Imaging wih 300PDS?

[gazza]

Hi,

wondering if anyone has any experience imaging with the 300PDS?

I wan to put a largish scope on my Mesu 200 (permanently mounted), and after fighting a Quattro 8" F4 I'm prepared to sacrifice some speed for ease of use. 

Would appreciate user experiences and info on suggested mods/upgrades.

cheers

Gary

[alacant]

4 hours ago, gazza said:

imaging with the 300PDS?

Hi. Not the 300 but the 250. You wouldn't be sacrificing speed. We too have a 200mm f4 -a pn208- and the 250 is quite a bit faster [1], so the speed gain with the 300 should be really noticeable. The only downside is that you'll lose the nice wide field; the advantage being that galaxies which look like blobs with the Quattro will look like galaxies with the 300.

For imaging the sw secondary mirror was too small with an uneven vignetted field and losing light around the edges; the 60mm flat  in our 250 needed replacing with a 70mm. You'll almost certainly need to guide with an oag, put proper springs on the primary, add a second dovetail along the top of the rings and slacken the mirror retaining clips. Of course, YMMV.

HTH and good luck.

[1] e.g. using the same light panel, a 2.0s flat frame with the 208 takes only 1.6s with the 250.

[gazza]

Hi,

thanks for the comments. I'll be using it primarily for galaxy imaging, so hopefully the focal length will be Ok. Have my Esprit 100m for widefield/portable use. Have been trying to decide between an RC12 and the 300PDS......

cheers

Gary

[spillage]

can I ask what the issue is with the quattro?

[tooth_dr]

Interesting thread!  I've just bought an OAG to use with my 300PDS (currently on a dob mount).  I've regularly imaged with a 250px on my EQ6 in the past, but the 300 is a heck of a lot larger.  Looking forward to see your progress and I will share any info I glean.

[gazza]

9 hours ago, spillage said:

can I ask what the issue is with the quattro?

It's the only F4 scope I've never been able to get a fully corrected field over an APSC sized chip (have owned 3 before this - one I made the optics for myself and 2 GSO's and had zero issues) and yep, I have all the right collimation tools. I have done all the usual mods and more......including 3 different coma correctors

cheers

Gary