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Combined visual/EAA setup - thoughts?


RobertI

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I posted the topic below in another forum but got no responses, possibly because I posted just before the Engalnd game against Panama! Anyway, if any of you EAA/ VA'ers have any thoughts, I'd appreciate it. 

 

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I'm on this path myself,, using slightly different equipment,, think the modern astronomer has a lot of good options equipment wise these days and can't see why we should stick strictly to one style, visual, astrophotography, video astronomy or EAA,, why shouldn't we give it all a bash i thought,

I'm  going more portable these days and have invested in the sw az gti  and it's a good mount,, yip a lot has been said how unstable and flimsy the tripod is but,

It is a portable rig,, if they put in a heavy duty tripod, well some would moan it's to heavy and not very portable.

I like it and stick my ed80 on it,, would recommend it,,

I have read the software has been updated and you can do eq if you add on the wedge from the sw adventurer,,, Cheers sw, I went out and bought the full sw adventurer kit just before update,, 

So I now have the sw az gti and sw star adventurer,, and they both are great grab n go.

IMG_20180503_193505.thumb.jpg.c2201267074c49304ac2683b2d726879.jpg

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Thanks guys.

@shirva, looks like you have an great setup there, I reckon the az-gti is a lovely 'grab and go-to' mount!  Interested to hear you are using the az-gti and the ED80. Sounds like you are finding it works ok? Do you use  the scope a native focal length or do you reduce it? 

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Hi Robert, I recently changed the focuser on the skywatcher ed80 with the ovl one,, fantastic ,,great upgrade and recommended,, I use the skywatcher matching 0.85 focal reducer,flatner,, it was a direct screw fit on the skywatcher draw tube but you have to buy the push in adapter from FLO.

Was a bit worried about this at first, but was unfounded,, solid fit.

Still feel pushing the limits of the az gti with the ed80 but it performs ok.

I'm waiting on the sw ed72 arriving and will buy that as a grab n go scope,,

If skywatcher ever land them on our shore's again. You would think they were hand crafted the amount of time they are taking with them,

Full moon time again so going to break the kit back out and hopefully get some testing done between the az gti and adventurer

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The az gti can be used in eq mod and using the wedge,, it becomes a better option than the adventurer due to goto ect,, but portability the adventurer just pips it at the post and for simplicity,, not that the az gti is hard to use,,

 

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Hello Rob,

It is certainly worth giving it a try.

I sometimes use my Skymax 127mm, 1500mm FL, Az/Alt Goto, with either the Philips SPC900 webcam or the GPCAM, via my laptop; or my D3200 DSLR. With its longish FL, I tend to use my x 0.5 focal reducer. Exposures of up to 8 seconds seem fine, particularly for lower altitude targets; and it should be possible to go for longer exposures with a FL of 650mm. The OTA from my Heritage 130P mounts on the Skymax, but I have yet to try EEA with it. I find I need to use a x2 Barlow to get focus for EEA with my 250PX Dob, so this may be the case with most Newtonians not dedicated to astro-photography. I have found that the live stacking feature of the Sharpcap software, gives me a better view of the faint fuzzies, such as M81 & M82. In theory, the live stacking is supposed to compensate for the Az/Alt field rotation, so giving the benefits of an EQ on an Az/Alt mount.

Geoff

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3 hours ago, Geoff Lister said:

Hello Rob,

It is certainly worth giving it a try.

I sometimes use my Skymax 127mm, 1500mm FL, Az/Alt Goto, with either the Philips SPC900 webcam or the GPCAM, via my laptop; or my D3200 DSLR. With its longish FL, I tend to use my x 0.5 focal reducer. Exposures of up to 8 seconds seem fine, particularly for lower altitude targets; and it should be possible to go for longer exposures with a FL of 650mm. The OTA from my Heritage 130P mounts on the Skymax, but I have yet to try EEA with it. I find I need to use a x2 Barlow to get focus for EEA with my 250PX Dob, so this may be the case with most Newtonians not dedicated to astro-photography. I have found that the live stacking feature of the Sharpcap software, gives me a better view of the faint fuzzies, such as M81 & M82. In theory, the live stacking is supposed to compensate for the Az/Alt field rotation, so giving the benefits of an EQ on an Az/Alt mount.

Geoff

Thanks Geoff. So is your altaz mount is basically a Star Discovery mount? Out of interest, when you say you can go up to 8 second exposures, what happens when you try longer? Is it just star trailing caused by tracking issues, or is it instability/vibration because the mount is lightweight?

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4 hours ago, RobertI said:

Thanks Geoff. So is your altaz mount is basically a Star Discovery mount? Out of interest, when you say you can go up to 8 second exposures, what happens when you try longer? Is it just star trailing caused by tracking issues, or is it instability/vibration because the mount is lightweight?

Yes, but the Star Discovery is a recent, significant, improvement, with releasable clutches to give a manual option whilst still retaining pointing accuracy for tracking. The Skymax mount has clutch friction fixed by a pair of Nyloc nuts - no manual option, but the left/right/up/down buttons, together with the rate setting gives good control.

The 8 seconds was based on a quick trial with my DSLR; the next slower shutter speed (16 seconds) seemed to give a slight thickening of the point sources. With the GPCAM, I tend to adjust the gain and exposure duration in small increments and then use the live stacking to give the most pleasing view; so a larger number of shorter duration exposures captures the same number of photons, and the software (hopefully) compensates for any tracking errors and field rotation.

Geoff

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