Thinking of a new scope.

[Astrith]

38 minutes ago, shirva said:

Great thread, I can only agree the ed80 is prefect for video astronomy,I bought the skywatcher reducer as I wanted to get a full moon in my shot and get a flatter image,im starting off in a different direction by using my dslr and backyard eos.got a bit of a first light on Saturday night and am delighted..one problem it is very greedy on memory,,I used 32gb in one session

Hello Shirva.

Studying your set up .  I am also looking at piggy backing  my new scope on the back of the 150P .   I actually opted for the Altair Astro 72 ED .  I went for the shiny slinky look of the ED 72  ( very shallow of me I know ) . However it has had some good reviews on here . I now need to invest in some scope rings . All the best....Alan.

 

 

[Astrith]

ED 72 has arrived . A very prompt service . And sure enough ...cloudy skies.

[RobertI]

Typical! Post some pics of the scope / setup when you gte a chance.

[MattJenko]

Just a question/observation. For video astronomy, you are using sensitive small chipped cameras, so flatteners are not really necessary as the focal plan is going to be flat enough right at the small center focal point you are using. It is only if you slap in whopping great DSLR sensors that the curvature becomes a problem? This also explains how you can get away with using massive focal reducers which mash up any viewing pleasure, but work well enough for the tiny area at the center you are interested in.

[DoctorD]

Hi Matt

Yes, that about sums it up - we use relatively small sensors with big pixels and can get away with focal reduction that would not be suitable for visual or DSLR astrophotography (I use the F3.3 reducer on my SCT).

To an extent we are not as interested in perfect stars, rather what we can "see" with our modest equipment, capturing and processing the data, other than screen grabs is not part of what we do - although many of us do do this to while away the cloudy nights:)

CS

Paul

[Astrith]

On 5/18/2016 at 22:20, RobertI said:

Typical! Post some pics of the scope / setup when you gte a chance.

Will do Rob . On a learning curve yet again with the new scope .....Alan

 

[shirva]

hi matt, it would depend on your equipment for video astronomy, the skywatcher ed80 matched 0.85 focal reducer has the built in flatner and I use it with a canon 600d and use backyard eos now and will be running it with astrotoaster...... when the weather clears again.loads of ways to do video with software manipulation these days.