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A very Excited hello..North of Bristol

Maxbem

By Maxbem
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Maxbem

Maxbem

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Hi all,

Quite excited as I have recently purchased a Skywatcher 200p EQ5 (I am yet to collect). I am new to Astronomy, a keen photographer (No Expert) I will be looking to get into Astrophotography. First I need to learn the scope and the sky!! I will look to upgrade to Synscan in the near future and currently have a DSLR to use. I have got hold of a T Ring and 2 x Barlow to start with. All advice is welcomed.

Please expect lots of questions and it taking me a while to understand the answers!! Really looking forward to my new adventure.

 

Max

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  • Maxbem changed the title to A very Excited hello..North of Bristol
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John

John

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Hi Max - welcome to the forum :icon_biggrin:

Hope you enjoy your new scope.

I'm from Portishead so not far from you. I'm not an imager myself but my advice would be, as you have realised, to get fully acquanted with the operation of the scope and mount, how to set up the alignment, tracking etc and find your way around the sky before trying any imaging.

Also Steve Richards book "Making Every Photon Count" is highly recommended for the aspiring imager (Steve is also a member here) :icon_biggrin::

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

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Maxbem

Maxbem

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2 minutes ago, John said:

Hi Max - welcome to the forum :icon_biggrin:

Hope you enjoy your new scope.

I'm from Portishead so not far from you. I'm not an imager myself but my advice would be, as you have realised, to get fully acquanted with the operation of the scope and mount, how to set up the alignment, tracking etc and find your way around the sky before trying any imaging.

Also Steve Richards book "Making Every Photon Count" is highly recommended for the aspiring imager (Steve is also a member here) :icon_biggrin::

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

Hi John,

Thanks for the welcome and advice. Yes I am certainly going to get to know my way around before I try anything I am not comfy with. I will have a read thanks for the link. I have a planisphere that I am getting acquainted with at the moment!!

Looking forward to it very much.

Max

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Charic

Charic

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Hi there Maxbem

Welcome to the Stargazers Lounge.

Are  you referencing laughing at the 200P EQ? That's a good scope, I too have a 200P but Dobsonian mounted, as it was not my quest at first to take up 'proper' astrophotography.
One thing I have that's in my favour ( I think?) there's now't much to set up with my scope and get comfortable from my seated position whilst observing  using the Skyliner. Your Explorer will do you fine once you've mastered setting up, so just enjoy the learning process.

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Mark Raishbrook

Mark Raishbrook

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3 hours ago, Maxbem said:

Hi all,

Quite excited as I have recently purchased a Skywatcher 200p EQ5 (I am yet to collect). I am new to Astronomy, a keen photographer (No Expert) I will be looking to get into Astrophotography. First I need to learn the scope and the sky!! I will look to upgrade to Synscan in the near future and currently have a DSLR to use. I have got hold of a T Ring and 2 x Barlow to start with. All advice is welcomed.

Please expect lots of questions and it taking me a while to understand the answers!! Really looking forward to my new adventure.

 

Max

Hi, Max. I'm a newcomer here myself so I can't really say welcome, but welcome anyway! I upgraded from a small and very old Celestron reflector a year ago and got the SW 200 PDS. It's a great telescope. I also got the EQ5 "deluxe" mount. In hindsight, I should have paid more and gone for the HEQ5 as I'm pretty sure the EQ5 is right on the very limit for astrophotography. You're going to love that scope, though!

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ronl

ronl

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Hello Max, and welcome to SGL, very nice kit you have chosen, I don't image myself, I am

a very keen observer, I have the same kit, you will enjoy yourself, have fun.

Clear Sky's.

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Maxbem

Maxbem

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Thanks Charic, Mark and Ronl,

No laughing at the experience and the mistakes i will have!!

Yes from what i have read i will be right on the limit of photography with that kit. So one question i do have is, will it be better to upgrade the EQ5 or sell and upgrade to HEQ5? Also is the scope itself ok for DSLR? Later i may start to look at planetary stuff but not for a long time yet.

Oh so many questions!!

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Maxbem

Maxbem

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5 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

Hi, Max, & welcome to SGL. 

The EQ5 is definitely going to be a limiting factor in AP. When the time comes, I would consider an NEQ6 for best results - don't you just love the way we can spend your money?

Thanks Demonperformer,

I am quite good at spending it myself!!! but yes bear that in mind.

