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I think I'm done - to many frustrations


jm_rim

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That's it; I'm throwing in the towel..!

After countless of attempt - I have not once succeeded in a decent frame... Unfortunately, my evening hasn't been long, the last couple of years. With small children that have to get to bed, I have had max 2-3 hours before going to bed myself, which have consisted of setting up all the equipment and cables, trying to polar align (but never really successfully), and lately to many software bugs/errors - all ending in nothing and me having to take everything down again.

Mostly I find out what the problem is and try to avoid/fix it next time, then something new goes wrong, or the same reappears ageing...

I would love to add some equipment to my setup which I believe could enable a more straightforward setup, go to upgrade, guide camera, etc., but there will probably go a couple of years before the budget allows for that.

Hopefully, one day, I will try again, but for now, I done... 

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I have been one of for the last five years, mostly due to getting children. 

I have an EQ5 mount with an RA motor, a Sky-Watcher Explorer 150pds, which I haven't used in a very long time due to the focal length, so I have been using a 180mm F2.8 with a Nikon D700. 

I have been trying to capture anything, the last many times it has either been M45, M31, but with no luck. Since I haven't succeeded with the ”easy” targets, even very wide-field, then I haven't really tried to capture any nebulae...

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Ok so, how good can you get your PA? I managed to grab an ipolar in the begining of the year and it has made PA effortless.

Second how are you controlling the camera? APT is free and absolutely amazing to control it all from the PC is ace (I was using a remote release and timing by a stopwatch earlier this year and now I'm planning runs and executing them no problem from a laptop)

When you say no luck is it that you can't find them?

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Have you considered visual observing for a while. I’ve never done AP but I think if I’d have jumped into it from the start I would have probably reverted back to my Xbox pretty quickly. I don’t know if you started with visual but if you didn’t and give it a go now you may fall back in love with astronomy and approach AP again later......when the kids are older

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I once read that Astrophotography is 1% fun and 99% frustration and that's not far wrong in my opinion. When everything works, it's great but when it goes against you, it's most annoying. 

Hang in there, there's help on this forum. 👍

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36 minutes ago, Jamgood said:

I once read that Astrophotography is 1% fun and 99% frustration and that's not far wrong in my opinion. When everything works, it's great but when it goes against you, it's most annoying. 

Hang in there, there's help on this forum. 👍

I'm sat outside battling clouds and poor setup looking at hours of potential poor data but lesson learned for next time!!!!

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47 minutes ago, smashing said:

I'm sat outside battling clouds and poor setup looking at hours of potential poor data but lesson learned for next time!!!!

Same here, although I'd indoors.  I did a Belt Mod on my HEQ5 yesterday so I'm testing out the guiding, etc. Clouds are ruining the evening!

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Maybe sell the OTA and EQ5 and get a star adventurer and a decent lens?

I had a similar setup to you this summer. Once I got everything setup generally the EQ5 wouldn't guide very well anyway. I've since changed my kit and after a while getting the hang of it, I was able to get setup tonight in about 15 minutes, so it's definitely doable, but takes time.

On the flip side, the star adventurer and a decent tripod makes everything pretty easy to get going. Or I also found visual observing was a lot easier to get in to.

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8 hours ago, smashing said:

Ok so, how good can you get your PA? I managed to grab an ipolar in the begining of the year and it has made PA effortless.

Second how are you controlling the camera? APT is free and absolutely amazing to control it all from the PC is ace (I was using a remote release and timing by a stopwatch earlier this year and now I'm planning runs and executing them no problem from a laptop)

When you say no luck is it that you can't find them?

I have looked many times at the Ipolar or Polemaster, but at that price, I would probably do a different upgrade. But again, currently, the budget is not there.

I'm using BackyardNikon - which generally works fine - but lately it get stuck after taking a frame and just says busy...

With no luck, I mean, with the variety offer error/problems I encounter, I'm lucky to get a decent 30sec frame. Which is not good - considering that it is using a 180mm on a full-frame and the EQ5.

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8 hours ago, Jamgood said:

I once read that Astrophotography is 1% fun and 99% frustration and that's not far wrong in my opinion. When everything works, it's great but when it goes against you, it's most annoying. 

Hang in there, there's help on this forum. 👍

I can accept the learning curve, trial and error, and love to fiddle with the setup. But when there almost no progress 😞

The forums have help me a lot. I know that I'm not the only one having these problems - but the threads normally ends with it being solved...

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9 hours ago, Jiggy 67 said:

I don’t know if you started with visual but if you didn’t and give it a go now you may fall back in love with astronomy and approach AP again later......when the kids are older

AP and the responsibility/work that comes with small children doesn’t mix well. If you like visual, consider selling the 150pds and eq5, and invest in a Dobsonian. This may even get your kids interested once they get somewhat older.

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10 hours ago, jm_rim said:

I have an EQ5 mount with an RA motor, a Sky-Watcher Explorer 150pds, which I haven't used in a very long time due to the focal length, so I have been using a 180mm F2.8 with a Nikon D700. 

I have been trying to capture anything, the last many times it has either been M45, M31, but with no luck. Since I haven't succeeded with the ”easy” targets, even very wide-field, then I haven't really tried to capture any nebulae...

