also just wanted to say your Flickr gallery is stunning! absolutely stunning!

oh and the equipment area of your website is a great read.

do you know if I would need to buy a separate polar scope to add to the mount? or is this something that comes as standard. I am thinking you would need to buy it as it is advertised separately. Unless it's for spares/replacements.

[swag72]

No the polar scope is included in the HEQ5. Thanks for the kind words about Flickr.

The ready made reducer for the 80ED is this one http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reducersflatteners/skywatcher-focal-reducers.html

[zubenelgenubi84]

thank again,

no problem, well deserved!

[jonathan]

I know the NEQ6 Pro comes with a polar scope, not sure on the HEQ5 Pro but it might, best to ask the retailer / seller before buying.  Polar scope will normally be under a cap and can only be used when the counterweight bar is fully extended.

Reasons for the 'Pro' are the up-rated gearing, the ability to easily upgrade to full goto and I think attach EQMod and other gizmos.  I too have looked into the imaging side of things which is why I went and bought the NEQ6 Pro (SynTrek, with goto upgrade path by just buying a new handset if I wanted to), thus far I have only used it for visual which has been great, extremely steady with my 8SE.

Before purchasing the HEQ5 Pro look at what you intend to mount on it - the 80ED should be a fairly light scope, but add a camera and a lens (presumably zoom of some kind), mounting bracket, guidescope, finder(s)...  you could find yourself approaching that weight limit.  There is also balance to consider, if you need to add more counterweights for all the extra kit you're balancing on the scope.

That said, imaging can be done on smaller mounts too, particularly wide-field work.  The higher magnification you use, the steadier (and beefier) the mount needs to be, and scope / exposure speed becomes more critical.  I've never handled an HEQ5 Pro, but I can tell you that the NEQ6 Pro is a BIG beast, a very solid lump of metal on a thick beefy tripod, it makes my EQ1 look like it's made out of match sticks.

Consider a mains connection or a good leisure battery instead of a 'power tank', they should last longer; perhaps 80Ah for a single night should be enough, depending on how much kit you intend to run off it (camera, laptop, dew heaters, mount..)  I doubt you will need much in terms of dew heaters, maybe one strip at the objective, you could wrap the camera to prevent it from getting too cold but I think I read somewhere that cooling of the CCD / CMOS helps reduce noise (not sure on that, maybe that's just the dedicated CCD cameras).  Refractors normally come with a built-in dew shield.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

The HEQ5 Pro should be happily within its weight limit with an 80ED, camera and guidescope. Some people image with a 200P and ST80 on this mount, but I think that's right at the upper limit.

Good advice about the power tank, they can be a false economy. I've just replaced mine with a leisure battery as the power tank was starting to give an inconsistent voltage after about an hour of powering just the mount. It had been charged fairly frequently (and always immediately after use) and had never been fully discharged. It was only about 14 months old.

[zubenelgenubi84]

Hi Jonathan,

Thank you for your thoughts! I don't think my budget would quite stretch to the NEQ6 unfortunately. I will give FLO a shout on the presence of a polar scope on the HEQ5 Pro.

I am sure I've read on a few occasions that the lower the temperature the better for the CMOS chip on a DSLR so you definitely have a point there.

I didn't even consider the leisure battery alternative so thank you to you both for pointing that out. I'm sure those power tanks use a tech in the battery cell which means you can't let them run flat as well.

Thanks Gareth for the info on your powertank. I will definitely steer clear of them.

thanks to you both.

[swag72]

You will want your DSLR to run as cool as possible - they are a magnet for noise! The answer is subs as long as you can go followed by loads of them. Also good darks will help.

[Tinker1947]

If you can use a Mains powered supply it will make for a more reliable tracking performance, it also allows for dew heaters, the Maplin XM type are good 7amp (5 amp 24/7) FLO sell them if you don't have a Maplins local, keep the mains power inside and run a lead out to the scope with the 13.8 volts length of this cable can be 20-30 meters next to no voltage drop and makes it very safe when the dews on the ground.....

 http://www.firstlightoptics.com/power/maplins-xm21x-7a-138v-regulated-mains-power-supply.html

[Bobble]

I have no doubt the HEQ5 can handle the ED80.

Yes...the mount does come with a polar scope.

I have an  Explore Scientific ED127 which weighs in at 20 lbs. on this mount and finds it tracks like a champ.

I figure I most likely have max out the mount capacity though. I think it is rated for 30 lbs. I may be off on that a bit though.

You would do well with that scope/mount combo.

[Bobble]

Oh...I meant that the scope weight is at 2/3rds the mount capacity for accurate tracking

[jonathan]

One thing about cameras and the cold though - the batteries don't like it.  You should be able to use a mains adaptor to power your camera from a mains supply, or someone may have made an adaptor to fit a 12v supply to work along side the rest of your astro kit.  Pretty much the last thing you want is to have to change the camera battery or find that it ran out three hours ago while you were inside with your feet up.

[zubenelgenubi84]

Thanks Tinker & Jonathan for the tips. I will need to give the power supply some major consideration.

A picture of possible things to come for me Bobble. Can't wait  

cheers

Sam