Tips for SLT mount and Canon 1300D

[NorwayAstro]

Hello! Im fairly new to astrophotography and have a Nexstar SLT mount. So I just wonder if anyone have some tips on aligning the mount to get the best results with my Canon 1300D/T6 Rebel and SLT 127 Mak.

[happy-kat]

For aligning you could still use your finder scope and then the live view on the camera to fine tune the star alignment.

[powerlord]

hi, similar here - az gti mount, skymax 102, canon 1300d

very new (1 month). I've been struggling to get decent 30 sec tracking so far no matter how I align and am going to try in in EQ mode, but not an option for you I don't think ?

If it's the same as az gti the best I've got is:

- balance with DSLR mounted, then remove it and stick a wide eyepiece on (alignment will be too far off to see in liveview initially)

- reset alignment each time (assuming mount moved).

- start with a north and 2 star.

- goto target (align, sync)

- go a few places nearby (align and sync)

- goto target again (is it dead on? if not, go a few more places, align and sync)

- got to target.

The first alignment start with a wide view (25mm on my 102), get it in middle, move to a narrower view (i use a 12.5mm with illuminated cross) and get it bang on the middle for each.

After the initial alignment, you should be able to stick with the 12.5mm and adjust to centre.

Now, carefully attach DSLR and hopefully target is still in centre. If it's not you can try repeating the gotos to nearby stuff and syncing again (should be close enough to appear in liveview now)

use max liveview zoom and a Bahtinov mask to get perfect focus.

I put magic lantern on my canon 1300d - this gives me tons of extra options like adding focus peaking, pumping up the EV on the liveview so you can see stars clearly, etc - I recommend it - it sits along side canon firmware and runs off the sdcard to perfectly safe I think:

https://builds.magiclantern.fm/1200D-102.html

 

stu