Kids and time are the challenge, been there...done that. Personally I wouldn't sell anything yet, just put it the corner somewhere for another day.  What's causing me some concerns though is that I have looked at your telescope on the FLO FOV calculator and using a similar canon camera with a 0.5x focal reducer your setup seems to be everything I want. Not anywhere near stacking yet, I was simply going to try single shot stuff plus I have recently bought a thing called an intervalometer (oh yes, I have studied 🤣) its still unused an in the box but hey ..... So anyway, my point is that have you tried simply taking a single shot with the camera bolted onto the telescope?

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1 hour ago, wimvb said:

AP and the responsibility/work that comes with small children doesn’t mix well. If you like visual, consider selling the 150pds and eq5, and invest in a Dobsonian. This may even get your kids interested once they get somewhat older.

 

59 minutes ago, M40 said:

Kids and time are the challenge, been there...done that. Personally I wouldn't sell anything yet, just put it the corner somewhere for another day.

No time for own hobbies is not a luxury you have with small children 😂

I have always hoped or attempted to find a ”simple” solution that I could set up relatively quickly and just let run through the night... And when the children get older, then trying to make it everything more advanced...

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8 hours ago, rnobleeddy said:

get a star adventurer and a decent lens?

The poster has a Nikon 180mm F2.8 lens which is pretty decent.

12 hours ago, jm_rim said:

180mm F2.8 with a Nikon D700

Hi Jesper

I use the same lens and stop it down to F4.0 for improved corner stars.  I think the Skywatcher Star Adventure mount is a good shout.  You could easily have tripod, mount, camera, lens and all cabling attached in the house, and literally just lift it all out and set it on the ground outside and align roughly with polaris.  The way my Nikon is mounted on the SA, I can still use the polar scope so can adjust it easily.   Some AA batteries in the mount and a battery in the camera.  Just plug into a laptop (though this assumes you have one) run APT to control your exposures. 

Focusing with that lens is a bit of a nightmare though and enough to put anyone off.  I have a simple solution which is 3d printed and it works very well, I will post a photo if interested.

 

All the best

Adam

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8 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

I totally agree!  My own kids are 7 6 and 5, so it's a case of get them to bed and go outside :D 

Yup, mine left me much less time for astronomy at a similar age, but as they've got into the last few years of their school lives my free time has started to increase again.

James

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9 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

I totally agree!  My own kids are 7 6 and 5, so it's a case of get them to bed and go outside :D 

Agree - And I thought my kids were close at 6, 4, and 2... 

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Just now, jm_rim said:

Agree - And I thought my kids were close at 6, 4, and 2... 

We realised a while back that a two-year age gap has some disadvantages (in the UK at least).  Assuming this school year goes to plan (and who'd bet on that right now?) we will have both children taking exams at the start of next summer.  It's going to be stressful :D

James

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12 hours ago, jm_rim said:

something new goes wrong

Yeah. I'm afraid it does. Always, and you don't have enough 'clear sky time' behind you to deal with it.

Astro clubs and societies.

With little time to dedicate, I know of only one sure way to get started and that is to spend a few sessions side by side with someone who knows what they are doing. No amount of forum advice (sound as it may be) or reading will get you started quicker. In many cases, it's the only way. ATM it may only be a video call, but give someone a ssh or vnc (or whatever windows users use) link into your computer and you're half way there.

Worth one last try?

Cheers

 

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1 minute ago, alacant said:

No amount of forum advice (sound as it may be) or reading will get you started quicker

Forum advice solves many problems because many other people have been in the same situation and are happy to share the advice. 

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7 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Forum advice

Mmm. That didn't work for the OP because he has insufficient time. I'm suggesting a different approach which may get him started using the time which he does have available.

Thanks.

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9 hours ago, rnobleeddy said:

....get a star adventurer and a decent lens?

This isn't bad advice at all. +1

If you have experience with polar aligning the EQ5 then a star adventurer should be easy to set up and use. I have one and moving to it from a HEQ5 I found it very easy to set up and get images quickly using just the SA a DSLR and wide angle lenses (50mm and 80mm). All you really have to worry about is polar alignment but with the SA, DSLR, lens combo it will be wider angle and therefore less critical/more forgiving of any PA errors. You could just use a simple stand alone SA/DSLR/Lens rig to start with, this is all I use and it keeps things very simple, but you could always introduce a PC/software etc later too. 

The only thing I find lacking from my SA is a goto function but I just point the camera in the right direction and take some short very high ISO test shots to help frame the target before doing the longer exposures. 

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It comes as no surprise that most stargazers of a certain age (a bracket that I'm slipping into) have experienced a hiatus. I did for all the usual reasons. I returned to activity about 7 years ago after our son moved out and I ended self employment.

So here I am, now trying to get going with imaging and still struggle with life getting in the way. We have three foster children 9 to 14 and I now work shifts and I live in the NW of England under permaclouds...

I should really have another hiatus! :)

But to the OP: there is no easy route for imagers that have to set up every time. The cards are stacked against us. When I go out now I usually have a particular challenge in mind. I belt modded my mount last weekend and still not had the scope on it let alone take an image. So that's my next target; get guiding working again then and only then see what else has stopped working since last session!

I've long given up any aspirations of setting up and just hitting "go" on a preprogrammed sequence. That is a pipe dream now...

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