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Hi Everyone. Thank you for your thoughts. I deliberately picked the beginner forum so that my questions did not insult the experts. The only way I can learn is to ask questions and practice. Yes I am aligning the tripod first by using a long ruler on the ground pressed up against the back legs. The compass is set to 169 degrees for Brisbane. I move the mount legs around to line up the compass. Next I use a level to adjust the legs and make sure everything is flat. Next I place the mount on the tripod. The Altitude axis is set to 27 degrees. It gets adjusted during the polar align procedure that I learnt about this evening out in the heavy humidity. The scope is loaded and the two 5kg weights. I have now marked the scope so that I have two positions to slide it. One for the slight increase in weight when the camera is on and the other for normal viewing. The scope came with an extra ring which is very handy to prevent sliding. All my observing is done in the backyard of suburban Beenleigh. I am limited by large objects and light. Long exposures are not possible here. I have done a few and came up with some nice shots, but I also enjoy the stacking method for deep sky objects. I photographed M8 the other day and it came up great in Lightroom. 100 shots at 4 sec each and 1600 ISO. More exposure time than that would be too bright with the moon out at the moment. However I do know how to use the camera and I do a lot of experimenting before starting a run. I did not want to travel to a dark site without the knowledge and practice required for such a venture. Mucking around in the back yard and experimenting is teaching me a huge amount. I am a software developer by trade and it is easy for me to merge graphical and other apps with the telescope hobby. Todays helpful suggestions have advanced my expertise a great deal. Thank you all.
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