 

Max

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Maxbem

Maxbem

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1 hour ago, emadmoussa said:

Welcome to SGL. In no time, with the help of the nice folks down here, finding your way around the sky will become easy. Brace yourself for equipment addiction and aperture fever. 

Thanks Emadmoussa, already people have been very welcoming. Yes i fear that may be the way for me!!

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N3ptune

N3ptune

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Hello, congratulation with your telescope, I use a similar setup, for 2 years + now for visual purposes only and I enjoy it very much, it's good quality at a good price. Once you know how to polar align the mount and how to balance it, you can have precise tracking with the EQ5, using a RA clock drive. It will keep the images in the centre of the eyepiece using high power, 200x and more, for an impressive amount of time. (Very good for sketching)

Here are some observations about the 200mm on EQ5:

I practice the star hopping technique and spend the time to find my targets all by myself instead of going Syncscan, for me that's part of the pleasure even with the equatorial mount. It's not the easiest thing to do but at some point when you know the instrument, it's fun and effective.  At lower power, eyepiece of 25mm and longer FL, I had to pay more money for quality eyepieces, otherwise cheap eyepiece will show aberrations. I currently own a 34mm Explore Scientific and recently got the 24mm Explore Scientific, all 68 degrees, they are both pretty good performers with the F5 scope, the views are impressive with minimal aberrations (Although, not everyone can get the 34mm because of it's large 6.8mm exit pupil, I love it at the dark sky even in polluted sky seriously)

I never tried it but I am pretty sure a ES 30mm 82d or Nagler 31mm are both too heavy for the maximum weight capacity of the EQ5 with a 200mm tube on top. Right now, with the 34mm, 684g, and a counterweight of 570g, the EQ5 counterweights are at end of the rod, 6mm from the border! ?

A rotating ring is almost mandatory for that telescope because it's hard to balance, especially with a heavy eyepiece (300g and more) With a rotating ring and a counterweight on magnets, it's much much easier to manage.

Finally, I need a step to be able to reach the eyepiece ? I am 5'11" and I often need a 4" - 5" step to reach the eyepiece while looking at some parts of the sky.

================

All this seems complicated for the beginner, I have the money to replace everything for a nice dob.. with synscan but I am not doing it because the scope is quite good actually, if you take your time you will like it I am sure.

Enjoy!

hwweQqG.jpg?2

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Maxbem

Maxbem

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44 minutes ago, N3ptune said:

Hello, congratulation with your telescope, I use a similar setup, for 2 years + now for visual purposes only and I enjoy it very much, it's good quality at a good price. Once you know how to polar align the mount and how to balance it, you can have precise tracking with the EQ5, using a RA clock drive. It will keep the images in the centre of the eyepiece using high power, 200x and more, for an impressive amount of time. (Very good for sketching)

Here are some observations about the 200mm on EQ5:

I practice the star hopping technique and spend the time to find my targets all by myself instead of going Syncscan, for me that's part of the pleasure even with the equatorial mount. It's not the easiest thing to do but at some point when you know the instrument, it's fun and effective.  At lower power, eyepiece of 25mm and longer FL, I had to pay more money for quality eyepieces, otherwise cheap eyepiece will show aberrations. I currently own a 34mm Explore Scientific and recently got the 24mm Explore Scientific, all 68 degrees, they are both pretty good performers with the F5 scope, the views are impressive with minimal aberrations (Although, not everyone can get the 34mm because of it's large 6.8mm exit pupil, I love it at the dark sky even in polluted sky seriously)

I never tried it but I am pretty sure a ES 30mm 82d or Nagler 31mm are both too heavy for the maximum weight capacity of the EQ5 with a 200mm tube on top. Right now, with the 34mm, 684g, and a counterweight of 570g, the EQ5 counterweights are at end of the rod, 6mm from the border! ?

A rotating ring is almost mandatory for that telescope because it's hard to balance, especially with a heavy eyepiece (300g and more) With a rotating ring and a counterweight on magnets, it's much much easier to manage.

Finally, I need a step to be able to reach the eyepiece ? I am 5'11" and I often need a 4" - 5" step to reach the eyepiece while looking at some parts of the sky.

================

All this seems complicated for the beginner, I have the money to replace everything for a nice dob.. with synscan but I am not doing it because the scope is quite good actually, if you take your time you will like it I am sure.

Enjoy!

hwweQqG.jpg?2

Thanks N3ptune,

i appreciate the advice. I certainly have a lot to learn? but I am a big fan of learning!

I like the fact I can look back over these posts on the forums, that will be a big help.

max

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