Imaging with a DSLR

[Anweniel]

Then just pop the mount down with one of the feet pointing towards the pole star, its really an 'as best you can get it' situation.

It all comes with practice

[Steve91]

Oh ok, that makes sense I guess

Do you think I would be able to align my scope accurately with my dslr attached and using the live view?

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk

[Anweniel]

Yeah just use the same method, align a named star to the centre of the live view as you would in an eyepiece. Therefore once alignment is good, when you slew to a Messier object for example, it should be central on the camera chip.

[Anweniel]

Canon live view has a helpful magnification button if your star isn't very bright, not sure if Nikon has the same function?

[Jon Sales]

An Alt/Az will still need to be aligned with a leg of the tripod pointing north and the scope 'home position' aligned to north. I.E. Scope tube pointing north and level.

The SLT is basically the same as my Skywatcher 127, mount, hand controller etc. If it isn't pointed north, levelled and aligned correctly with all the correct info in the hand controller it will drift off and not be able to find anything and centre it in the eyepiece.

This will be critical for AP especially through a long focal length Mak. I always use 2 star alignment with mine and periodically realign during obs and AP sessions.

I use a D5100 and I can focus with 'live view'. Just ramp up the ISO to max, align and focus, then put the ISO back down to what you want.

HTH.

[Steve91]

Ok it's all making sense to me now I've just never really been able to see a great deal through the live view tbh, does changing the iso affect what you can see on the live view? If so that would make things nice and easy for me

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk

[Steve91]

Just tried my DSLR live view and it doesn't seem to be affected by iso or exposure so I'm not sure it will work too well when trying to align my scope with it attatched, unless I choose really bright stars :/

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk

[glowingturnip]

think you'll have to go the slower route - take a picture on the camera with high iso and say 10" or so shutter speed, then after the pic is taken, zoom in on the camera screen to see how the focus is (using your newly made bahtinov of course), repeat till you find focus.

[Steve91]

think you'll have to go the slower route - take a picture on the camera with high iso and say 10" or so shutter speed, then after the pic is taken, zoom in on the camera screen to see how the focus is (using your newly made bahtinov of course), repeat till you find focus.

Sounds like thats my only option for both focusing and aligning really. Bit of a faff though I guess, but if I can get some half decent pictures i'll be happy

[frugal]

It is a bit of a faff, but it is a lot better than imaging for a couple of hours only to find you have taken a lot of out of focus subs.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[dph1nm]

An Alt/Az will still need to be aligned with a leg of the tripod pointing north and the scope 'home position' aligned to north. I.E. Scope tube pointing north and level.

There is no requirement for the OTA to be pointing North or level on an alt-az mount. All you need is the mount to be level. There is no such thing as a 'home' position.

The SLT will track and point no matter where you start it from, providing you follow one of the star-align routines.

NigelM

[adavies8900]

Hey buddy. I have the Nikon D3200 and been reading through and i have the same problem getting there slowly. For 'live view' i got a great program for the Nikon. You can use it to take pictures, change settings and not touch the camera. Not sure if you use it or not but its called ''digiCamControl'' its helped me out abit hope this helps

[Steve91]

Hey buddy. I have the Nikon D3200 and been reading through and i have the same problem getting there slowly. For 'live view' i got a great program for the Nikon. You can use it to take pictures, change settings and not touch the camera. Not sure if you use it or not but its called ''digiCamControl'' its helped me out abit hope this helps

Hey,

Ill definitely check that out, keep touching the camera and poking around with settings is not helping my problems also using the self timer thing is annoying, adds another 10 seconds to each image I can take.

Still not had chance to get out there and try all these things thay I've been advised, due to the wonderful British weather. It's always clear when I wake up at 4 to go to work, ironic huh

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk

[PeterCPC]

I am not familiar with your mount/scope but I can only tell you that with my set up I can align without the camera then add it afterwards with no problems of tracking at all. I did a 60secs exposure of an object recently with no tracking error noticeable. Perhaps the CPC is just good, I don't know.

I suggest that you try the easiest method first to see how it works. If it is unsuccessful then you could then try the other methods being suggested. Why make work for yourself if you don't have to?

Good luck.

Peter

[Steve91]

I just need to get out there and try some of the tips you guys have been giving me but weather will not allow

If it would work by just aligning normally that would be fantastic but I'll report back when I can get to try it

Does anybody know if I could update my handset to allow me to 3 star align as that would be more accurate?

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk

[frugal]

I just need to get out there and try some of the tips you guys have been giving me but weather will not allow

Tell me about it. I just bought a new scope and mount and I have manged to get it out long enough to align it. I keep looking at the MetCheck astronomy forecast and it has been saying that it will be clear in 4 days for the past 2 weeks.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[Steve91]

Yeah I check the metcheck astronomy thing but it nearly always says its going to be bad seeing and transparecny so I just go with the flow now

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk

[adavies8900]

Hey,

Ill definitely check that out, keep touching the camera and poking around with settings is not helping my problems also using the self timer thing is annoying, adds another 10 seconds to each image I can take.

Still not had chance to get out there and try all these things thay I've been advised, due to the wonderful British weather. It's always clear when I wake up at 4 to go to work, ironic huh

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk

Haha that's what i was doing using the timer to give it chance to steady it works but its annoying haha. All you do is plug it in and away you go. There's a few things you cant do yet on the program but they have said it will be updating soon Good luck with the weather. Roll on the summer...it will be a great day

[Steve91]

Had a look earlier and looks good, I have a D3100 and it doesn't support live view but that doesnt matter too much

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk

[tihidau]

Need HELP:

My husband and I own Skywatcher Mak 127 SynScan Goto.

We are extremely satisfied with its visual strenght and contrast.

BUT, few days ago we tried some astrophotography for the first time with Nikon D90 and we had some serious problems.

The goto system had troubles with Nikon's weight and Nikon continued to pull the telescope down. :/

Does anyone has the same telescope and could give us some advice how to use Nikon D90 with it? We would be very grateful. We are afraid that the Nikon D90 is too much weight for this alt az mount and that maybe we will do harm on it...

[PeterCPC]

Telescopes must be balanced - you can get counterweights to balance it. Something like this http://www.firstlightoptics.com/adm-countweight-kits/adm-dovetail-counterweight-kit-v-series.html

Peter