Focus with an asi120 mini

[beamer3.6m]

So I have the asi120 mini attached to a 9x50 straight through finder...

I qm using the correct adapter and this is a system sold by FLO etc so its known to work.

However, how hard is ot to get focus??? Its driving me nuts.

I'm using asiair so I made the asi120 the main camer so I could use video mode but what gain/exp am I going g to need to se stars and how much focus movement is needed. This is so frustrating 😤 

[The Admiral]

46 minutes ago, beamer3.6m said:

However, how hard is ot to get focus??? Its driving me nuts.

Can't answer that directly, but I first set my guide scope up at night using a distant terrestrial light source (street lamp I think) viewed from a bedroom window. At least you don't have to wait for stars, and just tweak when you next have access to them. Alternatively, you could focus on distant clouds, or anything really so long as it's far away, during the day. I didn't use my ASIAir for that, but IIRC, ASI Studio on my laptop.

Ian

Edited September 10, 2022 by The Admiral

[beamer3.6m]

I will try asiair studio... wasnt familiar with that so will check this out.

 

[Starflyer]

The moon's around atm, that's a nice easy target to help get good focus on.

[beamer3.6m]

That's the thing... I had the moon in shot and I could not get focus...

I also tried jupiter but again no use!!!

Edited September 10, 2022 by beamer3.6m

[Laurieast]

Are you using:

Astro Essentials Sky-Watcher 9x50 Finder to C Adapter
Sky-watcher 9x50 ?  focal length is given as 180mm

 

 

[StevieDvd]

So I understand you have the straight through 9x50 finderscope and fitted an adaptor to replace the eyepiece. Then using the C/CS  adapters that come wth the camera have mounted it on the seperate adapter that replaces the eyepiece and screws into the finderscope tube directly.

To get the focus are you unscrewing the locking ring and moving the objective in/out by rotating the end part of the tube clockwise/anti-clockwise?

If so then as mentioned above you can use ASIStudio during the day to get an approximate focus (a better one at night using stars). I did this last week using the same camera but a different finderscope.

For daylight using an exposure of about 0.3 secs and try the fixed gain settings. At night use an exposure of around 1 to 2 secs to get some stars captured.

HTH

Steve

 

 

[beamer3.6m]

I solved it.

I was being an idiot.

The camera has an end piece which unscrews, this I knew as it is black and the camera is red... however what I didn't k kW was that the end piece also itself unscrews to leave just a tiny little end piece... it is this which you need to screw on to the c adapter.

I was originally using the entire end piece to screw onto the c adapter... wrong

The end piece is so well made it wasn't obvious that there is this further ability to unsrew it.

Thanks guys