First light with SW Esprit 100ED & Mallincam Extreme

[fondofchips]

Saturday 5^th September – Sunday 6^th September 2015

SW AZ EQ6 mount, SW Esprit 100ED & Mallincam Extreme camera.

I went out at around 10.30pm; my targets were not going to appear until after midnight anyway. For some strange reason the AZ EQ6 mount didn't want to align so I was faffing about with that for a while, serves me right for being lazy and just using the controller when I was only doing observing.

Then I looked up and discovered the weatherman was having a giraffe, thin cloud cover with clear gaps, yes you have guessed it the gaps aren't big enough to do any stargazing. It’s now past midnight and the Moon would be up soon, mount now sorted. A clear patch was coming so I popped into the warm room to get myself warm again & read the Mallincam Extreme manual that I've not fully absorbed (scratched the surface of) yet.

So there I was with a nice picture of the Moon on my screen, with thin cloud going across it all the time so I played about with the Mallincam settings & gradually improving the picture. All the sky was clear except for where Orion was so I spent some more time on the moon and playing with/tweaking the software. My Startech video grabber just didn't want to work, I found 2 pictures from a previous session so it does work, though I was probably using the Miloslick software then, I'm sticking to the Mallincam software for now until I know what everything does.

So I popped in my trusty Nirvana 28mm eyepiece and centred Orion nicely, then put the Mallincam back in and Orion was nicely in the middle of my screen.  Not having used my Bahtinov mask yet I tried to focus Orion and it would just not come into focus, I'm getting the opposite of my experience with the Lyra 102mm F11, the focuser wants to be all the way in on the SW Esprit ED 100. A quick nosepiece/reducer change and I was focused on Orion. I just watched the picture come up and there was a faint red tinge to it. I messed about with it until it came up quite nice, not seen Orion in colour through my telescope before. So I carried on playing with the settings, then I thought I'd try the deep sky pre-set on the Basic tab, (you are laughing already) now I've got something that doesn't look like Orion at all, the whole page is red with half a dozen stars. My excuse for that error is that you always learn more by making mistakes! I will save any settings as user defined in future, they can always be updated. Anyway I've seen Orion for the first time in colour which was my aim for the night, job done.

Skywatcher Esprit 100ED - first impressions.

Not the last word in quality, some features of the focuser are not well thought out. A small focus lock lever underneath that has to be gripped between your fingers and is very smooth and locking rings for the 2"/1.25" eyepiece adaptors have ridges all the way round but they are also smooth too, I didn't get any dew last night but the focus lock and the rings would be slippery with dew on them. There is some play somewhere in the focuser too. To be fair to Skywatcher the scope comes with much more accessories than for example the William Optics FLT 98.  Most of the second-hand FLT 98's I came across had focuser upgrades so at this price range there are still improvements to be made. Dew shield has 2 screws to hold it in place but when tightened it skews it to one side, would have been better with 3 screws. The dew shield on the  Lyra 102mm F11 stayed in place without screws even when nearly vertical so what is your excuse Skywatcher? After having a Moonlite focuser on my SW 200P Newt this one seems a touch on the sloppy side and not as positive or smooth (and the focuser motor upgrade was worth having too).  Finder scope rings have adjusting screws like proper scope rings but the threads are a bit on the coarse side making adjustment a bit hit and miss, I'm being a bit picky here but it is the details that make a product good.

At the end of the day I picked the Esprit for its better quality optics and it's short focal length, (both my existing scopes would not focus with the Mallincam on DSO’s due to their longer focal lengths), the focuser can be upgraded at a later date and the Mallincam is working much better. My goal is to sit in the warm and observe and I'm certainly on my way to achieving that.

[Spacedout]

Hello Harry,

That is a very nice looking scope you have there!  Glad to see you're slowly getting to grips with the Xtreme 

Best wishes

Karl

[RobertI]

Nice setup, looking forward to seeing your results!

[laudropb]

Very nice looking set up. Sure you will soon master its use and produce quality images.

[fondofchips]

Nice setup, looking forward to seeing your results!

So am I, there is so much that needs to be mastered at one go, I learned a lot about setup and the correct preparation for a nights viewing from first light

Very nice looking set up. Sure you will soon master its use and produce quality images.

It is like starting stargazing all over again, I'm not going to paint it with rosy colours, probably easier than astrophotography but the learning curve is necessary to achieve the goal that is viewing inside in the warm, and in time sharing my experiences with others. 

Cheers,

Fondofchips.

[shirva]

hi harry,how did you find moving on to using a mallincam

[SNR]

Hello, I have the same scope. The optics seem superb but the focuser is not what I would call top notch. It does a good job but the focuser lock is very awkward to use. I get very little if any focus shift or movement but I am going to replace it with a 3" Feathertouch motor operated one.  Thank for the write up...

[Dave In Vermont]

Are you using the MallinCam software for your settings and such? The one even Rock Mallin recommends is the MallinCam Control made by MiloSlick Scientific:

http://www.miloslick.com/Home.html

It's easier to use and more intuitive. And not too much ££'s.

These MallinCams are fantastic cameras - I have the less expensive Jr PRO and love it!

Enjoy,

Dave

[fondofchips]

Shirva - its a bit like starting over again, quite a lot to get used to at once.  I was considering the Atik Infinity but with no release date and a secondhand Mallincam available I went for that instead.  I wanted to get some of the learning curve done before the clocks change and the stargazing really gets going.  

Although I couldn't find too much information here on the Mallincam most comments were positive though, a well thought out product which should last for a long time.  My problems with long focal lengths is discussed here - http://astrovideoforum.proboards.com/thread/1244/problem-focusing-102mm-mallincam-extreme

Ken (Dragon Man's) videos are well worth watching, covers the subject well without being complicated  -  link here   http://astrovideoforum.proboards.com/thread/1198/introduction-video-astronomy-tutorials

Dave in Vermont - I have the Miloslick software Dave, I'm just using the Mallicam software for now, works out at approx £32.50.  

SNR - nice to know there is a Feathertouch focuser for the scope, thanks for that.

Thanks for all your comments.

Cheers,

Fondofchips.