Hi, watched this on YouTube and thought it was very informative. Can I suggest you do another video of mounts that are the slightly smaller capacity mounts; e.g.
Sky watcher eqm-35
Explore scientific EXOS-2
Meade LX85
iOptron CEM25p
And of course your Celestron AVX mount.
Keep up the good work.
Hi Peter, Thank you for your positive feedback, highly appreciated! As for the smaller capacity mounts, I did a review on my AVX, you can watch the video and/or read my blog here: https://astroforumspace.com/celestron-advanced-vx-review/ I also mention some of the competitors in that vlog such as the CEM25p and the LX85. Hope this is useful to you, and I’ll look into making a dedicated video on entry level mounts for AP. Clear skies!
Hi Wido: Love your videos. I’m new to this astrophotography game and like you I would have to travel generally by air to get to anyplace with relatively dark and clear skies. So mount capacity is ultra important to me.
Question 1. On the web sites for most of these mounts they caveat their payload capacity with (*Excluding Counterweight) so you’re really looking at the advertised Payload – the weight of the counterweight. Do you agree with my assessment?
Question 2. In your video on beginners mounts I think you stated that one should half the payload to be safe and assure tracking accuracy. So is what you are really recommending (advertised Payload – the weight of the counterweight)/2 ?? That seems to really limit these mounts. What do you think please?
Thanks in advance for entertaining my very primitive questions.
Mike
Hi Michael, the payload capacity is the payload capacity, its not related to the counterweights which are needed to balance the telescope on the mount.
Yes, I do stand by my remark that most mounts work better for astrophotography when you are not taxing them to the maximum payload capacity.
If that’s one half or one third or more/less depends a bit on the specific mount, but as a general rule I would recommend a mount that can comfortably carry your payload weight.
Hi Peter, I just finished another video where I compare seven beginner level mounts. It will be out on the 5th of March. The video is a bit long atm, about 30 minutes, so hope it is not too boring to watch :-).
Dear Sir ! I am new beginner to this astronomy , and I like to purchase my very first EQ mount for my own , after I found your video on the youtube , and feel glad to found you there , so I have a question here needed to ask you before I buy my own EQ mount , which is I am from east Malaysia , so my location show me like this (Latitude: 4.357946872711182 Longitude: 113.996826171875) , So which mount do you think is better for me to buy ? Ioptron or other’s will do too ?
Thank you and sorry for disturbing your time .
Thanks for watching my videos! I think most EQ mounts are fine, the Ioptron, HEQ5, and AVX are all good options. However, you should check if these mounts can actually guide at your latitude. You state that your latitude is 4.35, this is very close to the equator, correct? Check before you buy if the EQ mount can guide at that latitude.
Thanks for the feedback David! I also like the polar alignment routine on my Celestron AVX, although lately, I just use sharpcap and run the mount without the all star alignment procedure.
Hello there. I am currently using an ioptron skyguider pro and I would like to upgrade to an eq mount so I can have a small apo 70-80 mm.
I have read a lot of reviews but can’t decide. I would like to maintain the portability of the setup. Could you please guide me ? Avx and eq5 are stretching a lot my budget
Well, if you want to go below the AVX and the HEQ5, then maybe the SkyWatcher EQM-35 or the Meade LX85 may be an option. Keep in mind that the EQM-35 max weight is only 10kg max. So you would need to go for a lightweight setup and perhaps stick to 60-70mm which affords more guiding error while still getting decent long exposure pictures. The LX85 is good on paper, but I haven’t seen many real-life users with this mount. Choosing equipment is always hard, good luck and clear skies!
Hello, I’m really interested in astro photography, but being a fresh graduate in Malaysia. I don’t really even have the resources for these recommended telescopes. 800 USD is just a tiny bit less than 3 months of my salary if I were to not use a single cent of it. Is there any other cheaper option i could opt for?
Yes, AP can get very expensive. What you could do is buy a DSLR on a second hand market. Make sure you get one with a wide lens (e.g. 18mm or less) and a relatively fast f/ratio (e.g. F/3.5 or lower).
you can mount a second hand DSLR on a static tripod – those should be relatively inexpensive. You can already do great stuff with that such as timelapses and startrails of stars, and making awesome images of the milkyway.
Hope this helps. Clear skies!
Beautifully pictures and good info on astrophotography here!
Personally I am quite experienced in other types of photography and are on the edge of investing in astro gear. Before doing so I’m looking for someone I can meet up with for a astro session to see if the astro shoots fit me. Are you up for taking a beginning enthusiastic on a beginners tour? I’m from Zeist by the way, so we’re basically neighbours.😀
It’s quite boring to watch what I’m doing, which is basically taking pictures of one object during multiple nights :-). But I’m glad to answer any kind of questions you may have.
Hoi Wido, mooie beelden allemaal. Ik wil ook gaan beginnen met astrofotografie. Ik heb een celestron c9.25 xlt. Wat zou jij adviseren om te beginnen. Ik heb veel positieve dingen gelezen over zwo asi air en de zwo asi 224mc.
Dag Ruut, De 9.25 is mooi, maar ook een grote telescoop. Als je net begint dan is het – denk ik – als eerste van belang om een hele goede montering (EQ mount) te kopen met genoeg draagkracht zodat je met de 9.25 XLT heel precies de sterren kunt volgen, heb je dat al? Daarnaast heb je ook een “volgtelescoopje” + “volgcamera” nodig. Daarom adviseer ik vaak om te beginnen met een kleinere telescoop, dan kun je iets meer “volgfouten” hebben omdat je gezichtsveld dan ook wijder is. Wat jij kunt doen met je 9.25 is een reducer aanschaffen, dan wordt je gezichtsveld ook breder en hoef je niet meteen heel precies de sterren te volgen om goede foto’s te krijgen. Als je echt net begint is het denk ik goed om gewoon met een DSLR of inderdaad met zo’n 224MC te beginnen. Probleem is dat deze cameras niet gekoeld zijn dus je zult dan wat meer last hebben van een “korrelig” beeld, vooral bij hogere temperaturen. Beter is om een gekoelde camera te kopen en als je nog een extra stap wil nemen dan spreek je meteen over een gekoelde mono camera met filterwiel. Maar dan praat je ook over 3x meer tijdsinverstering om data te verzamelen en te verwerken. Succes met je keuze!
Wido, great info! I am learning a lot with your website and your youtube channel, thanks very much!
I am a beginner who lives in 25.7617° N (South Florida) and Polaris is always obstructed in my backyard. You mentioned about doing the drift align procedure in your Youtube Channel, but I was wondering if the “All Star Polar Alignment” with Celestron mounts would solve my problem?
I really wanted an iOptron mount for their portability though 😉
Thanks Philipp! Yes, the ASPA is a good way to align your telescope. What you could do is go through the ASPA procedure. When you’re finished, find the object you want and perform a drift align procedure (e.g. in PHD2) to ensure your tracking is OK and make some final adjustments if necessary. Hope this helps, clear skies!
Thanks! Yes, definitely try out ASPA, it will help the mount to calibrate its position. And you could ofcourse use a compass to make sure your mount is facing north. After the ASPA procedure, you could simply slew to an object and watch if it stays centered in your Field of View. Have fun!
Hi,
Great blog and tutorials. I’m currently buying my first mount after your another blog post here. You’re doing great work with all explanations and details.
One question about this blog. Do you have any opinion on Red/Space Cat AP 51/250? I heard it’s great for first astrophoto telescope.
Clear skies!
Thanks! The Red Cat 51/250 is a very good telescope, but specifically geared towards wide field astrophotography.
You can make beautiful pictures of (parts of) our milkyway and other larger nebulae like the one’s in the constellation cygnus.
Just don’t expect any close up pictures of galaxies (with the exception of the Andromeda galaxy). Good luck!
Hi Peter
I’m reaching out to you from Sacramento California, USA. I was curious why the iOptron CEM40 wasn’t your first choice since it had the most stars? Was it the price? I really liked that it is so light. What mount did you buy?
Thank you. I really enjoy your vlogs.
Thanks! Yes, you are right. The CEM40 was a little over budget for me so I went with the SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro.
If you have the money, or perhaps if the CEM40 has a discount, it would be a very interesting mount.
I have to say the weight is doable on the EQ6-R pro, but the CEM40 is definitely better in this respect.
Are you planning on doing astrophotography on remote locations or primarily from your own backyard?
Good luck deciding!
I will be doing the astrophotography from a remote location. My backyard is too small with trees and other buildings in close proximity. I plan to try some in my front yard which faces the southern sky, if I can.
Yes, of course. The only thing is that they are not really fit for astrophotography. But they are still nice for some detailed moon, planetary and deep-sky observations. Depends a bit on what you want. This is a shot in the dark, but I myself started out with a telescope which is very similar to this one:https://bit.ly/3eUcrb4. It was really fun to have a goto mount, type in the object you want to see and it moves the telescope to that position. You can watch through an eyepiece or attach a camera with a live view. Cheers, clear skies.
Hi there, maybe this is a nice telescope to start: https://bit.ly/39fHfBP. It has an easy to use computerized goto mount and a nice refractor that is great to start visual astronomy. It’s actually my first telescope I used and I was amazed by the views I got on the moon and the Orion nebula. Best, Wido.
I use my LX85 as my primary go to mount. I have a dobsonian as well that came with my Skywatcher 200p and I love it as it is so simple. But to find DSO and imaging I needed a go to mount. I started with my laptop using PHD2 guiding and was very pleased with the tracking. I have had some growing pains with my cameras and bit the bullet and purchased a ASI533MC-Pro. Partially because I have recently moved from my laptop to a ASIAIR PRO and so the ASI533 fits in nicely with my ASI120MC-S as a guide camera. Baby steps right.
I also purchased a 6″ Newt along with my LX85 mount. It was an extra $100 so it was a nice add. The mount guides very well with the ASIAIR and the 6″ Newt. I have had problems using my 200p Newt with it, but I have only used it once and it might be a balance issue. I had to purchase some additional counter weight to balance that big tube. I am fairly confident that I can get it working as the LX85 has a companion 8″ Newt as well and seems to support it just fine.
Cloudy since I purchased the ASI533, but later this week it should be clear. We will see how the combinations work together. Hoping to get a good shot of Neowise with the new camera.
Hi Eric, thanks for sharing your story. I understand the struggle, all the more rewarding when you finally get these awesome pictures you were hoping for. Yea, NEOWISE is so bright in the sky, you can capture it even with a small camera, shutter speed at 10s and iso at 800, you should already be able to detect it in the night sky. Through a telescope would be even more rewarding. Unfortunately I have no views whatsoever towards the north from my backyard, hope you’ll be able to get an awesome picture! Clear skies.
Hi,
I would like to try deep-sky astrophotography. Problem is, that it is expensive. Do you think that Nikon D3400 or Nikon D3500 is good for that? I will start photographing without camera lenses, but I will buy some later. If none of these cameras are good, could you help me please? I would like to have a camera around 500 and 600 USD.
Sorry for my grammar mistakes, I am from Europe.
Btw you have very nice photos! Like wow, I am impressed :DD.
Have a nice photographing!
Thank you and very nice to hear you’re interested in astrophotography. The Nikon D3500 is nice, I see this one comes with a 18-55mm kitlens: https://amzn.to/2DN8qZm. You can get started with a regular DSLR on a static tripod and take some nice widefield pictures of the 🌟 stars, constellations and the milky way! Remember to get a tripod, you’ll be taking long exposure pictures and your camera need to be still. Another option is the canon 4000d: https://amzn.to/2Pv2kzg. Astrophotography software used to be more geared towards canon. Good luck deciding and please share your first astropicture with me:-). Cheers, wido.
Hi Wido,
This is Mike from Chicago. Thanks again for you note via YouTube. A Ha filter is next on my list but I think I need to learn PHD2, APT first. I also think I am most likely heading to narrow band imaging especially in Chicago skies. I have seen a lot of folks using the ASI 1600 MM coupled to an ZWO EFW. Is this reasonable for a very early beginner like me? Also, should I consider a clip in Ha filter first – just for learning and portability? I have a 2″ Optolong L-Pro and was also thinking about getting the L-Enhance as well? Thoughts?
By the way, you may be interested in knowing that my wife is an I/O pyschologist. I will send along a LinkedIN invite. She retired from corporate life and has been working for the American Red Cross for the last several years. Thanks again for your guidance.
Best,
Good to know I’m not the only I/O psychologist, thanks for the invite. Yes, these are always difficult choices to make. As for me, I first practiced astrophotography with a DSLR + PHD2 and some clip in filters. I started with backyard EOS as an easy to use imaging tool. After I learned how to autoguide and how to post process in deepsky stacker and Photoshop I switched to the ZWO1600mm Pro and an 8 position filterwheel with 1.25″ ZWO LRGB and Ha, Sii, Oiii filters to start mono imaging. Perhaps a good solution is to start imaging with a color camera and some dedicated light pollution and narrowband filters (Lpro, Lextreme) as you mention above and later make the switch to mono imaging. Perhaps my blog about mono vs. colour imaging (see my website or YT channel) is useful to read/watch in which I discuss the pros and cons regarding colour vs. mono imaging. Hope my info is useful and you’ll enjoy the hobby despite the light polluted skies of Chicago!
Ok, thank you very very much! You really helped me 😀 Maybe I will buy it for Christmas, I would be happy to send you some photo 😀 But like I said, maybe in winter.
Thank you for helping me!
Thanks for the review it was most helpful. I went with the iOptron CEM40. After a few decades of life I have some to understand that a little more upfront can pay off in the long run. In addition to a couple of features I find valuable, notably iPolar, the weight difference is important. Compared with the EQ6 Pro the difference is 11.8 kg (26 lb.). If dragged out once a week for 10 years the difference in weight shifted, carried, and lifted is about 6,130 kg (~13,500 lb). With a price difference of Euro 450 that works out to Euro 45/year, Euro 4/month, or about Euro 0.07/kilo. Those numbers work, for me at least.
Hi Josef, thanks for reading my blog and the positive feedback. I think your calculations make sense and I hope you’ll enjoy the CEM40! I would be interested to hear about your experiences with this mount. Clear skies!
When you spoke to the Meade rep what did he say about the Aux port polarity? I spoke with(via email) to Meade rep and he told me in no uncertain terms that no Meade LX85s have reverse polarity in their aux ports. Very confusing as I read mostly on cloudynights forums that the aux ports are reversed. So someone is wrong. I ordered the STARGPS NX-O2 for gps with the ASTARX cable which is supposed to be a reverse polarity cable to correct the issue. But Meade says polarity isn’t reversed so now I’m afraid to use any cable because I don’t know what the polarity is and I don’t want to fry my new mount!!! Any advise??? Did Meade say all the lx85s were reverse polarity? Unfortunately there is no way to know unlike the white dot Meade put on the fixed lx65s. Thank you. Sean
It was several months ago but I assure you a technician at Meade specifically told me the AUX port was wired back to front. This issue has been repeated from previous models unfortunately. If you have a voltmeter you can test it. Switch it to continuity and check it across ports. Typically the 12v is completely opposite the ground post on these jacks. If the aux port shows opposite then you can be 100% certain it’s as they stated. Connecting equipment to it would be reverse feeding current. Likely some board circuit damage. If you have the original box try it. If it’s under warranty that is. You can always return it. I’m with you tho. Someones information is wrong. I never tested mine. I got so aggravated with ASCOM that I retired the mount from DSO to Planetary. My experience with calling Meade was pleasant and they were very thorough with my questions. That mount could be fantastic but with it’s flaws I do believe it’s best reserved for visual or very wide astrophotography. I can’t believe they sell this system with a Maksutov. Such focal lengths are outside this mounts capacity even with a pole master. I hope you get your answer. Calling them yourself to confirm the AUX safe would be best. Get the employees name and document the call. That way you have a strong argument for a replacement or refund. I hope the best for you. Clear skies.
Hi,
I’ve got some experience photographing using ieq30 mount and 135 Sonnar Lens with cannon. It’s great and now I’m thinking about buying proper scope. I reduced choice to two, both listed by you: TS-Optics PHOTOLINE 80mm f/6 FPL53 Triplet APO – 2.5″ RAP Focuser and William Optics ZenithStar 81 F/6.9 doublet Refractor.
I did my own research and saw that TS can have some problems with quality more then WO. But Photoline is true APO, not dublet. Would you recommend buying Photoline still like in video? Any other thoughts, suggestions?
And maybe you have some flattener/reducer do suggest for photoline?
Thanks in advance and clear skies from Poland!
I don’t own the zenithstar, but given its a doublet it would give you accurate colors for red and blue, but not green. Usually this is not a big issue as a lot of DSO’s are in the blue and red part of the light spectrum. Still, I suspect that the photoline APO triplet refractor would give you some better results. I still use this telescope and am very satisfied with it. I have a TS flattener (1.0, it doesn’t reduce the field of view) to get round stars towards the edge of my field of view as well. Good luck deciding!
Hi,
I have just read the comments here and I see, you helped them a lot :)) Anyways I have almost the same question as Kirsten has, would be a camera Nikon D3500 good for astrophotography? I would connect it to a Ritchey-Chretien telescope.
Clear skies!
The work you are doing is important. Thank you so very much for your knowledge, your experience and your effort to help those like me who are just beginning to have an interest in astro-photography. Earlier this evening, I took my first photograph through one of my telescopes. Then I started by watching your excellent video about choosing the right telescope for astro-photography. That lead me to your website and this fabulous photograph of the Eagle nebula. It took my breathe away. Thank you for keeping me from wasting a lot of money on a 10 inch Schmidt-Cassegranian. I currently have a Celestron Achromatic 4 inch refractor, and a Meade ETX 90 EC. My plan is to replace the Celestron with a 80mm apochromatic refractor. This is all because of your video on selecting telescopes. Thank you so very much.
Thanks guys. I did buy a multimeter and with guidance from Andydownunder on cloudy nights forums confirmed the polarity is reversed. I crossed my toes and fingers and took several calming breaths and plugged in my STARGPS with the reverse ASTARX cable. Thank the Stars I didn’t hear electrical gremlins eating the innards of my mount, no dreaded puff of ozone impregnated blue smoke letting me know my LX85 had just transcended and crossed over into mount hereafter! Works like a charm! One thing I can tell you is I hate the LX85 polar scope. How hard can it be for them to incorporate some thumb and finger turn screws on it instead of trying to use 2 micro hex screws at the same time???. Have only had it out once since I attached the GPS unit and it was almost spot on with 2 star alignment. Have to do a few more alignments to get it right. Tracked Jupiter nicely once on target. I’m still in the process of adding equipment for autoguiding which I’ve never done before. Leaning toward an Orion 50mm mini guidescope and either a ZWO or QHY guide camera. I have an older Olympus dslr I want to try wifefield with but just got my Series 4000 f/6.3 reducer today and waiting on a Haida nano Clear Night light pollution filter. I’ll give an update on how well the mount is performing as soon as I get a chance to use it for more than 30 minutes at a time.
Hi, I’m looking out for telescopes which can help me observe deep sky objects, planets and also to start astrophotography.
At a local shop I was given the below options
1. BRESSER 130/1000 with EXOS I EQ System
2. EXPLORE SCIENTIFIC 150/750
EQ-3 Reflector Telescope.
To start with are these a option and also the mounts provided with them seems to be basic..can I upgrade the mounts?
Is there any restriction in terms of upgrading the mounts depending on the telescope or the manufacturer?
I’m not really sure about these.
A bit tight on my budget as well..please suggest..
the ES 150/750 is a decent Newtonian to start astrophotography I think. The EQ3 mount is a bit light but you can of course always try and upgrade when necessary (see my blog on beginner mounts :-)).
Also, in time, you probably also want to get a coma corrector to get a flat field image (no starcoma’s around the edges) and a guidescope + camera to accurately track.
Hope this helps, clear skies!
Hi!
I am a beginner in astrophotography and I need to buy some camera. I will take photos through my Ritchey-Chretien 6 inch telescope on EQ-5 mount and I would to do deep-sky astrophotography. I got recommended Canon EOS 4000D and Canon EOS 400D. Do you think one of these cameras could be good? I do not want to spend more than 500 dollars.
Hi Emma, sure, you can start deep sky AP with a DSLR. I would go for the canon EOS 4000D, it has a larger sensor and full hd video (not necessary for deep sky but nice to have if you’ll be using the camera for regular photography and videos). The next step should be a dedicated cooled camera like the zwo294mc pro, but these are close to 1000 dollars. You’ll need to buy a T2 ring to connect the DSLR to your telescope. Clear skies!
I would like to start by saying, I find your videos very entertaining and I have learned a lot from you. I have recently purchased the ZWO ASI462 MC. I was surprised to not see it on the list of cameras. From what I have gathered, it is a very good planetary camera and hope you could review it someday to compare to the 290. Keep up the great work and thank you for your videos.
Ik fotografeer al een hele poos en heb dan ook een redelijke collectie lenzen. Daarnaast heb ik ooit een Bresser Galaxia gekocht waar ik lekker doorheen kan koekeloeren. Desalniettemin als ik mijn camera hier aan koppel zijn de resultaten tot op heden altijd teleurstellend. Mijn 70-200 F4 lens presteert beter en scherper dan de galaxia combinatie. Waarom zou ik een 1000 euro uitgeven voor een 80mm lens F6 als ik voor de helft van het geld een 200 mm F4 kan kopen? Is dit überhaupt een reële vergelijking?
Die Bresser is als ik het goed heb een goedkope reflector. Je zult dus last hebben van coma (ovale sterren buiten je focus gebied) en diffractie in je sterren (je krijgt grote plustekentjes bij heldere sterren). Een apochromatische refractor is uitermate geschikt voor astrografie en zou een veel beter resultaat moeten geven dan een fotolens. Groetjes!
I wanted to pick your brain. I saw you video on filters. I live in North Carolina in what I call a Dark Class 5 Bortle. I shoot with Williams Optics GT102 Triplet APO Refractor with a Sky-Watcher Evoguide 50mm Helical Focuser. That guidescope has a ASI290mini. I’m mentioning ny equipment so you can get a overall perspective on my eventual question and situation. I just received my new camera ZWO ASI2600 COLOR. Since I jumped to color I also bought a ZWO FILTER DRAWER for my 2′ OPTOLONG DUAL BAND L-EXTREME. My filter is my real queztion. I want you thoughts on how my this filter will work with my color camera. Thank you
Hi Robert, wow, that’s a very interesting combination. To be completely honest, I haven’t tried the color camera x dual-band combination myself. But I do have some experience with narrowband imaging and I read the filter profile so I’ll give you my thoughts. First off, you’re in a dark class 5 environment which makes me wonder if you ever tried shooting without a filter and assess your light pollution situation. Under your conditions, it might be worthwhile to (also) consider broadband (i.e. normal) imaging. I think the l-extreme filter would work especially well for Ha and Oiii rich nebula. Assuming that you’re in the northern hemisphere, the nebulae in the constellation Cygnus (north America nebula, Pelican nebula, Cygnus loop, eastern/western veil nebula) would be extremely suited as they are H-alpha and Oiii rich nebulae. You could use the filter drawer+filter in combination with your asi2600 – that camera gives a wonderfully “wide” field of view which is awesome to catch the larger nebulae in just one picture – no need to create a mosaic. You will probably end up with one color stack, but you can process the RGB channels separately to create the image you want. Results would be a lot like the narrowband HOO images you’ll find on the internet. Hope this helps! Clear skies.
Hoi Pieter, goede vraag. De Galaxia is een eenvoudige reflector en zal dus van een aantal nadelen hebben, zoals ovale sterren aan de randen van je foto (door een fenomeen dat coma wordt genoemd) en de reflector produceert diffractie in de sterren (grote plustekentjes). Een apochromatische refractor zal die vertekeningen niet vertonen en geeft over het algemeen genomen en kwalitatief beter beeld dan een fotolens.
I have become a big fan of yours, after watching some of your videos on YouTube. The best part I like about your videos is the most detailed technical explanation, that I haven’t found on any other channels.
I am looking for good and handy telescope, to start with viewing, and later on I can upgrade the same telescope for doing astrophotography. Currently I am running very tight on my budget and hence I can’t afford whole set of telescope, mount and camera at the same time. I am from New Zealand and buying whole new kit would cost me around 4000 to 5000nzd and second hand market is kind of next to none. My budget is around 1000nzd.
Please if you can suggest me the telescope that fits my requirements.
Much Appreciate your time in advance.
Thanks for the kind words. For 1000NZD, there are two options I think. You may find a good deal on astronomy or astrophotography fora. I’m not sure if there’s a specific forum in new Zealand that is equal to stargazerlounge or cloudy nights…if there is, you might want to check if there are people in your neighborhood with some used gear you could buy at a bargain price. Another option may be to buy a tracker for your dslr camera like the star adventurer pro. You can then use your dslr (without telescope) to take long exposure pictures with which you can already do some decent astrophotography imaging of large, deepsky objects like the Andromeda galaxy or pleiades. A third option is to buy what I would call a ‘beginner’ set….When I first started out, I bought a Celestron 102SLT – it comes with a computerized mount and achromat refractor. Although not suited for deepsky, you can make some decent pictures of the moon and planets. Hope this info helps, clear skies! PS: I recently visited Zealand, but it was the old one, it’s one of the 12 provinces in The Netherlands :-).
Great Video and I am glad that I have subscribed to your youtube channel. I was going to buy a CGX mount but I think I will stay with the EQ6-R pro instead. Also your video on setting up EQMOD and Stellarium have been very instructional. Many thenks my friend.
Thanks for the informative Review that preempts to answer many questions that would arise regarding the use of EDGE HD Telescopes.
I wonder if is indeed necessary to use 50 mm Filter wheel with EDGE HD 8″ ? Any reason why 36 mm Filter heel and Filters wouldn’t work with ZWO ASI1600MM Camera ?
Hi Wido.
Thank you for this review. Helped me a lot. I wanted to ask you something: in the Quantum Efficiency column of the comparison table, some of them have the value “TBD”. What does TBD mean?
Thank you!
Hey! Thanks for the great content and this write up.
I have ordered an 8” Edge HD and would like to try and get in some last chance Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
The scope arrives next week.
I have been searching for a clear indication of what I need to connect up a suitable camera, I have a few 1.25” ZWO cameras in OSC and Mono I could use but I have no idea what should go between the scope and the camera to get the right back spacing..
I ordered a Moonlite focuser (the one that has space for the 0.7 reducer inside it) and 0.7 reducer but they won’t be here for a month yet I think.
I’ll just have the standard scope (pun intended) of supply and my guide camera. My barlow is 2” so I’m not even sure if I can use that, though it does have a 1.25” eyepiece adapter which the camera will slot into, but the 2” end I’m not sure about.
Can you offer any wisdom on what I should try to buy or use to make this work out of the box?
Hi Calum, sorry for the late reply. Did you resolve this? The edge HD has an SCT adapter that accepts the 1.25″ nose piece of your zwo camera. I’m still figuring out my imaging train with the reducer. Once I figure that out I’ll make a video :-).
Hello Wido,
Wow just discovered your videos and now your blog and site. Very nicely done! I’ve just subscribed to your YouTube channel. I also live in The Netherlands, in Bennekom, but my Dutch is still very sketchy.
I have been interested in astronomy all my life but never had the opportunity to own a telescope. A couple of tears ago I borrowed an old Newtonian (Bynostar 4595, 114×900) on a wooden EQ mount, managed to collimate it without extra tools and even got some eyepieces for it but the experience has been frustrating most of the times because it vibrates a lot. The old wooden mount is not sturdy enough I think and though it’s bearable for planets and the moon it’s impossible for DSO.
I am also a hobby photographer getting into art and night photography. My budget is limited but mi imagination is big, as my patience, so I am managing to do decent night pictures and light painting compositions. I order to do astrophotography from The Netherlands, specially the Milky Way, I bought last year a very basic but good tracker, the mini tack LX3 (150 euro!) it’s working wonders with a basic Canon SL2 (200D).
I’m sorry this is getting too long, I’ve realizing now, please forgive me. Wanted to write to you privately to your email but I could not find it.
Now to the point: I’ve recently bought a Refractor telescope TS Photoline 72mm f/6 FPL-53-Lanthan APO doublet. I’m using it with a good camera tripod (Vanguard Alta Pro 263AT (max 7 kg) and the proper extensions, but I am still getting so much vibrations.
I was looking at your recommendations for beginner mounts and read your blog a few times. One thing strikes me, not just the prices ( I am a musician who does not makes much money and even less during the pandemic), is the amount of gear, computer, batteries, cables needed for serious astrophotography. But how about less serious? I just want to observe and photograph with not too long exposures and then stack the photos with darks, flats, bias, in the computer at home.
Do you know of an alternative for a inexpensive mount with good stability for my payload? And is it possible to do astrophotography without so much gear needed?
Finally, I would love to meet and do a viewing night someday. I’ve found a very dark site near Hoenderloo (Bortle 3 I think) that I’ll be happy to share. Where do you go for observing near Utrecht? I was in Terchelling last september but it was not free of glow, although it was nicely dark. I am seriously thinking to organize a citizen request to the munincipality in Ede for a no light pollution zone in the area.
Thanks so much in advance and most of all for your effort with the videos, blog and website, and for sharing your experiences. Clear skies!!
Hi Wido,
I recently wrote on another threat about mounts and the question about how much gear you need and how expensive it can be. I’ve found in my nights out how difficult is to focus and guide all the time. Seeing this options in STEP 4, these are not too expensive! Great piece of information, as usual. Clear skies!
Hi Javier, Thank thanks! I still focus manually, you can use free software such as sharpcap. For guiding, a mini guidescope with a cheap planetary camera doesn’t break the bank and PHD2 guiding software is open source. Clear skies!
Hi Javier, what instrument do you play? Anyway, yes, it’s an expensive and complex hobby. What you could consider is using a dslr with a star tracker, such as the star adventurer pro for widescape astrophotography. As for mounts, I would like those beginner mounts to be cheaper, it is my experience that those cheaper mounts are often unstable. What you could do is look for a used setup. In the Netherlands and Belgium amateur ap-ers often sell their gear on http://www.te-les-koop.nl
As for milkyway pictures, I only succeeded in other countries (Greece, France). Cheers.
