Finder Guider help!

[kamayok3]

Hi,

I am using 9x50 with QHY5 to guide. But recently I am spending a lot of time just to try to focus the finder.

So, any good ways to recommend in focusing? I tried QGvideo to measure the FWHM of the focused stars. I managed to get the value under 30. Is it good enough for focusing?

I heard some people said using a soft stars(not in perfect focus) is better than perfect focused stars for guiding. Is this true?

Hope to hear from you guys.

Regards,

Tommy

[Glider]

It was a bit of a fiddle but I made a Bahtinov mask!

It is true that soft stars can help. What you are doing is not flat top clipping the profile that the software is trying to find the central peak of.

[adamsp123]

Regarding soft focus stars here you will find the comment the Man himself (Craig Stark) says - Telescope Reviews: Guiding w/PHD CG-5 with short focal lengths

[kamayok3]

Thanks guys. Will read through the thread.

Regards,

Tommy