Sometimes the optics are just bad.

[frugal]

Every now and again I get out my daughter's Astromaster 114EQ and try to connect the DSLR to it, but I have never had any luck. A lot of the problem is that the mount is not motorised (and shakes like a jelly), but I have never been able to achieve focus properly. My daughter asked why I did not just try to do it during the day when I would not have to worry about the object I am trying to focus on wandering off screen.

So this afternoon I set up the scope outside and pointed it at the opposite side of the valley. Even with a landscape target it was still impossible to get good focus. Here is the best focus that I managed to achieve with live view at x10 (using Bakyard EOS was no better as the live view was stacking shots and the mount wobbling was making it worse).

The full field of view: 

A 100% cropped view of a small part of the image:

[Langy]

If the focus is out it's not too far out in my opinion. What makes it so bad is just the clarity of the image, a bit like shooting through a haze.

[Leveye]

Might be time to clean the mirrors me thinks. I just used one of these to view with at a star party and it was pretty good when using a bit better eyepiece than what's supplied with it.

[RikM]

Are you sure the optics are well collimated? If they are out, it can affect the sharpness of the image.

[frugal]

I have the donut of happy collimation, so I am fairly certain that the collimation is okay. The mirrors look clean, the scope has only been out a dozen times in the last year and it is stored with the lens cap on. I think that part of the problem is that it is a Bird-Jones design scope, so there is a lens in the eye-piece tube to bring it into focus, I think that this lens is good enough for visual work, but not good enough for imaging.

[Pete Presland]

i had to google "Bird-Jones design scope" it does not sound like a great design, have you tried it on the moon?

[laser_jock99]

Also be aware that thermal effects come into play with large optics like telescopes. Dragging a warm scope into a cold garden and expecting crisp images is asking for trouble.

[frugal]

The scope lives in an unheated storage room attached to the outside of the house, so it should be at ambient temperature.

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[bambuko]

i had to google "Bird-Jones design scope" it does not sound like a great design, have you tried it on the moon?

The design itself is not bad, but it has been used on few cheap and nasty products giving it bad name.

[frugal]

I think the fact that the scope, mount, Barlow and two eyepieces cost about £110 gives some idea of the corners they were cutting

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