First, thanks for your YouTube videos. I have found them very informative. Second, I’m looking for my first mount and have been thinking about the Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ 5 mount and was wondering if you had any thoughts on it?
Hi Frank, thanks! That is a good mount, but what kind of telescope are you going to use? And keep in mind that alt az is useful for planetary imaging and visual astronomy, but for Deep-sky Astrophotography you’ll always need the EQ config. Cheers!
Hi Wido
I have been reading through this information very interesting. It feels like filters are one of the more complex aspects to get my head around, there seem to be so many options and variations. With my DSLR I am only really interested in light pollution filters, I have recently ordered this filter https://www.astronomik.com/en/filter-gegen-lichtverschmtzung-filters-against-lightpollution-lpr/cls-ccd-filter.html and I am hoping to give this a test and see if it makes much difference to my images.
I guess there is also the option of mixing or layering images taken with and without the filters to see if I can get something different from both. Would I need to take flats/darks separate with the filter if I did this ??
Enjoying your videos and I’ve recently setup a little blog and youtube(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGV9niqrT8l04kR1azPtCzw) to try and show my progress as a total beginner. I think your channel is certainly one of the best resources out there.
I am hopefully getting a guide camera this week !!! ZWO 120mm. I’m not sure about Europe but over this 2020 most stores here have been out of stock in everything. I think everyone has become an astrophotographer.
Hi Ollie, thank you for your kind words. I think that the light pollution filter is a good way to start, you’ll definitely see some improvements if you live under light polluted skies. A next step would be an H alpha filter, that really helps to bring out the hydrogen gasses that are present in the many nebulas. And yes crazy due to Covid-19 and increased popularity in astrophotography which you can go without leaving your house really increased delivery times of equipment. Clear skies and stay safe.
Greeting’s Vito,
Thank you for taking the time to collecting and interpreting the ZWO camera data. Ironically I have, with the exception of a dedicated astro camera the same set up as yourself. Ij h7ave been a visual observer for years but with my recent retirement I have decided to try my hand at astrophotography. I just sent my DSLR out for modification.
My current plan is to mount my C 8 and 80mm APO in tandem horizontally as apposed to piggy back. The Farpoint saddles seem to be the most economical. But I’m purchasing the Prima Luce BIG saddle for the end carrying the Edge. I think I’m good weight capacity wise. I also have a ZWO guide scope, ASI Air Pro ad a Kendrick Zapper.
I’m a MAC user but haven’t found any good substitutes for h processing software. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.
Hi John, great to read that someone else makes similar choices and I hope you’ll be getting some nice pictures! Unfortunately, I can’t help you with MAC software as I’m using a windows laptop/pc.
Although I wanted this telescope primarily for planetary imaging, I realize we in the Northern hemisphere won’t have a lot to look at for a while. So, DSO imaging while I wait? What are your thoughts on Hyperstar? Will you be getting one for your Edge HD8 or will you continue using your other scope(s) for DSO photography?
I’m considering it Jeff, but it’s quite an investment :-). My main goal is to get the edge hd up and running with the focal reducer for galaxy season next year.
I’m moving from visual observation into astrophotography and trying to limit my beginner (expensive) mistakes as I learn. I currently have an 80mm APO and am in the purchase process for the 8″ EDGE HD. I have decided, for now at least, to stick with OSC cameras just because things are already getting complicated enough, (and I think some of the new narrow band filters are going to be fun!) but I want to be able to use any new expensive cameras I buy for both of these very different telescopes. In using the CCD suitability calculator at astronomy.tools, both your recommended 178 solar system and 294 DSO cameras work great with the 80mm APO. For both cameras however to be in the suitability range with the 8″ Edge HD, I need to increase the binning to 3×3 to get away from over-sampling. I honestly don’t know the final impact of doing that. Do I need to be looking for a different solution, or is this 3×3 “binning” just not an issue when it comes down to my final output. A very related final question; if the ASI462 had been on your chart from the beginning would it have changed your recommendations? Thanks for the great job you do, glad I found you on the web!
Thanks for your positive feedback. Yes, you have a point about binning, although for solar system objects this is less of an issue. At the end of my edge HD video I show some pictures of the moon taken with my asi1600mm pro (3,8 um pixel size), they weren’t so bad especially considering the poor seeing conditions: https://youtu.be/tEVNKi9ryYc?t=818 Still, a larger pixel size camera may produce better results for solar imaging (e.g. the 174mm has a larger pixel size). For deep-sky I have seen some amazing pictures with 2000mm FL telescopes paired with ZWO cameras…see for instance this picture of m101 https://www.instagram.com/p/CA3Hx2UJnt9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link -taken with an asi071MC Pro. So I’m not too worried that you’ll end up with good pictures using any of these cameras. I’m just looking at real-life results, and understand that the astrocalculators’ recommendations are different :-). As for the 462MC, I think this one is direct competition with the asi290 and the asi224 cameras. Either of those cameras will be good for planetary imaging, I don’t think you’ll see a huge quality difference between those cameras but maybe I’m missing something….a secret weapon that the 462MC has…Clear skies!
Assuming the AUX has a design or manufacturing defect (along with other arguable design/MFG defects), it would be very bad for any company to place a defective product in the stream of commerce. This would violate several provisions of The Uniform Commercial Code and could expose the company to strict liability, and rescission of their contracts. I would think that all manufacturing company would do thir ethical best so as not to cause financial harm to the buyers of their products. In fact, car companies do a recall when they find out that they have inadvertently released a defective product into the steam of commerce.
|You are very informed on your topics.
I must admit i am overwhelmed with all the information and choices availabe,
My main questions are , i like to study the moon and also DSO
is this possible, or must i make a choice and settle on my telescope and camera for the moon and DSO or can i have one option to suit all ?
I do not have a telescope at the moment, so this is my first step so am researching
i do not want a cheap option and also not a sky high option.
i certailny like to take detailed moon photos, then gain experience and move on to DSO, so do i then need 2 off cameras ?
what budget do you think i need to spend on the kit i need , i like the German mount and also the GOTO function
Hi Martin, great to read you are developing an interest for astrophotography.
The moon and deep-sky actually go quite well together in terms of buying gear.
If you want to go ahead and skip the cheaper options, I would recommend the following:
1) buy an adequate equatorial mount that is able to carry around 10kg max. payload, many people buy a Celestron AVX or a SkyWatcher HEQ5 mount (around 1000 euros/dollars)
2) I would start with an APO/ED refractor telescope that has about 80mm aperture and around 500mm focal length (around 900 euros/dollars). I’ve mentioned some interesting ones at the end of this blog: https://astroforumspace.com/best-affordable-telescope-to-start-astrophotography-in-2021/
3) As for a camera, you could start out with a regular DSLR (CANON, NIKON etc.) if you have one – you can buy an additional T2 ring (around 20 euros) to connect your DSLR to your telescope
4) For the moon, you won’t need anything else, but for deep-sky, I would recommend an additional guide scope and guidecamera such as the orion 50mm guidescope and a 120MC camera (both around 150 euros).
You’ll need some additional USB cables to connect your camera and mount to your laptop or desktop.
Then there is the software you’ll want to use such as Backyard EOS (particularly for canon DSLRs), Astrophotography Tool etc. to capture the objects.
And you’ll probably want to start using processing software such as deep sky stacker and photoshop.
That’s it I think…so you’ll be looking at around 2000 euro’s/dollars. If that’s too much, you can also think about buying a startracker (around 500) and put your DSLR camera on one of those to track the night sky and make some awesome widefield astropictures.
Great review which mirrors my experience, although I had no issues with the belt.
One area I did have an issue, and am not the only one, was play in the mount to tripod connection. It does not appear to be machined to a tight tolerance and allowed the mount to move slightly on the tripod, no matter how tight everything is bolted down (and after tightening the loose post). I found the solution on the web, being to cut a strip of plastic from some packaging (a fruit punnet in my case) and fit one or two thicknesses of this into the hole that the mount slots into. That fixed any possible movement in that and I feel also makes for smoother left/right adjustments.
I have a Celestron Nexstar 8SE, with a cooled monochrome CCD with colour wheel for astrophotography and Wi-Fi for convenience. However, I also have a CG-5 GEM and an off-axis guide port for another CCD.
I find the Alt-Az is fine for astrophotography of bright objects such as the Moon, the planets and the brighter nebulae, and also for viewing. If need be, I can get some pretty good stacks of 30s subs on planets when guiding on the Alt-Az. But if I want crystal-clear stacked images of faint DSOs, it’s worth the extra faff of accurate polar alignment and focusing the guide camera to get some shots.
Hi Archibald, I agree. The Alt-Az mounts are easier to use and are great for solar system imaging. For deep sky astrophotography, I would recommend an Equatorial mount that you can polar align to increase your tracking accuracy. Clear skies!
I have an SBIG ST-402ME cooled monochrome CCD with integral colour wheel for imaging, and a monochrome ZWO AS1200MM-S for off-axis guiding. It took a while to wean me from my DSLR and later a colour CCD, but the results are worth it.
Hey Wido…I have been watching your u-tube videos and reading your blogs- one of the best in astrophotography. I’m an amateur photographer; and venturing into astrophotography; Thanks to your info; I have finally narrow down the telescope; Leaning towards Celestron Edge HD 8 (although a little worry that it may be advance for me); or One of the telescope that are APO/EDT.(definitely one of ones you recommended). Going to purchases the Skywatcher mount EQ5-to go;
I’m going to need a guiding telescope with camera. Not sure what else I will need. I have a Fuji Xpro2;
do I need Barlow lens; Any feedback on any other piece of equipment I will immediately need will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. collins
Hi Collins, sorry for the late reply and thanks for the compliments. If you are new to astrophotography, I would recommend starting out with a smaller apo refractor. A shorter focal length means you will get a wider field of view. Although your instinct is probably telling you to zoom in as much as possible, there are actually very nice widefield targets in the night sky (pleiades, Andromeda, orion nebula and other targets) that are really worthwhile to photograph with a refractor (i personally started with a 80/480mm APO refractor). You will also save a bit of money as compared to buying an Edge HD. As for the mount, I would recommend either a Skywatcher HEQ5 or a Celestron AVX if you’re going for the refractor. If you decide on the Edge HD, you’ll probably be better of with a slightly heavier mount with a higher payload capacity (e.g. the SW EQ6R pro, or the Celestron CGEMII, or even the CGX). You’ll indeed need a guidescope, for the refractor a small mini guidescope like the orion 50mm will do. And if you are starting with a regular digital camera you’ll need a T2 adapter for your camera. And finally, maybe you want to consider a cheaper non-cooled astrophotography camera like the ZWO 120mc or the 224MC to put in your guidescope for guiding, and to do some moon and planetary astrophotography with such a camera. Barlow is great if you’re trying to zoom in on smaller objects (planets, particular spots on the moon) within our solar system. For deep sky a barlow is less appropriate as it will double your focal length and will add exposure time to your capturing process. Hope this feedback helps, good luck deciding and clear skies!
Hi Wido,
Santa Claus brought me a similar setup to yours. Can you advise the bracket / shoe that you connected your guidescope to the back of the telescope please. How are you getting on with guiding with the Orion 50mm?
Robert
This is a little off topic but I just received a Skywatcher EQM-35 today from Amazon. They also sent the complete tripod for the EQ6R-pro in a separate box. I called Amazon and they said to keep it. I don’t need it and was wondering if you know anyone that can use it?
Hi Dave, wow that’s great! I would like it but you’re probably from the USA? If that’s the case you could probably sell it on astronomy websites like cloudy nights or stargazerlounge. Hope you’ll have a good time with the eqm-35. Clear skies!
Thank you for all of your work gathering this information and sharing for all to consume .. You compared cameras based on price delimiters . But what if those delimiters were moved .. Say Comparing the ASI294MC Pro to the ASI071MC Pro ?
Hi Karl, thanks! Well, in this particular case I think its a tough decision. The 071 offers a larger chip which will get you a wider field of view, which is nice. But when looking at other things such as full well capacity, analog to digital converter (indicators for dynamic range) and read noise, the 294 is very similar, and in case of Full well even slightly better. So the choice in this case is: do you want a larger field of view and are you willing to pay 500 dollars extra for that. Clear skies!
I placed an order for EdgeHD 8″ + AVX bundle but I see that reviews are very mixed.
Wanted to do some planetary and DSO imaging. Refractors focal length for similar money does not seem to work for planetary.
Is DSO imaging using this bundle not going to work without, OAG and focal reducer?
My current setup is DSLR camera, Star Adventurer tracking and bunch of camera lenses including Samyang 135mm f/2
Any comment/advice appreciated.
Hi Nick, for planetary you will be fine – and yes, the edge HD will provide you with the longer focal length that refractor telescopes often lack.
I never paired my Edge HD to my Celestron AVX, it will be able to handle the payload but you may be pushing it a bit in terms of instrument capacity but I would be curious to see your results.
You would definitely need some tracking gear to guide the AVX. Doesn’t necessarily need to be an OAG, you could also try and mount a traditional smaller telescope and camera on the edge HD.
You can find an overview of the gear I’m currently using here (including my tracking gear): https://astroforumspace.com/my-astrophotography-gear/
I’m in the process of experimenting with my Edge HD myself. So far the focal length on planets is pretty good (with 2.5x barlow), and I’ve done some initial deep-sky tests with my EQ6R-pro mount and ASI1600MM pro (FoV is comparable to a DSLR).
I’m hoping that I’ll have some clear skies in the upcoming month to do a full “deep-sky project” with the Edge HD which I’ll definitely share on my channel/website.
Thanks!
I have a Celestron Evolution 8″ on backorder, so I don’t have anything to work with yet. I know that the Alt-Az mount isn’t the best for astrophotography, but I have been lucky while waiting and found a wedge for my tripod. My big question is when I want to up grade from a DSLR to a dedicated astro camera, what would be a good start for a beginner, also what size of guide scope and camera would I need for the scope, Celestron says that the Star Sense camera is not large enough for deep sky photography, it’s only 20mm in dia.. Any help would be great, an keep those YouTube videos coming, they are great.
Hi Charles, coincidently, I’ll be releasing a video with seven tips to start astrophotography on my youtube channel today which covers a broad overview of setup (mount, telescope, camera, tracking gear, and how to tips).
You can also find more specific info on my “getting started page” https://astroforumspace.com/category/getting_started_astrophotography/ where I’ve shared my thoughts on cameras, telescopes, mounts etc.
And I have an overview page of Astro equipment I’ve bought over the years here: https://astroforumspace.com/my-astrophotography-gear/
Hope this is useful, I know starting astrophotography can be quite overwhelming. Clear skies!
I bought my EQ6-R about a year ago and I am still very happy with it. All I had to do so far was finetune the declination backlash.
I find the “extension tube” very handy, which incidentally fixes the altitude adjustment handle hitting the tripod. With bigger OTA’s it reduces the stress of tripod crashes as well. Good value for my money 🙂
I find myself often finetuning my altitude alignment by increasing or reducing the pressure with the “northern” bolt and only using the “southern/annoying” bolt for coarse adjustments. In the end, if you always set up in the same location (and especially if you have markings on the ground), you don’t need to twist the altitude bolts too much. I usually don’t need more than a fraction of a turn.
Hi Gio, thanks you for your feedback! Good to hear you are still enjoying the mount after 1 year, and I fully agree that the annoying lever on the alt-az bolt is the biggest issue.
Clear skies!
Could you tell , what size guide scope do you use with your 8 HD? Was thinking about 60mm, but Trevor, of Astrobackyard says that it need to be bigger. I am so confused.
Hi Charles, Check out my latest video:https://youtu.be/OBjYIH3MQAA . I’m currently learning by doing and got decent results with my 50mm guidescope. That being said, I tend to agree with Trevor, an off axis guider or bigger guidescope is probably better. Clear skies!
Hi I have jest purchased my Celestron AstroMaster 130 Reflector NewtonianTelescope and have seen some of your Youtube channels and wish to get into Astrophatograph and am thinking of getting the Celestron Advance VX Mount can you tell me what is the best Gide Scope and do I need to get a Polar alignment eyepiece if so which one also I am looking at getting the ZWO 1290mc camera for the telescope you help whuld be very much appreciated thanks.
I have used the Celestron Advanced VX (link: https://bit.ly/380Y01D) for several years in combination with my 80/480mm refractor which worked out very well. It is one of the cheaper beginner telescope mounts that is good enough for deep sky astrophotography. As far as I can see, the AVX doesn’t come with a polar scope unfortunately…so you’ll need to buy one separately. For instance, this is a basic polar finder you can insert in the AVX to perform visual polar alignment: https://bit.ly/3kqSzRq.
Yes, I do recommend you’ll get an additional guide scope and camera to start your AP hobby. It really helps to extend your exposure time from about 1 minute to several minutes, which really brings out the faint light some of the deep sky objects have (especially nebulae).
I’m using an Orion 50mm guidescope, this one: https://bit.ly/3h8gXUD with an older version of the asi120mc camera – I really like the compact setup.
I think both the 120mm or the 290mm mini cameras are very well suited as a secondary “guide camera”. I recently wrote my review on ZWO ASI cameras, you can find it here if you’re interested: https://astroforumspace.com/best-zwo-cameras-for-planetary-imaging-and-deep-sky-dso-astrophotography/
Thank you for a great article! When I first began my interest was visual astronomy (in the early 1990’s) I became interested in astrophotography approximately 10 years later. Early on, I made many errors; one of them being the purchase of a Meade ETX 60 in 2000. There were very few resources to find good info on equipment and techniques related to DSO photography. That scope was very inexpensive but suffered from many inherent issues due to build quality (the motor drive was very “sloppy” suffered from backlash, the optics were poor and created false color); attempting to take photographs of even planetary objects was frustrating, to say the least.
Over the years I have been lucky enough to find useful information and have made much better choices when buying astro-gear. One of the best purchases I ever made was a Bresser 152mm Mak-Newt astrograph with a Carbon Fiber tube. This scope design has since been adopted by Explore Scientific as the David H. Levy “Comet Hunter”. I made the decision after listening to many recommendations by colleagues of mine that are also in the Cosmology and Astrophysics community. If it werent for those knowledgable people sharing their insights, I probabably would have given up and remained a “Visual Astronomer”.
So to make “a long story short”, thank you for taking the time to create a website that encourages others to follow their interests in a sensible way; I’m sure there are many cases of people who may have gone on to acheive amazing things in the field but gave up due to frustration caused by lack of resources, bad advice, and spending their hard earned money on things that woud never benefit their interest! Keep up the great work.
Thank you so much for your positive feedback, highly appreciated!
And thanks for sharing your story as well, it sounds very familiar. I’m hoping that the information on my website helps people to make informed choices and enjoy the hobby.
Clear skies!
Many thanks for the great channel. I just ordered one and wanted to mount it on a pier and build a little shed around it. What would you estimate is the clearance diameter that a celestron 8″ SE on this mount would require so that it could slew in any direction without hitting something?
Hi there, I don’t have a shed so I cannot really help you here. But you could build up the rig and just rotate your RA axis to +90 and -90 degrees I think? From the top of my head, I think the mount does not exceed 2.5 meters.
Good luck, let me know how it works out.
I just like say , how much I appreciate your YouTube channel .
I still return to many of your videos from time to time ,. the information is so clear and easy to understand , other astro channels have too much technical information that goes way over my head.
I spoke to you last year (in the comment section on YouTube ) , about backyardEOS Premium Edition ., you did a video on this , and I still use it today . so thank you for that . At the moment I’m using a A Newtonian Reflector. Which is too big for my NEQ3 mount .
I’m just about to buy my next telescope for deep sky astrophotography . I’m looking for your advice before I hit a hole in my credit card .
I love your pictures from the photoline 80mm .You speak very highly about it , and for the money it seem an excellent telescope.
I kind of have my mind set on this telescope , but before I buy , I have a question ,
My Question for you is this .
knowing what you know now, with your 7 years experience… Would you still buy the TS Photoline 80mm triplet f/6 refractor or would you buy something like the William Optics Gran Turismo 71 APO Refractor . both are in my price range .
Any advice or reply would be greatly appreciated .
If you have a code or link for buying either to help your channel please let me know .
Hi there, thank you so much for your kind words.
I can only speak for the TS 80/480mm APO, I still use it and are very satisfied with the images it produces. It has a great color corrected field of view. Do take into account that this is a triplet refractor, so if you’re using a large sensor camera, you’ll probably want to add the TSFLAT2 to your list and check for the correct back focus to avoid elongated stars towards the edge of your field of view. This being said the WO gran turismo is undoubtedly a good refractor as well. It is a 71/420, so you’ll be getting a wider field of view (more zoomed out) as compared to the TS APO 80/480. Good luck deciding and clear skies!
I’m planning to start astrophotography and I think the best choice for me would be the TS-Optics ED 102 mm f/7 (one of your suggestions). Do you think it is a great telescope to start with or you think that the chromatic aberration would be too noticeable? This telescope would be just great for me since the field of view would be smaller than a 80mm F/6 so I really hope it can produce nice and sharp images of smaller DSO. So my question would be if this telescope would be that much different than a triplet APO in terms of the final image. Also do you think I really need a field flattener? Or some kind of filter to reduce the chromatic aberration (using the telescope with a crop sensored DSLR)?
The main difference is that the TS optics 102 is a doublet refractor and I think you are referring to the 80mm f/6 apo photoline which is a 3-glass element refractor (triplet).
The 102mm has a bigger aperture and focal length enabling you to get a higher level of magnification on the target. The APO has higher quality glass if I remember correctly (FPL-53) whereas the
102 has the FPL-51 glass. You won’t notice a huge difference but the 80mm willl provide a complete color aberration-free image whereas you may notice some color fringing (but not much) on the doublet.
I would definitely go for a field flattener, I use the TSFLAT2. Ofcourse, you could start without one and just check if you suffer from elongated stars at the edges of your frame.
Hope this helps!
I have enjoyed your reviews and tutorials and intend to listen into others that you have provided. Thank you for sharing your expertise. I want to ask for your opinion on a subject I am thinking about and researching. Back in the fall I dusted off my scope which I hadn’t used in a few years because of failures and frustration with aligning. I recently felt like I may be getting the gist of how to polar align and star align.
Now I want to take the next steps into astrophotography. My scope is the Celestron CGE Pro 1100 HD – 11″ f/10 EdgeHD. I have a background in IT and am comfortable with laptops and intend to integrate my scope usage with my laptop. I am currently using laptop for assistance in alignment. My first attempts with astro photography have been using my cell phone and photography the moon and I intend to soon try planetary photography with my cell phone.
Most of what I have read says to start with a DLSR camera. I don’t have a DLSR, but have always taken photos with either my cell phone or a digital camera. My question is: In your opinion should I purchase DSLR camera or can I go straight to dedicated astrophotography camera? I’m kind of leaning toward going straight to astrophotography camera. I am comfortable with using the laptop and the idea of integrating the dedicated astrophotography camera with the the laptop and tools. But, everything I’ve read says use DSLR first. What is your opinion?
Thanks for your positive feedback. As per your question: You can absolutely start your astrophotography with a dedicated astrocamera! If you’re not into DSLR astrophotography you can skip that step. You should know that there are a couple of things to consider when taking that step. First, you’ll need to choose between a non-cooled vs. cooled astrocamera. another choice you have to make is between a color vs.a mono astrocamera. If you want to read up on this, I have this blog: https://astroforumspace.com/best-zwo-cameras-for-planetary-imaging-and-deep-sky-dso-astrophotography/ This blog is exclusively aimed at ZWO cameras which are quite popular. You should know there are also other brands like QHY which sell reliable, high quality cameras. Hope this blog will help you, if you have any additional questions, let me know. Clear skies! Wido – Astroforum.
Thanks for your positive feedback. As per your question: You can absolutely start your astrophotography with a dedicated astrocamera! If you’re not into DSLR astrophotography you can skip that step. You should know that there are a couple of things to consider when taking that step. First, you’ll need to choose between a non-cooled vs. cooled astrocamera. another choice you have to make is to for a color vs.mono astro camera. If you want to read up on this, I have this blog: https://astroforumspace.com/best-zwo-cameras-for-planetary-imaging-and-deep-sky-dso-astrophotography/ This blog is exclusively aimed at ZWO cameras which are quite popular. You should know there are also other brands like QHY which sell reliable, high-quality cameras. Hope this blog will help you, if you have any additional questions, let me know. Clear skies! Wido – Astroforum.
Hi dude, hope all is good?
What do you think about the SkyWatcher AZ-EQ mounts? I’m looking at the 5 and 6. The price gap between them is big. Other than that the 5 can carry a reasonable load despite its much smaller size. I would be doing mostly visual until I’ve watched another 2 million YouTube videos on imaging.
Seriously though I do prefer this dual function option but not sure if I should go for the big boy or play it safe
That’s something you’ll need to decide for yourself :-). The AZ-EQ 5 is perfectly suited for imaging in combination with most smaller, shorter focal length refractor telescopes. If at one point you want to buy a heavier, longer focal length scope and get into astrophotography, you’ll probably need to upgrade to the AZ-EQ 6. Good luck!
Hello. I use 178MC not cooled. I am not sure how beneficial is the use of bias frames for DSO, and which exposure time should be used. Right now I use 50 frames of 0.001s exposures for bias. Thank you.
For bias, you can take the shorterst exposure time possible, .001 is OK. Just make sure you’re also using the same gain level as your light frames, and keep the lenscap on. That should give you a good set of frames. I usually compensate with 50 bias, 50 flats and 50 dark frames. But you can try this yourself, check whether the stacked image is improved when adding the bias frames. If not, just leave them out of the process. clear skies.
I’m looking for some help please , if you have the time .
I recently bought a photoline 80mm triplet telescope and a optics photoline reducer 0,79x .
I’m following in your footsteps .lol. I recently spoke to you about this .
Here’s my problem, if you can help me .
I need an extension / adapter between the reducer and the camera 2″ and the same for the eyepieces .
I know the reducer is a T2 tread., Because my canon can fit on it .
My problem is, I don’t know what extension to get …ie. the tread size ( male and female ) and tube length .
I’m lost as to which to buy and I don’t want to waste money on the wrong product. I was wondering which one you use ?.
I would be grateful for any help you can give me .
Hi Wido!
I finally found your web site and discovered that you have a mine of useful information about astrophotography. Just before I came here, I had just selected and ordered a new planetary camera as an upgrade from the Sv305 that I have been using. Playing around a bit with “astronomy.tools”, I did some checking on field of view and found that the ZWO ASI178MC has a slightly bigger FOV than my current camera. Checking specs, it also has 14-bit ADC, higher resolution and decent overall performance for a non-cooled camera. Also, it was “IN STOCK” at OPT! So its on it’s way now. Thankfully, you also mentioned that this camera is a good one in the price range I was looking at. It probably won’t do much for my DSO interests (although I’ll try a few brighter objects) but that will come later when I update my mount and get the focal reducer. It’s only money, right !! Clear skies!
Martyn
I only read your comment now. Thanks! I have been so busy with work and family (first my wife and then my dad in the hospital). How are you doing? I’ve made some life decisions. Will step back from my ambitious carreer path as an assistant professor to spend more time with my family, friends, and hopefully the nightsky :-). Hope you’re fine, talk to you soon. The 178MC is a nice one as it has a larger FoV and a higher quality ADC. I only use it for planetary, not deepsky (dark frames show to much noise). Have a great summer!
Hello Wido, I love your work and follow every video and blog of yours. I am extremely basic is astrophotography. Got an astro modified canon d60 and a ioptron skyguider pro. I would like to upgrade my lens system and needed your help.
I stay in Belgium, not that far away from you so in the European market.
I have my eyes on two scopes
TSApo60f6RED + field flattener or
TS sharpstar61 (field flattener included)
Difference in price is about 100+ euros but one in a doublet and the other a Triple. All apo 53 glass
Now my question is, would a be Triplet be an overkill for a canon d60 ? And a doublet in enough ?
The William optics zenith start61 is too expensive in the European market so was looking at the options above.
Looking forward you your opinion. If you happy to be in Gent, would be great to meet up.
Thanks! Sorry for not replying sooner. A doublet is fine if you are starting astrophotography. You will have a slight misalignment of the green part of the light spectrum, but most light we are catching from space is either in the red or blue part of the light spectrum, so you’ll be fine. I’ve never been to Gent, but I’ve heard it is a very nice city!
Cheers, Wido.
This is excellent. I’d already studied many tutorials so I knew a lot of the info you presented but what I needed – and got here – was the whole picture, i.e., the sequence to follow. Thank you! I have one picky comment if you’ll indulge me for a minute, and I see this everywhere so it’s not just you. “Setup” is a noun. “Set up” is a verb. I see things like “when you setup your gear…” all the time. We set up our gear. When we’re done setting it up we hopefully have a good setup. There. I got it off my chest! 🙂 I’m looking forward to more of your tutorials.
Really excellent information here! I’m impressed that you are willing to take on the Herculean effort of helping others. Impressive. I especially liked your last thoughts on frustration and keeping things in perspective. How can I subscribe to your blog?
Thanks for the positive comment! I actually don’t have a subscription option right now, but I’ll work on it, thanks for the tip.
In the meanwhile, you could subscribe to my youtube channel as most of my blogs will also be mentioned in my videos (if you can stand my Dutch accent :-)).
Best,
What about the SVBONY SV305 color and the SV305 pro mono cameras. I can read that there are some issues using them with Sterllarmate (Rpi) but apart from that they feature the IMX290 sensor and seem to be acceptable performers. Are they worth a try?
Hi Kasper,
I haven’t tried SVBONY cameras yet so I can’t say. But with an IMX290 sensor they should be good enough for some planetary imaging sessions. For deep sky I would opt for a camera with cooling.
Cheers,
Hi, I´m new to this hobby and I´m planning to buy my first mount. I will be using it in Colombia, which is very close to the equator (My latitude is 6,2 degrees north). I´m leaning towards the Celestron Advanced VX but it´s specs limit the latitude range from 7 to 77 degrees, which leaves my location outside. Will this render this mount useless in my location? The only thing I can imagine being a problem would be the counterweights hitting the tripod legs, but this could be easily fixed by changing them for a different geometry ones (Not sure). The other mount I´m considering is the EQM-35, but I don´t seem to be able to find it´s latitude range.
I’ve never tested this as I do not live close to the equator, but I think the main issue would be the tripod legs indeed. You might want to consider iOptron mounts, they have an EQ design that supports 0 degrees.
This is their newest GEM28: https://bit.ly/3eqL1ft
Another solution would be to replace the tripod with a pier, but you would also need some adapter kit to be able to connect a telescope mount head to that pier.
hello and congratulations for the beautiful site. I wanted to ask you something: I have a zeiss Telemator 63/840, with which I make visual observations of the moon, sun and planets. but I would also like to do some shots of planets and moon, which room would you recommend me? because I read about the zwo 462, the 178, etc… I don’t understand which one could be the most suitable. I was also thinking of buying a Barlow baader VIP 2x (which, if necessary, can become 3x or 4 … I don’t remember). you surely know a lot more than me, I just understood that it must have small pixels. ah, I use Mac. but I don’t know if there are any video processing programs. thank you
Thanks! I think I would go for something like the ASI224 (e.g. https://bit.ly/3dIUHka) as it is a good bargain. You’ll have a small pixel-sized camera with a fast FPS to make videos of the planets – which you can stack and turn into a picture.
And yes, a 2x or 3x barlow lens would get you to about .5 to .3 arc pseconds per pixel, which is nice when you want to catch planets.
The only thing to consider is that with the asi224MC, you wont be able to fit the full moon in your picture. If you also want that, you could go for the 178MC(https://bit.ly/31lINHQ) which has a larger sensor with which you might be able to also capture the full moon in one picture.
As for software, I would consider firecapture which has a MAC version to capture the moon and planets (http://www.firecapture.de/)
Good luck, clear skies!
I hope your parents’ situation gets better, sorry I didn’t write it down. I thank you for recommending these rooms, from what I understand, the “oldest” is 224, but still very good. while the 178 is better? or just because it allows me to film the full moon in full? because I noticed that it only has 60fps while the 224 has a lot more, and I knew that on the planets the higher number of fps was very important. the 462 then you would discard it. I am currently only interested in the planetarium, because I only have this instrument. the software you indicated to me are already included in the purchase of the zwo room and are used to resume. I was looking for something to process videos and stacks on Mac (like directorx or autostakker). again thanks and sorry.
I mainly recommended the 178MC because of the larger sensor (6MP), to capture a larger piece of the moon as compared to the 224.
Also, take into account that the max FPS of the 178 is lower because of the larger sensor. You can reduce the resolution in capturing software like firecapture.
When you do, you can run the 178 at 130FPS with a resolution of 1280 x 960 – still a bit slower than the 224.
Also, take into account that the length of your USB cable will also influence FPS speed.
The 462 has a sensor size that is in between the 224 and the 178.
224 –> 1 Mega Pixels
462 –> 2 Mega Pixels (is also a fine camera, but lower dynamic range as compared to the others)
178 –> 6 Mega Pixels.
As planets are very tiny objects in the sky, the 224MC is enough to capture all of the planets.
I don’t know any processing software on the mac, but on the autostackert site it does state you could run autostackert in an “Vine” enironment on your Mac.
Ik wil een Skywatcher EQ-6 pro of EQ-6 r pro kopen maar de prijzen lijken in een jaar en drie maand met ongeveer 500 euro zijn gestegen. Weet iemand waar de oudere prijzen nog worden gehanteerd?
I have purchased my mount and telescopes for visual so far. I haven’t purchased any photography equipment to date. I do want to go mono so my question: is the 268M fall between the 1600MM and the 2600MM in specifications? Thank you
The 2600MM and the 268M are very similar. Main differences are that the 2600 has a USB hub, and the 268M has a higher imaging buffer (1gb vs. 256mb).
I also think the QHY has a humidity and pressure sensor inside the chamber whereas the ZWO does not, but I’m not sure about that.
All in all, very similar, may come down to your personal preference and the setup you’re currently using… Hope this helps, clear skies!.
Hello I have a Celestron avx with a Williams 71 on it. The pointing is not good after 2 stars and one calibration one. I live in the uk. What zone number do I use on the mount? Thank you Frank
Hi Frank, I’m at zone 1 (Netherlands) so I would guess you are at 0 in the UK. Did you put the controller to daylight saving? And stars not being in the field of view after 2 star alignment is not uncommon. I would advise you to do a four star calibration, this really helps. Also, try to polar align your mount as accurate as possible, that also helps. Clear skies and let me know if this info was useful. Clear skies from across the pond.
Hello! I just got the Edge HD 8. I was thinking of getting the Celestron OAG. Most are back ordered. How did you connect an additional guide scope to the Edge HD? If I could figure that out I could probably get by without the OAG. Thanks!
Hi Michael, hope you’ll have a good time with your new edge HD! I bought an additional finder shoe which you can connect to the back/top right of the edge HD. Simply loosen the screws, put the finder shoe on the edge and tighten the screws. Clear skies.
I understand the 8 inch is better and that would be my end game but just to get started with the AVX and save some money up front (just to get out and start gazing) what is stopping me from buying the 1100 bundle and then just upgrading the OTA down the line? I am just really curious why the bundle is only 100 more than the mount itself. Thanks.
Hi Dan, thanks for reading my blog. I’m not sure about why there’s a price difference, but what kind of astronomy/astrophotography do you want to get into? Please keep in mind that the avx will have a tracking accuracy of about 1 arc second or a bit higher, even when using a guide scope. That’s fine for visual and planetary photography, but I wouldn’t recommend deepsky astrophotography with that setup. The SCT is an f/10 with an imaging scale of about half an arc second, and you would definitely notice elongated stars and startrails (a blurry picture) when taking long exposure photos. Also, the SCT would need a coma corrector for deepsky astrophotography. If you’re going down the route of deepsky astrophotography with an 8″ SCT, I would recommend a setup like this, with a higher quality mount that can deliver more precise tracking of the night sky:https://bit.ly/3xjzxB9. For deepsky, it would make more sense to get that second rig (https://bit.ly/3lpnLTr), as the f/ratio is lower, leading to an imaging scale that is better suited for the avx. Or what I did, I first combined a good quality refractor with my avx, as they don’t require maintenance or collimation, check out my gear page here: https://astroforumspace.com/my-astrophotography-gear/. Also, I dedicated an entire section with tips on getting started with astrophotography. You can find it here: https://astroforumspace.com/category/getting_started_astrophotography/. Hope this helps, clear skies.
Bravo for taking care of your family and doing the things that matter. My wife and I have been hit with disabling health conditions and struggle to take care of each other and our house, a COVID bastion of safety. One saving grace is the backyard observatory, where I can sneak off to after caring for my wife for the day. Of course summer here finds washout conditions and untenable weather, so it has been a long summer.
Two years ago I decided to go the CCD route with an Atik 383L+ monochrome, and the learning curve has been steep, but began to see success at the end of the season. A western trip to Big Bend or such is on the hope list someday.
Take care and keep priorities with your family. They’re more important than pretty pictures or know-it-all-students.
Thanks for your nice words and support Randall, really appreciated! Hope you’ll have some clear skies soon and indeed, family will be on the top of my list from now on.
I greatly enjoyed your video comparing 8 different mounts. Thanks for that. I am seriously considering the GEM28 or the CEM26 from Ioptron. I know in your video you commented that very little is known about these mounts since they are so new. Have you had any further information from users on these two mounts? On paper they seem to be fantastic, and unlike all the other mounts in your review they actually have 2020 technology (I know that can be good or bad!).
Thank you very much Ravi! You’re right, there is still not much feedback from users, and the Ioptron mounts appear to be available only on backorder right now (see: https://bit.ly/2L4eRv0).
If you are willing to wait…I have received a number of super positive e-mails from a couple of persons who actually bought the GEM28 and/or the CEM26. Their first user experiences were pretty amazing and they talked about a guiding accuracy < 1 arc second...
I think many people are still unaware that these mounts exist and tend to go for the traditional options like the Celestron AVX (http://bit.ly/380Y01D) or the HEQ5 pro (http://bit.ly/2VDCXzJ). But like I said, Ioptron mounts have been on the market for quite some time and I do think that these new mounts have some tech usually found on more expensive mounts like PPEC. Hope this helps, good luck with your decision!
Have you used the altitude adjustment knob replacement from SkyEdge described by Chuck of Detroit and is it a fix or do you still have problems with altitude adjustment during polar alignment?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HImdlDkx6RQ&t=64s
andhttps://skysedge.com/astronomy/altitudeknob/
Good question Michael! I actually ordered it a couple of days ago and will check it out as soon as it is delivered. I do think that knob still solve the issue with the handle bar and spring on the back of the mount.
NO mention of the ASI290MM? Many consider this to be better than the MC version, and the best camera for planetary imaging…did you just forget about it, or ignore it cos it’s mono?
Hi David, the 294mm Pro was released at the time of writing this blog last year. I’ll update the blog, thanks for noticing.
The asi294mm Pro is the successor of the asi1600 MM Pro. It has a better full well capacity and Quantum efficiency but does suffer more amp glow (which can be calibrated out by applying dark frames).\
Clear skies!
Hi, Also getting the EdgeHD 8 to supplement the 80ED refractor – purely for astrophotography (also from the NL). Have you considered for one of these external focusers – eg. Moonlite -, so you can fix the primary and avoid image shift during focusing? You think it is worth the effort and significant cost? Thanks
Hi Auke, nice, have fun! I didn’t buy an automatic focuser yet. Have been getting good results by just putting the telescope in mirror lock, didn’t experience significant mirror shift. You can look at my Instagram account to check out my results. That being said, I do have to refocus between different filters and I so think about automating the focussing process.
Well done on your content. Very informative and helpful.
I have an Esprit 100 for wide field imaging but I want to try small targets such as Planetary Nebula and smaller galaxies. Maybe planets but not so much. So I am looking at my options.
If both telescopes were the same price, would you lean towards the Edge HD 8 inch or a Skywatcher Black Diamond ED150 (6 inch) with the Esprit focuser (1200mm focal length)? I have an EQ6-R mount.
I’m wondering if the benefits of a refractor might outweigh the smaller aperture and focal length?
Hi Darren,
Thanks and good question. I think the Esprit 150 would be a nice telescope for smaller DSO’s…
For planetary imaging, you really need that longer focal length and at least an 8″ aperture in my opinion, as planets are very tiny objects in the sky.
I’ve been successful in catching smaller DSO’s with the C8 Edge HD – with an additional .7 reducer which changed my F/ratio from F/10 to F/7.
It also brings the focal length down to about 1400mm, so that would be similar to the 1200mm on the Esprit. I’ve been having a lot of fun with the Edge because of its versatility, but the 150 will undoubtedly perform nicely too.
For me, some practical stuff like the weight (only 6,3kg/14lbs) and short tube length (432mm/17″) played a role too.
Tough decision, good luck!
Love this guide. Completely new to this myself. Would be it possible to have an extra column about how there are powered? Or are they all powered the same way? (Wall power point or?)
Thanks!
Dear Wido,
Thanks for a very informative and comprehensive overview of the ZWO cameras!
I am still in the “exploratory phase” regarding astronomy, and would like to buy a camera not because of taking amazing pictures, but because I hope to see more stuff on a PC monitor than in the eyepiece. I am using Celestron NexStar 6SE.
One thing still puzzles me: if I choose a deep sky camera with small pixel size, such as ASI183MC Pro, will I be able to take good planetary images? I know making a video will take longer, but what else did I miss? I found a lot of information about imaging deep sky objects using a planetary camera, but nothing about the opposite – about imaging planets using a deep sky camera.
The main differences are in FPS – Frames Per Second. Planetary cameras are often faster in FPS than deep-sky cameras. The reason for this is that you’re going to take videos of the planets (often one or two minutes in length), and the higher your FPS the higher your number of frames (aka pictures) of the planet will be. That’s important because you can select the best frames and disregard the bad ones. The more high quality frames you have, the better your picture of the planet will be. For deep sky FPS is not important as you’re going to take long exposure pictures of the night sky. Hope this helps.
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Love your channel! I was wondering if you had any more raw data available for downloading and processing such as your jupiter video. I am new and need a lot of practice with the software before getting real. Thank You
Hi Wido, Thank You so much for this video. I am totally new and am just moving to this world. I am totally unable to make my decision between Celestron Advanced VX (currentlt @USD 999) against Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro(@USD1225). I am surely unable to scale (on tighter budget) to Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro(@USD1675). I currently have a Redcat 51 as my primary Optic tube. Would you be able to help please.
Given your tight budget, I think the AVX is certainly up for the job. The redcat 51 has focal length of only 250mm, so as long as your periodic error is below 2 arc seconds you’ll be fine.
The AVX – with guiding – has an average periodic error of around 1 to (max) 2, depending on polar alignment and weather conditions. The newer versions also come with a mini usb connection on the
hand controller, making it easier to connect your mount via usb to your pc or laptop and use guiding software like phd2. Good luck, clear skies!
hello and congratulations for the fantastic blog. I wanted to ask you for advice. I have two refractors, a zeiss 63/840 and a Lich 90/1300, and I will get a Newton 12 “f5 … I only want to make planets, mainly with 12”, but maybe using the other two as well. which camera would you recommend me in combination? I have no problem spending for something of quality. I saw that new sensors came out like 174 and 464… what do you say? because every seller here in Italy recommends a different product, and I wouldn’t want to make a mistake in the purchase. Thanks and happy new year
Hi David, I completely missed this post, sorry. If you want the absolute best pictures of planets you’d need to consider a mono planetary camera with separate RGB filters…
Great channel! I emailed you a couple months ago inquiring about data to “practice”with. I am a beginner and am mainly interested in lunar data to begin with. If that goes well, I will eventually work my way outward. I have a two part question. Do you have any lunar data available I can work with? Also, when will you be releasing that lunar processing video? Thank you! and greetings from Az.
Hi Harry, thanks! I didn’t release a video on how to process the moon yet, I’ll put that on my to-do list.
I do have some videos of the moon and I’ve put one in my dropbox for you (and others) to download and play with.
It’s a nice video of the Copernicus crater, you can download it here, file is about 2GB: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wpsren1i8vnbae1/AAB3hICqvrP-fuDUfddB9znGa?dl=0
The file is in *.ser format and you can open it in autostakkert and/or registax.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Hallo Wido,
Dank voor al je nuttige artikelen! Volg je regelmatig.
Heb een vraag over de classical cassegrain. Ik overweeg er een aan te schaffen voor voornamelijk visueel gebruik planeten. Eventueel nog fotografie. Nog geen deepsky fotografie. Ik zie de CC nergens meer terug in je artikelen. Was de OTA tegengevallen? Of komt het door deepskyfotografie waar deze niet zo voor geeigend is? Ben benieuwd naar je reactie.
Gr Paul
Dag Paul, ik kreeg die telescoop niet goed gecollimeerd met conventionele instrumenten. Je hebt een laser collimator nodig en een nogal ingewikkelde procedure. Nadat ik de telescoop 3 nachten lang had proberen te collimeren zonder goed resultaat heb ik hem teruggestuurd. Met refractors heb je geen collimator nodig en Newtonian + sct’s zijn veel eenvoudiger te collimeren. Het was een leermoment voor mij. Groetjes
Hi Wido, many thanks for all the info you are sharing in your blog. I have similar gear to what you have and I have specific question re exact setup for EdgeHD 800 + ASI 1600mm Pro + ASI EFW. Are you able to obtain the targeted back focus of 133.5 mm? Thanks in advance for the response.
Excellent review and I like all your videos too. I’m seeing the limitations of my current equatorial mount (worm gear defects) with a 1500 mm Mak-Cass GoTo telescope. I was wondering if you had any insights on why two-motor GoTo systems like SynScan still need to be accurately polar aligned. I would have thought that with full control over a telescope’s orientation, the onboard computer could artificially define the location of the polar axis regardless of the orientation of the mount after locating 2 or more stars. Instead, I find that there’s still significant long term tracking error unless my scope is polar aligned to less then a few arc-minutes.
Hi Albert,
Polar alignment is essential for any EQ mount. Your mount has to be able to exactly track the movement of the stars due to the rotation of the earth. By polar aligning your mount to the celestial Pole, your mount can exactly track the arc stars make in the sky. Without it, you’ll be getting startrails. There are alternative alt-az mounts that can be placed in all kinds of positions. These mounts are able to find objects in the sky but will not exactly follow the path of the stars in the night sky and you will suffer from rotation. Long story short, EQ mounts need to be polar aligned. Clear skies!
Hallo Wido ,
Heb recent een soortgelijke ervaring met de 8″ classical cassegrain van TS gehad. Collimatie was ver te zoeken out of the box. Dacht dat ik hem zelf aardig goed had gecollimeerd dus dezelfde avond een sterretest gedaan. Wat ik zag maakte me nog steeds niet blij..in en uit focus; te slecht om op door te tunen. Dus heb het weer ingepakt en teruggestuurd. Dank voor je info anders had ik er waarschijnlijk “te” veel tijd in gestoken..
Groeten Paul
Hey so I am going to a picnic in 2-3 days so, I don’t have any camera or telescope. I just have my phone which is Redmi 8 (Not pro or note just normal redmi 8). So can i do astrophotography with it. If yes, was settings should I use?
Do you have nightmode available on your android phone? Check the store. Put your smartphone on a tripod and use night mode. You’ll get some decent photos (for a smartphone).
Hello, I have an 8″ dob. 1200 mm FL..
I’m looking to get a camera for it.. I’m just not sure what to get?
Mirrorless? DSLR? ZWO? I’m looking to get an EQ Platform for it as well . Looking to get planetary and DSO if I can…
Any info would be greatly appreciated..
Hi Don, I would recommend a planetary camera for your dobsonian. ZWO has some great affordable cameras like the 678MC color camera.
It is a bit difficult to put a dobsonian on an eq mount, that’s not what there designed for. If you want to go for deep-sky astrophotography, one of the best ways to start is to get a smaller ED/APO refractor or a newtonian telescope.
Cheers.
Hi,
Your video made me re-think my buying strategy, so thanks a lot!
Just a quick question: why I have opted for a TS instead of an OMEGON?
Thanks,
Rita
I have a classic 8 inch Dob and want some planetary astrophotography. Its ok to use this ZWO cameras? I am particulary interested in the ZWO ASI 224 MC .
Hello, what’s your backfocus set? I also have EDGE HD 8, I set 105mm but still something is wrong. Could you provide one light frame from this setup as well? thank you very much
When estimating the load, do we have to account for the counter-weight as well?
Also, if i m going with a WO ZS81 with a mirrorless DSLR, do you think a Sky-watcher Star Adventure Gti mount would suffice?
Hi there, no, the counterweight is not part of the payload capacity. It’s there to balance your payload. I would not put anything over 300mm focal length on that GTI. Cheers.
Just curious, Celestron bundles the AVX with the RASA8 which is rather appealing to me. 400mm and f/2.0 are making the tracking demands not very high I think. It’s a bit of a border case. What’s your take on this? (they improved the AVX a bit compared to the model you own if I’m correct).
Hi Bronco, yes, at 400mm + f/2 (low exposure time) it would be possible to get round stars with the avx and RASA. Never tried it myself though. Hope this helps, good luck!
Hi Gal, thanks! The 8SE is good for visual planetary observations and can also be used for planetary imaging + some great close-ups of the moon.
For deep-sky astrophotography, it’s a bit problematic for two reasons. First, the 8SE comes with a Nexstar altitude-azimuth mount which basically means you cannot take long exposure pictures of deep-sky objects, unless you put that telescope on an equatorial mount (see blogs about beginner and advanced mounts elsewhere on my website). Second, the 8Se is a typical Schmidt-cassegrain design telescope, and those designs suffer from (off-axis) coma. In practice, this means that your stars will be elongated towards the edges of your field of view when taking pictures with a camera. There are options to solve both problems (e.g. you can buy an additional wedge with the Nexstar mount to track the stars more accurately, and you can buy a coma corrector to correct for the elongated stars), but if you want great pictures of deepsky objects I’d recommend an equatorial goto mount and a different telescope (e.g. a good quality ed or apo refractor to start your hobby). Hope this helps!
I just replaced a SW EQ5 SynScan with an ES iEXOS-100 PMC-8 and Medium Duty tripod. The iEXOS-100 is lighter and cheaper and actually performs better than the EQ5 did with my image train at 5.5kg. I’m guiding consistently below 1.5 RMS ArcSec and sometimes below 1″ with an WO73 ApoII and a Nikon D750. I think the iEXOS-100 is worth consideration for beginners.
You announce in your videos that you live in Utrecht yet the merchandise links go to US sites! I greatly appreciate the videos on mounts because I am just getting started with astrophotography as a retirement hobby. Your videos along with Trevor Jones’ vids have provided a lot of information regarding mounts for beginners. I retired, with my Dutch wife, to a small dorp just outside of Winschoten. We moved to her country from my country just before the Covid-19 business hit. I do not speak Dutch – my Dutch language class was shut down with the lock-down and I really cannot go back because of all the kids that block the entrances to the building while they smoke their cigarettes – my lungs cannot handle any kind of cigarette smoke. Anyway, just wanted to pass on my thanks for your videos. In closing, my nephew and his wife and son live in Utrecht.
Hi William, thanks so much! Hope you’ll have a good time in Winschoten. People should be able to speak English using the same dialect as I have :-). If you have any questions about astrophotography, just let me know. Clear skies!
I have the Orion Sirius eq-g mount and love it. I use it with my Redcat 51 and Astrotech 72ed refractors. The only problem is the RA an Dec controls are a bit hard to adjust. But is useable.
Hi Helmut, for deep-sky, I would always check if the imaging scale with the camera/telescope combi is around 1 to 2 arcsecs.
Cheers.Go lower and you’ll often get oversampling due to atmospheric distortions, go higher and you’re not getting the highest resolution out of the deep sky objects you image.
Apart from that, a higher aperture telescope will give you a higher native resolution as it is able to resolve tinier objects.
And a shorter f/ratio will limit the time your exposure time.
Hi Helmut, for deep-sky, I would always check if the imaging scale with the camera/telescope combi is around 1 to 2 arcsecs.
Cheers.Go lower and you’ll often get oversampling due to atmospheric distortions, go higher and you’re not getting the highest resolution out of the deep sky objects you image.
Apart from that, a higher aperture telescope will give you a higher native resolution as it is able to resolve tinier objects.
And a shorter f/ratio will limit your exposure time needed to photograph objects.
Hi Helmut, for deep-sky, I would always check if the imaging scale with the camera/telescope combi is around 1 to 2 arcsecs.
Cheers.Go lower and you’ll often get oversampling due to atmospheric distortions, go higher and you’re not getting the highest resolution out of the deep sky objects you image.
Apart from that, a higher aperture telescope will give you a higher native resolution as it is able to resolve tinier objects.
And a shorter f/ratio will limit your exposure time.
I’m wondering if you have any experience with harmonic mounts like the new ZWO AM5. Would you recommend a harmonic mount over the traditional kind of mounts?
Thanks so much again for all the information you provide!
Hi. Been watching your videos and they helped me a lot in getting back into astronomy and astrophotography after 15 years of absence (working in hospitals). Now I am back and getting myself reacquainted with my cg5 goto and planetary gear. Your videos inceased my intetests in DSO and got a redcat, mirrorless camera, asi 533 and now waiting for SW GTI. Its quite à big bite to swallow but now that I am retired, time is a luxury that I have. I follow you from Canada. Both you and Astrobackyard are the most helpfull people for people like me. Thank you for your precious help.
Great tutorial. I have a problem when capturing as some frames are incomplete (half black or have bars across them) and when alalysing the footage it ‘sees’ these frames as best quality. How can they be removed from the footage?
For a reason that I don’t understand, when I call up the ser file in Autostakkert3, the image shows diffraction rings all over the planet. This doesn’t happen with Autostakkert2. What could be wrong? Thank you, Joe Bauman
I like the idea of the 8” Edge HD with the EQ6-R. Will probably get this when I sell my Questar :-}. So… any pearls of wisdom re: focusing and tracking? OAG vs Finder scope/ camera. EAF? Thanks for your time!
Hi, I use the EQ6R Pro with a classic finder scope on top of my edge. A cheapy 50mm aperture guide scope with a 120MC, my guiding is always around .5 arc seconds per pixel.
You can buy an electronic auto focusser for the edge, e.g. celestron or ZWO EAF, I have used neither so far and I’ve saved some bucks and lost some sleep because of it. I still use EQmod for tracking with an ASCOM HEQ5/6 connection, it never fails. Hope this helps, have a nice day Jack!
Hi,
I very much appreciate the knowledge you share on your YouTube channel. I have always been interested in astronomy and photography so now I am interested in astrophotography. I am wondering if you can recommend guide scope / camera options. Thankyou.
One BIG advantage of the GTI is that, for the additional cost of a hand-controller, it has GoTo capability. For someone new to astrophotography, and probably new to astronomy, finding object to photograph may be difficult if you are using any sort of telephoto lens. For this alone, my vote goes to the GTI.
Your weight of head /tripod on the Meade LX85 is erroneous. It has the highest capacity of all the mounts, so how could the head weight be only 11 lbs? 11 lbs supporting 33? If that were true, I’d run out and buy it at twice the price. I believe it should be 19.9 lbs.
Hi Wido, love your videos …brilliant. I have a slightly different need. I want to buy a telescope for my 3 young children. my eldest is 11 and visually impaired. I want to be able to show images on a screen.
Can this be done? I don’t want to buy a telescope for eldest, not to be able to participate.
Hi John, sure. You can buy a planetary camera and connect that to your telescope the same way as you do with an eyepiece.
Once connected, you can run a USB cable between the camera and your computer or laptop. There are also wifi options, but these are more expensive.
The planetary cameras are perfect for the moon and planetary imaging. For deep-sky, it is not very good as the cameras lack cooling.
But…for some casual deep sky viewing with a screen, where you can stack pictures with free software like sharpcap, it’s definitely nice to show some bright DSOs.
Here’s a table with planetary cameras: https://astroforumspace.com/zwo/
For a couple of months, I’ve been using a new one, the asi678MC – check: https://astroforumspace.com/zwo-asi678mc-review-first-light-pictures/
I guess I missed this post, sorry. Yes, it’s definitely possible to buy a telescope and camera so they can watch the live images from a computer screen.
Don’t know what kind of budget you were thinking of, but a regular planetary camera and a telescope will give you good views of the moon and small views
(which can be zoomed) of the planets. If you want to go beyond that, you need to think about a serious investment as you’ll need a good quality mount to track the night sky. Another option is to take long exposure pictures with a dslr camera (e.g. 20 seconds at iso800 or higher) and show that to your kids. Good luck, happy holidays!
Hi congratulation for your site and for your videos, i have a question, everywhere i see cams for planetary or deep sky, but what about a cam for double stars? what parameters are more significant than others? Would prefear a native color, since i would like to shoot colour contrasted pairs. what bout asi 482 or 585?
Hi Nevio, stars are pretty bright so you can buy a so called planetary camera yo shoot the double stars, like the ones you mention. If you also want to capture dimmer nebulae it’s best to take long exposures with a cooled astrocam. Clear skies!
hi thanks for the quick answer, i have another doubt, I see the for example that in my telescope asi 482 (5,8um pixel dimension) has lower resolution than asi 585 (2,9um pixel dimension) 1,49″/pixel vs 0,74″/ pixel but match better my 115/800 refractor for sampling combination as in https://astronomy.to…ccd_suitability reported. So in this case is it better to care about resolution or sampling suitability? i posted same question in cloudy nights but got no answer, i hope you can understand the question despite my bad english
Hi Nevio, for double stars I’d take the 585mc as double stars are quite small and bright objects in the night sky you can also use it for moon and perhaps some planetary (you’d need a Barlow lens).
Hello Wido, I have a GSO f/5 750mm Newtonian Reflector. I am planning to buy a ZWO ASI camera for planetary imaging. I am planning to purchase either 224MC colour, 585MC, 178MC. It would be helpful if you let me know which one to purchase as I am now confused.
Hi Pavan, I’d go with the 585mc. I didn’t test it personally but it has a wider field of view for the moon and its a bit easier to find the planets. It also has a higher qe, a deep fwe and a small pixel size with max fps 45 and low read noise.
Wido — thanks for creating and sharing tutorials on processing planet images.
Autostakkert most helpful bits were: adjust image size to reduce processing time, explain reference frame settings, and relationship between image scale and the drizzle setting.
Registax most helpful bits were: RGB align and balance settings, and excellent recommendations on wavelets adjustment.
Happy Holidays!
Ref the Aux port…That explains great deal. I was making a WiFi drive for another Meade and wouldn’t work no matter what I tried. I never dreamt the polarity would be reversed. Why did Meade do this. Idiots.
Hi, excellent info and review, thanks. My comment is that Ritchey-Chrétien telescopes, D=200 mm or more, could be perhaps another possible choice for planet imaging, while also offering the opportunity for coma-free astrophotography. Honestly, I have no direct experience of any kind with RCs (my gear: C8, N6, TriAPO/80mm), but from what I have read, RCs performance for planet imaging could be decent at least, perhaps without being excellent due to the relatively larger secondary mirror obstruction as compared to SCTs, Newts, and Maks. Cheers.
Yes!
You got your AM5👍🏻
In you short video I see you mounted the ASI Air on the side, think you should consider mounting it somewhere else,
Lots of discussion regarding the issues with that mounting location.
In any event, I’m thankful for your videos. Keep them coming! ❤️
For no particular reason other than better be safe than sorry I have set the Ioptron CEM70 as the baseline. Do you think any of those harmonic mounts in your review can match or even outperform the CEM70 when it comes to guiding. Let’s take a C8 Edge HD with a reducer and OAG guiding using a ASI2600mm pro plus filter wheel
Hi Gert, I’m not sure yet. I will be testing out the AM5 with my Celestron Edge HD 8″ with a focal length of 2000mm. I’m really curious about the guiding results – if they are about 0.5 arcseconds I’ll be happy. Stay tuned.
