#1  
Old 15-07-2020, 05:42 PM
Steve57's Avatar
Steve57 (Steven)
Registered User

Steve57 is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Sawyers Gully
Posts: 16
HEQ5 Pro mount

I recently picked up a HEQ5 mount and I was able to mount my DSLR and lens tonight balanced up now just have to learn how to use it and save up for a scope in the meantime Looking foward to a learning curve and some great images
Attached Thumbnails
Click for full-size image (20200715_161338_copy_907x1612.jpg)
186.4 KB52 views
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 15-07-2020, 05:48 PM
xa-coupe's Avatar
xa-coupe (Jeff)
Registered User

xa-coupe is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 302
Nice. I only recently started in astro photography and finally got a decent mount to mount my telescope and DSLR. I am using a 70-200 F2.8 and can get some really nice pics of the larger deep space stuff, so with a TC you should be able to do even better!
Spend as much time as you can learning polar alignment. I have finally got it to the point where my images aren't an embarrassment, but there's a lot of improvement left to make longer focal lengths work without trails or annoying egg shaped stars.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 15-07-2020, 05:55 PM
Steve57's Avatar
Steve57 (Steven)
Registered User

Steve57 is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Sawyers Gully
Posts: 16
Quote:
Originally Posted by xa-coupe View Post
Nice. I only recently started in astro photography and finally got a decent mount to mount my telescope and DSLR. I am using a 70-200 F2.8 and can get some really nice pics of the larger deep space stuff, so with a TC you should be able to do even better!
Spend as much time as you can learning polar alignment. I have finally got it to the point where my images aren't an embarrassment, but there's a lot of improvement left to make longer focal lengths work without trails or annoying egg shaped stars.

Thanks xa I will be using my telephoto lens for a time so looking forward to some images soon How do you do your. polar alignment
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 15-07-2020, 08:39 PM
xa-coupe's Avatar
xa-coupe (Jeff)
Registered User

xa-coupe is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 302
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve57 View Post
Thanks xa I will be using my telephoto lens for a time so looking forward to some images soon How do you do your. polar alignment

Polar alignment is somewhat of an art ... but the biggest thing I learned ( on here ) was that you don't align your mount with magnetic south, rather with celestial south which ( in Melbourne) is about 11.5 degrees east of magnetic south. Your azimuth needs to be your latitude (again about 37.5 for Melbourne)



Watch as many youtube videos on the alignment of your specific you can. In the end it is relatively simple to get it right enough to use a short focal length. What you will run into issues with is being able to do an alignment ( 2 or 3 star) without a finder scope. I align using my telescope even if I am only going to us my DSLR because it has a finder scope. Should you decide to purchase a finder scope, get one with an a right angle viewer. I am too old and unfit to be doing the contortions I have to do to perform even a rough align.



Some gotchas I think you will get;


1. You will have to enter your latitude on the hand controller in degrees and minutes ... most GPS programs give you locations where the minutes are more than 60 ... which the handset will not accept.


2. Slew rate has to be set a number of times, at least once when setting up and aligning and again after you point it at your desired object. If your mount appears to have locked up when your moving it, change the slew rate (the 2 button on mine, set it to 6 or something similar).


3. Focus. If you can get yourself a Bahtinov mask for your lens, do so. Otherwise, move onto no 4 which will help immensely.



4. Get software to control your camera. I use Astro Photography Tool ( APT) but there are plenty of options (such as Backyard EOS ). Unless you use a Mac or Linux, then there are things out there but I haven't played with them as yet.


5. Chances are your first results with be rubbish but persevere. I took a long time to produce anything I was game to share but I got there, despite not being to the quality of a lot of people here. There's some seriously talented people about, use them for inspiration rather than be intimidated by their work.


