Anyone used ST80 for imaging?

[yelsac]

I know this little beauty is great as a guidescope but has anyone used it for imaging with a DSLR?

Just wondered if it would be any good for widefield stuff or even on the sun with the right filters

[ollypenrice]

There have been posts on here. In broadband the blue halo problem is very severe, about as bad as it gets. Used in narrowband we've seen pretty good results. If you have one I'd give it a go but there are better choices if starting from scratch. It's cheap, though.

Olly

[ajk]

I am currently using my ST80 for imaging. However, you'll never see me publish any of my efforts. Essentially, I am totally new to astro-imaging and after "reading before buying" have made my first big expenditure on the mount (I got an AZ EQ6-GT). The ST80 is meant to be my future guide scope. However, I have a big learning curve with the kit I have so before I expect to make any reasonable imaging I need to learn how to use what I have so far. To this end I picked up a cheap ST80 as the future guide scope and simply use it for imaging now (resulting images are really poor but that's not what I am looking to achieve right now).

For actually guiding I have a standard 75mm C mount lens on a ToupTek AstroCam (again fairly cheap) but works. The combo of this plus ST80 and DSLR allow me to practice observing sessions. Whilst I learn the ropes I am saving for a decent APO. But living in Scotland and Summer approaching (the sky doesn't really go dark at night during Summer months up here) I won't need that for many months which is my time to learn as much as I can about what I have already got (and about processing).

About the later (learning about post processing) it would be useful if a few of the seasoned experts published a few of their subs etc for us to practice on, because, obviously I'm not going to get any decent subs anytime soon 

 

[yelsac]

2 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

There have been posts on here. In broadband the blue halo problem is very severe, about as bad as it gets. Used in narrowband we've seen pretty good results. If you have one I'd give it a go but there are better choices if starting from scratch. It's cheap, though.

Olly

Thanks for the info

I must admit I use a 6" reflector for deep sky stuff but was just wondering about the st80, I'll have a go see how it goes

thanks again

[Jonk]

AJK's point is very well made, practice with the cheap and basic equipment first, else a lot of money may be poured down the toilet.

I always liken it to driving or riding a motorcycle - get something cheap and cheerful to learn (and not worry too much if you fail / crash / damage), then decide where you want to take it and look at buying better equipment.

[matt-c]

If you ever cross the dark side it's very possible to use this scope for narrowband 

Gina had some success with this scope and I think she even had a st80 for each narrowband filter. 

I'll find the link. 

 

[happy-kat]

If you have the ST80 already then StarTools has several functions that process out the blue star bloat.

[yelsac]

8 hours ago, matt-c said:

If you ever cross the dark side it's very possible to use this scope for narrowband 

Gina had some success with this scope and I think she even had a st80 for each narrowband filter. 

I'll find the link. 

 

Interesting read thanks

8 hours ago, happy-kat said:

If you have the ST80 already then StarTools has several functions that process out the blue star bloat.

Great thanks for the info I'll have to have go

[almcl]

I have used the ST80 I got for guiding as an imager a few times. 

There's an image in my album https://stargazerslounge.com/gallery/image/29087-veil/ of one of the results.

Getting rid of the coloured rings is a bit of a struggle and my home-made Bahtinov doesn't give a great amount of help when focussing, but for the price I paid for it on ebay I can't really complain.

If you already have it, go for it. 

You may need an extension tube to get focus... but you'll probably need that to use it as aguide scope, too. 

[yelsac]

32 minutes ago, almcl said:

I have used the ST80 I got for guiding as an imager a few times. 

There's an image in my album https://stargazerslounge.com/gallery/image/29087-veil/ of one of the results.

Getting rid of the coloured rings is a bit of a struggle and my home-made Bahtinov doesn't give a great amount of help when focussing, but for the price I paid for it on ebay I can't really complain.

If you already have it, go for it. 

You may need an extension tube to get focus... but you'll probably need that to use it as aguide scope, too. 

Interesting! looks like its well worth a go from your picture

Thanks

[happy-kat]

For inspiration look at this thread, I picked the last page because member SteveNickolls images with a ST102 and processes the CA out using StarTools. 

Link here

[Dave In Vermont]

Some folks seem to forget that the new 3-lens refractors & apochromatic - etc, etc. are a new thing. The older 'fracs were achromatics, like the ST80. Granted they did have considerably more FL than F/5. Such as F/15 and more. And this diminishes CA. As does avoiding bright objects in the first place. Nice, dim DSO's are a good target for an ST80 F/5 'scope.

Using reflectors negates this issue, by & large. As do catadioptric models. I'll leave a good, little chart of CA and relation to FL/FR.

Have fun -

Dave

 

[yelsac]

22 minutes ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Some folks seem to forget that the new 3-lens refractors & apochromatic - etc, etc. are a new thing. The older 'fracs were achromatics, like the ST80. Granted they did have considerably more FL than F/5. Such as F/15 and more. And this diminishes CA. As does avoiding bright objects in the first place. Nice, dim DSO's are a good target for an ST80 F/5 'scope.

Using reflectors negates this issue, by & large. As do catadioptric models. I'll leave a good, little chart of CA and relation to FL/FR.

Have fun -

Dave

 

Thanks Dave really interesting points, I think what I can take from all this is dim widefield DSO's are potentially good targets to have a go at.

Just need some crystal clear, moon free jetstream free nights without any mist, fog, cloud, rain, wind & good seeing to I'll have a go. Could be a while !!

thanks for all your thoughts

[sxinias]

On 4/17/2016 at 17:03, yelsac said:

I know this little beauty is great as a guidescope but has anyone used it for imaging with a DSLR?

Just wondered if it would be any good for widefield stuff or even on the sun with the right filters

Hi, probably a little late in responding to your question but just in case others are interested.  I do a lot of work with the ST80 and yes I do have the dreaded blue halos around stars.  At one time I tried to get rid of the blue but now I pretty much leave it alone as it is part of the process with an inexpensive refractor.  Here is a link to my flickr site that has many images made with a ST80 on either a SkyWatcher SynScan AZ goto mount or a 4/5SE mount in the equatorial mode.

Joe

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59237884@N08/

 

[Stub Mandrel]

On 20/04/2016 at 22:07, Dave In Vermont said:

Some folks seem to forget that the new 3-lens refractors & apochromatic - etc, etc. are a new thing. The older 'fracs were achromatics, like the ST80. Granted they did have considerably more FL than F/5. Such as F/15 and more. And this diminishes CA. As does avoiding bright objects in the first place. Nice, dim DSO's are a good target for an ST80 F/5 'scope.

Using reflectors negates this issue, by & large. As do catadioptric models. I'll leave a good, little chart of CA and relation to FL/FR.

Have fun -

Dave

 

 

Am I reading that right, Dave? It suggests my inexpensive Bresser 70/700 (i.e. F10) should be up to imaging! I have only used it for the odd bit of lunar and planetary.

[Dave In Vermont]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Am I reading that right, Dave? It suggests my inexpensive Bresser 70/700 (i.e. F10) should be up to imaging! I have only used it for the odd bit of lunar and planetary.

Click on the link by sxinias above. That's an F/5 80mm achromat.

You tell me.

Dave

[happy-kat]

If it moves slap a camera on it. :-)