Thanks so much for the tutorial. What is the deringing function for? Does it remove the light and dark ring I have around my photos of Jupiter (probably due to very small aperture of my scope)?
I had the HAE29 for about two weeks, and immediately had problems. The key problem is the HandControlls poor communication with 2 Android 11 Tablets and NO communication with a Smartphone. I posted a review on AgenaAstro and it was pulled about 36 hours later, I also posted a review on iOptrons own site. It was not untill I told iOptron that I was going to find a YouTube maker and post it that I was quickly notified that iOptron was going to refund me.
I own about 3 of those harmonic mounts (ZWO AM5, iOptron HEM 27EC and Sharpstar MK III) and they all perform very well. I have used them mainly with a 600mm and a 1300mm scopes, no OAG but a 200mm William Optics guidescope.
All of them deliver constantly well under 1″ total error guiding and the stars were nice and round.
Communication wise, never had any troubles either connecting to the mounts directly or connecting them to AsiAir.
The Sharpstar MK III is a true workhorse moving my 15kg scope around with ease.
All those mounts are lighweight and the absence of counterweights makes them perfect travel companions.
I have the Celestron Evolution Edge HD 8″ Telescope. Can you recommend an Autoguider set up for my telescope, scope and camera.
I would be willing to spend more money for versatility as I’m starting out in this hobby and unsure what imaging camera that I will end up with. I currently have a Nikon D850 DSLR and a Orion Color CMOS cameras. I just recently purchased the Rainbow Astro RST 135 which is kind of crazy given my level of experience and budget but I’m older and need to break down my rig after every session. Thanks in advance for your feedback and for your videos.
I got my HAE43 last week. After 2 short nights I‘m still not heavily impressed about the guiding results using my ASIAIR.
Guiding was around 1“ but on a low target. (Orion from 30degree down to 15degree)
Sometime a bit under 1“ sometimes a bit higher. Max guiding curves relatively constant swinging from +2“ to -2“ at 1second guiding exposure.
Have to test it more to the zenith for final results.
On problem is that the usb connection from the mount to the ASIAIR does not work. Can’t tell the reason.
Wi-Fi works but not super stable. Had some failed connections.
I have a question about the capacity of these types of mounts in general. For German Equatorial mounts like the Sky-Watcher EQ6r Pro we are warned about not exceeding above “50%, 60%, 40% etc.” of the capacity when used for astrophotography. Does that also apply to these mounts or can they truly hold our gear up to the rated capacity? For the AM5 will I be limited to about 50% of the 20 kg when I use it for astrophotography? Thanks.
Good question. I’m testing the AM5 right now and the first couple of nights were great. I was able to get tracking below 1 arcsecond per pixel with my Edge HD 8″ with a filter wheel, camera, and guide scope. As the Harmonic Drive technique is very different, I do think these mounts cannot be compared to the same “rules of thumb” as german equatorial mounts. I have a new b/vlog where I talk about my first experiences with the mount – you can find it here: https://astroforumspace.com/zwo-am5-mount-review/
Hi Adam, thanks. Just as a follow up: I’v tested my ZWO AM5 now on 6 nights with gear varying from a lightweight APO refractor to my heavier 8″ Edge HD SCT Telescope with camera, guidcam, filterwheel etc. My ZWO doesn’t seem to mind the extra weight. Guiding is always below one arcsecond, mostly around .5 to .7 in RA and DEC. Cheers.
Thanks for a good review.
I have a couple of fellow astrophotographers that own this mount and I have seen them guide well below 0,5 for a whole night.
I got a CEM70 for my main scope and have been looking at the AM5 for a travel mount. Just today I saw that ZWO will add a little brother, the AM3. This smaller mount will fit me better as I do not need 13kg for my travel rig.
Problem is that I guess one has to wait a while before the AM3 starts shipping out to customers.
Hello Wido..
i want to buy the star adventurer gti and want to know from your experience after all this time with the mount.. is it okay to put an 80mm refractor on it ? and what about exposure time at such focal lenght? guided and unguided. thank you
Most 80mm have a focal length of around 500mm. If you want tot take multi-minute astrophotos, guiding is pretty much required.
The GTI with that setup will probably give you somewhere between 1 and 2 arcseconds of guiding accuracy which probably will do the job.
It also depends on your budget. mounts like the SkyWatcher HEQ5 Pro and Celestron AVX have a higher payload capacity so you’d be more comfortable with a 500mm focal length telescope.
But they’re also more expensive. And I recently bought the ZWO AM5 – even more expensive, but interesting as it is a lightweight strain-wave mount that guides under 1 arcsecond. Anyhow, hope this is useful. Feel free to contact me on my contact form.
Cheers.
Got my AM5 end of April. Got 12 nights of guiding. Then on Monday June 19 AISAir app reported “USB serial disconnected” for the mount. Tried my older ASIAir Plus (non 256G version) same message. Plugged the AM5 in my Windows 11 PC and it reports device descriptor request failed and my MacBook Pro 2019 doesn’t see it at all. Opened a ticket with ZWO that day.
Today, Thursday, got a response I should still be able to use it with WiFi and was asked if the hand controller worked. I tried the HC and nothing. The LED next to the USB port is dark. The power button lights up. But nothing. I reported back but looks like I have a $2300 brick. No offer from them to fix or replace it at this point. Someone on the FB AM5/AM3 page reported their AM5 USB died about a month before mine. They obviously have some kind of teething problem and that is a shame. Maybe I’ll try a ZWO mount again in about 5 years or so.
Oddly enough I was going to buy a 2nd AM5 for my rig on the SkyGuider Pro. That is not happening now. Colleagues at work recommend the RST-135. Although it seems hard to find here in the USA I may go that route. Rainbow also has been doing this longer so hopefully they have better quality.
I’m sorry to hear that, Alex. You’re well within the warranty period I think? I’d ask for a replacement if I were you. Good luck. I hope this gets solved soon.
They said they will send a new mother board. I still do not have a tracking number.
In the meantime, I’ve sprung for the RST-135E more expensive version. I’m also waiting on that to arrive.
Hi there Ana, I’ve made this comparison video between the two mounts where I discuss wind and other aspects of the AM5 vs the EQ6R Pro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHEjQ04yoZc
I have the NYX-101 since April and all I can say is that it is a great mount in terms of tracking
I have only used it with my 200/620 Sharpstar Newt (12kg fully loaded), w/o CW, but I have also loaded my big RC250 (~ 20kgs in total with computer, guidescope…), with a 5kg CW, and the mount operated flawlessly (I have not done any imaging with this set-up yet).
Another point worth mentioning, is the quality of their customer support; I’ve had several teething issues, mostly coming from problems generated by my lack of experience with the mount (which has been flawless since day one), and the communication by mail with them was extremely fast (they even helped me on a Friday at 9PM!).
I strongly recommend this mount which is superb in terms of build quality and tracking performance
Hi Wido,
I’m thinking of getting a cooled color camera (besides the 585mc which I already have) for deep space photography. I own redact 51 and Celestron C8 (with 0.67 reducer) telescopes. I’m interested in the 071mc and the 2600mc but am struggling with what would be a wise purchase. What would be your thoughts here? As a fellow countryman, I don’t have the luxury of a low bottle sky in my back yard an will be planning on using dual band/UHC filters to capture images. Thanks for your time.
Hi Michael, the asi071MC Pro is nice but a somewhat older model. In terms of pixel size, it would fit your C8 with reducer nicely and it’ll get you to a “sub arcsecond per pixel”, landscape field of view that is almost similar to the ASI2600MC Pro. The camera is somewhat less sophisticated (lower quantum efficiency, higher read noise, 14 bit vs 16 ADC in comparison to the 2600MC Pro) – so the 2600MC should give you a more dynamic picture with less read noise. If you’re looking for a newer model in a similar price range, the the ASI533MC Pro doesn’t suffer from amp glow (don’t know if the 071 Pro does), with a higher QE, meaning it is more efficient at coverting light (photons) into a digital signal, but the 533 does have a squared and smaller field of view (vs. landscape) compared to the asi2600MC and the asi071MC Pro. I’d say the 2600MC Pro is the best, but also the most expensive one. There is a new one on the market with a built in 2nd sensor for autoguiding, eliminating the need to buy a guidescope and guidecam. I deliberately don’t use that one, as I engage in narrowband imaging and I’m worried that the narrowband filters will prevent accurate guiding. Hope this helps!
I’m new to astro photography, but am an engineer, a long-time amateur astronomer, and past, part-time, professional photographer, so many aspects of the technologies and I what I’m now pursuing with AP are familiar. That said, there’s still some new stuff with which I have little or no experience. I’m reading your articles and have joined a local astronomy club, am attending observation sessions, and its members are helping a lot, but I also want to use what I have as much as possible as I start with AP before making multiple large purchases. I don’t yet know enough and nor have enough experience with where I want to go. So I’d appreciate it if you could help me with some specific questions:
I currently have a C-8 and would like to at least start AP with it, mainly for DSO. I’m seriously looking at purchasing an ASI2600MC Pro or ASI2600MC DUO camera. I’d like to start by using an F6.3 focal reducer (I’m calculating 0.6 arcseconds/pixel – is this under-sampled too much?) This would allow me to learn more and get some starting experience with AP as well as assessing where I want to go with equipment. One option is to change in several months to using a Hyperstar on the C-8. But initially, the focal reducer would let me leave the secondary mirror alone so I can also use it with eyepieces so friends and family can enjoy the fun experience of seeing a planet, asterism, etc., live through a scope. If I’m swapping the secondary in and out frequently, there are more handling risks involved as well as fine-tune, re-collimating with every swap.
I’m also concerned about reducer vignetting with the large sensor on these cameras, especially the DUO which additionally requires an adapter to mate the rear cell thread to the camera’s larger thread diameter due to the addition of the guiding sensor. Is it even reasonable to attempt this on my C-8 with a reducer?
In addition, I’m trying to find information on what I need for extender length to properly place the camera sensor at the scope’s focal plane. How to I determine this length and where can I purchase such extenders?
For software, I’m thinking of starting with Sharp-Cap; for post processing, I already know Photoshop well and am planning on starting with that.
Ultimately, I can imagine getting a second scope, perhaps a high-quality refractor and an EQ mount. As for the mount, I’m seriously considering going with a strain wave design for less weight and very low backlash. But I need to start someplace and don’t want to go whole-hog into purchasing a bunch of new equipment that can easily make identifying and locating problem issues more difficult when I don’t know the equipment well enough. So, I want to start with what I have and then methodically branch out to other equipment and techniques as I learn and can make more informed decisions.
Thanks again for any help and insight you can provider!
Great tutorial with clear explanations; Thank you very much.
I have seen some pictures made by Seestar with logo and name of the object at the bottom. How can we get that ?
Hi Jacky, honestly I’m not aware of that option but I’ll ask. Perhaps it can be done in the Seestar APP. It has a community page to share pictures. Thanks!
EDIT: Yes, it’s in the new APP update. If you take a picture, you’ll get to see those details in the picture on the APP – you can download and share that picture.
I just got my Seestar and am quite impressed. two suggestions: put a level on top of the scope in shutdown position to facilitate initial leveling and 2. include a comet/asteroid search or at the very least allow entry of an RA-DeC position. at 2.39 arises pee pixel us pretty good for nice detailes astrophotography. would be nice if it had an equatorial tracking kode so it could be mounted on a wedge but that would require better bearings and likely counterweight so probably doubles price. but a thought
Thank you very much a really clear tutorial. – The app works perfectly with my Iphone but on a 2019 android phone with android 9 it would not save images to the phone as it had not created the correct folders on the phone. On my tablet with android 10 it works fine but I think many android tablets including my newish lenovo use GPS for their compass which is not recognised by the app. This affects using the sky atlas. One other thing worth mentioning was that my seestar would not initially autofocus on stars. The default focus setting of 1840 was way out probably too far out for the auto to cope. Using manual focus I found that 1600 was about right so I reset the default to that and it works ok.
Appreciate the great info. I have a question: can you download the Seestar APP to a Windows PC? Or will the app only run on Android or Apple? I would like to control from a laptop rather than a smartphone or Android tablet if possible. Thanks.
Very nice review. I really liked where you talked about the “previewing and enhancing” mode and getting more info from ZWO on exactly what’s happening then. Would love to hear more on this, thanks for the thorough review!
Thanks for this detailed information. Thanks to it, I’ve purchased my Seestar and am back to stargazing during those rare clear moments. I wonder, does it make sense to place the Seestar on an equatorial mount (non-go-to)?
Hi Geert, thanks. The Seestar S50 is designed as an alt-az telescope. But you can always try. If succesful, you could avoid field rotation.
However, the tracking will not be perfect without any guiding, and the max. exposure is 10 seconds, you cannot change that.
Thanks very much for the effort you put in to this tutorial, Wido. This one and the Autostakkert tutorial saved me a lot of time because of your clear explanations.
Because of your reveiw, I just ordered a SeeStar S50. I just have a question for you. In your comparison video between the Dwarf II and the SesStar you weren’t using the tripod that came with the SeeStar. What tripod were you using, It looks like an iOptron tripod. Looking to get my SeeStar a decent tripod and wanted to make sure I get one that fits! Thanks and keep up the good work!
Hello Wido,
Thanks for super documentation – just got my Seestar S50 – your presentation helped guide me through first light. I’ve been exploring amateur astronomy since 1984 and am enjoying intro astrophotography whilst in the house with a cup of coffee on a cold evening.
Jim Lawrence Albuquerque NM
This blogpost on controlling the ZWO AM5 Mount over WiFi, USB, and HC is a game-changer for astrophotography enthusiasts! The detailed guide provides a comprehensive walkthrough, unlocking the full potential of the ZWO AM5 Mount through multiple connectivity options. Whether it’s the convenience of WiFi, the reliability of USB, or the hands-on control with HC, this post caters to a range of preferences. Kudos to the author for simplifying the technicalities and making this advanced feature accessible to users at various skill levels. A must-read for anyone looking to elevate their astrophotography experience!
Thank you very much for your review and detailed information and instructions. Your article answered so many of my questions. I received my SEESTAR last week and am also very new to astrophotography. It’s also been cloudy and raining since I received it!
I experienced the 2017 eclipse and it was a life changing event and was able to get lucky and get a few good photo’s but I am going to be able to experience the 2024 eclipse with almost 4 minutes of totality. I am hoping SEESTAR makes getting better photos possible.
Any tips or suggestions for solar eclipse photography with SEESTAR?
I’m nice again thank you for the info you have already provided. It is greatly appreciated!
When the sun hits totality, I think you can simply remove the solar filter to see the corona of the Sun. As this only lasts a couple of minutes, be sure to put the filter back on when the Sun re-appears from behind the moon to avoid any kind of damage to your telescopes’ electronics.
Cheers.
Hi! Awesome job.
One question, when staking, I presume that the software discards pics with satellite trails, planes or shooting stars. Do you know if there’s a way of KEEPING those instead of deleting? I mean, those lights with “undesired noise” are stored somewhere?
thanks!
The planes/satellites will be visible on the individual pictures. If I’m correct, the Seestar S50 APP is now updated to also store individual photos and not only the stacked picture.
hola Wido. Tengo algunos problemas de enfoque en cielo profundo con el SeeStar S50. Sabes si puede ser por culpa de poca nivelación o por angulo de visió demasiado vertical?
What an awesome comparison of these two products! Professional, technical, high quality and very thorough. Thank you very much. Have bookmarked your website and will surely return to learn more as I explore deeper into the realms of astronomy and astrophotography.
Very nice and concise review and beginner’s tutorial. I learned more from this post than from perusing the internet for over two weeks! Just a short response to let you know that your efforts are very much appreciated.
Very good and concise beginner’s introduction and tutorial on the Seestar s50. I learned more from this post than I did perusing the internet for the past several weeks! I just wanted to leave a brief reply to let you know that your efforts are very much appreciated – Thank You.
Hi,
many thanks for the tutorial. It helps a lot.
But I have difficulties to do the polar alignment. I couldn’t find any helpful videos on the ZWO’s YouTube channel.
Have you a video to to the alignment only with the ASI Mount software? Or must I use an ASIAIR or NINA Software?
Hi Christian, the ASIAIR is ideal for polar aligning your AM5 (or AM3). It includes an easy to use polar alignment procedure.
Another way to go is to connect your AM5 via USB to a laptop/computer with polar align software. I have used Sharpcap Pro in the past, it also worked fine.
I have a 4 year old video about polar alignment (lol): https://astroforumspace.com/five-tips-to-polar-align-your-telescope-mount-like-a-pro/
I’ll consider making a new video about how to setup your AM5 with the ASIAIR. Cheers!
Beste Wido,
Allereerst complimenten voor je fantastische site en dito heldere video’s. Ik woon in een buurtgemeente van Utrecht, en heb dus met vergelijkbare waarnemingscondities te maken. Als beginner heb ik veel aan jouw tips en reviews.
Ik heb een vraag over guiding camera’s. Ik heb een Celestron 8” edge hd, met een standaard Celestron 50mm Finder scope. Ik wil graag een guide camera dat hierbij past. Mij is de ZWO 220mm aangeraden, en de William optics uniguide 50mm.
Ik zie echter ook dat de Celestron Starsense Autoguider binnenkort verkrijgbaar is. Die is uiteindelijk een paar honderd euro duurder. Maar ik wil als beginner en met deze lichtvervuiling ook een guider die snel en gemakkelijk mijn workflow kan ondersteunen.
Wat zou je aanraden: wachten op de Celestron Autoguider, of kiezen voor wat mij geadviseerd is?
Beste Wido,
Complimenten allereerst voor je website. Voor mij als beginner een absolute must-read! Ik woon in een buurgemeente van Utrecht; we hebben vergelijkbare waarnemingscondities.
Mijn vraag gaat over autoguiders/camera’s. Ik heb sinds bijna twee jaar geleden een celestron edge hd 8″, de ZWO Camera ASI 120 MC-S Color en werk met ASIAIR pro. Ik heb nog geen autoguider camera, alleen de standaard celestron 50mm finder scope.
Mij is geadviseerd om de ASI 220mm en de William Optics UniGuide 50mm te nemen. Ik heb echter ook gezien dat de Celestron starsense autoguider binnenkort verkrijgbaar is. Dat is een duurdere optie, maar het gebruiksgemak lijkt mij vele malen groter. Jij hebt daar meer zicht op. Wat denk jij van de nieuwe celestron autoguider: overdone of raadzaam om daar even op te wachten? Alvast dank voor je reply.
Fantastic review! I am new to astronomy in general and recently got a celestron nexstar 6SE – I was contempalting between this and the ASI224MC – I believe this looks like the obvious winner if you agree? Do you think I could expect to achieve somewhat similar results of your above images even though I have a 6SE vs your 8 edge? Thanks in advance!
hi Vinny, the asi678MC is a newer model, and has a small pixel size of only 2 micrometers which results in a high imaging scale at native focal length (f/10 in my case). Sure, try to catch it with the 6″, you’ll definitely see the cloud bands of Jupiter. Good luck!
Is there an advantage to turning on the capture each stacked frame vs. leaving the switch off? Does that limit stacking or does that allow a final image in the scope’s memory to be imported rather than say 100 stacked frames that need post stacking? Also, now to I open and save the FITS files as png for example? That seems tedious.
Hi Bob,
The Seestar S50 produces a final stacked image as a jpg and TIFF file for every deep sky photo. In addition to that, you can save individuals fits files and stack them yourself.
This may be advantageous if you have some bad frames, or planes/satellites running through your pictures, you can leave these out when manually stacking your photos.
If you don’t like manual stacking, just take the 16 bit TIFF file on the Seestar (myworks) folder and use that for further processing. Did that answer your question?
Hi and thank you for the review. How well can it see planets? I read it might be better to us a different scope or perhaps a good strong binoculars with image stabilizers. I was hoping to use this for the next solar Eclipse and simply taking off the solar filter during totality. But I have two questions: 1) Can this track and photograph Comets? 2) Can give I type in a location in the sky I’d like to photograph that’s not listed in the selections given in the applications? Thank you!
Hi Wildo – thanks for the thorough review! I have an Edge 8 on an AVX and am looking to move from observing to astrophotography of DSOs, primarily galaxies and nebulae. Now that you have used the Edge 8 with the AM5 for a while, would you still recommend the ZWO carbon fibre tripod? Stable enough for AP? Thanks! Montreal, Canad
Hi Dave, up to 3 beaufort, the tc40 is fine. With stronger winds, I’d recommend a heavier tripod or add counterweights to keep the mount free of significant vibrations.
Can you give a little detail on how you edit the photos with Vaonis? Do you take raw images and stack them yourself? Do you edit the tif? Or is what you’ve shown the jpeg that Vaonis software has processed?
The pictures are processed TIFF files. I take the automatically stacked TIFF file and sharpen them a bit using processing tools (Pixinsight). The original images are already quite good. I’ll make a note to add them in this post. Cheers.
Hi Wido, I have the Skywatcher virtuoso 150p and im looking for a Astrophotography camera. Ive looked into it quite alot. But there is a lot on the market. And im just loosing track of all of it. I have read that the Asi zwo585mc has to be very good. But you dont mention it on your site. Would the asi zwo 678mc be a better choise? They are quite simulair in price. I dont want to go above 500,- (eu). I am planning to do Dso and Planitairy Photographing.
Hey Jaimy, I’m testing the 585mc cool this month. It may be the best combi for DSO and planetary, as it has cooling. My initial tests show no amp glow when taking long exposure pictures…should be good for planetary too at 2.4 pixel size.
Hi Barbara, that’s unfortunate. I suggest you try to focus the camera during daytime on a distant object.
Or point it at a distant light source during the night.
The focus on the stars will not be exactly the same, but you’ll have a starting point.
It can take some effort to find the exact focus. Also, silly but, did you take off the dust cap :-)?
Good luck!
Hi Wido,
Thanks for taking the trouble to put all this info together – much appreciated!
I stumbled across your website as I have been researching the most suitable camera for my astrophotography setup for high resolution solar and lunar photography.
I am currently using an ASI2600MM pro with my AP Traveler setup at 730mm and F7 and it works brilliantly for deepsky astrophotography.
I’ve settled on using a Daystar Quark (with in-built 4.2x Barlow) with my Traveler, giving a f29.4 setup. The ASI174MM with 5.86 micron pixels, high frame-rate and global shutter seems like a reasonable match but I’m starting to lean more towards the ASI432MM (which isn’t yet included in your table). The calculated optimum pixel size for my f29.4 setup is 6.56 micron.
The ASI432MM has a larger sensor than the ‘174’ but more importantly has larger pixels (9 micron) and a much larger full-well depth of 97ke. It still has a respectable 120 FPS and is 12-bit.
What do you think Wido? I imagine that a lot of the parameters for planetary imaging are shared with high-res lunar and solar imaging.
Of course, one of the most important factors, seeing conditions, are largely beyond our control 🙂
Many thanks!
Apologies for the delayed response! I make it a point to check my emails at astroforumlive@gmail.com daily, so feel free to reach out anytime.
Regarding the ASI432MM, it’s quite an intriguing device, as you mentioned, with its large pixel size and other features. However, I believe it could complement the Daystar Quark quite well, especially considering its 4.2 barlow, if I remember correctly.
With your 730mm focal length telescope, you could achieve approximately 0.6 arcseconds, providing a view of about half the sun’s disc within a 0.3×0.2 degree frame. Additionally, opting for the Mono version eliminates the challenge of dealing with the Bayer matrix inherent in color cameras, making calibration easier.
In essence, I see no reason why you shouldn’t proceed with this setup :-). Although you may find the ASI432MM primarily dedicated to solar observations with the Daystar, other cameras might serve you better for capturing the moon and planets.
I was wondering if any of these can work while plugged into a battery pack. That would extend the battery life but I don’t know if that would interfere with any of the functionality.
Hi Scott, I tested the Seestar S50 and the Vespera classic/II, and they both work fine when an extra battery pack is plugged in.
They re-charge while imaging, no problem.
Thank you for this comprehensive and detailed comparison of these two amazing telescopes. I’m hoping to buy one of them and intend to reread your review several times before making my choice.
Well, recently i upgrade my old SW EQ5 mount with OnStep mount kit, and with my Quattro 150p on it, i achieve almost always guiding under 1″ – mostly around 0.45″ – 0.65″ per pixel.
Hi, watched this on YouTube and thought it was very informative. Can I suggest you do another video of mounts that are the slightly smaller capacity mounts; e.g.
Sky watcher eqm-35
Explore scientific EXOS-2
Meade LX85
iOptron CEM25p
And of course your Celestron AVX mount.
Keep up the good work.
Hi Peter, Thank you for your positive feedback, highly appreciated! As for the smaller capacity mounts, I did a review on my AVX, you can watch the video and/or read my blog here: https://astroforumspace.com/celestron-advanced-vx-review/ I also mention some of the competitors in that vlog such as the CEM25p and the LX85. Hope this is useful to you, and I’ll look into making a dedicated video on entry level mounts for AP. Clear skies!
Hi Wido: Love your videos. I’m new to this astrophotography game and like you I would have to travel generally by air to get to anyplace with relatively dark and clear skies. So mount capacity is ultra important to me.
Question 1. On the web sites for most of these mounts they caveat their payload capacity with (*Excluding Counterweight) so you’re really looking at the advertised Payload – the weight of the counterweight. Do you agree with my assessment?
Question 2. In your video on beginners mounts I think you stated that one should half the payload to be safe and assure tracking accuracy. So is what you are really recommending (advertised Payload – the weight of the counterweight)/2 ?? That seems to really limit these mounts. What do you think please?
Thanks in advance for entertaining my very primitive questions.
Mike
Hi Michael, the payload capacity is the payload capacity, its not related to the counterweights which are needed to balance the telescope on the mount.
Yes, I do stand by my remark that most mounts work better for astrophotography when you are not taxing them to the maximum payload capacity.
If that’s one half or one third or more/less depends a bit on the specific mount, but as a general rule I would recommend a mount that can comfortably carry your payload weight.
Hi Peter, I just finished another video where I compare seven beginner level mounts. It will be out on the 5th of March. The video is a bit long atm, about 30 minutes, so hope it is not too boring to watch :-).
Dear Sir ! I am new beginner to this astronomy , and I like to purchase my very first EQ mount for my own , after I found your video on the youtube , and feel glad to found you there , so I have a question here needed to ask you before I buy my own EQ mount , which is I am from east Malaysia , so my location show me like this (Latitude: 4.357946872711182 Longitude: 113.996826171875) , So which mount do you think is better for me to buy ? Ioptron or other’s will do too ?
Thank you and sorry for disturbing your time .
Hi there,
Thanks for watching my videos! I think most EQ mounts are fine, the Ioptron, HEQ5, and AVX are all good options. However, you should check if these mounts can actually guide at your latitude. You state that your latitude is 4.35, this is very close to the equator, correct? Check before you buy if the EQ mount can guide at that latitude.
Clear skies!
Wido.
Celestron has a better polar alignment routine than Skywatcher.
Thanks for the feedback David! I also like the polar alignment routine on my Celestron AVX, although lately, I just use sharpcap and run the mount without the all star alignment procedure.
Awesome page, Continue the useful job. Thank you.
Thank you James!
Hello there. I am currently using an ioptron skyguider pro and I would like to upgrade to an eq mount so I can have a small apo 70-80 mm.
I have read a lot of reviews but can’t decide. I would like to maintain the portability of the setup. Could you please guide me ? Avx and eq5 are stretching a lot my budget
Hi there,
Well, if you want to go below the AVX and the HEQ5, then maybe the SkyWatcher
EQM-35 or the Meade LX85 may be an option. Keep in mind that the EQM-35 max weight is only 10kg max. So you would need to go for a lightweight setup and perhaps stick to 60-70mm which affords more guiding error while still getting decent long exposure pictures. The LX85 is good on paper, but I haven’t seen many real-life users with this mount. Choosing equipment is always hard, good luck and clear skies!
Hello, I’m really interested in astro photography, but being a fresh graduate in Malaysia. I don’t really even have the resources for these recommended telescopes. 800 USD is just a tiny bit less than 3 months of my salary if I were to not use a single cent of it. Is there any other cheaper option i could opt for?
Hi Amin,
Yes, AP can get very expensive. What you could do is buy a DSLR on a second hand market. Make sure you get one with a wide lens (e.g. 18mm or less) and a relatively fast f/ratio (e.g. F/3.5 or lower).
you can mount a second hand DSLR on a static tripod – those should be relatively inexpensive. You can already do great stuff with that such as timelapses and startrails of stars, and making awesome images of the milkyway.
Hope this helps. Clear skies!
Wido
Hi there!
Beautifully pictures and good info on astrophotography here!
Personally I am quite experienced in other types of photography and are on the edge of investing in astro gear. Before doing so I’m looking for someone I can meet up with for a astro session to see if the astro shoots fit me. Are you up for taking a beginning enthusiastic on a beginners tour? I’m from Zeist by the way, so we’re basically neighbours.😀
Regards,
Florian
Hi Florian,
It’s quite boring to watch what I’m doing, which is basically taking pictures of one object during multiple nights :-). But I’m glad to answer any kind of questions you may have.
Hoi Wido, mooie beelden allemaal. Ik wil ook gaan beginnen met astrofotografie. Ik heb een celestron c9.25 xlt. Wat zou jij adviseren om te beginnen. Ik heb veel positieve dingen gelezen over zwo asi air en de zwo asi 224mc.
Dag Ruut, De 9.25 is mooi, maar ook een grote telescoop. Als je net begint dan is het – denk ik – als eerste van belang om een hele goede montering (EQ mount) te kopen met genoeg draagkracht zodat je met de 9.25 XLT heel precies de sterren kunt volgen, heb je dat al? Daarnaast heb je ook een “volgtelescoopje” + “volgcamera” nodig. Daarom adviseer ik vaak om te beginnen met een kleinere telescoop, dan kun je iets meer “volgfouten” hebben omdat je gezichtsveld dan ook wijder is. Wat jij kunt doen met je 9.25 is een reducer aanschaffen, dan wordt je gezichtsveld ook breder en hoef je niet meteen heel precies de sterren te volgen om goede foto’s te krijgen. Als je echt net begint is het denk ik goed om gewoon met een DSLR of inderdaad met zo’n 224MC te beginnen. Probleem is dat deze cameras niet gekoeld zijn dus je zult dan wat meer last hebben van een “korrelig” beeld, vooral bij hogere temperaturen. Beter is om een gekoelde camera te kopen en als je nog een extra stap wil nemen dan spreek je meteen over een gekoelde mono camera met filterwiel. Maar dan praat je ook over 3x meer tijdsinverstering om data te verzamelen en te verwerken. Succes met je keuze!
Wido, great info! I am learning a lot with your website and your youtube channel, thanks very much!
I am a beginner who lives in 25.7617° N (South Florida) and Polaris is always obstructed in my backyard. You mentioned about doing the drift align procedure in your Youtube Channel, but I was wondering if the “All Star Polar Alignment” with Celestron mounts would solve my problem?
I really wanted an iOptron mount for their portability though 😉
Thanks Philipp! Yes, the ASPA is a good way to align your telescope. What you could do is go through the ASPA procedure. When you’re finished, find the object you want and perform a drift align procedure (e.g. in PHD2) to ensure your tracking is OK and make some final adjustments if necessary. Hope this helps, clear skies!
Thanks! Yes, definitely try out ASPA, it will help the mount to calibrate its position. And you could ofcourse use a compass to make sure your mount is facing north. After the ASPA procedure, you could simply slew to an object and watch if it stays centered in your Field of View. Have fun!
Hi,
Great blog and tutorials. I’m currently buying my first mount after your another blog post here. You’re doing great work with all explanations and details.
One question about this blog. Do you have any opinion on Red/Space Cat AP 51/250? I heard it’s great for first astrophoto telescope.
Clear skies!
Hi Michal,
Thanks! The Red Cat 51/250 is a very good telescope, but specifically geared towards wide field astrophotography.
You can make beautiful pictures of (parts of) our milkyway and other larger nebulae like the one’s in the constellation cygnus.
Just don’t expect any close up pictures of galaxies (with the exception of the Andromeda galaxy). Good luck!
Hi Peter
I’m reaching out to you from Sacramento California, USA. I was curious why the iOptron CEM40 wasn’t your first choice since it had the most stars? Was it the price? I really liked that it is so light. What mount did you buy?
Thank you. I really enjoy your vlogs.
Hi Peter,
Thanks! Yes, you are right. The CEM40 was a little over budget for me so I went with the SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro.
If you have the money, or perhaps if the CEM40 has a discount, it would be a very interesting mount.
I have to say the weight is doable on the EQ6-R pro, but the CEM40 is definitely better in this respect.
Are you planning on doing astrophotography on remote locations or primarily from your own backyard?
Good luck deciding!
Best,
Wido.
I will be doing the astrophotography from a remote location. My backyard is too small with trees and other buildings in close proximity. I plan to try some in my front yard which faces the southern sky, if I can.
Sorry for the late response Robert, hope you will find a good spot to enjoy the night sky!
Hellooo, I have a question, are there any cheaper telescopes? The maximum for me is 400 dollars.
Thank you!
Carrot007
Yes, of course. The only thing is that they are not really fit for astrophotography. But they are still nice for some detailed moon, planetary and deep-sky observations. Depends a bit on what you want. This is a shot in the dark, but I myself started out with a telescope which is very similar to this one:https://bit.ly/3eUcrb4. It was really fun to have a goto mount, type in the object you want to see and it moves the telescope to that position. You can watch through an eyepiece or attach a camera with a live view. Cheers, clear skies.
Hi there, maybe this is a nice telescope to start: https://bit.ly/39fHfBP. It has an easy to use computerized goto mount and a nice refractor that is great to start visual astronomy. It’s actually my first telescope I used and I was amazed by the views I got on the moon and the Orion nebula. Best, Wido.
Ok, thanks very much dude. You helped me a lot, really. Thank you very much :DD
Hello Wido
I use my LX85 as my primary go to mount. I have a dobsonian as well that came with my Skywatcher 200p and I love it as it is so simple. But to find DSO and imaging I needed a go to mount. I started with my laptop using PHD2 guiding and was very pleased with the tracking. I have had some growing pains with my cameras and bit the bullet and purchased a ASI533MC-Pro. Partially because I have recently moved from my laptop to a ASIAIR PRO and so the ASI533 fits in nicely with my ASI120MC-S as a guide camera. Baby steps right.
I also purchased a 6″ Newt along with my LX85 mount. It was an extra $100 so it was a nice add. The mount guides very well with the ASIAIR and the 6″ Newt. I have had problems using my 200p Newt with it, but I have only used it once and it might be a balance issue. I had to purchase some additional counter weight to balance that big tube. I am fairly confident that I can get it working as the LX85 has a companion 8″ Newt as well and seems to support it just fine.
Cloudy since I purchased the ASI533, but later this week it should be clear. We will see how the combinations work together. Hoping to get a good shot of Neowise with the new camera.
Hi Eric, thanks for sharing your story. I understand the struggle, all the more rewarding when you finally get these awesome pictures you were hoping for. Yea, NEOWISE is so bright in the sky, you can capture it even with a small camera, shutter speed at 10s and iso at 800, you should already be able to detect it in the night sky. Through a telescope would be even more rewarding. Unfortunately I have no views whatsoever towards the north from my backyard, hope you’ll be able to get an awesome picture! Clear skies.
Hi,
I would like to try deep-sky astrophotography. Problem is, that it is expensive. Do you think that Nikon D3400 or Nikon D3500 is good for that? I will start photographing without camera lenses, but I will buy some later. If none of these cameras are good, could you help me please? I would like to have a camera around 500 and 600 USD.
Sorry for my grammar mistakes, I am from Europe.
Btw you have very nice photos! Like wow, I am impressed :DD.
Have a nice photographing!
Hi Kirsten,
Thank you and very nice to hear you’re interested in astrophotography. The Nikon D3500 is nice, I see this one comes with a 18-55mm kitlens: https://amzn.to/2DN8qZm. You can get started with a regular DSLR on a static tripod and take some nice widefield pictures of the 🌟 stars, constellations and the milky way! Remember to get a tripod, you’ll be taking long exposure pictures and your camera need to be still. Another option is the canon 4000d: https://amzn.to/2Pv2kzg. Astrophotography software used to be more geared towards canon. Good luck deciding and please share your first astropicture with me:-). Cheers, wido.
Hi Wido,
This is Mike from Chicago. Thanks again for you note via YouTube. A Ha filter is next on my list but I think I need to learn PHD2, APT first. I also think I am most likely heading to narrow band imaging especially in Chicago skies. I have seen a lot of folks using the ASI 1600 MM coupled to an ZWO EFW. Is this reasonable for a very early beginner like me? Also, should I consider a clip in Ha filter first – just for learning and portability? I have a 2″ Optolong L-Pro and was also thinking about getting the L-Enhance as well? Thoughts?
By the way, you may be interested in knowing that my wife is an I/O pyschologist. I will send along a LinkedIN invite. She retired from corporate life and has been working for the American Red Cross for the last several years. Thanks again for your guidance.
Best,
Mike
Hi Mike,
Good to know I’m not the only I/O psychologist, thanks for the invite. Yes, these are always difficult choices to make. As for me, I first practiced astrophotography with a DSLR + PHD2 and some clip in filters. I started with backyard EOS as an easy to use imaging tool. After I learned how to autoguide and how to post process in deepsky stacker and Photoshop I switched to the ZWO1600mm Pro and an 8 position filterwheel with 1.25″ ZWO LRGB and Ha, Sii, Oiii filters to start mono imaging. Perhaps a good solution is to start imaging with a color camera and some dedicated light pollution and narrowband filters (Lpro, Lextreme) as you mention above and later make the switch to mono imaging. Perhaps my blog about mono vs. colour imaging (see my website or YT channel) is useful to read/watch in which I discuss the pros and cons regarding colour vs. mono imaging. Hope my info is useful and you’ll enjoy the hobby despite the light polluted skies of Chicago!
Best,
Wido.
Ok, thank you very very much! You really helped me 😀 Maybe I will buy it for Christmas, I would be happy to send you some photo 😀 But like I said, maybe in winter.
Thank you for helping me!
Have a nice time photographing 🙂
K.
No problem, great to hear that my help was useful! Cheers, wido
Thanks for the review it was most helpful. I went with the iOptron CEM40. After a few decades of life I have some to understand that a little more upfront can pay off in the long run. In addition to a couple of features I find valuable, notably iPolar, the weight difference is important. Compared with the EQ6 Pro the difference is 11.8 kg (26 lb.). If dragged out once a week for 10 years the difference in weight shifted, carried, and lifted is about 6,130 kg (~13,500 lb). With a price difference of Euro 450 that works out to Euro 45/year, Euro 4/month, or about Euro 0.07/kilo. Those numbers work, for me at least.
Hi Josef, thanks for reading my blog and the positive feedback. I think your calculations make sense and I hope you’ll enjoy the CEM40! I would be interested to hear about your experiences with this mount. Clear skies!
When you spoke to the Meade rep what did he say about the Aux port polarity? I spoke with(via email) to Meade rep and he told me in no uncertain terms that no Meade LX85s have reverse polarity in their aux ports. Very confusing as I read mostly on cloudynights forums that the aux ports are reversed. So someone is wrong. I ordered the STARGPS NX-O2 for gps with the ASTARX cable which is supposed to be a reverse polarity cable to correct the issue. But Meade says polarity isn’t reversed so now I’m afraid to use any cable because I don’t know what the polarity is and I don’t want to fry my new mount!!! Any advise??? Did Meade say all the lx85s were reverse polarity? Unfortunately there is no way to know unlike the white dot Meade put on the fixed lx65s. Thank you. Sean
Hi Sean,
Unfortunately I cannot help you there because I don’t own a Meade LX85 myself. Perhaps try to find other users and ask? Cheers.
It was several months ago but I assure you a technician at Meade specifically told me the AUX port was wired back to front. This issue has been repeated from previous models unfortunately. If you have a voltmeter you can test it. Switch it to continuity and check it across ports. Typically the 12v is completely opposite the ground post on these jacks. If the aux port shows opposite then you can be 100% certain it’s as they stated. Connecting equipment to it would be reverse feeding current. Likely some board circuit damage. If you have the original box try it. If it’s under warranty that is. You can always return it. I’m with you tho. Someones information is wrong. I never tested mine. I got so aggravated with ASCOM that I retired the mount from DSO to Planetary. My experience with calling Meade was pleasant and they were very thorough with my questions. That mount could be fantastic but with it’s flaws I do believe it’s best reserved for visual or very wide astrophotography. I can’t believe they sell this system with a Maksutov. Such focal lengths are outside this mounts capacity even with a pole master. I hope you get your answer. Calling them yourself to confirm the AUX safe would be best. Get the employees name and document the call. That way you have a strong argument for a replacement or refund. I hope the best for you. Clear skies.
Thanks for this update Garnett!
Hi,
I’ve got some experience photographing using ieq30 mount and 135 Sonnar Lens with cannon. It’s great and now I’m thinking about buying proper scope. I reduced choice to two, both listed by you: TS-Optics PHOTOLINE 80mm f/6 FPL53 Triplet APO – 2.5″ RAP Focuser and William Optics ZenithStar 81 F/6.9 doublet Refractor.
I did my own research and saw that TS can have some problems with quality more then WO. But Photoline is true APO, not dublet. Would you recommend buying Photoline still like in video? Any other thoughts, suggestions?
And maybe you have some flattener/reducer do suggest for photoline?
Thanks in advance and clear skies from Poland!
Hi there,
I don’t own the zenithstar, but given its a doublet it would give you accurate colors for red and blue, but not green. Usually this is not a big issue as a lot of DSO’s are in the blue and red part of the light spectrum. Still, I suspect that the photoline APO triplet refractor would give you some better results. I still use this telescope and am very satisfied with it. I have a TS flattener (1.0, it doesn’t reduce the field of view) to get round stars towards the edge of my field of view as well. Good luck deciding!
Hi,
I have just read the comments here and I see, you helped them a lot :)) Anyways I have almost the same question as Kirsten has, would be a camera Nikon D3500 good for astrophotography? I would connect it to a Ritchey-Chretien telescope.
Clear skies!
Thanks! DSLR’s are good to start out astrophotography but they do have some setbacks, please check out my blog on astrophotography cameras, you can find it here: https://astroforumspace.com/best-camera-to-start-astrophotography-in-2020/
Clear skies.
The work you are doing is important. Thank you so very much for your knowledge, your experience and your effort to help those like me who are just beginning to have an interest in astro-photography. Earlier this evening, I took my first photograph through one of my telescopes. Then I started by watching your excellent video about choosing the right telescope for astro-photography. That lead me to your website and this fabulous photograph of the Eagle nebula. It took my breathe away. Thank you for keeping me from wasting a lot of money on a 10 inch Schmidt-Cassegranian. I currently have a Celestron Achromatic 4 inch refractor, and a Meade ETX 90 EC. My plan is to replace the Celestron with a 80mm apochromatic refractor. This is all because of your video on selecting telescopes. Thank you so very much.
Barry, thank you so much for your kind words!
Let me know if you need any help choosing the APO refractor and clear skies!
Thanks guys. I did buy a multimeter and with guidance from Andydownunder on cloudy nights forums confirmed the polarity is reversed. I crossed my toes and fingers and took several calming breaths and plugged in my STARGPS with the reverse ASTARX cable. Thank the Stars I didn’t hear electrical gremlins eating the innards of my mount, no dreaded puff of ozone impregnated blue smoke letting me know my LX85 had just transcended and crossed over into mount hereafter! Works like a charm! One thing I can tell you is I hate the LX85 polar scope. How hard can it be for them to incorporate some thumb and finger turn screws on it instead of trying to use 2 micro hex screws at the same time???. Have only had it out once since I attached the GPS unit and it was almost spot on with 2 star alignment. Have to do a few more alignments to get it right. Tracked Jupiter nicely once on target. I’m still in the process of adding equipment for autoguiding which I’ve never done before. Leaning toward an Orion 50mm mini guidescope and either a ZWO or QHY guide camera. I have an older Olympus dslr I want to try wifefield with but just got my Series 4000 f/6.3 reducer today and waiting on a Haida nano Clear Night light pollution filter. I’ll give an update on how well the mount is performing as soon as I get a chance to use it for more than 30 minutes at a time.
Hi, I’m looking out for telescopes which can help me observe deep sky objects, planets and also to start astrophotography.
At a local shop I was given the below options
1. BRESSER 130/1000 with EXOS I EQ System
2. EXPLORE SCIENTIFIC 150/750
EQ-3 Reflector Telescope.
To start with are these a option and also the mounts provided with them seems to be basic..can I upgrade the mounts?
Is there any restriction in terms of upgrading the mounts depending on the telescope or the manufacturer?
I’m not really sure about these.
A bit tight on my budget as well..please suggest..
Hi Amrin,
the ES 150/750 is a decent Newtonian to start astrophotography I think. The EQ3 mount is a bit light but you can of course always try and upgrade when necessary (see my blog on beginner mounts :-)).
Also, in time, you probably also want to get a coma corrector to get a flat field image (no starcoma’s around the edges) and a guidescope + camera to accurately track.
Hope this helps, clear skies!
Hi!
I am a beginner in astrophotography and I need to buy some camera. I will take photos through my Ritchey-Chretien 6 inch telescope on EQ-5 mount and I would to do deep-sky astrophotography. I got recommended Canon EOS 4000D and Canon EOS 400D. Do you think one of these cameras could be good? I do not want to spend more than 500 dollars.
Thanks!
Hi Emma, sure, you can start deep sky AP with a DSLR. I would go for the canon EOS 4000D, it has a larger sensor and full hd video (not necessary for deep sky but nice to have if you’ll be using the camera for regular photography and videos). The next step should be a dedicated cooled camera like the zwo294mc pro, but these are close to 1000 dollars. You’ll need to buy a T2 ring to connect the DSLR to your telescope. Clear skies!
Thank you!
True, I have a separate blog on ZWO cameras, you can find it here: https://astroforumspace.com/best-zwo-cameras-for-planetary-imaging-and-deep-sky-dso-astrophotography/
I would like to start by saying, I find your videos very entertaining and I have learned a lot from you. I have recently purchased the ZWO ASI462 MC. I was surprised to not see it on the list of cameras. From what I have gathered, it is a very good planetary camera and hope you could review it someday to compare to the 290. Keep up the great work and thank you for your videos.
Hi Jeff, thanks for your feedback, I’ll include the zwo asi462mc in my blog and table.
Hoi Wido,
Ik fotografeer al een hele poos en heb dan ook een redelijke collectie lenzen. Daarnaast heb ik ooit een Bresser Galaxia gekocht waar ik lekker doorheen kan koekeloeren. Desalniettemin als ik mijn camera hier aan koppel zijn de resultaten tot op heden altijd teleurstellend. Mijn 70-200 F4 lens presteert beter en scherper dan de galaxia combinatie. Waarom zou ik een 1000 euro uitgeven voor een 80mm lens F6 als ik voor de helft van het geld een 200 mm F4 kan kopen? Is dit überhaupt een reële vergelijking?
Hoi Pieter,
Die Bresser is als ik het goed heb een goedkope reflector. Je zult dus last hebben van coma (ovale sterren buiten je focus gebied) en diffractie in je sterren (je krijgt grote plustekentjes bij heldere sterren). Een apochromatische refractor is uitermate geschikt voor astrografie en zou een veel beter resultaat moeten geven dan een fotolens. Groetjes!
Good Afternoon Wido,
I wanted to pick your brain. I saw you video on filters. I live in North Carolina in what I call a Dark Class 5 Bortle. I shoot with Williams Optics GT102 Triplet APO Refractor with a Sky-Watcher Evoguide 50mm Helical Focuser. That guidescope has a ASI290mini. I’m mentioning ny equipment so you can get a overall perspective on my eventual question and situation. I just received my new camera ZWO ASI2600 COLOR. Since I jumped to color I also bought a ZWO FILTER DRAWER for my 2′ OPTOLONG DUAL BAND L-EXTREME. My filter is my real queztion. I want you thoughts on how my this filter will work with my color camera. Thank you
Hi Robert, wow, that’s a very interesting combination. To be completely honest, I haven’t tried the color camera x dual-band combination myself. But I do have some experience with narrowband imaging and I read the filter profile so I’ll give you my thoughts. First off, you’re in a dark class 5 environment which makes me wonder if you ever tried shooting without a filter and assess your light pollution situation. Under your conditions, it might be worthwhile to (also) consider broadband (i.e. normal) imaging. I think the l-extreme filter would work especially well for Ha and Oiii rich nebula. Assuming that you’re in the northern hemisphere, the nebulae in the constellation Cygnus (north America nebula, Pelican nebula, Cygnus loop, eastern/western veil nebula) would be extremely suited as they are H-alpha and Oiii rich nebulae. You could use the filter drawer+filter in combination with your asi2600 – that camera gives a wonderfully “wide” field of view which is awesome to catch the larger nebulae in just one picture – no need to create a mosaic. You will probably end up with one color stack, but you can process the RGB channels separately to create the image you want. Results would be a lot like the narrowband HOO images you’ll find on the internet. Hope this helps! Clear skies.
Hoi Pieter, goede vraag. De Galaxia is een eenvoudige reflector en zal dus van een aantal nadelen hebben, zoals ovale sterren aan de randen van je foto (door een fenomeen dat coma wordt genoemd) en de reflector produceert diffractie in de sterren (grote plustekentjes). Een apochromatische refractor zal die vertekeningen niet vertonen en geeft over het algemeen genomen en kwalitatief beter beeld dan een fotolens.
Hi Wido,
I have become a big fan of yours, after watching some of your videos on YouTube. The best part I like about your videos is the most detailed technical explanation, that I haven’t found on any other channels.
I am looking for good and handy telescope, to start with viewing, and later on I can upgrade the same telescope for doing astrophotography. Currently I am running very tight on my budget and hence I can’t afford whole set of telescope, mount and camera at the same time. I am from New Zealand and buying whole new kit would cost me around 4000 to 5000nzd and second hand market is kind of next to none. My budget is around 1000nzd.
Please if you can suggest me the telescope that fits my requirements.
Much Appreciate your time in advance.
Hi Nitish,
Thanks for the kind words. For 1000NZD, there are two options I think. You may find a good deal on astronomy or astrophotography fora. I’m not sure if there’s a specific forum in new Zealand that is equal to stargazerlounge or cloudy nights…if there is, you might want to check if there are people in your neighborhood with some used gear you could buy at a bargain price. Another option may be to buy a tracker for your dslr camera like the star adventurer pro. You can then use your dslr (without telescope) to take long exposure pictures with which you can already do some decent astrophotography imaging of large, deepsky objects like the Andromeda galaxy or pleiades. A third option is to buy what I would call a ‘beginner’ set….When I first started out, I bought a Celestron 102SLT – it comes with a computerized mount and achromat refractor. Although not suited for deepsky, you can make some decent pictures of the moon and planets. Hope this info helps, clear skies! PS: I recently visited Zealand, but it was the old one, it’s one of the 12 provinces in The Netherlands :-).
Great Video and I am glad that I have subscribed to your youtube channel. I was going to buy a CGX mount but I think I will stay with the EQ6-R pro instead. Also your video on setting up EQMOD and Stellarium have been very instructional. Many thenks my friend.
Thank you so much Bruce, clear skies!
Thanks for your kind words Bruce, clear skies!
Hi Wido,
Thanks for the informative Review that preempts to answer many questions that would arise regarding the use of EDGE HD Telescopes.
I wonder if is indeed necessary to use 50 mm Filter wheel with EDGE HD 8″ ? Any reason why 36 mm Filter heel and Filters wouldn’t work with ZWO ASI1600MM Camera ?
Hi Jayant, I’m going to explore that as soon as we have come clear skies in the Netherlands.
Hi Wido.
Thank you for this review. Helped me a lot. I wanted to ask you something: in the Quantum Efficiency column of the comparison table, some of them have the value “TBD”. What does TBD mean?
Thank you!
Hi Marcia, it means “to be discussed”. ZWO didn’t release any official QE figures for these cameras.
Hi Marcia, it means “to be discussed”, ZWO didn’t release any official QE percentages for some of their cameras.
Hey! Thanks for the great content and this write up.
I have ordered an 8” Edge HD and would like to try and get in some last chance Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
The scope arrives next week.
I have been searching for a clear indication of what I need to connect up a suitable camera, I have a few 1.25” ZWO cameras in OSC and Mono I could use but I have no idea what should go between the scope and the camera to get the right back spacing..
I ordered a Moonlite focuser (the one that has space for the 0.7 reducer inside it) and 0.7 reducer but they won’t be here for a month yet I think.
I’ll just have the standard scope (pun intended) of supply and my guide camera. My barlow is 2” so I’m not even sure if I can use that, though it does have a 1.25” eyepiece adapter which the camera will slot into, but the 2” end I’m not sure about.
Can you offer any wisdom on what I should try to buy or use to make this work out of the box?
Thank you!
Calum
Hi Calum, sorry for the late reply. Did you resolve this? The edge HD has an SCT adapter that accepts the 1.25″ nose piece of your zwo camera. I’m still figuring out my imaging train with the reducer. Once I figure that out I’ll make a video :-).
Hello Wido,
Wow just discovered your videos and now your blog and site. Very nicely done! I’ve just subscribed to your YouTube channel. I also live in The Netherlands, in Bennekom, but my Dutch is still very sketchy.
I have been interested in astronomy all my life but never had the opportunity to own a telescope. A couple of tears ago I borrowed an old Newtonian (Bynostar 4595, 114×900) on a wooden EQ mount, managed to collimate it without extra tools and even got some eyepieces for it but the experience has been frustrating most of the times because it vibrates a lot. The old wooden mount is not sturdy enough I think and though it’s bearable for planets and the moon it’s impossible for DSO.
I am also a hobby photographer getting into art and night photography. My budget is limited but mi imagination is big, as my patience, so I am managing to do decent night pictures and light painting compositions. I order to do astrophotography from The Netherlands, specially the Milky Way, I bought last year a very basic but good tracker, the mini tack LX3 (150 euro!) it’s working wonders with a basic Canon SL2 (200D).
I’m sorry this is getting too long, I’ve realizing now, please forgive me. Wanted to write to you privately to your email but I could not find it.
Now to the point: I’ve recently bought a Refractor telescope TS Photoline 72mm f/6 FPL-53-Lanthan APO doublet. I’m using it with a good camera tripod (Vanguard Alta Pro 263AT (max 7 kg) and the proper extensions, but I am still getting so much vibrations.
I was looking at your recommendations for beginner mounts and read your blog a few times. One thing strikes me, not just the prices ( I am a musician who does not makes much money and even less during the pandemic), is the amount of gear, computer, batteries, cables needed for serious astrophotography. But how about less serious? I just want to observe and photograph with not too long exposures and then stack the photos with darks, flats, bias, in the computer at home.
Do you know of an alternative for a inexpensive mount with good stability for my payload? And is it possible to do astrophotography without so much gear needed?
Finally, I would love to meet and do a viewing night someday. I’ve found a very dark site near Hoenderloo (Bortle 3 I think) that I’ll be happy to share. Where do you go for observing near Utrecht? I was in Terchelling last september but it was not free of glow, although it was nicely dark. I am seriously thinking to organize a citizen request to the munincipality in Ede for a no light pollution zone in the area.
Thanks so much in advance and most of all for your effort with the videos, blog and website, and for sharing your experiences. Clear skies!!
Hi Wido,
I recently wrote on another threat about mounts and the question about how much gear you need and how expensive it can be. I’ve found in my nights out how difficult is to focus and guide all the time. Seeing this options in STEP 4, these are not too expensive! Great piece of information, as usual. Clear skies!
Hi Javier, Thank thanks! I still focus manually, you can use free software such as sharpcap. For guiding, a mini guidescope with a cheap planetary camera doesn’t break the bank and PHD2 guiding software is open source. Clear skies!
Hi Javier, what instrument do you play? Anyway, yes, it’s an expensive and complex hobby. What you could consider is using a dslr with a star tracker, such as the star adventurer pro for widescape astrophotography. As for mounts, I would like those beginner mounts to be cheaper, it is my experience that those cheaper mounts are often unstable. What you could do is look for a used setup. In the Netherlands and Belgium amateur ap-ers often sell their gear on http://www.te-les-koop.nl
As for milkyway pictures, I only succeeded in other countries (Greece, France). Cheers.
Thank you Javier, clear skies!
First, thanks for your YouTube videos. I have found them very informative. Second, I’m looking for my first mount and have been thinking about the Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ 5 mount and was wondering if you had any thoughts on it?
Hi Frank, thanks! That is a good mount, but what kind of telescope are you going to use? And keep in mind that alt az is useful for planetary imaging and visual astronomy, but for Deep-sky Astrophotography you’ll always need the EQ config. Cheers!
Hi Wido
I have been reading through this information very interesting. It feels like filters are one of the more complex aspects to get my head around, there seem to be so many options and variations. With my DSLR I am only really interested in light pollution filters, I have recently ordered this filter https://www.astronomik.com/en/filter-gegen-lichtverschmtzung-filters-against-lightpollution-lpr/cls-ccd-filter.html and I am hoping to give this a test and see if it makes much difference to my images.
I guess there is also the option of mixing or layering images taken with and without the filters to see if I can get something different from both. Would I need to take flats/darks separate with the filter if I did this ??
Enjoying your videos and I’ve recently setup a little blog and youtube(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGV9niqrT8l04kR1azPtCzw) to try and show my progress as a total beginner. I think your channel is certainly one of the best resources out there.
I am hopefully getting a guide camera this week !!! ZWO 120mm. I’m not sure about Europe but over this 2020 most stores here have been out of stock in everything. I think everyone has become an astrophotographer.
Cheers
Ollie
Hi Ollie, thank you for your kind words. I think that the light pollution filter is a good way to start, you’ll definitely see some improvements if you live under light polluted skies. A next step would be an H alpha filter, that really helps to bring out the hydrogen gasses that are present in the many nebulas. And yes crazy due to Covid-19 and increased popularity in astrophotography which you can go without leaving your house really increased delivery times of equipment. Clear skies and stay safe.
Greeting’s Vito,
Thank you for taking the time to collecting and interpreting the ZWO camera data. Ironically I have, with the exception of a dedicated astro camera the same set up as yourself. Ij h7ave been a visual observer for years but with my recent retirement I have decided to try my hand at astrophotography. I just sent my DSLR out for modification.
My current plan is to mount my C 8 and 80mm APO in tandem horizontally as apposed to piggy back. The Farpoint saddles seem to be the most economical. But I’m purchasing the Prima Luce BIG saddle for the end carrying the Edge. I think I’m good weight capacity wise. I also have a ZWO guide scope, ASI Air Pro ad a Kendrick Zapper.
I’m a MAC user but haven’t found any good substitutes for h processing software. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.
Thank you and clear skies!
Hi John, great to read that someone else makes similar choices and I hope you’ll be getting some nice pictures! Unfortunately, I can’t help you with MAC software as I’m using a windows laptop/pc.
Although I wanted this telescope primarily for planetary imaging, I realize we in the Northern hemisphere won’t have a lot to look at for a while. So, DSO imaging while I wait? What are your thoughts on Hyperstar? Will you be getting one for your Edge HD8 or will you continue using your other scope(s) for DSO photography?
Will you be getting a Hyperstar to use this for some DSO imaging or stick with your other telescope(s)?
I’m considering it Jeff, but it’s quite an investment :-). My main goal is to get the edge hd up and running with the focal reducer for galaxy season next year.
