Jupiter with a Barlow problem.

[Starlord19]

Hi everyone. I have already posted this elsewhere but may have been the wrong thread so I'm trying again. 

I am totally new to this hobby and I have had my Skymax127 and ASI120MC for about a month. 

I am really happy with my results so far without a Barlow however with the Barlow the colour and contrast look washed out and faded. 

I've tried various gain and exposure settings without much joy. 

Have I missed something? 

[JemC]

Hi

first off you have 2 very good images there, well done, you also have the same scope as me, i have the ASI120MM.

i am no expert by a long way and i don't think you are missing anything, the problem when using a Barlow lens is the effects vary with the quality and/or design of the Barlow and the eyepiece. Another effect is a change in the image quality, specifically in the sharpness of the image.

hope this helps

Regards
James

[Starlord19]

Thanks for responding. I am not using the Barlow that came with the scope as I was led to believe that the quality of these are questionable so I upgraded to a much better one but to no avail. 

[michael8554]

Actually, if you tweak levels and saturation, your second image looks much like the first.

Michael

 

 

 

[SonnyE]

Your images look great to me, especially for being at it for only a month.

My Barlow's are always a bit of a trade off. They seem to dim down and wash out the object you are trying to see better.

I have a 2x, and a 3x, and because I don't know any better, I even stack them at times for visual viewing. Caused quite a stir around here last summer viewing Saturn and the wife saw it live for the first time. And the Son and DIL, too. But the wife got all excited about it.

But they come at the price of loosing light. Don't be disappointed, you are doing quite well.

[Pete Presland]

I think both the images look pretty good to me, including the 2nd image. I agree it looks a little washed out compared to the 1st, but for the aperture it is still a fine image.

What are the length are the AVI's you are taking? Are you setting the Gain, Gamma very high when you Barlow?

[cuivenion]

18 minutes ago, bunnygod1 said:

I think both the images look pretty good to me, including the 2nd image. I agree it looks a little washed out compared to the 1st, but for the aperture it is still a fine image.

What are the length are the AVI's you are taking? Are you setting the Gain, Gamma very high when you Barlow?

Oh I agree, they're both excellent images.

[Grotemobile]

https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/Revelation_80mm_Extension_Tube_2_.html

I have been using 2 of these on my C8. Increases the f/l from  2000 to 2900. A Barlow dims

the object to much. Work quite well.

Steve.

[cuivenion]

1 minute ago, Grotemobile said:

https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/Revelation_80mm_Extension_Tube_2_.html

I have been using 2 of these on my C8. Increases the f/l from  2000 to 2900. A Barlow dims

the object to much. Work quite well.

Steve.

How does an extension tube increase the focal length?

[Grotemobile]

4 minutes ago, cuivenion said:

How does an extension tube increase the focal length?

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/choose-the-right-size-extension-tube.html

This might help.

[cuivenion]

18 minutes ago, Grotemobile said:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/choose-the-right-size-extension-tube.html

This might help.

I understand that adding extension tubes between a barlow lens and a sensor increases the magnification. You seemed to be be implying you don't use a barlow at all, just the extension tubes.

[cuivenion]

Wouldn't adding extension tubes to your C8 focuser just mean that you would have to use more inward travel to reach focus?

[cuivenion]

Had a read of this:

Very interesting. Never knew that about SCT's and Maks. It's still interesting that your image doesn't dim though. I would've thought it would if you are increasing the FL.