Astrophotogprahy - Some futher advice
Discussion
Hi all
I quite enjoy stargazing (when the weather allows) and I have myself a skywatcher scope on an EQ2 mount. I would like some advice from those of you who are more exeprieinced...
(1) there is a motor drive, but it dosnt seem to turn fast enough. How do I re-calibrate the initial speed? It was included with the scope and mount, and is a 4-button type (x2 speed, x4 speed, reverse speeds too)
(2) cameras - I'd ideally like to have a reasonably lightweight webcam hooked up to a laptop to record images...I can use my Nikon D60 SLR, but it is clumsy and since I cant get the view on the LCD screen (like you can with a canon!) i find it hard to spot objects and focus through it. Any suggestions for something I could use?
Any help is appreciated!
Keep looking up
TD
I quite enjoy stargazing (when the weather allows) and I have myself a skywatcher scope on an EQ2 mount. I would like some advice from those of you who are more exeprieinced...
(1) there is a motor drive, but it dosnt seem to turn fast enough. How do I re-calibrate the initial speed? It was included with the scope and mount, and is a 4-button type (x2 speed, x4 speed, reverse speeds too)
(2) cameras - I'd ideally like to have a reasonably lightweight webcam hooked up to a laptop to record images...I can use my Nikon D60 SLR, but it is clumsy and since I cant get the view on the LCD screen (like you can with a canon!) i find it hard to spot objects and focus through it. Any suggestions for something I could use?
Any help is appreciated!
Keep looking up
TD
Hi,
EQ2 mount is going to struggle a bit for long exposure astro imaging, but should be okay for webcam planet stuff. Not sure on the latest recommendations for cheap webcams but there also ready to go solar system imagers that would work well for planets etc.
As regards speed - it should be pretty close, enough to keep stuff in the eyepiece for a couple of minutes at least. Are the batteries good? If so the main thing I'd be looking at is the telescope alignment - is it roughly polar aligned? Note that the motor (at 1x) will be set to the sidereal rate, that is so that it tracks the stars. The moon (and planets to a lesser extent) are moving at a different rate so don't expect it to follow them forever.
Before next imaging session I'd put fresh batteries in, check you can polar align okay and then see if it will track a bright star. If it's still slow it might be locks not released fully, sticky components (Chinese grease is usually pretty bad) or batteries not working well in cold temps. Then I'd start to look at if the speed's not right.
EQ2 mount is going to struggle a bit for long exposure astro imaging, but should be okay for webcam planet stuff. Not sure on the latest recommendations for cheap webcams but there also ready to go solar system imagers that would work well for planets etc.
As regards speed - it should be pretty close, enough to keep stuff in the eyepiece for a couple of minutes at least. Are the batteries good? If so the main thing I'd be looking at is the telescope alignment - is it roughly polar aligned? Note that the motor (at 1x) will be set to the sidereal rate, that is so that it tracks the stars. The moon (and planets to a lesser extent) are moving at a different rate so don't expect it to follow them forever.
Before next imaging session I'd put fresh batteries in, check you can polar align okay and then see if it will track a bright star. If it's still slow it might be locks not released fully, sticky components (Chinese grease is usually pretty bad) or batteries not working well in cold temps. Then I'd start to look at if the speed's not right.
Thanks for that. I had new batteries in, and I have roughly aligned the scope (well, as best as I can) with polaris. I was trying to keep fixed on a bright star (definatly not a planet! Cant remember now which star) and noticed it drifted reasonably quickly out of the veiwer.
I did take things apart and get some good grease on things aswell, realising beforehand this would cause issues. I also made sure the balancing was right. I'm a little annoyed that on 1x speed it dosnt seem fast enough, so the only thing left is the factory calibration, which I would be suprised to find ti was wrong as I imagine it would be a simple thing to set even on a mass-produced scale.