I’m moving from visual observation into astrophotography and trying to limit my beginner (expensive) mistakes as I learn. I currently have an 80mm APO and am in the purchase process for the 8″ EDGE HD. I have decided, for now at least, to stick with OSC cameras just because things are already getting complicated enough, (and I think some of the new narrow band filters are going to be fun!) but I want to be able to use any new expensive cameras I buy for both of these very different telescopes. In using the CCD suitability calculator at astronomy.tools, both your recommended 178 solar system and 294 DSO cameras work great with the 80mm APO. For both cameras however to be in the suitability range with the 8″ Edge HD, I need to increase the binning to 3×3 to get away from over-sampling. I honestly don’t know the final impact of doing that. Do I need to be looking for a different solution, or is this 3×3 “binning” just not an issue when it comes down to my final output. A very related final question; if the ASI462 had been on your chart from the beginning would it have changed your recommendations? Thanks for the great job you do, glad I found you on the web!
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for your positive feedback. Yes, you have a point about binning, although for solar system objects this is less of an issue. At the end of my edge HD video I show some pictures of the moon taken with my asi1600mm pro (3,8 um pixel size), they weren’t so bad especially considering the poor seeing conditions: https://youtu.be/tEVNKi9ryYc?t=818 Still, a larger pixel size camera may produce better results for solar imaging (e.g. the 174mm has a larger pixel size). For deep-sky I have seen some amazing pictures with 2000mm FL telescopes paired with ZWO cameras…see for instance this picture of m101 https://www.instagram.com/p/CA3Hx2UJnt9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link -taken with an asi071MC Pro. So I’m not too worried that you’ll end up with good pictures using any of these cameras. I’m just looking at real-life results, and understand that the astrocalculators’ recommendations are different :-). As for the 462MC, I think this one is direct competition with the asi290 and the asi224 cameras. Either of those cameras will be good for planetary imaging, I don’t think you’ll see a huge quality difference between those cameras but maybe I’m missing something….a secret weapon that the 462MC has…Clear skies!
Assuming the AUX has a design or manufacturing defect (along with other arguable design/MFG defects), it would be very bad for any company to place a defective product in the stream of commerce. This would violate several provisions of The Uniform Commercial Code and could expose the company to strict liability, and rescission of their contracts. I would think that all manufacturing company would do thir ethical best so as not to cause financial harm to the buyers of their products. In fact, car companies do a recall when they find out that they have inadvertently released a defective product into the steam of commerce.
Hi
|You are very informed on your topics.
I must admit i am overwhelmed with all the information and choices availabe,
My main questions are , i like to study the moon and also DSO
is this possible, or must i make a choice and settle on my telescope and camera for the moon and DSO or can i have one option to suit all ?
I do not have a telescope at the moment, so this is my first step so am researching
i do not want a cheap option and also not a sky high option.
i certailny like to take detailed moon photos, then gain experience and move on to DSO, so do i then need 2 off cameras ?
what budget do you think i need to spend on the kit i need , i like the German mount and also the GOTO function
Martin
Hi Martin, great to read you are developing an interest for astrophotography.
The moon and deep-sky actually go quite well together in terms of buying gear.
If you want to go ahead and skip the cheaper options, I would recommend the following:
1) buy an adequate equatorial mount that is able to carry around 10kg max. payload, many people buy a Celestron AVX or a SkyWatcher HEQ5 mount (around 1000 euros/dollars)
2) I would start with an APO/ED refractor telescope that has about 80mm aperture and around 500mm focal length (around 900 euros/dollars). I’ve mentioned some interesting ones at the end of this blog: https://astroforumspace.com/best-affordable-telescope-to-start-astrophotography-in-2021/
3) As for a camera, you could start out with a regular DSLR (CANON, NIKON etc.) if you have one – you can buy an additional T2 ring (around 20 euros) to connect your DSLR to your telescope
4) For the moon, you won’t need anything else, but for deep-sky, I would recommend an additional guide scope and guidecamera such as the orion 50mm guidescope and a 120MC camera (both around 150 euros).
You’ll need some additional USB cables to connect your camera and mount to your laptop or desktop.
Then there is the software you’ll want to use such as Backyard EOS (particularly for canon DSLRs), Astrophotography Tool etc. to capture the objects.
And you’ll probably want to start using processing software such as deep sky stacker and photoshop.
That’s it I think…so you’ll be looking at around 2000 euro’s/dollars. If that’s too much, you can also think about buying a startracker (around 500) and put your DSLR camera on one of those to track the night sky and make some awesome widefield astropictures.
Hope this is helpful!
Best,
Wido.
Great review which mirrors my experience, although I had no issues with the belt.
One area I did have an issue, and am not the only one, was play in the mount to tripod connection. It does not appear to be machined to a tight tolerance and allowed the mount to move slightly on the tripod, no matter how tight everything is bolted down (and after tightening the loose post). I found the solution on the web, being to cut a strip of plastic from some packaging (a fruit punnet in my case) and fit one or two thicknesses of this into the hole that the mount slots into. That fixed any possible movement in that and I feel also makes for smoother left/right adjustments.
Thanks for this insight Roger and thanks for reading/watching!
Clear skies,
Wido.
덕분에 sgp 사용법을 잘 배웠습니다.
감사합니다.^^
천만에요. 유용하다고 생각해서 다행입니다 🙂
I have a Celestron Nexstar 8SE, with a cooled monochrome CCD with colour wheel for astrophotography and Wi-Fi for convenience. However, I also have a CG-5 GEM and an off-axis guide port for another CCD.
I find the Alt-Az is fine for astrophotography of bright objects such as the Moon, the planets and the brighter nebulae, and also for viewing. If need be, I can get some pretty good stacks of 30s subs on planets when guiding on the Alt-Az. But if I want crystal-clear stacked images of faint DSOs, it’s worth the extra faff of accurate polar alignment and focusing the guide camera to get some shots.
Hi Archibald, I agree. The Alt-Az mounts are easier to use and are great for solar system imaging. For deep sky astrophotography, I would recommend an Equatorial mount that you can polar align to increase your tracking accuracy. Clear skies!
I have an SBIG ST-402ME cooled monochrome CCD with integral colour wheel for imaging, and a monochrome ZWO AS1200MM-S for off-axis guiding. It took a while to wean me from my DSLR and later a colour CCD, but the results are worth it.
Hey Wido…I have been watching your u-tube videos and reading your blogs- one of the best in astrophotography. I’m an amateur photographer; and venturing into astrophotography; Thanks to your info; I have finally narrow down the telescope; Leaning towards Celestron Edge HD 8 (although a little worry that it may be advance for me); or One of the telescope that are APO/EDT.(definitely one of ones you recommended). Going to purchases the Skywatcher mount EQ5-to go;
I’m going to need a guiding telescope with camera. Not sure what else I will need. I have a Fuji Xpro2;
do I need Barlow lens; Any feedback on any other piece of equipment I will immediately need will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. collins
Hi Collins, sorry for the late reply and thanks for the compliments. If you are new to astrophotography, I would recommend starting out with a smaller apo refractor. A shorter focal length means you will get a wider field of view. Although your instinct is probably telling you to zoom in as much as possible, there are actually very nice widefield targets in the night sky (pleiades, Andromeda, orion nebula and other targets) that are really worthwhile to photograph with a refractor (i personally started with a 80/480mm APO refractor). You will also save a bit of money as compared to buying an Edge HD. As for the mount, I would recommend either a Skywatcher HEQ5 or a Celestron AVX if you’re going for the refractor. If you decide on the Edge HD, you’ll probably be better of with a slightly heavier mount with a higher payload capacity (e.g. the SW EQ6R pro, or the Celestron CGEMII, or even the CGX). You’ll indeed need a guidescope, for the refractor a small mini guidescope like the orion 50mm will do. And if you are starting with a regular digital camera you’ll need a T2 adapter for your camera. And finally, maybe you want to consider a cheaper non-cooled astrophotography camera like the ZWO 120mc or the 224MC to put in your guidescope for guiding, and to do some moon and planetary astrophotography with such a camera. Barlow is great if you’re trying to zoom in on smaller objects (planets, particular spots on the moon) within our solar system. For deep sky a barlow is less appropriate as it will double your focal length and will add exposure time to your capturing process. Hope this feedback helps, good luck deciding and clear skies!
Hi Wido,
Santa Claus brought me a similar setup to yours. Can you advise the bracket / shoe that you connected your guidescope to the back of the telescope please. How are you getting on with guiding with the Orion 50mm?
Robert
This is a little off topic but I just received a Skywatcher EQM-35 today from Amazon. They also sent the complete tripod for the EQ6R-pro in a separate box. I called Amazon and they said to keep it. I don’t need it and was wondering if you know anyone that can use it?
I enjoyed your video. Very informative 🙂
Hi Dave, wow that’s great! I would like it but you’re probably from the USA? If that’s the case you could probably sell it on astronomy websites like cloudy nights or stargazerlounge. Hope you’ll have a good time with the eqm-35. Clear skies!
Thank you for all of your work gathering this information and sharing for all to consume .. You compared cameras based on price delimiters . But what if those delimiters were moved .. Say Comparing the ASI294MC Pro to the ASI071MC Pro ?
Hi Karl, thanks! Well, in this particular case I think its a tough decision. The 071 offers a larger chip which will get you a wider field of view, which is nice. But when looking at other things such as full well capacity, analog to digital converter (indicators for dynamic range) and read noise, the 294 is very similar, and in case of Full well even slightly better. So the choice in this case is: do you want a larger field of view and are you willing to pay 500 dollars extra for that. Clear skies!
I placed an order for EdgeHD 8″ + AVX bundle but I see that reviews are very mixed.
Wanted to do some planetary and DSO imaging. Refractors focal length for similar money does not seem to work for planetary.
Is DSO imaging using this bundle not going to work without, OAG and focal reducer?
My current setup is DSLR camera, Star Adventurer tracking and bunch of camera lenses including Samyang 135mm f/2
Any comment/advice appreciated.
Hi Nick, for planetary you will be fine – and yes, the edge HD will provide you with the longer focal length that refractor telescopes often lack.
I never paired my Edge HD to my Celestron AVX, it will be able to handle the payload but you may be pushing it a bit in terms of instrument capacity but I would be curious to see your results.
You would definitely need some tracking gear to guide the AVX. Doesn’t necessarily need to be an OAG, you could also try and mount a traditional smaller telescope and camera on the edge HD.
You can find an overview of the gear I’m currently using here (including my tracking gear): https://astroforumspace.com/my-astrophotography-gear/
I’m in the process of experimenting with my Edge HD myself. So far the focal length on planets is pretty good (with 2.5x barlow), and I’ve done some initial deep-sky tests with my EQ6R-pro mount and ASI1600MM pro (FoV is comparable to a DSLR).
I’m hoping that I’ll have some clear skies in the upcoming month to do a full “deep-sky project” with the Edge HD which I’ll definitely share on my channel/website.
Thanks!
I have a Celestron Evolution 8″ on backorder, so I don’t have anything to work with yet. I know that the Alt-Az mount isn’t the best for astrophotography, but I have been lucky while waiting and found a wedge for my tripod. My big question is when I want to up grade from a DSLR to a dedicated astro camera, what would be a good start for a beginner, also what size of guide scope and camera would I need for the scope, Celestron says that the Star Sense camera is not large enough for deep sky photography, it’s only 20mm in dia.. Any help would be great, an keep those YouTube videos coming, they are great.
Hi Charles, coincidently, I’ll be releasing a video with seven tips to start astrophotography on my youtube channel today which covers a broad overview of setup (mount, telescope, camera, tracking gear, and how to tips).
You can also find more specific info on my “getting started page” https://astroforumspace.com/category/getting_started_astrophotography/ where I’ve shared my thoughts on cameras, telescopes, mounts etc.
And I have an overview page of Astro equipment I’ve bought over the years here: https://astroforumspace.com/my-astrophotography-gear/
Hope this is useful, I know starting astrophotography can be quite overwhelming. Clear skies!
I bought my EQ6-R about a year ago and I am still very happy with it. All I had to do so far was finetune the declination backlash.
I find the “extension tube” very handy, which incidentally fixes the altitude adjustment handle hitting the tripod. With bigger OTA’s it reduces the stress of tripod crashes as well. Good value for my money 🙂
I find myself often finetuning my altitude alignment by increasing or reducing the pressure with the “northern” bolt and only using the “southern/annoying” bolt for coarse adjustments. In the end, if you always set up in the same location (and especially if you have markings on the ground), you don’t need to twist the altitude bolts too much. I usually don’t need more than a fraction of a turn.
Clear skies! (soon I hope…)
Hi Gio, thanks you for your feedback! Good to hear you are still enjoying the mount after 1 year, and I fully agree that the annoying lever on the alt-az bolt is the biggest issue.
Clear skies!
Love your channel! How do we get in contact with you?
Hi Robert, thanks! do you have a question?
Hi Robert, sorry for the late reply. You can contact me on Instagram @astroforum, or publicly here or my yt channel
Could you tell , what size guide scope do you use with your 8 HD? Was thinking about 60mm, but Trevor, of Astrobackyard says that it need to be bigger. I am so confused.
Hi Charles, Check out my latest video:https://youtu.be/OBjYIH3MQAA . I’m currently learning by doing and got decent results with my 50mm guidescope. That being said, I tend to agree with Trevor, an off axis guider or bigger guidescope is probably better. Clear skies!
Hi I have jest purchased my Celestron AstroMaster 130 Reflector NewtonianTelescope and have seen some of your Youtube channels and wish to get into Astrophatograph and am thinking of getting the Celestron Advance VX Mount can you tell me what is the best Gide Scope and do I need to get a Polar alignment eyepiece if so which one also I am looking at getting the ZWO 1290mc camera for the telescope you help whuld be very much appreciated thanks.
Hi Philip,
I have used the Celestron Advanced VX (link: https://bit.ly/380Y01D) for several years in combination with my 80/480mm refractor which worked out very well. It is one of the cheaper beginner telescope mounts that is good enough for deep sky astrophotography. As far as I can see, the AVX doesn’t come with a polar scope unfortunately…so you’ll need to buy one separately. For instance, this is a basic polar finder you can insert in the AVX to perform visual polar alignment: https://bit.ly/3kqSzRq.
Yes, I do recommend you’ll get an additional guide scope and camera to start your AP hobby. It really helps to extend your exposure time from about 1 minute to several minutes, which really brings out the faint light some of the deep sky objects have (especially nebulae).
I’m using an Orion 50mm guidescope, this one: https://bit.ly/3h8gXUD with an older version of the asi120mc camera – I really like the compact setup.
I think both the 120mm or the 290mm mini cameras are very well suited as a secondary “guide camera”. I recently wrote my review on ZWO ASI cameras, you can find it here if you’re interested: https://astroforumspace.com/best-zwo-cameras-for-planetary-imaging-and-deep-sky-dso-astrophotography/
Hope this helps!
Clear skies,
Wido – Astroforum
, you can find reviews on my website.
Thank you for a great article! When I first began my interest was visual astronomy (in the early 1990’s) I became interested in astrophotography approximately 10 years later. Early on, I made many errors; one of them being the purchase of a Meade ETX 60 in 2000. There were very few resources to find good info on equipment and techniques related to DSO photography. That scope was very inexpensive but suffered from many inherent issues due to build quality (the motor drive was very “sloppy” suffered from backlash, the optics were poor and created false color); attempting to take photographs of even planetary objects was frustrating, to say the least.
Over the years I have been lucky enough to find useful information and have made much better choices when buying astro-gear. One of the best purchases I ever made was a Bresser 152mm Mak-Newt astrograph with a Carbon Fiber tube. This scope design has since been adopted by Explore Scientific as the David H. Levy “Comet Hunter”. I made the decision after listening to many recommendations by colleagues of mine that are also in the Cosmology and Astrophysics community. If it werent for those knowledgable people sharing their insights, I probabably would have given up and remained a “Visual Astronomer”.
So to make “a long story short”, thank you for taking the time to create a website that encourages others to follow their interests in a sensible way; I’m sure there are many cases of people who may have gone on to acheive amazing things in the field but gave up due to frustration caused by lack of resources, bad advice, and spending their hard earned money on things that woud never benefit their interest! Keep up the great work.
Hi Gary,
Thank you so much for your positive feedback, highly appreciated!
And thanks for sharing your story as well, it sounds very familiar. I’m hoping that the information on my website helps people to make informed choices and enjoy the hobby.
Clear skies!
Many thanks for the great channel. I just ordered one and wanted to mount it on a pier and build a little shed around it. What would you estimate is the clearance diameter that a celestron 8″ SE on this mount would require so that it could slew in any direction without hitting something?
Hi there, I don’t have a shed so I cannot really help you here. But you could build up the rig and just rotate your RA axis to +90 and -90 degrees I think? From the top of my head, I think the mount does not exceed 2.5 meters.
Good luck, let me know how it works out.
Wido – Astroforum.
Thanks! I ordered the mount around 2 months ago, but it will probably be hanging out on a boat near Suez for a while longer! This helps me plan ahead.
Hope your mount will arrive soon!
I have made a playlist of my Review + tutorial videos regarding the EQ6R pro: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrfMN3RZZNHfL_Qe2i4RCStHfgYfhBVbt
Clear skies!
Wido – Astroforum.
Hi Wido,
I just like say , how much I appreciate your YouTube channel .
I still return to many of your videos from time to time ,. the information is so clear and easy to understand , other astro channels have too much technical information that goes way over my head.
I spoke to you last year (in the comment section on YouTube ) , about backyardEOS Premium Edition ., you did a video on this , and I still use it today . so thank you for that . At the moment I’m using a A Newtonian Reflector. Which is too big for my NEQ3 mount .
I’m just about to buy my next telescope for deep sky astrophotography . I’m looking for your advice before I hit a hole in my credit card .
I love your pictures from the photoline 80mm .You speak very highly about it , and for the money it seem an excellent telescope.
I kind of have my mind set on this telescope , but before I buy , I have a question ,
My Question for you is this .
knowing what you know now, with your 7 years experience… Would you still buy the TS Photoline 80mm triplet f/6 refractor or would you buy something like the William Optics Gran Turismo 71 APO Refractor . both are in my price range .
Any advice or reply would be greatly appreciated .
If you have a code or link for buying either to help your channel please let me know .
I thank you for your time and help.
stephen .
Hi there, thank you so much for your kind words.
I can only speak for the TS 80/480mm APO, I still use it and are very satisfied with the images it produces. It has a great color corrected field of view. Do take into account that this is a triplet refractor, so if you’re using a large sensor camera, you’ll probably want to add the TSFLAT2 to your list and check for the correct back focus to avoid elongated stars towards the edge of your field of view. This being said the WO gran turismo is undoubtedly a good refractor as well. It is a 71/420, so you’ll be getting a wider field of view (more zoomed out) as compared to the TS APO 80/480. Good luck deciding and clear skies!
Wido – Astroforum
Hello.
Thanks for a lot of useful information. Awesome!
I am at the beginning of my adventure with astrophotography. Only one year.
You have two errors in the ZWO table.
ASI462 … Error in pixel size and noise.
Best Regards from Poland 😉
Thanks for the heads up, I’ll check it out and adjust the info.
Clear skies!
Hi, thanks for the great article.
I’m planning to start astrophotography and I think the best choice for me would be the TS-Optics ED 102 mm f/7 (one of your suggestions). Do you think it is a great telescope to start with or you think that the chromatic aberration would be too noticeable? This telescope would be just great for me since the field of view would be smaller than a 80mm F/6 so I really hope it can produce nice and sharp images of smaller DSO. So my question would be if this telescope would be that much different than a triplet APO in terms of the final image. Also do you think I really need a field flattener? Or some kind of filter to reduce the chromatic aberration (using the telescope with a crop sensored DSLR)?
Thank you
Marco
Hi Marco,
The main difference is that the TS optics 102 is a doublet refractor and I think you are referring to the 80mm f/6 apo photoline which is a 3-glass element refractor (triplet).
The 102mm has a bigger aperture and focal length enabling you to get a higher level of magnification on the target. The APO has higher quality glass if I remember correctly (FPL-53) whereas the
102 has the FPL-51 glass. You won’t notice a huge difference but the 80mm willl provide a complete color aberration-free image whereas you may notice some color fringing (but not much) on the doublet.
I would definitely go for a field flattener, I use the TSFLAT2. Ofcourse, you could start without one and just check if you suffer from elongated stars at the edges of your frame.
Hope this helps!
Good luck and clear skies!
Wido – AstroForum
Wido
I have enjoyed your reviews and tutorials and intend to listen into others that you have provided. Thank you for sharing your expertise. I want to ask for your opinion on a subject I am thinking about and researching. Back in the fall I dusted off my scope which I hadn’t used in a few years because of failures and frustration with aligning. I recently felt like I may be getting the gist of how to polar align and star align.
Now I want to take the next steps into astrophotography. My scope is the Celestron CGE Pro 1100 HD – 11″ f/10 EdgeHD. I have a background in IT and am comfortable with laptops and intend to integrate my scope usage with my laptop. I am currently using laptop for assistance in alignment. My first attempts with astro photography have been using my cell phone and photography the moon and I intend to soon try planetary photography with my cell phone.
Most of what I have read says to start with a DLSR camera. I don’t have a DLSR, but have always taken photos with either my cell phone or a digital camera. My question is: In your opinion should I purchase DSLR camera or can I go straight to dedicated astrophotography camera? I’m kind of leaning toward going straight to astrophotography camera. I am comfortable with using the laptop and the idea of integrating the dedicated astrophotography camera with the the laptop and tools. But, everything I’ve read says use DSLR first. What is your opinion?
thanks for any help with deciding
Harold
Hi Harold,
Thanks for your positive feedback. As per your question: You can absolutely start your astrophotography with a dedicated astrocamera! If you’re not into DSLR astrophotography you can skip that step. You should know that there are a couple of things to consider when taking that step. First, you’ll need to choose between a non-cooled vs. cooled astrocamera. another choice you have to make is between a color vs.a mono astrocamera. If you want to read up on this, I have this blog: https://astroforumspace.com/best-zwo-cameras-for-planetary-imaging-and-deep-sky-dso-astrophotography/ This blog is exclusively aimed at ZWO cameras which are quite popular. You should know there are also other brands like QHY which sell reliable, high quality cameras. Hope this blog will help you, if you have any additional questions, let me know. Clear skies! Wido – Astroforum.
Hi Harold,
Thanks for your positive feedback. As per your question: You can absolutely start your astrophotography with a dedicated astrocamera! If you’re not into DSLR astrophotography you can skip that step. You should know that there are a couple of things to consider when taking that step. First, you’ll need to choose between a non-cooled vs. cooled astrocamera. another choice you have to make is to for a color vs.mono astro camera. If you want to read up on this, I have this blog: https://astroforumspace.com/best-zwo-cameras-for-planetary-imaging-and-deep-sky-dso-astrophotography/ This blog is exclusively aimed at ZWO cameras which are quite popular. You should know there are also other brands like QHY which sell reliable, high-quality cameras. Hope this blog will help you, if you have any additional questions, let me know. Clear skies! Wido – Astroforum.
Hi dude, hope all is good?
What do you think about the SkyWatcher AZ-EQ mounts? I’m looking at the 5 and 6. The price gap between them is big. Other than that the 5 can carry a reasonable load despite its much smaller size. I would be doing mostly visual until I’ve watched another 2 million YouTube videos on imaging.
Seriously though I do prefer this dual function option but not sure if I should go for the big boy or play it safe
Hi Brian,
That’s something you’ll need to decide for yourself :-). The AZ-EQ 5 is perfectly suited for imaging in combination with most smaller, shorter focal length refractor telescopes. If at one point you want to buy a heavier, longer focal length scope and get into astrophotography, you’ll probably need to upgrade to the AZ-EQ 6. Good luck!
Wido.
Hello. I use 178MC not cooled. I am not sure how beneficial is the use of bias frames for DSO, and which exposure time should be used. Right now I use 50 frames of 0.001s exposures for bias. Thank you.
Hi Yossi,
For bias, you can take the shorterst exposure time possible, .001 is OK. Just make sure you’re also using the same gain level as your light frames, and keep the lenscap on. That should give you a good set of frames. I usually compensate with 50 bias, 50 flats and 50 dark frames. But you can try this yourself, check whether the stacked image is improved when adding the bias frames. If not, just leave them out of the process. clear skies.
Hi wido
I’m looking for some help please , if you have the time .
I recently bought a photoline 80mm triplet telescope and a optics photoline reducer 0,79x .
I’m following in your footsteps .lol. I recently spoke to you about this .
Here’s my problem, if you can help me .
I need an extension / adapter between the reducer and the camera 2″ and the same for the eyepieces .
I know the reducer is a T2 tread., Because my canon can fit on it .
My problem is, I don’t know what extension to get …ie. the tread size ( male and female ) and tube length .
I’m lost as to which to buy and I don’t want to waste money on the wrong product. I was wondering which one you use ?.
I would be grateful for any help you can give me .
best regards
stephen mohan .
Hi Stephan,
I’m not using the .8 reducer. Perhaps its best to just ask the shop you’ve bought your reducer, they’ll know what extension you’ll need.
Clear skies,
Wido.
Hi Wido!
I finally found your web site and discovered that you have a mine of useful information about astrophotography. Just before I came here, I had just selected and ordered a new planetary camera as an upgrade from the Sv305 that I have been using. Playing around a bit with “astronomy.tools”, I did some checking on field of view and found that the ZWO ASI178MC has a slightly bigger FOV than my current camera. Checking specs, it also has 14-bit ADC, higher resolution and decent overall performance for a non-cooled camera. Also, it was “IN STOCK” at OPT! So its on it’s way now. Thankfully, you also mentioned that this camera is a good one in the price range I was looking at. It probably won’t do much for my DSO interests (although I’ll try a few brighter objects) but that will come later when I update my mount and get the focal reducer. It’s only money, right !! Clear skies!
Martyn
Hi Martyn,
I only read your comment now. Thanks! I have been so busy with work and family (first my wife and then my dad in the hospital). How are you doing? I’ve made some life decisions. Will step back from my ambitious carreer path as an assistant professor to spend more time with my family, friends, and hopefully the nightsky :-). Hope you’re fine, talk to you soon. The 178MC is a nice one as it has a larger FoV and a higher quality ADC. I only use it for planetary, not deepsky (dark frames show to much noise). Have a great summer!
Wido.
Wido,
Rare vraag hier:
Kan je eens een video maken over astrofotografie met een verkeerde opstelling ? 🙂
Ik heb een Celestron CPC 9.25 (goto) met zo een standaard vorkmontering ? Met een oude dslr camera of een Orion Starshoot.
Bedankt moet niet onmiddellijk zijn he
Groeten
Rudi
Hello Wido, I love your work and follow every video and blog of yours. I am extremely basic is astrophotography. Got an astro modified canon d60 and a ioptron skyguider pro. I would like to upgrade my lens system and needed your help.
I stay in Belgium, not that far away from you so in the European market.
I have my eyes on two scopes
TSApo60f6RED + field flattener or
TS sharpstar61 (field flattener included)
Difference in price is about 100+ euros but one in a doublet and the other a Triple. All apo 53 glass
Now my question is, would a be Triplet be an overkill for a canon d60 ? And a doublet in enough ?
The William optics zenith start61 is too expensive in the European market so was looking at the options above.
Looking forward you your opinion. If you happy to be in Gent, would be great to meet up.
Regards,
Aniruddha
Hi Anidruddha,
Thanks! Sorry for not replying sooner. A doublet is fine if you are starting astrophotography. You will have a slight misalignment of the green part of the light spectrum, but most light we are catching from space is either in the red or blue part of the light spectrum, so you’ll be fine. I’ve never been to Gent, but I’ve heard it is a very nice city!
Cheers, Wido.
This is excellent. I’d already studied many tutorials so I knew a lot of the info you presented but what I needed – and got here – was the whole picture, i.e., the sequence to follow. Thank you! I have one picky comment if you’ll indulge me for a minute, and I see this everywhere so it’s not just you. “Setup” is a noun. “Set up” is a verb. I see things like “when you setup your gear…” all the time. We set up our gear. When we’re done setting it up we hopefully have a good setup. There. I got it off my chest! 🙂 I’m looking forward to more of your tutorials.
Got it, thanks!
Really excellent information here! I’m impressed that you are willing to take on the Herculean effort of helping others. Impressive. I especially liked your last thoughts on frustration and keeping things in perspective. How can I subscribe to your blog?
Hi Dane,
Thanks for the positive comment! I actually don’t have a subscription option right now, but I’ll work on it, thanks for the tip.
In the meanwhile, you could subscribe to my youtube channel as most of my blogs will also be mentioned in my videos (if you can stand my Dutch accent :-)).
Best,
Wido.
What about the SVBONY SV305 color and the SV305 pro mono cameras. I can read that there are some issues using them with Sterllarmate (Rpi) but apart from that they feature the IMX290 sensor and seem to be acceptable performers. Are they worth a try?
Hi Kasper,
I haven’t tried SVBONY cameras yet so I can’t say. But with an IMX290 sensor they should be good enough for some planetary imaging sessions. For deep sky I would opt for a camera with cooling.
Cheers,
wido.
Hi, I´m new to this hobby and I´m planning to buy my first mount. I will be using it in Colombia, which is very close to the equator (My latitude is 6,2 degrees north). I´m leaning towards the Celestron Advanced VX but it´s specs limit the latitude range from 7 to 77 degrees, which leaves my location outside. Will this render this mount useless in my location? The only thing I can imagine being a problem would be the counterweights hitting the tripod legs, but this could be easily fixed by changing them for a different geometry ones (Not sure). The other mount I´m considering is the EQM-35, but I don´t seem to be able to find it´s latitude range.
Hi Alejandro,
I’ve never tested this as I do not live close to the equator, but I think the main issue would be the tripod legs indeed. You might want to consider iOptron mounts, they have an EQ design that supports 0 degrees.
This is their newest GEM28: https://bit.ly/3eqL1ft
Another solution would be to replace the tripod with a pier, but you would also need some adapter kit to be able to connect a telescope mount head to that pier.
Hope this helps, clear skies!
Wido.
hello and congratulations for the beautiful site. I wanted to ask you something: I have a zeiss Telemator 63/840, with which I make visual observations of the moon, sun and planets. but I would also like to do some shots of planets and moon, which room would you recommend me? because I read about the zwo 462, the 178, etc… I don’t understand which one could be the most suitable. I was also thinking of buying a Barlow baader VIP 2x (which, if necessary, can become 3x or 4 … I don’t remember). you surely know a lot more than me, I just understood that it must have small pixels. ah, I use Mac. but I don’t know if there are any video processing programs. thank you
Hi Davide,
Thanks! I think I would go for something like the ASI224 (e.g. https://bit.ly/3dIUHka) as it is a good bargain. You’ll have a small pixel-sized camera with a fast FPS to make videos of the planets – which you can stack and turn into a picture.
And yes, a 2x or 3x barlow lens would get you to about .5 to .3 arc pseconds per pixel, which is nice when you want to catch planets.
The only thing to consider is that with the asi224MC, you wont be able to fit the full moon in your picture. If you also want that, you could go for the 178MC(https://bit.ly/31lINHQ) which has a larger sensor with which you might be able to also capture the full moon in one picture.
As for software, I would consider firecapture which has a MAC version to capture the moon and planets (http://www.firecapture.de/)
Good luck, clear skies!
Wido
I hope your parents’ situation gets better, sorry I didn’t write it down. I thank you for recommending these rooms, from what I understand, the “oldest” is 224, but still very good. while the 178 is better? or just because it allows me to film the full moon in full? because I noticed that it only has 60fps while the 224 has a lot more, and I knew that on the planets the higher number of fps was very important. the 462 then you would discard it. I am currently only interested in the planetarium, because I only have this instrument. the software you indicated to me are already included in the purchase of the zwo room and are used to resume. I was looking for something to process videos and stacks on Mac (like directorx or autostakker). again thanks and sorry.
Hi Davide,
I mainly recommended the 178MC because of the larger sensor (6MP), to capture a larger piece of the moon as compared to the 224.
Also, take into account that the max FPS of the 178 is lower because of the larger sensor. You can reduce the resolution in capturing software like firecapture.
When you do, you can run the 178 at 130FPS with a resolution of 1280 x 960 – still a bit slower than the 224.
Also, take into account that the length of your USB cable will also influence FPS speed.
The 462 has a sensor size that is in between the 224 and the 178.
224 –> 1 Mega Pixels
462 –> 2 Mega Pixels (is also a fine camera, but lower dynamic range as compared to the others)
178 –> 6 Mega Pixels.
As planets are very tiny objects in the sky, the 224MC is enough to capture all of the planets.
I don’t know any processing software on the mac, but on the autostackert site it does state you could run autostackert in an “Vine” enironment on your Mac.
Hope this helps.
Wido.
Ik wil een Skywatcher EQ-6 pro of EQ-6 r pro kopen maar de prijzen lijken in een jaar en drie maand met ongeveer 500 euro zijn gestegen. Weet iemand waar de oudere prijzen nog worden gehanteerd?
Misschien even terug in de tijd proberen te reizen naar het pre-corona tijdperk…
Een vraagje kreeg je een gratis accu bij de eq 6-r-pro? Trouwens leuke video’s
Dank je. Er zit wel een stroomvoorziening bij als je dat bedoeld? Een accu zit er niet bij die moet je apart aanschaffen.
I have purchased my mount and telescopes for visual so far. I haven’t purchased any photography equipment to date. I do want to go mono so my question: is the 268M fall between the 1600MM and the 2600MM in specifications? Thank you
Hi Chett,
The 2600MM and the 268M are very similar. Main differences are that the 2600 has a USB hub, and the 268M has a higher imaging buffer (1gb vs. 256mb).
I also think the QHY has a humidity and pressure sensor inside the chamber whereas the ZWO does not, but I’m not sure about that.
All in all, very similar, may come down to your personal preference and the setup you’re currently using… Hope this helps, clear skies!.
Hello I have a Celestron avx with a Williams 71 on it. The pointing is not good after 2 stars and one calibration one. I live in the uk. What zone number do I use on the mount? Thank you Frank
Hi Frank, I’m at zone 1 (Netherlands) so I would guess you are at 0 in the UK. Did you put the controller to daylight saving? And stars not being in the field of view after 2 star alignment is not uncommon. I would advise you to do a four star calibration, this really helps. Also, try to polar align your mount as accurate as possible, that also helps. Clear skies and let me know if this info was useful. Clear skies from across the pond.
Hello! I just got the Edge HD 8. I was thinking of getting the Celestron OAG. Most are back ordered. How did you connect an additional guide scope to the Edge HD? If I could figure that out I could probably get by without the OAG. Thanks!
Hi Michael, hope you’ll have a good time with your new edge HD! I bought an additional finder shoe which you can connect to the back/top right of the edge HD. Simply loosen the screws, put the finder shoe on the edge and tighten the screws. Clear skies.
I own a cheap telescope at the moment and am looking to upgrade to new mount and scope. The AVX is right in my price range with the features I prefer.
Can anyone tell me why ( https://www.highpointscientific.com/brands/celestron/celestron-advanced-vx-series-6-quot-newtonian-go-to-telescope-32054 ) this bundle is only $100 more than the actual AVX mount itself? I was looking to buy an 8 inch SCT with the AVX mount ( https://www.highpointscientific.com/celestron-advanced-vx-series-8-schmidt-cassegrain-go-to-telescope-12026 )
I understand the 8 inch is better and that would be my end game but just to get started with the AVX and save some money up front (just to get out and start gazing) what is stopping me from buying the 1100 bundle and then just upgrading the OTA down the line? I am just really curious why the bundle is only 100 more than the mount itself. Thanks.
Hi Dan, thanks for reading my blog. I’m not sure about why there’s a price difference, but what kind of astronomy/astrophotography do you want to get into? Please keep in mind that the avx will have a tracking accuracy of about 1 arc second or a bit higher, even when using a guide scope. That’s fine for visual and planetary photography, but I wouldn’t recommend deepsky astrophotography with that setup. The SCT is an f/10 with an imaging scale of about half an arc second, and you would definitely notice elongated stars and startrails (a blurry picture) when taking long exposure photos. Also, the SCT would need a coma corrector for deepsky astrophotography. If you’re going down the route of deepsky astrophotography with an 8″ SCT, I would recommend a setup like this, with a higher quality mount that can deliver more precise tracking of the night sky:https://bit.ly/3xjzxB9. For deepsky, it would make more sense to get that second rig (https://bit.ly/3lpnLTr), as the f/ratio is lower, leading to an imaging scale that is better suited for the avx. Or what I did, I first combined a good quality refractor with my avx, as they don’t require maintenance or collimation, check out my gear page here: https://astroforumspace.com/my-astrophotography-gear/. Also, I dedicated an entire section with tips on getting started with astrophotography. You can find it here: https://astroforumspace.com/category/getting_started_astrophotography/. Hope this helps, clear skies.
Bravo for taking care of your family and doing the things that matter. My wife and I have been hit with disabling health conditions and struggle to take care of each other and our house, a COVID bastion of safety. One saving grace is the backyard observatory, where I can sneak off to after caring for my wife for the day. Of course summer here finds washout conditions and untenable weather, so it has been a long summer.
Two years ago I decided to go the CCD route with an Atik 383L+ monochrome, and the learning curve has been steep, but began to see success at the end of the season. A western trip to Big Bend or such is on the hope list someday.
Take care and keep priorities with your family. They’re more important than pretty pictures or know-it-all-students.
Thanks for your nice words and support Randall, really appreciated! Hope you’ll have some clear skies soon and indeed, family will be on the top of my list from now on.
I greatly enjoyed your video comparing 8 different mounts. Thanks for that. I am seriously considering the GEM28 or the CEM26 from Ioptron. I know in your video you commented that very little is known about these mounts since they are so new. Have you had any further information from users on these two mounts? On paper they seem to be fantastic, and unlike all the other mounts in your review they actually have 2020 technology (I know that can be good or bad!).
Thank you very much Ravi! You’re right, there is still not much feedback from users, and the Ioptron mounts appear to be available only on backorder right now (see: https://bit.ly/2L4eRv0).
If you are willing to wait…I have received a number of super positive e-mails from a couple of persons who actually bought the GEM28 and/or the CEM26. Their first user experiences were pretty amazing and they talked about a guiding accuracy < 1 arc second... I think many people are still unaware that these mounts exist and tend to go for the traditional options like the Celestron AVX (http://bit.ly/380Y01D) or the HEQ5 pro (http://bit.ly/2VDCXzJ). But like I said, Ioptron mounts have been on the market for quite some time and I do think that these new mounts have some tech usually found on more expensive mounts like PPEC. Hope this helps, good luck with your decision!
Have you used the altitude adjustment knob replacement from SkyEdge described by Chuck of Detroit and is it a fix or do you still have problems with altitude adjustment during polar alignment?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HImdlDkx6RQ&t=64s
andhttps://skysedge.com/astronomy/altitudeknob/
Good question Michael! I actually ordered it a couple of days ago and will check it out as soon as it is delivered. I do think that knob still solve the issue with the handle bar and spring on the back of the mount.
NO mention of the ASI290MM? Many consider this to be better than the MC version, and the best camera for planetary imaging…did you just forget about it, or ignore it cos it’s mono?
Hi David, the 294mm Pro was released at the time of writing this blog last year. I’ll update the blog, thanks for noticing.
The asi294mm Pro is the successor of the asi1600 MM Pro. It has a better full well capacity and Quantum efficiency but does suffer more amp glow (which can be calibrated out by applying dark frames).\
Clear skies!
Hi, Also getting the EdgeHD 8 to supplement the 80ED refractor – purely for astrophotography (also from the NL). Have you considered for one of these external focusers – eg. Moonlite -, so you can fix the primary and avoid image shift during focusing? You think it is worth the effort and significant cost? Thanks
Hi Auke, nice, have fun! I didn’t buy an automatic focuser yet. Have been getting good results by just putting the telescope in mirror lock, didn’t experience significant mirror shift. You can look at my Instagram account to check out my results. That being said, I do have to refocus between different filters and I so think about automating the focussing process.
Hi Wido,
Well done on your content. Very informative and helpful.
I have an Esprit 100 for wide field imaging but I want to try small targets such as Planetary Nebula and smaller galaxies. Maybe planets but not so much. So I am looking at my options.
If both telescopes were the same price, would you lean towards the Edge HD 8 inch or a Skywatcher Black Diamond ED150 (6 inch) with the Esprit focuser (1200mm focal length)? I have an EQ6-R mount.
I’m wondering if the benefits of a refractor might outweigh the smaller aperture and focal length?
Thanks
Hi Darren,
Thanks and good question. I think the Esprit 150 would be a nice telescope for smaller DSO’s…
For planetary imaging, you really need that longer focal length and at least an 8″ aperture in my opinion, as planets are very tiny objects in the sky.
I’ve been successful in catching smaller DSO’s with the C8 Edge HD – with an additional .7 reducer which changed my F/ratio from F/10 to F/7.
It also brings the focal length down to about 1400mm, so that would be similar to the 1200mm on the Esprit. I’ve been having a lot of fun with the Edge because of its versatility, but the 150 will undoubtedly perform nicely too.
For me, some practical stuff like the weight (only 6,3kg/14lbs) and short tube length (432mm/17″) played a role too.
Tough decision, good luck!
Love this guide. Completely new to this myself. Would be it possible to have an extra column about how there are powered? Or are they all powered the same way? (Wall power point or?)
Thanks!
Thanks! I’ll look into it. All mounts I’ve owned so far come with adapters that can be powered by your electricity grid.
So what’s the common thing to do if you need to use them outside, say somewhere far away from city light?
Most people use a LiFePO4 battery option or an older lead-acid battery to power their mount when they are “off the grid”.
Dear Wido,
Thanks for a very informative and comprehensive overview of the ZWO cameras!
I am still in the “exploratory phase” regarding astronomy, and would like to buy a camera not because of taking amazing pictures, but because I hope to see more stuff on a PC monitor than in the eyepiece. I am using Celestron NexStar 6SE.
One thing still puzzles me: if I choose a deep sky camera with small pixel size, such as ASI183MC Pro, will I be able to take good planetary images? I know making a video will take longer, but what else did I miss? I found a lot of information about imaging deep sky objects using a planetary camera, but nothing about the opposite – about imaging planets using a deep sky camera.
Hi Pavel,
The main differences are in FPS – Frames Per Second. Planetary cameras are often faster in FPS than deep-sky cameras. The reason for this is that you’re going to take videos of the planets (often one or two minutes in length), and the higher your FPS the higher your number of frames (aka pictures) of the planet will be. That’s important because you can select the best frames and disregard the bad ones. The more high quality frames you have, the better your picture of the planet will be. For deep sky FPS is not important as you’re going to take long exposure pictures of the night sky. Hope this helps.
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Love your channel! I was wondering if you had any more raw data available for downloading and processing such as your jupiter video. I am new and need a lot of practice with the software before getting real. Thank You
Hi there,
Yes, I do have some deepsky pictures as well, check: https://youtu.be/J4vyjMI-9cc
Hi Wido, Thank You so much for this video. I am totally new and am just moving to this world. I am totally unable to make my decision between Celestron Advanced VX (currentlt @USD 999) against Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro(@USD1225). I am surely unable to scale (on tighter budget) to Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro(@USD1675). I currently have a Redcat 51 as my primary Optic tube. Would you be able to help please.
Hi Ravi,
Given your tight budget, I think the AVX is certainly up for the job. The redcat 51 has focal length of only 250mm, so as long as your periodic error is below 2 arc seconds you’ll be fine.
The AVX – with guiding – has an average periodic error of around 1 to (max) 2, depending on polar alignment and weather conditions. The newer versions also come with a mini usb connection on the
hand controller, making it easier to connect your mount via usb to your pc or laptop and use guiding software like phd2. Good luck, clear skies!
Wido.
hello and congratulations for the fantastic blog. I wanted to ask you for advice. I have two refractors, a zeiss 63/840 and a Lich 90/1300, and I will get a Newton 12 “f5 … I only want to make planets, mainly with 12”, but maybe using the other two as well. which camera would you recommend me in combination? I have no problem spending for something of quality. I saw that new sensors came out like 174 and 464… what do you say? because every seller here in Italy recommends a different product, and I wouldn’t want to make a mistake in the purchase. Thanks and happy new year
Hi David, I completely missed this post, sorry. If you want the absolute best pictures of planets you’d need to consider a mono planetary camera with separate RGB filters…
Great channel! I emailed you a couple months ago inquiring about data to “practice”with. I am a beginner and am mainly interested in lunar data to begin with. If that goes well, I will eventually work my way outward. I have a two part question. Do you have any lunar data available I can work with? Also, when will you be releasing that lunar processing video? Thank you! and greetings from Az.
Hi Harry, thanks! I didn’t release a video on how to process the moon yet, I’ll put that on my to-do list.
I do have some videos of the moon and I’ve put one in my dropbox for you (and others) to download and play with.
It’s a nice video of the Copernicus crater, you can download it here, file is about 2GB: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wpsren1i8vnbae1/AAB3hICqvrP-fuDUfddB9znGa?dl=0
The file is in *.ser format and you can open it in autostakkert and/or registax.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Wido.
Hallo Wido,
Dank voor al je nuttige artikelen! Volg je regelmatig.
Heb een vraag over de classical cassegrain. Ik overweeg er een aan te schaffen voor voornamelijk visueel gebruik planeten. Eventueel nog fotografie. Nog geen deepsky fotografie. Ik zie de CC nergens meer terug in je artikelen. Was de OTA tegengevallen? Of komt het door deepskyfotografie waar deze niet zo voor geeigend is? Ben benieuwd naar je reactie.
Gr Paul
Dag Paul, ik kreeg die telescoop niet goed gecollimeerd met conventionele instrumenten. Je hebt een laser collimator nodig en een nogal ingewikkelde procedure. Nadat ik de telescoop 3 nachten lang had proberen te collimeren zonder goed resultaat heb ik hem teruggestuurd. Met refractors heb je geen collimator nodig en Newtonian + sct’s zijn veel eenvoudiger te collimeren. Het was een leermoment voor mij. Groetjes
Hi Wido, many thanks for all the info you are sharing in your blog. I have similar gear to what you have and I have specific question re exact setup for EdgeHD 800 + ASI 1600mm Pro + ASI EFW. Are you able to obtain the targeted back focus of 133.5 mm? Thanks in advance for the response.
Hi Adam,
Sorry for the late reply. Yes, I have the filterwheel and camera at the recommended 105mm backfocus (not 133.5). See: https://s3.amazonaws.com/celestron-site-support-files/support_files/94242_reducer_inst_sheet.pdf
Excellent review and I like all your videos too. I’m seeing the limitations of my current equatorial mount (worm gear defects) with a 1500 mm Mak-Cass GoTo telescope. I was wondering if you had any insights on why two-motor GoTo systems like SynScan still need to be accurately polar aligned. I would have thought that with full control over a telescope’s orientation, the onboard computer could artificially define the location of the polar axis regardless of the orientation of the mount after locating 2 or more stars. Instead, I find that there’s still significant long term tracking error unless my scope is polar aligned to less then a few arc-minutes.
Hi Albert,
Polar alignment is essential for any EQ mount. Your mount has to be able to exactly track the movement of the stars due to the rotation of the earth. By polar aligning your mount to the celestial Pole, your mount can exactly track the arc stars make in the sky. Without it, you’ll be getting startrails. There are alternative alt-az mounts that can be placed in all kinds of positions. These mounts are able to find objects in the sky but will not exactly follow the path of the stars in the night sky and you will suffer from rotation. Long story short, EQ mounts need to be polar aligned. Clear skies!
Hallo Wido ,
Heb recent een soortgelijke ervaring met de 8″ classical cassegrain van TS gehad. Collimatie was ver te zoeken out of the box. Dacht dat ik hem zelf aardig goed had gecollimeerd dus dezelfde avond een sterretest gedaan. Wat ik zag maakte me nog steeds niet blij..in en uit focus; te slecht om op door te tunen. Dus heb het weer ingepakt en teruggestuurd. Dank voor je info anders had ik er waarschijnlijk “te” veel tijd in gestoken..
Groeten Paul
Hey so I am going to a picnic in 2-3 days so, I don’t have any camera or telescope. I just have my phone which is Redmi 8 (Not pro or note just normal redmi 8). So can i do astrophotography with it. If yes, was settings should I use?
Do you have nightmode available on your android phone? Check the store. Put your smartphone on a tripod and use night mode. You’ll get some decent photos (for a smartphone).
Hello, I have an 8″ dob. 1200 mm FL..
I’m looking to get a camera for it.. I’m just not sure what to get?
Mirrorless? DSLR? ZWO? I’m looking to get an EQ Platform for it as well . Looking to get planetary and DSO if I can…
Any info would be greatly appreciated..
dahawkins7257@gmail.com
Thank you
Don
Hi Don, I would recommend a planetary camera for your dobsonian. ZWO has some great affordable cameras like the 678MC color camera.
It is a bit difficult to put a dobsonian on an eq mount, that’s not what there designed for. If you want to go for deep-sky astrophotography, one of the best ways to start is to get a smaller ED/APO refractor or a newtonian telescope.
Cheers.
Hi,
Your video made me re-think my buying strategy, so thanks a lot!
Just a quick question: why I have opted for a TS instead of an OMEGON?
Thanks,
Rita
Hi Rita,
The post you’ve read is actually a couple of years old. you can find my latest blog about telescopes for planetary imaging here:
https://astroforumspace.com/best-telescopes-to-photograph-the-planets/
Best,
Wido.
I have a classic 8 inch Dob and want some planetary astrophotography. Its ok to use this ZWO cameras? I am particulary interested in the ZWO ASI 224 MC .
Hi Juan, definitely, go for it! the 224MC is a very nice all-round planetary camera.
Hello, what’s your backfocus set? I also have EDGE HD 8, I set 105mm but still something is wrong. Could you provide one light frame from this setup as well? thank you very much
Hi there, I’m using the 105mm backfocus – as recommended by Celestron – which give me round stars. Link to the manual: https://s3.amazonaws.com/celestron-site-support-files/support_files/94242_reducer_inst_sheet.pdf
When estimating the load, do we have to account for the counter-weight as well?
Also, if i m going with a WO ZS81 with a mirrorless DSLR, do you think a Sky-watcher Star Adventure Gti mount would suffice?
Hi there, no, the counterweight is not part of the payload capacity. It’s there to balance your payload. I would not put anything over 300mm focal length on that GTI. Cheers.
Just curious, Celestron bundles the AVX with the RASA8 which is rather appealing to me. 400mm and f/2.0 are making the tracking demands not very high I think. It’s a bit of a border case. What’s your take on this? (they improved the AVX a bit compared to the model you own if I’m correct).
Hi Bronco, yes, at 400mm + f/2 (low exposure time) it would be possible to get round stars with the avx and RASA. Never tried it myself though. Hope this helps, good luck!
Thanks for a great article..
What do you think about Celestron 8SE for astrophotography?
Hi Gal, thanks! The 8SE is good for visual planetary observations and can also be used for planetary imaging + some great close-ups of the moon.
For deep-sky astrophotography, it’s a bit problematic for two reasons. First, the 8SE comes with a Nexstar altitude-azimuth mount which basically means you cannot take long exposure pictures of deep-sky objects, unless you put that telescope on an equatorial mount (see blogs about beginner and advanced mounts elsewhere on my website). Second, the 8Se is a typical Schmidt-cassegrain design telescope, and those designs suffer from (off-axis) coma. In practice, this means that your stars will be elongated towards the edges of your field of view when taking pictures with a camera. There are options to solve both problems (e.g. you can buy an additional wedge with the Nexstar mount to track the stars more accurately, and you can buy a coma corrector to correct for the elongated stars), but if you want great pictures of deepsky objects I’d recommend an equatorial goto mount and a different telescope (e.g. a good quality ed or apo refractor to start your hobby). Hope this helps!
I just replaced a SW EQ5 SynScan with an ES iEXOS-100 PMC-8 and Medium Duty tripod. The iEXOS-100 is lighter and cheaper and actually performs better than the EQ5 did with my image train at 5.5kg. I’m guiding consistently below 1.5 RMS ArcSec and sometimes below 1″ with an WO73 ApoII and a Nikon D750. I think the iEXOS-100 is worth consideration for beginners.
Thanks for sharing!
Great, good luck with your setup!
You announce in your videos that you live in Utrecht yet the merchandise links go to US sites! I greatly appreciate the videos on mounts because I am just getting started with astrophotography as a retirement hobby. Your videos along with Trevor Jones’ vids have provided a lot of information regarding mounts for beginners. I retired, with my Dutch wife, to a small dorp just outside of Winschoten. We moved to her country from my country just before the Covid-19 business hit. I do not speak Dutch – my Dutch language class was shut down with the lock-down and I really cannot go back because of all the kids that block the entrances to the building while they smoke their cigarettes – my lungs cannot handle any kind of cigarette smoke. Anyway, just wanted to pass on my thanks for your videos. In closing, my nephew and his wife and son live in Utrecht.
Hi William, thanks so much! Hope you’ll have a good time in Winschoten. People should be able to speak English using the same dialect as I have :-). If you have any questions about astrophotography, just let me know. Clear skies!
I have the Orion Sirius eq-g mount and love it. I use it with my Redcat 51 and Astrotech 72ed refractors. The only problem is the RA an Dec controls are a bit hard to adjust. But is useable.
The last topic does not actually make a recommendation as to best telescope and camera combination. It the best combo between 1 and 2 arc seconds? Or?
Hi Helmut, for deep-sky, I would always check if the imaging scale with the camera/telescope combi is around 1 to 2 arcsecs.
Cheers.Go lower and you’ll often get oversampling due to atmospheric distortions, go higher and you’re not getting the highest resolution out of the deep sky objects you image.
Apart from that, a higher aperture telescope will give you a higher native resolution as it is able to resolve tinier objects.
And a shorter f/ratio will limit the time your exposure time.
Hi Helmut, for deep-sky, I would always check if the imaging scale with the camera/telescope combi is around 1 to 2 arcsecs.
Cheers.Go lower and you’ll often get oversampling due to atmospheric distortions, go higher and you’re not getting the highest resolution out of the deep sky objects you image.
Apart from that, a higher aperture telescope will give you a higher native resolution as it is able to resolve tinier objects.
And a shorter f/ratio will limit your exposure time needed to photograph objects.
Hi Helmut, for deep-sky, I would always check if the imaging scale with the camera/telescope combi is around 1 to 2 arcsecs.
Cheers.Go lower and you’ll often get oversampling due to atmospheric distortions, go higher and you’re not getting the highest resolution out of the deep sky objects you image.
Apart from that, a higher aperture telescope will give you a higher native resolution as it is able to resolve tinier objects.
And a shorter f/ratio will limit your exposure time.
Hi Wido,
I’m wondering if you have any experience with harmonic mounts like the new ZWO AM5. Would you recommend a harmonic mount over the traditional kind of mounts?
Thanks so much again for all the information you provide!
Greg
Not yet, but I’m thinking about buying one, so stay tuned :-).
Hi. Been watching your videos and they helped me a lot in getting back into astronomy and astrophotography after 15 years of absence (working in hospitals). Now I am back and getting myself reacquainted with my cg5 goto and planetary gear. Your videos inceased my intetests in DSO and got a redcat, mirrorless camera, asi 533 and now waiting for SW GTI. Its quite à big bite to swallow but now that I am retired, time is a luxury that I have. I follow you from Canada. Both you and Astrobackyard are the most helpfull people for people like me. Thank you for your precious help.
Thanks Alain, I appreciate that!
What about your take on the CLS/CCD filter?
Thanks much!
This is amazing! Great job!
Great tutorial. I have a problem when capturing as some frames are incomplete (half black or have bars across them) and when alalysing the footage it ‘sees’ these frames as best quality. How can they be removed from the footage?
perhaps delete these frames from the video altogether with a video editing program before going back to Autostakkert?
For a reason that I don’t understand, when I call up the ser file in Autostakkert3, the image shows diffraction rings all over the planet. This doesn’t happen with Autostakkert2. What could be wrong? Thank you, Joe Bauman
Hi Joseph, I wouldn’t know…did you also notice it in your live videorecordings?
I like the idea of the 8” Edge HD with the EQ6-R. Will probably get this when I sell my Questar :-}. So… any pearls of wisdom re: focusing and tracking? OAG vs Finder scope/ camera. EAF? Thanks for your time!
Hi, I use the EQ6R Pro with a classic finder scope on top of my edge. A cheapy 50mm aperture guide scope with a 120MC, my guiding is always around .5 arc seconds per pixel.
You can buy an electronic auto focusser for the edge, e.g. celestron or ZWO EAF, I have used neither so far and I’ve saved some bucks and lost some sleep because of it. I still use EQmod for tracking with an ASCOM HEQ5/6 connection, it never fails. Hope this helps, have a nice day Jack!
Hi,
I very much appreciate the knowledge you share on your YouTube channel. I have always been interested in astronomy and photography so now I am interested in astrophotography. I am wondering if you can recommend guide scope / camera options. Thankyou.
Hi Ben, great, thanks! Check out this v/blog: https://astroforumspace.com/selecting-a-guide-scope-and-autoguiding-camera-for-astrophotography/
Good luck!
Wido.
One BIG advantage of the GTI is that, for the additional cost of a hand-controller, it has GoTo capability. For someone new to astrophotography, and probably new to astronomy, finding object to photograph may be difficult if you are using any sort of telephoto lens. For this alone, my vote goes to the GTI.
Your weight of head /tripod on the Meade LX85 is erroneous. It has the highest capacity of all the mounts, so how could the head weight be only 11 lbs? 11 lbs supporting 33? If that were true, I’d run out and buy it at twice the price. I believe it should be 19.9 lbs.
Check: https://www.astroshop.eu/equatorial-with-goto/meade-mount-lx85-goto/p,59556#specifications
Hi Wido, love your videos …brilliant. I have a slightly different need. I want to buy a telescope for my 3 young children. my eldest is 11 and visually impaired. I want to be able to show images on a screen.
Can this be done? I don’t want to buy a telescope for eldest, not to be able to participate.
Hi John, sure. You can buy a planetary camera and connect that to your telescope the same way as you do with an eyepiece.
Once connected, you can run a USB cable between the camera and your computer or laptop. There are also wifi options, but these are more expensive.
The planetary cameras are perfect for the moon and planetary imaging. For deep-sky, it is not very good as the cameras lack cooling.
But…for some casual deep sky viewing with a screen, where you can stack pictures with free software like sharpcap, it’s definitely nice to show some bright DSOs.
Here’s a table with planetary cameras: https://astroforumspace.com/zwo/
For a couple of months, I’ve been using a new one, the asi678MC – check: https://astroforumspace.com/zwo-asi678mc-review-first-light-pictures/
Clear skies!
Wido
Hi John,
I guess I missed this post, sorry. Yes, it’s definitely possible to buy a telescope and camera so they can watch the live images from a computer screen.
Don’t know what kind of budget you were thinking of, but a regular planetary camera and a telescope will give you good views of the moon and small views
(which can be zoomed) of the planets. If you want to go beyond that, you need to think about a serious investment as you’ll need a good quality mount to track the night sky. Another option is to take long exposure pictures with a dslr camera (e.g. 20 seconds at iso800 or higher) and show that to your kids. Good luck, happy holidays!
Hi congratulation for your site and for your videos, i have a question, everywhere i see cams for planetary or deep sky, but what about a cam for double stars? what parameters are more significant than others? Would prefear a native color, since i would like to shoot colour contrasted pairs. what bout asi 482 or 585?
