Hey all,
Apologies if this is a long post, but I have been struggling for the last month with this and having been a forum user over the years, I recognise how vital it is to have a detailed post.
I am new to astrophotography and have spent the last 9 months researching what I wanted to buy within my budget of $5000. The goal being to take photos of nebulae like Orion, horsehead, flame, pinwheel etc. I finally took the plunge and purchased the following:
Nikon D750 DSLR (and some kit lenses to help me learn the camera, remote controls etc).
Skywatcher Evostar 80ed
Skywatcher EQM-35 Pro GoTo Mount
Here's where I need some assistance. I have scoured the internet to find someone who has actually setup from start to finish the EQM in the southern hemisphere. But I have had no luck and all the videos/tutorials all seem to be from the northern hemisphere.
Here is what I have encountered so far:
1. Aligned the leg marked N towards south so that way the polar alignment scope as part of the mount facing the correct way.
2. I am in Adelaide (Seaford Rise), I set my latitude as best I can on the scale for 35.
3. Looking through the polar view finder I can see that Octans is marked as the top right quadrant of the view. But according to the Stellarium app, it currently lies at the bottom in the real world. So if I am to rotate the mount so it lines up, it puts it square upside down with counter weight pointing right up. Not exactly usable with a telescope on it....
3a. Carrying on without a scope, I then try to do an alignment, lets pick 1 star and Canopus. I can see that nearly above me if the app is correct
Hit go (once synscan is setup with correct time, date and long/latitude). It then zooms around and basically points sideways to the fence. Nowhere near up.
3b. Reset it so the weight is at what I'd call "home" aka pointing down. Octans in the upper right spot marking and attempt to do the star alignment again. This time it zooms about and is somewhat in the right area. Cool, getting somewhere and it's dark out. I did have Dylan O'Donnell from youtube respond to a tweet when I complained I couldn't use the arrows to adjust it and he said to change the rate. So did that, I align the scope with the Canopus star using a green laser pointer through the view finder and click ok. Alignment successful.
3c. I do notice that if I hold the Synscan, sometimes it will reboot itself and go through initialising. I am suspecting the cable link is dodgy. It seems to be a standard RJ45 so might just make a new one.
4. Right time to do some imaging. With alignment successful (
) I decided to select M42 - Orion. It's the beginners choice right? Slew to target..... Nope does some zooming about, ends up pointing to the ground. So i decided to loosen the tightening/locking bolts and manually move it to where it should be. Afterall it will still "think" it's locked into it right? So it should be tracking at the rate of the earth.....
5. With camera mounted, focus sorted I go to take some photos. Except I cannot take photos more than 10 seconds in duration, otherwise I get star trails. If I take 10-20 shots, I notice the star/nebulae I am tracking has drifted well out of center of view. It almost seems like it is tracking in the reverse direction, down, instead of up, and at the wrong speed. Adjusting the rate from 3 to 7 makes no difference. So I have to adjust the mount again. It becomes tedious and essentially ruins any photos I put into DeepSkyStacker.
With the DSLR camera, no-one explicitly explains that with the Nikon, if you attach it to a telescope you need to setup in the menu a Non-CPU Lens and give it the F of the "lens" otherwise it won't take any photos. According to Oz Scopes site where I purchased this gear from, The Evostar has an F of 7.5. Closest I could choose in the Nikon menu was 8.
I see a number of youtubers taking amazing photos and they all have long exposure times. 2 minutes, 5 minutes etc.
Ideally my goal is to be able set the mount up before the sun goes down. Then do an alignment, attach scope, fine tune. Once it's dark, literally key in the nebulae I wish to shoot and it actually lock on it. I am fine with spending 30 mins or so getting it right. What I am tiring of is spending hours stuffing about and then at midnight packing it in.
It'd be nice to set the remote control to take the multiple subs. Then I can enjoy being out in the night, delving into the universe. Currently I have managed to get one decent stack of Orion. The rest I have perhaps 10 nights of failures.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Damien