I did take things apart and get some good grease on things aswell, realising beforehand this would cause issues. I also made sure the balancing was right. I'm a little annoyed that on 1x speed it dosnt seem fast enough, so the only thing left is the factory calibration, which I would be suprised to find ti was wrong as I imagine it would be a simple thing to set even on a mass-produced scale.
Personally I would try piggy back astrophotography first.
You can use a normal camera/lens mounted on the back of your scope. Take multiple 30 second subs and combine them using something like DeepSkyStacker.
By doing this - your tracking doesn't have to be perfect. I took the following image tracking in Alt-Az mode.
You can use a normal camera/lens mounted on the back of your scope. Take multiple 30 second subs and combine them using something like DeepSkyStacker.
By doing this - your tracking doesn't have to be perfect. I took the following image tracking in Alt-Az mode.
I've dabbled with DSS when using just my camera and a suitable lens (I even crunched some numbers and worked out what exposure times I could get away with as a maximum before significant tailing / streaking occurred for a given shot!). I guess I was hoping to do long exposures (few minutes) with the tracking on the scope, then stack everything together. Again, I worked out what exposure times I could get away with when not tracking, and it was not very long (few seconds at most I think).
Next clear night I'll have another go.
BTW does anyone know of any free software I can use which allows me to view what my nikon D60 camera "sees" via my laptop? (there is no LCD viewscreen option! I can struggle to focus through the viewfinder because it can be quite dark)
last night was a nice night btw, I took a long gaze up at orion with my naked eyes..hoping to get some good views of the orion nebula and hopefully some good pictures (I can do that with my camera and a lense!)
Next clear night I'll have another go.
BTW does anyone know of any free software I can use which allows me to view what my nikon D60 camera "sees" via my laptop? (there is no LCD viewscreen option! I can struggle to focus through the viewfinder because it can be quite dark)
last night was a nice night btw, I took a long gaze up at orion with my naked eyes..hoping to get some good views of the orion nebula and hopefully some good pictures (I can do that with my camera and a lense!)
If your camera is capable of live view on a laptop - then the software should have come bundled with your camera.
If you are having issues focussing - you could try using a focus mask.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahtinov_mask
If you are having issues focussing - you could try using a focus mask.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahtinov_mask
I've got the mount as aligned as best I can get it (it's difficult because I cant peer through the true centre of the mount!).
I was out last night and had another go with the motordrive. It seems the issue I'm having with tracking is only really pronounced on higher magnifications (say, 10 mm eye peice) but it did ok with the 20 mm and 25 mm eye peices. Next night I'll pop on my camera and have a go at imaging the Pleiades (I love that cluster, it's my favorite "object" in the night sky)
I think the mechanism on the mount needs some work - some polishing and some good lubricant to reduce the force required to turn smoothly. I'll look into it and see if there is anything I can do with that.
My nikon camera (and, it seems, all nikon cameras!) don't come with software to view via a laptop. It costs extra money! Which is a bit naughty of Nikon and had I known that I wanted this feature at the time, I would have bought a cannon (I got the camera...i dunno, 6-7 years ago now!)
When i get some images I'll post some up in this thread
if any of you have anything you'd like to share, please do
I was out last night and had another go with the motordrive. It seems the issue I'm having with tracking is only really pronounced on higher magnifications (say, 10 mm eye peice) but it did ok with the 20 mm and 25 mm eye peices. Next night I'll pop on my camera and have a go at imaging the Pleiades (I love that cluster, it's my favorite "object" in the night sky)
I think the mechanism on the mount needs some work - some polishing and some good lubricant to reduce the force required to turn smoothly. I'll look into it and see if there is anything I can do with that.
My nikon camera (and, it seems, all nikon cameras!) don't come with software to view via a laptop. It costs extra money! Which is a bit naughty of Nikon and had I known that I wanted this feature at the time, I would have bought a cannon (I got the camera...i dunno, 6-7 years ago now!)
When i get some images I'll post some up in this thread
if any of you have anything you'd like to share, please doGassing Station | Science! | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff