Elephant trunk !

[simmo39]

After seeing some stunning pics of this target on here I thought I would give the target ago. I was hoping to replace the stars with RGB ones but the weather has turned and looks like that by the time we get some good sky the target will be out of my reach. This was also a test of my focus as I have had issues with my stars, althought the stars are not brilliant they are an improvment on my last few efforts.

50 x 240s subs taken with my asi 2600mc through my Askar 400 with FR and Optalong extreme filter.

Hints,Tips and CC welcome.

Thanks for looking.

[JonHigh]

Are you using a EAF or manual focusing?
This is a target I definitely want to take. Especially now I have my reducer! Weather and timing permitting! M45 and The Rosette are next! 
Lovely image! 

[simmo39]

3 minutes ago, JonHigh said:

Are you using a EAF or manual focusing?
This is a target I definitely want to take. Especially now I have my reducer! Weather and timing permitting! M45 and The Rosette are next! 
Lovely image! 

Thank you, Im manual focusing. I think I was being sloppy on my pics and needed to make sure I look hard at the mask.

[JonHigh]

Yup, I feel your pain. I bought masks specifically designed for my scopes. It did make a difference but it wasn’t night and day. It was more accurate and consistent though. I use both SharpCap and APT but found I preferred SC. I tend zoom in a lot and try to take an average view due to atmospheric disturbances. It can do your head in after a while.
All that said I recently moved across to an EAF on my triplet and will not be going back to manual focusing anytime soon! 😂 

Still manual with my Mak scopes though! 

[simmo39]

2 hours ago, JonHigh said:

Yup, I feel your pain. I bought masks specifically designed for my scopes. It did make a difference but it wasn’t night and day. It was more accurate and consistent though. I use both SharpCap and APT but found I preferred SC. I tend zoom in a lot and try to take an average view due to atmospheric disturbances. It can do your head in after a while.
All that said I recently moved across to an EAF on my triplet and will not be going back to manual focusing anytime soon! 😂 

Still manual with my Mak scopes though! 

I do have a EAF but at the moment cant seem ro get APT auto focus to work for me. Will have to sit down with it and have a good play one of the nights,

[JonHigh]

Same here. In the end I set the backlash in the ZWO driver (mine was 80 steps) and didn’t touch APT. I like to keep things as simple as poss. I didn’t use the backlash aid either. Just trial and error with two bits of paper on the dual focus knobs to work it out! 😂 

I just entered 50 steps as an inward final move.
At the moment all seems to work very well.  🤞🏻