Reticle live view and polar alignment enquiry

[Stefan87]

Hi guys I have a few questions 

I've recently upgraded to an ASI533mc pro from a DSLR. As I am living in the southern hemisphere and in bortle 6 light pollution, I don't have site of Sigma octanis to get a rough initial polar alignment and previously found that using the reticle feature on my DSLR live view with the synscan polar alignment routine, I could get quite accurate polar alignment in 5-10 minutes (180second unguided subs with around 80% keepers, I don't trust the estimates but under 2 arcminutes generally) My initial setup is usually 3 or 4 degrees out in azimuth.

I had a go with phd2 PA last night without much luck, I'm assuming because my initial setup was more than a couple of degrees out. I'm happy to just use the synscan routine as I can complete it quickly enough and achieve a good enough alignment, especially now that I'm guiding, and it would seem I would have to run a few iterations of it anyway to get my initial setup close to simulate you lucky northerners with your bright polaris in the polar scope. So my question is, what is a decent piece of software with reticle live view to use with my Asi533mc pro? I currently have NINA, ASI studio and PHD2 installed and I couldn't figure out how to superimpose a reticle last night.

 

Also, Sharpcap pro seems to be the most commonly recommended software for polar alignment. However I am using an SCT telescope and a smaller sensor camera so my field of view doesn't meet the requirements stated by sharpcap. Has anybody tried using Sharpcap pro PA at 1500mm and 945mm (f6.3 reducer) with any success? 

Besides drift alignment, which would take longer than the synscan routine for me, are there any other pieces of software that I should try that won't cost an arm and a leg?

I'm running an HEQ 5 with a Celestron 6se using an Asi533mc pro imaging cam with an ASI290mm mini on a ZWO OAG for guiding.

I'm open to suggestions for other software to use for imaging, I only installed NINA because the functionality and price point is amazing, and it gets rave reviews.

 

Thanks in advance wonderful people!

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by Stefan87

[barbulo]

44 minutes ago, Stefan87 said:

are there any other pieces of software that I should try that won't cost an arm and a leg?

You can try PHD2‘s different alignment methods.