Guidescope.

[Adrian-H]

Got my ED80 on saturday , poped it on the Sirius EQ-G (HEQ-Pro), its been cloudy and rainy though so i havent been able to try it out yet with my 350D, i did try afew test shots on terrestrial objects 600mm camera lens!

got brothers cheap 60mm 800mmFL refractor that was rotting which he has absolutely no interest in, thought maybe i can use it for a guidescope.

ive been reading lots of things as usal, maybe i should by a book when i have the money. otherwise ill keep surfing and reading, ya know thats how i found iceinspace!. seems to be a regular habbit us computer people have eh?

so i will probly mount up the cheapo guidescope, when i can find and afford some proper guiderings for it, may as well manually guide it to start off with the reticale.

i can just stick in a barlow 2x for 1600mm guide and that would give me low error tracking for 600mm ED80 right? i guess i will have to try it out.

later ill probly want to autoguide, something budget will probly be good for me, what about one of those toucams?, i have no experiance.

guess i just want some experianced opinions

alittle chit chat.

and i wanted to say hello =)

i dont say much often, but im here watching.

Cheerio

Adrian.

[gbeal]

Hi Adrian
a good way to start, and if the frustrations of manually guiding don't get you then all will be well. I did it, and I know others who still do it (members here), and it is a very good way to do things, just a pain.
I use a ToUcam, and use an 800mm scope. No Barlow, nothing. Just the ToUcam on the rear of the 80mm f5.
Try the elcheapo guidescpe first, and without the barlow. Make some rings that will hold it all together, and allow a small amount of adjustment. Later if you Webcam you will need a bit more adjustment, but you will also need a bigger guidescope too perhaps.
Try the brighter objects to start with, Omega Cent, and the likes. Use a decent ISO setting, maybe 1600, or at least 800. Try a few exposures of about one minute or so. Have fun.
Gary