Froggz Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Hi I have just started to try and take pictures of Andromeda galaxy with a canon 1000D on Skywatcher 200p. I have two (silly?) questions:1 - how do I ensure that my focus is dead on? It is really hard to see what's going on looking through my camera.2 - why would Deepskystacker tell me that my pics are not compatible when there were taken seconds or minutes apart? It would not even register my dark and flat frames...Thank you for helping!Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggywrinkle Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Dont focus on the galaxy itself but choose a star nearby and use that to get your focus correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronin Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 is the picture format raw ?Is that a 200P on an EQ mount or a 200P on an dobsonian mount?If dobsonian then I suspect the image has moved too much for DSS to stack on top or the image is in effect blurred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VigdisVZ Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Yeah, like Ronin says, if it's a dobson you wont be able to get M31. Technically a dobson can be used for planetary work, but not deep sky.To achieve focus with a DSLR, i use Live View and try to point the scope at a star bright enough to focus on using zoomed live view. Most objects has one or two stars that appear in live view luckily.DSS needs round, sharp stars to stack reliably. I've had it yell at me even when my subs looked "ok". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinker1947 Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 You really need accurate GoTo mount, focus on a star then slew to the DSO, EQMod will help here with the right type of mount HEQ5 or NEQ6 plus a few others..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggz Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 Thank you very much for your useful replies. The 200p is mounted on EQ5 with the motors but I have to admit that I find it difficult to adjust. Not sure what speed to use either, 2x , 4x or 8x ?I took the pics on Raw/L setting... I may have to use RAW only?Thanks so much !Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VigdisVZ Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 No, Raw/L is fine! The motors should ofcourse go at 1x speed so they track the sky. It's easy to verify, if you leave the telescope at one star for a few minutes it shouldn't have moved out of view.I think its just a matter of achieving focus with live view. Polar alignment, synscan setup and balance will ofcourse affect everything, but assuming that it's correctly setup it shold be a matter of finding focus.Can you share an example of one of your pictures so maybe we can see whats the issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggz Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 Hello Karl,My dual axis motor drive only shows these 3 speeds: 2x, 4x and 8x ... no option for 1x ? how does this work?I will also try and compress a picture to post it.Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VigdisVZ Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Those speeds would probably be the slewing speed when changing between objects. What handset do you have? Doest it track the objects while observing visually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atreta Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Silly reply here are you trying to use the same file types as the subs for the darks and flats?DSS won't allow you to use jpeg and raw together and display that error message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggz Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 Hi,Yes it tracks object while observing. I installed the 2 motors on the EQ5 .. No option for 1x speed though.As for the stacking : yes I realise now that there were some jpegs! Thank you guys.I guess I will have to be very patient with astrophotography as I am definitely not a natural :-) . Your help is very much appreciated. Ps. I meant Carl.. Not Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrosurf Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 You'll get there! I'm not a natural and struggle constantly. But, regardless of the profanities and pulled hair, I'm now getting images I'm quite happy with. The reason I've progressed is due to this magnificent forum, but also my wonderful astro group, CNAAG. Do you have an astro group near you? You'll get a lot of help.Alexxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uhb1966 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Hi,Yes it tracks object while observing. I installed the 2 motors on the EQ5 .. No option for 1x speed though.As for the stacking : yes I realise now that there were some jpegs! Thank you guys.I guess I will have to be very patient with astrophotography as I am definitely not a natural :-) . Your help is very much appreciated. Ps. I meant Carl.. Not KarlMay i suggest posting a pic of the controls? The hive mind of SGL will find out :-) ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggz Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Thanks for your support Alexxx ! This is fascinating! I have joined a group.. it is now a question of finding the time for the workshops..Star Forming, thank you for the suggestion, I will :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky1973 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Froggz, I've just fitted a motor to my EQ3-2 and it doesn't have 1x marked on it. My understanding is that once you switch it on it automatically tracks at 1x until you press one of the slewing buttons.I could be wrong, I'm a complete novice too....and nothing but flipping clouds since I got it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggz Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Hi, I attach a couple of pictures showing the motors.Marky1973, is it something like this that you have fitted? I tend to leave it on x4 but I am really not sure if it's correct..Any advice?:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky1973 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Hi Froggz. Not quite as mine is just the single-axis RA motor. I have the on/off switch and a North/South Switch and then the speed is controlled by four buttons - 8x back and forward. 2x forward and stop. Sorry I can't be more help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky1973 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Actually, I just searched for some instruction as I just remembered an odd instruction in my box that didn't seem to do anything, but try pressing all four buttons at once and see if that works.....some instructions I found for the dual axis motors say - ""When control box is turned on and all buttons are depressed, the R.A. motor will rotate at the proper speed to compensate for the earth's rotation."Give it a whirl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy-kat Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 To use the raw files from 1100d you need that beta version of dss otherwise the stacked image comes out very narrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky1973 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Also, Froggz - here is a link from the lounge for the dual motors for the EQ3-2 which might help....looks like it might auto track at x1 in RA until you press on of the buttons....didn't read it in great detail as I am logging off in a second, but it might be useful!Instructions for EQ3-2 dual motor drives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggz Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Thanks so much Marky1973 this is really helpful! I hadn't seen it!Happy-Kat that's great, I hadn't appreciated that there was another DSS version . I tried stacking raw files tonight and after registering it kept saying that only one picture will be stacked. More than 300 stars were detected.. Thank you again guys ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VigdisVZ Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Set threshhold so you get about 50 stars... Then comes then fun part... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Presland Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 the eq5 does indeed track at the correct speed, the x2, x4, x8 are just slewing options. you are going to need a pretty accurate polar alignment to do subs of a decent length with your 200p. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy-kat Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/184745-canon-1100d-raw-files-with-deep-sky-stacker/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggz Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 Thank you! I realise that after a while, say one hour, the object has moved from the centre to the right of the pictures, and slightly upwards. I thought it was the incorrect speed of the motors but it now seems that itwas the polar alignment, is that correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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