Imaging with a Star Adventurer

[happy-kat]

Have you tried this calculator and have a play, select the the imaging tab.

link here

[Delboy_Hog]

15 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

 ive only got the kit 18-55 and a canon 55-250. if i just used the lenses what range of targets would i have.

Having the star adventurer has actually given me a real kick of enjoyment recently from the wider-field (than most telescopes) images.  Andromeda will look lovely at 250mm (as well as shorter focal lengths, which might enable slightly longer subs) as will M45 I'd have thought, and even with relatively short exposures you'll be able to get some cracking images in and around Orion anywhere within your 55 - 250mm range.  At the lower ranges of that lens, you can get some interesting shots with 2 or more of the better known galaxies in.  At the 50 - 85mm range you'll get Andromeda and M33 in the field which is pretty spectacular to see, and you'll similarly get M51 and M101 in if you focus somewhere between the stars Alkaid and Mizar in the plough.

If in doubt, I'd recommend a quick peek in the images section of this forum, or the website "Astrobin", where you can see what other people with similar kit are imaging.  You also get a good idea of what kind of camera settings / exposure lengths etc that you'll need to think about using.

Hope that helps!

[Davey-T]

Got the flattener for the WOZ61 today so set up ready for a clear sky.

Dave

 

[Anthonyexmouth]

wow, that looks quite a hefty lump on there. didnt realise they were so capable. will it take an ed80 and dslr?

[Davey-T]

10 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

wow, that looks quite a hefty lump on there. didnt realise they were so capable. will it take an ed80 and dslr?

Depends how much it weighs, up to 5kg is fine.

Dave

[Randalloverby]

On ‎2‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 11:15, Shelster1973 said:

Jem

Will read and inwardly digest the manual again and get this done for you as best as I can, hopefully getting the main points across that you need.

Love the videos, looking forward to it.

[Shelster1973]

Will be a delay on the video, sorry.  Did not get a chance over the weekend and am slammed in work this week, so will try my hardest to get it done in the week if i get a chance, or next weekend.

[8472]

On 2/2/2018 at 15:47, Anthonyexmouth said:

wow, that looks quite a hefty lump on there. didnt realise they were so capable. will it take an ed80 and dslr?

An ED80 - not for any useful exposure length it won't.

[Alien 13]

As above, weight is not the only issue focal length is important, I personally think scopes like the ZS61 are fine but getting close to the upper practical limit for AP but that doesn't mean you cant use a small Mak or similar for visual or Planetary/Lunar imaging.

Alan

Edited February 5, 2018 by Alien 13

[JemC]

4 hours ago, Shelster1973 said:

Will be a delay on the video, sorry.  Did not get a chance over the weekend and am slammed in work this week, so will try my hardest to get it done in the week if i get a chance, or next weekend.

No worries, 

[JemC]

I posted this on another thread, but this is one i managed with a Celestron Travel scope 70 on my star adventurer, not very heavy i know,

might give the sw ed80 a go,  according to the Skywatcher web site, 2.47kg 

Star Aventurer
Celestron Travel Scope 70
Canon 600d
ISO 800
Baader UHC-S filter with an additional Light pollution filter 

I also included a set of darks,bias and flat frames this time,

24 x 60 sec lights
28 x darks
36 x flats
32 x bias

[Anthonyexmouth]

ok, heres my first tracked image. 90s ISO 400 f5 with my canon 760d and 55-250 ef-s lens at 55mm. i know its not focused but i wanted to see how my first polar alignment would fare. got a break in the cloud and went for it. comments and advice on what to change and why would be appreciated

[geordie85]

Even though it's out of focus it looks like you've got good polar alignment. Nice round stars is what we all aim for. 

Well done

[Anthonyexmouth]

that was just focused through live view. ill wrap up a bit next time and focus with laptop. any opinions here on whether to buy APT or BackyardEOS? 

[JemC]

To my eyes it doesn't seem like there is anything wrong with your polar alignment, looks like you nailed it, well done done on your 1st tracked image,

looks like you just caught a small part of the roof in bottom left,

 

[geordie85]

They are both excellent pieces of software. You can't go wrong with either. If you think you might purchase a dedicated Astro camera at some point in the future I'd recommend apt as BackyardEOS is only for dslr whereas apt can do both.

 

[Anthonyexmouth]

4 minutes ago, geordie85 said:

They are both excellent pieces of software. You can't go wrong with either. If you think you might purchase a dedicated Astro camera at some point in the future I'd recommend apt as BackyardEOS is only for dslr whereas apt can do both.

 

good point. just got the trial of APT so i might try and stick with it. used byeos a bit for static widefield images. 

[Anthonyexmouth]

6 minutes ago, JemC said:

To my eyes it doesn't seem like there is anything wrong with your polar alignment, looks like you nailed it, well done done on your 1st tracked image,

looks like you just caught a small part of the roof in bottom left,

 

yeah, too cold to hang around and let orion get any further from the roofline. just noticed that flame nebula is just about showing in the pic too, wasn't expecting that. next step is to buy a WO zenithstar 61. 

[Alien 13]

My personal experience is that the camera live view screen (even better if it flips out) is miles better for focusing that any PC screen can manage, use the x 5 then x 10 zoom options and focus on the realy dim stars (these wont show up till focus is very close to optimal).

I expect I will get flak for this but do try it and check the in camera settings for ISO which should be temporarily turned high/shutter speed to 20 Seconds and play with the live view screen simulator options too, after focus is set then change the settings to the required positions.

Alan

 

Edited February 9, 2018 by Alien 13

[Anthonyexmouth]

2 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

My personal experience is that the camera live view screen (even better if it flips out) is miles better for focusing that any PC screen can manage, use the x 5 then x 10 options and focus on the realy dim stars (these wont show up till focus is very close to optimal).

I expect I will get flak for this but do try it and check the in camera settings for ISO which should be temporarily turned high/shutter speed to 20 Seconds and play with the live view screen simulator options too, after focus is set then change the settings to the required positions.

Alan

 

yeah the screen flips out and i did zoom but maybe the cold made me rush. i have usually used BYEOS to focus but may try more with live view just to see how it goes. wish my focus rings were a little stiffer and not so slack

[geordie85]

Do you have a bahtinov mask? They're great for finding perfect focus.

Out on the middle of nowhere after I finished work.

 

[Alien 13]

5 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

yeah the screen flips out and i did zoom but maybe the cold made me rush. i have usually used BYEOS to focus but may try more with live view just to see how it goes. wish my focus rings were a little stiffer and not so slack

The slack focus rings are a bit of a problem with the kit type lenses but I think there are a few tricks to stiffen them up like a tiny bit of blutack, worth having an internet search. As said the polar alignment on you image looks good and focus is not far off with all the tiny dim stuff in the image so I would say a great effort.  

Alan

[Anthonyexmouth]

1 minute ago, geordie85 said:

Do you have a bahtinov mask? They're great for finding perfect focus.

Out on the middle of nowhere after I finished work.

 

can you get them for camera lenses?

[geordie85]

I use the one I bought for my WO star71, works just fine. 

Just now, Anthonyexmouth said:

can you get them for camera lenses?

 

[kendg]

1 hour ago, geordie85 said:

They are both excellent pieces of software. You can't go wrong with either. If you think you might purchase a dedicated Astro camera at some point in the future I'd recommend apt as BackyardEOS is only for dslr whereas apt can do both.

 

I have both and find BYEOS is more useful for me (and it's Canadian) .

As stated APT does DSLR and dedicated astro camera. Both are reasonably priced.