Hi Nevio, stars are pretty bright so you can buy a so called planetary camera yo shoot the double stars, like the ones you mention. If you also want to capture dimmer nebulae it’s best to take long exposures with a cooled astrocam. Clear skies!
hi thanks for the quick answer, i have another doubt, I see the for example that in my telescope asi 482 (5,8um pixel dimension) has lower resolution than asi 585 (2,9um pixel dimension) 1,49″/pixel vs 0,74″/ pixel but match better my 115/800 refractor for sampling combination as in https://astronomy.to…ccd_suitability reported. So in this case is it better to care about resolution or sampling suitability? i posted same question in cloudy nights but got no answer, i hope you can understand the question despite my bad english
Hi Nevio, for double stars I’d take the 585mc as double stars are quite small and bright objects in the night sky you can also use it for moon and perhaps some planetary (you’d need a Barlow lens).
Hello Wido, I have a GSO f/5 750mm Newtonian Reflector. I am planning to buy a ZWO ASI camera for planetary imaging. I am planning to purchase either 224MC colour, 585MC, 178MC. It would be helpful if you let me know which one to purchase as I am now confused.
Hi Pavan, I’d go with the 585mc. I didn’t test it personally but it has a wider field of view for the moon and its a bit easier to find the planets. It also has a higher qe, a deep fwe and a small pixel size with max fps 45 and low read noise.
Wido — thanks for creating and sharing tutorials on processing planet images.
Autostakkert most helpful bits were: adjust image size to reduce processing time, explain reference frame settings, and relationship between image scale and the drizzle setting.
Registax most helpful bits were: RGB align and balance settings, and excellent recommendations on wavelets adjustment.
Happy Holidays!
Ref the Aux port…That explains great deal. I was making a WiFi drive for another Meade and wouldn’t work no matter what I tried. I never dreamt the polarity would be reversed. Why did Meade do this. Idiots.
Hi, excellent info and review, thanks. My comment is that Ritchey-Chrétien telescopes, D=200 mm or more, could be perhaps another possible choice for planet imaging, while also offering the opportunity for coma-free astrophotography. Honestly, I have no direct experience of any kind with RCs (my gear: C8, N6, TriAPO/80mm), but from what I have read, RCs performance for planet imaging could be decent at least, perhaps without being excellent due to the relatively larger secondary mirror obstruction as compared to SCTs, Newts, and Maks. Cheers.
I do have experience with RCs. They’re interesting scopes but the collimation procedure is more difficult compared to other designs.
Yes!
You got your AM5👍🏻
In you short video I see you mounted the ASI Air on the side, think you should consider mounting it somewhere else,
Lots of discussion regarding the issues with that mounting location.
In any event, I’m thankful for your videos. Keep them coming! ❤️
Thanks for the tip Sandy! Why on earth did ZWO put that perfect asiair holder there when it cannot be used, lol.
Very good review. I was leaning towards buying one. This article convinced me to wait fro another 6mnths to a year to see field results.
Your articles and website are second to none. Thanks again Wido!
Thanks so much Patrick!
Nice post! Thank a lot for the comparison.
For no particular reason other than better be safe than sorry I have set the Ioptron CEM70 as the baseline. Do you think any of those harmonic mounts in your review can match or even outperform the CEM70 when it comes to guiding. Let’s take a C8 Edge HD with a reducer and OAG guiding using a ASI2600mm pro plus filter wheel
Hi Gert, I’m not sure yet. I will be testing out the AM5 with my Celestron Edge HD 8″ with a focal length of 2000mm. I’m really curious about the guiding results – if they are about 0.5 arcseconds I’ll be happy. Stay tuned.
Any results using the C8 EdgeHD? I’m curious as I’m thinking of using this combination of scope and mount.
Thanks so much for the tutorial. What is the deringing function for? Does it remove the light and dark ring I have around my photos of Jupiter (probably due to very small aperture of my scope)?
Yes, that’s what its for.
I had the HAE29 for about two weeks, and immediately had problems. The key problem is the HandControlls poor communication with 2 Android 11 Tablets and NO communication with a Smartphone. I posted a review on AgenaAstro and it was pulled about 36 hours later, I also posted a review on iOptrons own site. It was not untill I told iOptron that I was going to find a YouTube maker and post it that I was quickly notified that iOptron was going to refund me.
I own about 3 of those harmonic mounts (ZWO AM5, iOptron HEM 27EC and Sharpstar MK III) and they all perform very well. I have used them mainly with a 600mm and a 1300mm scopes, no OAG but a 200mm William Optics guidescope.
All of them deliver constantly well under 1″ total error guiding and the stars were nice and round.
Communication wise, never had any troubles either connecting to the mounts directly or connecting them to AsiAir.
The Sharpstar MK III is a true workhorse moving my 15kg scope around with ease.
All those mounts are lighweight and the absence of counterweights makes them perfect travel companions.
I have the Celestron Evolution Edge HD 8″ Telescope. Can you recommend an Autoguider set up for my telescope, scope and camera.
I would be willing to spend more money for versatility as I’m starting out in this hobby and unsure what imaging camera that I will end up with. I currently have a Nikon D850 DSLR and a Orion Color CMOS cameras. I just recently purchased the Rainbow Astro RST 135 which is kind of crazy given my level of experience and budget but I’m older and need to break down my rig after every session. Thanks in advance for your feedback and for your videos.
I got my HAE43 last week. After 2 short nights I‘m still not heavily impressed about the guiding results using my ASIAIR.
Guiding was around 1“ but on a low target. (Orion from 30degree down to 15degree)
Sometime a bit under 1“ sometimes a bit higher. Max guiding curves relatively constant swinging from +2“ to -2“ at 1second guiding exposure.
Have to test it more to the zenith for final results.
On problem is that the usb connection from the mount to the ASIAIR does not work. Can’t tell the reason.
Wi-Fi works but not super stable. Had some failed connections.
About how much weight in addition to the optical tube should I expect to put on a mount?
cameras, filterwheels and guide scopes usually do not weigh more than one to three kilograms (max. 6 pound)
Thanks for the tutorial. This is a complicated process for a beginner like me, but I appreciate how you make it manageable.
I have a question about the capacity of these types of mounts in general. For German Equatorial mounts like the Sky-Watcher EQ6r Pro we are warned about not exceeding above “50%, 60%, 40% etc.” of the capacity when used for astrophotography. Does that also apply to these mounts or can they truly hold our gear up to the rated capacity? For the AM5 will I be limited to about 50% of the 20 kg when I use it for astrophotography? Thanks.
Hi Don,
Good question. I’m testing the AM5 right now and the first couple of nights were great. I was able to get tracking below 1 arcsecond per pixel with my Edge HD 8″ with a filter wheel, camera, and guide scope. As the Harmonic Drive technique is very different, I do think these mounts cannot be compared to the same “rules of thumb” as german equatorial mounts. I have a new b/vlog where I talk about my first experiences with the mount – you can find it here: https://astroforumspace.com/zwo-am5-mount-review/
Clear skies!
You replied to this comment.
Hi Adam, thanks. Just as a follow up: I’v tested my ZWO AM5 now on 6 nights with gear varying from a lightweight APO refractor to my heavier 8″ Edge HD SCT Telescope with camera, guidcam, filterwheel etc. My ZWO doesn’t seem to mind the extra weight. Guiding is always below one arcsecond, mostly around .5 to .7 in RA and DEC. Cheers.
Very interesting. Will take me some time to absorb all this knowledge. Thanks for being so informative.
You replied to this comment.
Thanks, Richard! Brand loyalty and awareness and fame are probably significant factors too, indeed.
Thanks for a good review.
I have a couple of fellow astrophotographers that own this mount and I have seen them guide well below 0,5 for a whole night.
I got a CEM70 for my main scope and have been looking at the AM5 for a travel mount. Just today I saw that ZWO will add a little brother, the AM3. This smaller mount will fit me better as I do not need 13kg for my travel rig.
Problem is that I guess one has to wait a while before the AM3 starts shipping out to customers.
great article!
Thanks Marco!
Hello Wido..
i want to buy the star adventurer gti and want to know from your experience after all this time with the mount.. is it okay to put an 80mm refractor on it ? and what about exposure time at such focal lenght? guided and unguided. thank you
Hi there Nomad,
Most 80mm have a focal length of around 500mm. If you want tot take multi-minute astrophotos, guiding is pretty much required.
The GTI with that setup will probably give you somewhere between 1 and 2 arcseconds of guiding accuracy which probably will do the job.
It also depends on your budget. mounts like the SkyWatcher HEQ5 Pro and Celestron AVX have a higher payload capacity so you’d be more comfortable with a 500mm focal length telescope.
But they’re also more expensive. And I recently bought the ZWO AM5 – even more expensive, but interesting as it is a lightweight strain-wave mount that guides under 1 arcsecond. Anyhow, hope this is useful. Feel free to contact me on my contact form.
Cheers.
Wido
Got my AM5 end of April. Got 12 nights of guiding. Then on Monday June 19 AISAir app reported “USB serial disconnected” for the mount. Tried my older ASIAir Plus (non 256G version) same message. Plugged the AM5 in my Windows 11 PC and it reports device descriptor request failed and my MacBook Pro 2019 doesn’t see it at all. Opened a ticket with ZWO that day.
Today, Thursday, got a response I should still be able to use it with WiFi and was asked if the hand controller worked. I tried the HC and nothing. The LED next to the USB port is dark. The power button lights up. But nothing. I reported back but looks like I have a $2300 brick. No offer from them to fix or replace it at this point. Someone on the FB AM5/AM3 page reported their AM5 USB died about a month before mine. They obviously have some kind of teething problem and that is a shame. Maybe I’ll try a ZWO mount again in about 5 years or so.
Oddly enough I was going to buy a 2nd AM5 for my rig on the SkyGuider Pro. That is not happening now. Colleagues at work recommend the RST-135. Although it seems hard to find here in the USA I may go that route. Rainbow also has been doing this longer so hopefully they have better quality.
I’m sorry to hear that, Alex. You’re well within the warranty period I think? I’d ask for a replacement if I were you. Good luck. I hope this gets solved soon.
They said they will send a new mother board. I still do not have a tracking number.
In the meantime, I’ve sprung for the RST-135E more expensive version. I’m also waiting on that to arrive.
What about wind?
Did you get pictures on AM5, which are better compared to EQ6?
Thanks
Armen
Hi Armen, here’s a recent video where I give my honest opinion about the two mounts: https://youtu.be/WHEjQ04yoZc
Hi there Ana, I’ve made this comparison video between the two mounts where I discuss wind and other aspects of the AM5 vs the EQ6R Pro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHEjQ04yoZc
thanks for info
I have the NYX-101 since April and all I can say is that it is a great mount in terms of tracking
I have only used it with my 200/620 Sharpstar Newt (12kg fully loaded), w/o CW, but I have also loaded my big RC250 (~ 20kgs in total with computer, guidescope…), with a 5kg CW, and the mount operated flawlessly (I have not done any imaging with this set-up yet).
Another point worth mentioning, is the quality of their customer support; I’ve had several teething issues, mostly coming from problems generated by my lack of experience with the mount (which has been flawless since day one), and the communication by mail with them was extremely fast (they even helped me on a Friday at 9PM!).
I strongly recommend this mount which is superb in terms of build quality and tracking performance
Thanks for your personal review Massi!
Hi Wido,
I’m thinking of getting a cooled color camera (besides the 585mc which I already have) for deep space photography. I own redact 51 and Celestron C8 (with 0.67 reducer) telescopes. I’m interested in the 071mc and the 2600mc but am struggling with what would be a wise purchase. What would be your thoughts here? As a fellow countryman, I don’t have the luxury of a low bottle sky in my back yard an will be planning on using dual band/UHC filters to capture images. Thanks for your time.
Hi Michael, the asi071MC Pro is nice but a somewhat older model. In terms of pixel size, it would fit your C8 with reducer nicely and it’ll get you to a “sub arcsecond per pixel”, landscape field of view that is almost similar to the ASI2600MC Pro. The camera is somewhat less sophisticated (lower quantum efficiency, higher read noise, 14 bit vs 16 ADC in comparison to the 2600MC Pro) – so the 2600MC should give you a more dynamic picture with less read noise. If you’re looking for a newer model in a similar price range, the the ASI533MC Pro doesn’t suffer from amp glow (don’t know if the 071 Pro does), with a higher QE, meaning it is more efficient at coverting light (photons) into a digital signal, but the 533 does have a squared and smaller field of view (vs. landscape) compared to the asi2600MC and the asi071MC Pro. I’d say the 2600MC Pro is the best, but also the most expensive one. There is a new one on the market with a built in 2nd sensor for autoguiding, eliminating the need to buy a guidescope and guidecam. I deliberately don’t use that one, as I engage in narrowband imaging and I’m worried that the narrowband filters will prevent accurate guiding. Hope this helps!
Hi, I am curious about this mounts operation in AZ mode? Will it track and goto in AZ mode?
Thanks
M Sood
Yes, it can track and goto in alt-az mode. You’ll need to change your RA axis to 0.
Someone must be nuts to pay for those mounts $8500.
Yes, you can use the mount in alt-az mode for tracking
Thanks!
I’m new to astro photography, but am an engineer, a long-time amateur astronomer, and past, part-time, professional photographer, so many aspects of the technologies and I what I’m now pursuing with AP are familiar. That said, there’s still some new stuff with which I have little or no experience. I’m reading your articles and have joined a local astronomy club, am attending observation sessions, and its members are helping a lot, but I also want to use what I have as much as possible as I start with AP before making multiple large purchases. I don’t yet know enough and nor have enough experience with where I want to go. So I’d appreciate it if you could help me with some specific questions:
I currently have a C-8 and would like to at least start AP with it, mainly for DSO. I’m seriously looking at purchasing an ASI2600MC Pro or ASI2600MC DUO camera. I’d like to start by using an F6.3 focal reducer (I’m calculating 0.6 arcseconds/pixel – is this under-sampled too much?) This would allow me to learn more and get some starting experience with AP as well as assessing where I want to go with equipment. One option is to change in several months to using a Hyperstar on the C-8. But initially, the focal reducer would let me leave the secondary mirror alone so I can also use it with eyepieces so friends and family can enjoy the fun experience of seeing a planet, asterism, etc., live through a scope. If I’m swapping the secondary in and out frequently, there are more handling risks involved as well as fine-tune, re-collimating with every swap.
I’m also concerned about reducer vignetting with the large sensor on these cameras, especially the DUO which additionally requires an adapter to mate the rear cell thread to the camera’s larger thread diameter due to the addition of the guiding sensor. Is it even reasonable to attempt this on my C-8 with a reducer?
In addition, I’m trying to find information on what I need for extender length to properly place the camera sensor at the scope’s focal plane. How to I determine this length and where can I purchase such extenders?
For software, I’m thinking of starting with Sharp-Cap; for post processing, I already know Photoshop well and am planning on starting with that.
Ultimately, I can imagine getting a second scope, perhaps a high-quality refractor and an EQ mount. As for the mount, I’m seriously considering going with a strain wave design for less weight and very low backlash. But I need to start someplace and don’t want to go whole-hog into purchasing a bunch of new equipment that can easily make identifying and locating problem issues more difficult when I don’t know the equipment well enough. So, I want to start with what I have and then methodically branch out to other equipment and techniques as I learn and can make more informed decisions.
Thanks again for any help and insight you can provider!
Great tutorial with clear explanations; Thank you very much.
I have seen some pictures made by Seestar with logo and name of the object at the bottom. How can we get that ?
Hi Jacky, honestly I’m not aware of that option but I’ll ask. Perhaps it can be done in the Seestar APP. It has a community page to share pictures. Thanks!
EDIT: Yes, it’s in the new APP update. If you take a picture, you’ll get to see those details in the picture on the APP – you can download and share that picture.
I just got my Seestar and am quite impressed. two suggestions: put a level on top of the scope in shutdown position to facilitate initial leveling and 2. include a comet/asteroid search or at the very least allow entry of an RA-DeC position. at 2.39 arises pee pixel us pretty good for nice detailes astrophotography. would be nice if it had an equatorial tracking kode so it could be mounted on a wedge but that would require better bearings and likely counterweight so probably doubles price. but a thought
Can I use MacBook Pro for processing images !
Thank you very much a really clear tutorial. – The app works perfectly with my Iphone but on a 2019 android phone with android 9 it would not save images to the phone as it had not created the correct folders on the phone. On my tablet with android 10 it works fine but I think many android tablets including my newish lenovo use GPS for their compass which is not recognised by the app. This affects using the sky atlas. One other thing worth mentioning was that my seestar would not initially autofocus on stars. The default focus setting of 1840 was way out probably too far out for the auto to cope. Using manual focus I found that 1600 was about right so I reset the default to that and it works ok.
How to access and set up what information is put on fits header. Information placed in fits header has changed from 6 months
ago??
Appreciate the great info. I have a question: can you download the Seestar APP to a Windows PC? Or will the app only run on Android or Apple? I would like to control from a laptop rather than a smartphone or Android tablet if possible. Thanks.
It’s very much an mobile APP, like the ASIAIR.
I had the same feeling about using my smartphone, but I have to say it works really well.
Very nice review. I really liked where you talked about the “previewing and enhancing” mode and getting more info from ZWO on exactly what’s happening then. Would love to hear more on this, thanks for the thorough review!
Thanks for this detailed information. Thanks to it, I’ve purchased my Seestar and am back to stargazing during those rare clear moments. I wonder, does it make sense to place the Seestar on an equatorial mount (non-go-to)?
Hi Geert, thanks. The Seestar S50 is designed as an alt-az telescope. But you can always try. If succesful, you could avoid field rotation.
However, the tracking will not be perfect without any guiding, and the max. exposure is 10 seconds, you cannot change that.
Thanks very much for the effort you put in to this tutorial, Wido. This one and the Autostakkert tutorial saved me a lot of time because of your clear explanations.
I appreciate that Peter, thanks!
I just wanted to stop in and say; Hey!
Because of your reveiw, I just ordered a SeeStar S50. I just have a question for you. In your comparison video between the Dwarf II and the SesStar you weren’t using the tripod that came with the SeeStar. What tripod were you using, It looks like an iOptron tripod. Looking to get my SeeStar a decent tripod and wanted to make sure I get one that fits! Thanks and keep up the good work!
Thanks! And yes, that’s the iOptron tripod.
Hello Wido,
Thanks for super documentation – just got my Seestar S50 – your presentation helped guide me through first light. I’ve been exploring amateur astronomy since 1984 and am enjoying intro astrophotography whilst in the house with a cup of coffee on a cold evening.
Jim Lawrence Albuquerque NM
Thanks so much Jim! Enjoy the Seestar.
This blogpost on controlling the ZWO AM5 Mount over WiFi, USB, and HC is a game-changer for astrophotography enthusiasts! The detailed guide provides a comprehensive walkthrough, unlocking the full potential of the ZWO AM5 Mount through multiple connectivity options. Whether it’s the convenience of WiFi, the reliability of USB, or the hands-on control with HC, this post caters to a range of preferences. Kudos to the author for simplifying the technicalities and making this advanced feature accessible to users at various skill levels. A must-read for anyone looking to elevate their astrophotography experience!
thanks!
Thanks for providing such a clear and detailed explanation of the equipment and processes. Very useful and informative.
Thank you very much for your review and detailed information and instructions. Your article answered so many of my questions. I received my SEESTAR last week and am also very new to astrophotography. It’s also been cloudy and raining since I received it!
I experienced the 2017 eclipse and it was a life changing event and was able to get lucky and get a few good photo’s but I am going to be able to experience the 2024 eclipse with almost 4 minutes of totality. I am hoping SEESTAR makes getting better photos possible.
Any tips or suggestions for solar eclipse photography with SEESTAR?
I’m nice again thank you for the info you have already provided. It is greatly appreciated!
Hi David,
When the sun hits totality, I think you can simply remove the solar filter to see the corona of the Sun. As this only lasts a couple of minutes, be sure to put the filter back on when the Sun re-appears from behind the moon to avoid any kind of damage to your telescopes’ electronics.
Cheers.
Wido.
Hi! Awesome job.
One question, when staking, I presume that the software discards pics with satellite trails, planes or shooting stars. Do you know if there’s a way of KEEPING those instead of deleting? I mean, those lights with “undesired noise” are stored somewhere?
thanks!
The planes/satellites will be visible on the individual pictures. If I’m correct, the Seestar S50 APP is now updated to also store individual photos and not only the stacked picture.
hola Wido. Tengo algunos problemas de enfoque en cielo profundo con el SeeStar S50. Sabes si puede ser por culpa de poca nivelación o por angulo de visió demasiado vertical?
which target are you trying to image? Do you have the same focussing issues with other objects?
What an awesome comparison of these two products! Professional, technical, high quality and very thorough. Thank you very much. Have bookmarked your website and will surely return to learn more as I explore deeper into the realms of astronomy and astrophotography.
Very nice and concise review and beginner’s tutorial. I learned more from this post than from perusing the internet for over two weeks! Just a short response to let you know that your efforts are very much appreciated.
thanks so much Ron!
Very good and concise beginner’s introduction and tutorial on the Seestar s50. I learned more from this post than I did perusing the internet for the past several weeks! I just wanted to leave a brief reply to let you know that your efforts are very much appreciated – Thank You.
Hi,
many thanks for the tutorial. It helps a lot.
But I have difficulties to do the polar alignment. I couldn’t find any helpful videos on the ZWO’s YouTube channel.
Have you a video to to the alignment only with the ASI Mount software? Or must I use an ASIAIR or NINA Software?
Kind regards
Christian
Hi Christian, the ASIAIR is ideal for polar aligning your AM5 (or AM3). It includes an easy to use polar alignment procedure.
Another way to go is to connect your AM5 via USB to a laptop/computer with polar align software. I have used Sharpcap Pro in the past, it also worked fine.
I have a 4 year old video about polar alignment (lol): https://astroforumspace.com/five-tips-to-polar-align-your-telescope-mount-like-a-pro/
I’ll consider making a new video about how to setup your AM5 with the ASIAIR. Cheers!
Beste Wido,
Allereerst complimenten voor je fantastische site en dito heldere video’s. Ik woon in een buurtgemeente van Utrecht, en heb dus met vergelijkbare waarnemingscondities te maken. Als beginner heb ik veel aan jouw tips en reviews.
Ik heb een vraag over guiding camera’s. Ik heb een Celestron 8” edge hd, met een standaard Celestron 50mm Finder scope. Ik wil graag een guide camera dat hierbij past. Mij is de ZWO 220mm aangeraden, en de William optics uniguide 50mm.
Ik zie echter ook dat de Celestron Starsense Autoguider binnenkort verkrijgbaar is. Die is uiteindelijk een paar honderd euro duurder. Maar ik wil als beginner en met deze lichtvervuiling ook een guider die snel en gemakkelijk mijn workflow kan ondersteunen.
Wat zou je aanraden: wachten op de Celestron Autoguider, of kiezen voor wat mij geadviseerd is?
Wat zou je aanraden
Beste Wido,
Complimenten allereerst voor je website. Voor mij als beginner een absolute must-read! Ik woon in een buurgemeente van Utrecht; we hebben vergelijkbare waarnemingscondities.
Mijn vraag gaat over autoguiders/camera’s. Ik heb sinds bijna twee jaar geleden een celestron edge hd 8″, de ZWO Camera ASI 120 MC-S Color en werk met ASIAIR pro. Ik heb nog geen autoguider camera, alleen de standaard celestron 50mm finder scope.
Mij is geadviseerd om de ASI 220mm en de William Optics UniGuide 50mm te nemen. Ik heb echter ook gezien dat de Celestron starsense autoguider binnenkort verkrijgbaar is. Dat is een duurdere optie, maar het gebruiksgemak lijkt mij vele malen groter. Jij hebt daar meer zicht op. Wat denk jij van de nieuwe celestron autoguider: overdone of raadzaam om daar even op te wachten? Alvast dank voor je reply.
Fantastic review! I am new to astronomy in general and recently got a celestron nexstar 6SE – I was contempalting between this and the ASI224MC – I believe this looks like the obvious winner if you agree? Do you think I could expect to achieve somewhat similar results of your above images even though I have a 6SE vs your 8 edge? Thanks in advance!
hi Vinny, the asi678MC is a newer model, and has a small pixel size of only 2 micrometers which results in a high imaging scale at native focal length (f/10 in my case). Sure, try to catch it with the 6″, you’ll definitely see the cloud bands of Jupiter. Good luck!
Is there an advantage to turning on the capture each stacked frame vs. leaving the switch off? Does that limit stacking or does that allow a final image in the scope’s memory to be imported rather than say 100 stacked frames that need post stacking? Also, now to I open and save the FITS files as png for example? That seems tedious.
Hi Bob,
The Seestar S50 produces a final stacked image as a jpg and TIFF file for every deep sky photo. In addition to that, you can save individuals fits files and stack them yourself.
This may be advantageous if you have some bad frames, or planes/satellites running through your pictures, you can leave these out when manually stacking your photos.
If you don’t like manual stacking, just take the 16 bit TIFF file on the Seestar (myworks) folder and use that for further processing. Did that answer your question?
Hi and thank you for the review. How well can it see planets? I read it might be better to us a different scope or perhaps a good strong binoculars with image stabilizers. I was hoping to use this for the next solar Eclipse and simply taking off the solar filter during totality. But I have two questions: 1) Can this track and photograph Comets? 2) Can give I type in a location in the sky I’d like to photograph that’s not listed in the selections given in the applications? Thank you!
Hi Wildo – thanks for the thorough review! I have an Edge 8 on an AVX and am looking to move from observing to astrophotography of DSOs, primarily galaxies and nebulae. Now that you have used the Edge 8 with the AM5 for a while, would you still recommend the ZWO carbon fibre tripod? Stable enough for AP? Thanks! Montreal, Canad
Hi Dave, up to 3 beaufort, the tc40 is fine. With stronger winds, I’d recommend a heavier tripod or add counterweights to keep the mount free of significant vibrations.
Can you give a little detail on how you edit the photos with Vaonis? Do you take raw images and stack them yourself? Do you edit the tif? Or is what you’ve shown the jpeg that Vaonis software has processed?
The pictures are processed TIFF files. I take the automatically stacked TIFF file and sharpen them a bit using processing tools (Pixinsight). The original images are already quite good. I’ll make a note to add them in this post. Cheers.
Hi Wido, I have the Skywatcher virtuoso 150p and im looking for a Astrophotography camera. Ive looked into it quite alot. But there is a lot on the market. And im just loosing track of all of it. I have read that the Asi zwo585mc has to be very good. But you dont mention it on your site. Would the asi zwo 678mc be a better choise? They are quite simulair in price. I dont want to go above 500,- (eu). I am planning to do Dso and Planitairy Photographing.
Hey Jaimy, I’m testing the 585mc cool this month. It may be the best combi for DSO and planetary, as it has cooling. My initial tests show no amp glow when taking long exposure pictures…should be good for planetary too at 2.4 pixel size.
You replied to this comment.
Hi Barbara, that’s unfortunate. I suggest you try to focus the camera during daytime on a distant object.
Or point it at a distant light source during the night.
The focus on the stars will not be exactly the same, but you’ll have a starting point.
It can take some effort to find the exact focus. Also, silly but, did you take off the dust cap :-)?
Good luck!
good article I will need this for my Coronado on a EQ mount
Hi Wido,
Thanks for taking the trouble to put all this info together – much appreciated!
I stumbled across your website as I have been researching the most suitable camera for my astrophotography setup for high resolution solar and lunar photography.
I am currently using an ASI2600MM pro with my AP Traveler setup at 730mm and F7 and it works brilliantly for deepsky astrophotography.
I’ve settled on using a Daystar Quark (with in-built 4.2x Barlow) with my Traveler, giving a f29.4 setup. The ASI174MM with 5.86 micron pixels, high frame-rate and global shutter seems like a reasonable match but I’m starting to lean more towards the ASI432MM (which isn’t yet included in your table). The calculated optimum pixel size for my f29.4 setup is 6.56 micron.
The ASI432MM has a larger sensor than the ‘174’ but more importantly has larger pixels (9 micron) and a much larger full-well depth of 97ke. It still has a respectable 120 FPS and is 12-bit.
What do you think Wido? I imagine that a lot of the parameters for planetary imaging are shared with high-res lunar and solar imaging.
Of course, one of the most important factors, seeing conditions, are largely beyond our control 🙂
Many thanks!
Hello Graham,
Apologies for the delayed response! I make it a point to check my emails at astroforumlive@gmail.com daily, so feel free to reach out anytime.
Regarding the ASI432MM, it’s quite an intriguing device, as you mentioned, with its large pixel size and other features. However, I believe it could complement the Daystar Quark quite well, especially considering its 4.2 barlow, if I remember correctly.
With your 730mm focal length telescope, you could achieve approximately 0.6 arcseconds, providing a view of about half the sun’s disc within a 0.3×0.2 degree frame. Additionally, opting for the Mono version eliminates the challenge of dealing with the Bayer matrix inherent in color cameras, making calibration easier.
In essence, I see no reason why you shouldn’t proceed with this setup :-). Although you may find the ASI432MM primarily dedicated to solar observations with the Daystar, other cameras might serve you better for capturing the moon and planets.
Wishing you the best of luck!
Hello greetings, I wanted to ask if the Seestar will have a pro version? with more aperture and longer focal length, greetings from Chile
Let’s wait and see. ZWO usually announces new product updates at AP conferences like NEAF, next one is in April 2024.
I was wondering if any of these can work while plugged into a battery pack. That would extend the battery life but I don’t know if that would interfere with any of the functionality.
Hi Scott, I tested the Seestar S50 and the Vespera classic/II, and they both work fine when an extra battery pack is plugged in.
They re-charge while imaging, no problem.
Thank you for this comprehensive and detailed comparison of these two amazing telescopes. I’m hoping to buy one of them and intend to reread your review several times before making my choice.
Well, recently i upgrade my old SW EQ5 mount with OnStep mount kit, and with my Quattro 150p on it, i achieve almost always guiding under 1″ – mostly around 0.45″ – 0.65″ per pixel.
I am saving for this camera. Your review is truly appreciated. Thanks