Hope this is of some use,


Jeff
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 15-07-2020, 08:58 PM
xelasnave's Avatar
xelasnave
Gravity does not Suck

xelasnave is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Tabulam
Posts: 16,866
Hi Steven.
Point your polar scope at something during the day before in the distance and set your camera up so the same object is centred.
That night place your mount pointing South and set altitude / latitude using the little guide on your mount. Do not switch on your mount it needs to stay stationary.
Take a time exposure of say five minutes at iso 100 or longer if things don't blow out..or shorter if it won't take five minutes...you will see Star trails making little arcs..those arc's point you to a center and that center is th CSP..by looking at you photo you can adjust things so the centre of the star trails is in the middle of your camera viewer. You will need a few time exposures as you adjust the mount updown or sideways.
It's is not perfect but will get you pretty close for starters and at least get you able to take decent 30 second to 60 second unguided captures...if the stars drift in East West adjust your counter weights and that will probably fix it..if they drift North or South read up on drift alignment...there are programs that you will learn to use but as I said fiddle taking time exposures and center things will get you pretty close.
I have pole master and sometimes am a little off the field so I do that and so often I need minimal adjustment when camera centred via polemaster.
And you may get some usable star trail photos.

Alex

Last edited by xelasnave; 15-07-2020 at 09:16 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 15-07-2020, 09:09 PM
Steve57's Avatar
Steve57 (Steven)
Registered User

Steve57 is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Sawyers Gully
Posts: 16
Thanks xa
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 15-07-2020, 09:09 PM
Steve57's Avatar
Steve57 (Steven)
Registered User

Steve57 is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Sawyers Gully
Posts: 16
Thanks Alex
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 15-07-2020, 09:27 PM
xelasnave's Avatar
xelasnave
Gravity does not Suck

xelasnave is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Tabulam
Posts: 16,866
Make sure you re read my post as I needed a few edits...
The reference to stars going East or West is after you get polar aligned and the mount is tracking..often you get star trailing even if you have balanced the thing...to work out which way they are going expose your camera for a minute then cover the lens with something caring not to bump it..leave it covered for a minute then let it expose for five minutes..that way you will get a dot showing the start and from there you can see if it is drifting East or West..move your counter weight a little and do the same again and note if they have got better or worse. Also after you get to your selected object let the mount run for a couple of minutes as sometimes it needs to settle...

Then select your iso and don't be afraid to got high when starting out...point at a start and try a 60 second exposure. See if the star is round..if not go for shorter exposure until the star is reasonably round...then point your camera at something and bang off say 50 exposures and stack them and see what you get.
As I said don't be afraid to go high iso for starters as in time you can drop down...good luck.
Alex
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 15-07-2020, 09:36 PM
Steve57's Avatar
Steve57 (Steven)
Registered User

Steve57 is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Sawyers Gully
Posts: 16
Thanks again ax I need all the luck I can get at this stage
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 15-07-2020, 10:06 PM
xelasnave's Avatar
xelasnave
Gravity does not Suck

xelasnave is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Tabulam
Posts: 16,866
Ax was my Nick name as kid...thanks for the memories.
All I am on about is making it doable and get you capturing something.
You may find this odd but I never use Goto but just the tracking on my mounts..so I don't star align...although I will in the future...so I point my scopes manually because I know where most objects are or can look at a star chart and work it out ..I point the scope like a pool que and usually get it ...mostly find stuff without the finder...anyways my point is if you get your polar alignment as I suggest you can switch on your mount tracking, point the lens at the object wait for it to settle and bang away.
Take time to get your focus however..use a mask if possible or take a few photos until it looks focused...
You can make a simple focuser mask with a disk the size of your lens with two holes about a cm. You will see two stars which when one means you are focused..but buy a real one when you can..a batimov mask.

Get yourself Deep Sky Stacker a free down load and stack your best captures, don't worry about darks and flats first as you can stack with out them...take your stacked image to Photoshop if you have it if not download Gimp a very good processing program and a free down load.
You can adjust the brightness and contrast play with the colour crop it and have your first image...from that simple beginning you can add star alignment, take darks..get Startools ...whatever...I just want to give you an easy start.
And you will be surprised what you can do with that camera and lens and many captures.
I still am doing only 60 second exposures and I am doing narrow band..I just do an hour or more...thirteen hours made up of thirty second subs...stacking takes a while but the results are pleasing...
Alex
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 06:13 AM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Testar
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement