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New kit,skywatcher star adventurer


shirva

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Skywatcher sending me in a change of direction,, lol.

Ordered and paid for the skywatcher evostar 72 ed from RVO and seen a post from FLO that ,, skywatcher is not going to get the 72 on UK shore's till mid June or somewhere around then, I contacted RVO and cancelled the 72 and changed the order to the skywatcher star adventurer.

Always fancied this and it was a toss up between it and the skywatcher az gti and I opted for the newer mount, and to be fair not been disappointed with it.

But rather than look for another scope i would get the star adventurer,, going to go simple route on this set up, canon 450d modded with a stock lens,,, till I sort out my fd adapter,,,  and I will be using my camfi adapter,, this lets me work the camera indoors or from the car, can stick it on video mode and see how it works out,, 

Looking forward to this getting delivered tomorrow.

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I find my star adventurer is very good, I think you'll be impressed by what it can manage :)

I use an unmodified camera (so still has bayer matrix and IR filter, very poor H-alpha response) but still manage to get a fair bit out of it with the SA. I've found my limit (probably because I get my polar alignment "close enough" and not "perfect") is about 3 minute exposures with a 105mm lens. Using my 18-55 at 18mm I could probably go for 15 minutes or more if the camera hadn't long saturated by that point. I took half an hour of 2 minute subs at 18mm recently and found all my hot pixels perfectly preserved after stacking:happy8:

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I have just (this week) acquired a used one.  I'm looking forward to experimenting with it.  Initially I shall be trying it out with my 450D and a small selection of lenses up to 200mm, but I'm looking at a fast refractor too.

James

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20 hours ago, pipnina said:

I find my star adventurer is very good, I think you'll be impressed by what it can manage :)

I use an unmodified camera (so still has bayer matrix and IR filter, very poor H-alpha response) but still manage to get a fair bit out of it with the SA. I've found my limit (probably because I get my polar alignment "close enough" and not "perfect") is about 3 minute exposures with a 105mm lens. Using my 18-55 at 18mm I could probably go for 15 minutes or more if the camera hadn't long saturated by that point. I took half an hour of 2 minute subs at 18mm recently and found all my hot pixels perfectly preserved after stacking:happy8:

Thanks for the info,, hopefully put it to good use.

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19 hours ago, JamesF said:

I have just (this week) acquired a used one.  I'm looking forward to experimenting with it.  Initially I shall be trying it out with my 450D and a small selection of lenses up to 200mm, but I'm looking at a fast refractor too.

James

Hi James,, mine arrived today,, nice bit of kit,, impressed by it's size,,, will be my car kit alongside my az gti,, few bits to get.

Ball head tripod for one,, in progress

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 08/04/2018 at 22:39, JamesF said:

I'm pretty much sorted kit wise,, FD lenses have arrived,, ball head nice heavy duty one, was waiting in adapters,, all ready for decent weather lol

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Update, lol. As usual in astronomy it doesn't quite go to plan.

Fd lens adapter came and I couldn't achieve sharp focus,tried focal tubes ect,, problem was the lens was too far from the sensor.

Found the root of the problem, there are two types of adapters, one with a corrective lens built in and one without,

For the canon 600d the one with the corrective lens is required.

Unfortunately I can't test on the zwo asi 178 mc as it has developed a fault, currently should be arriving at Flo for testing,, 

So even going dslr route have have a couple of fast lenses and two adapters for under £50,,

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Ah, yes, the FD lenses have a film-to-flange distance of 42mm whereas EF and EF-S lenses are 44mm, so even without a converter the FD lens is going to be too far away.  Add in the converter as well and presumably it's even worse.  Hopefully it should be less complicated with the ASI camera.

James

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Happy days folks

Zwo asi 178mc back from FLO, thank you very much for your great service.

I've battered right in and stuck my f2.8 zoom lens on,, fd lens,fd to eos adapter with corrective lens built in, zwo adapter eos to t,,, work's fantastic.. very bright day in Scotland,, f16 and has focus,,

Looking forward to trying it out at some time soon..

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Intrigued by your project I have just got one of my FD lenses in from the garage and positioned it on the table at f4 and manually held my neximage 5 behind the lens and could see the image in focus in SharpCap. Using a ruler I was able to estimate that the Camera to Flange distance was around the expected 42mm.  I expect there might be a C mount to FD mount straight through adapter out there ready made, I am wondering maybe 3d print potential. (my camera uses a c mount)

I hope you get great success with your project, that's a nice looking camera.

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Great stuff,, I would advise getting the fd adapter with built in corrective lens,, with the straight through fd adapter the focus was just off,, very soft focus,

I sat for a few hours with the set up pointed out the window at nearby trees and moved down an f stop as the light went down a bit,, really pleased,, have ordered my second ball head adapter so I can run both DSLR and zwo at same time

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I already have both a straight through and one with lens for EOS mount to FD, if I get an adaptor for using the neximage 5 for the FD lenses I would look for a straight through to go from FD lens to C mount.

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3 hours ago, JamesF said:

This looks promising?  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Canon-FD-Mount-Lens-to-C-Mount-16mm-Film-Camera-Adapter-Eclair-Digital-Bolex-NPR/110951671058

Didn't know the Neximage 5 was C-mount, I have to admit.

James

Use to use that with my canon fd 100-200 zoom for guiding using ZWO 120mm- worked a treat except for Dew problems - slow to deliver (China) but quality fair to good!

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3 minutes ago, shirva said:

Finally finished buying all the bits for the portable set up,, second ball head adapter arrived today,,,

I think we're using the same ballheads! (Also coincidentally the ballheads that are on the SA box, although I didn't know that when i bought mine)

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15 hours ago, shirva said:

Finally finished buying all the bits for the portable set up,, second ball head adapter arrived today,,, 

 

FB_IMG_1525376066913.jpg

At this rate you will have more stuff than FLO :laugh2:  Enjoy

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Your not kidding,, I had hoped to have my own observatory,,but her indoors has two mobility scooters so needs a big shed,,so kicked into touch for obs,, I haven't sold any kit since starting about 8 years ago,, like most just looking for the kit that suits best,, but I like this set up,, going to have some fun with this,, quick set up,

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Aye, no at my bit,, clouds all over the place ,, sitting at half ten kit ready to go and ,,nada , not a hope in hell of doing anything,,  was up at half two Thursday / Friday and still clouded out,,

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9 minutes ago, shirva said:

Aye, no at my bit,, clouds all over the place ,, sitting at half ten kit ready to go and ,,nada , not a hope in hell of doing anything,,  was up at half two Thursday / Friday and still clouded out,,

Wont rub it in then - clear (but watery quality) for 3 nights on the trot here:hello2:  My camera lens badly effected by dew in a relatively short while - my look at a small heater. Hope you get some clear nights to test your kit!

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