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Hi John, the ASI678 is reputedly at the sweet spot for lucky imaging at f10, so that is the best place to start (ie forget the reducer).
You are up against it this planet season, as Jupiter and Mars are very low in the sky compared against a few years back when near zenith, looking through much less air mass and turbulence, and hence occasions of good to great seeing were more common.
All the same, practice perfecting the aspects under your control, such as polar alignmment, collimation, and focus. Learn how to collimate critically with a high power eyepiece and star test. I still prefer manual focus on the planet and/or moons, picking the stiller moments through the image flutter. I would not trust AF systems in those circumstances. You can check my planet posts from 2020 onwards where such practice paid dividends and where I maxxed out what might be possible via a C11.
Learn to use firecapture to optimise exposure vs gain for highest frame rate. Practice using Firecapture auto-centering of RoI and understand its limitations (esp excessive drift from PA being off). Use the moon for further practice.
Once you get a rare night of great seeing, you can make the most of all that practice on those aspects under your control. You cannot control great seeing, but you can be ready for it.
enjoy.
Gerhard/Gerry
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