Alternative for Daystar focal reducer for Quark chromosphere

[baggywrinkle]

Does anyone have a working alternative to the Daystar 0.5 focal reducer for the Quark for imaging.

I ordered one via Altair Astro over 6 months ago....still nothing despite AA chasing Daystar for info.

I wonder that Daystar stay in business when they fail so badly on replies .......

[StarHugger]

I use my At80ed's dedicated .8x fr flattener ahead of my quark in both my 70 and 80mm Ed Astrotech model refractors, for both imaging and visual observations.

This is done with an Ir Uv Cut mounted on the nose of the dedicated reducer.

Newtons rings may join you in this configuration and that can be mitigated by camera tilting or by placing a 1.25 .5xr just ahead of your cameras sensor while still maintaining the proper setback for the scopes dedicated .8x reducer to the quark.

This .5x reducers adjusted placement "camera side" can also be used to tune f ratio and image scale though too much reduction will contort the resulting images corners.

All the quark imagry I have so far posted here are captured in this fashion.

For note,

I am using the Quark with the 4.3x barow built in and an externally mounted energy rejection filter must be used in configurations above 80mm in aperture for this technique.

There will be other suggestions I'm sure, this one has been fully tested and proven in continued practice for 2 years with the results posted.

For those with a Quark Chromosphere not owning a mono camera  for imaging a #8 yellow filter can be fixed on the camera side and this will alter the colour response and introduce contrast while making processing way easier with the resulting colour images more easily readable and well detailed.

So, alternatives for daystars reducer and tilt adapter as well as imaging short of mono.

Best of Quark Luck Indeed Everyone.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 3 by StarHugger

[Elp]

Sometimes it's easier if you've got the equipment at hand to image with a smaller focal length. I find the internal barlow for imaging quite annoying if I want more FOV.

[LukeTheNuke]

Do you need a 2 inch reducer? Wow, £279? I think Daystar sometimes have quite a nice markup on their extras, I remember the interesting prices they had for their Quark battery packs (cough). I just used a cheapo 1.25 inch 0.5x reducer, which was under £20 I think, from Telescope House years ago. It can also screw onto eyepieces, which I sometimes found useful, I think I got some other brand too that worked fine. I guess it depends on the camera chip size, though? I was using an ASI174 and Grasshopper 3 (ICX687), and the cheapy 0.5x reducer was fine to my eyes.

If 1.25 inch is fine, I'd be tempted to try something like this, with the option possibly to send it back if it doesn't work:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Svbony-Reducer-Astronomy-Telescope-Eyepiece/dp/B078Z8ZYR8

Edited April 3 by LukeTheNuke