Hi All,
I had a bit of luck with the weather during the week. I setup specifically to image Saturn but on the night of 22/23rd April I couldn't get any clear images of Saturn, and even through the eye piece it looked softish so I decided to give M83 then later M20 a go through the 0.63X focal reducer.
I didn't use the LPR/UHC filter since the last time I tried using it, the week before, I didn't see too much of M83 on even longer exposures through it.
The M83 is imaged through a unmodded DSLR and M20 is through the modded camera.
The next day I setup to try Saturn again and after checking and adjusting the collimation I looked at it through the 25mm eyepiece and it was solid, stable and clear, so I tried it through the 7mm and at 290X it was still stable, clear and solid so I pulled out my 5mm X-Cel (which doesnt get used too much) and to my disbelief, at 406X magnafied, Saturn was big, clear, detailed and stable... I mean I saw 5 points around it (4 of which turned out to be its moos and one was a star accrding to the GasGiants app) there were band visible on the globe, the rings were clear, the Casini division was visible and so was the shadow of the rings on the globe... but to my disbelief it was yellowish/brownish.. not just gray... there was color!!
I spent about a half hour just starring at it... I knew I had to image it.
The pic with Saturn and moons is double exposed at F10, as in first exposed for Saturn then 2 second exposure for the moons. The others are through the 2.5X power mate and 3X Barlow.
I also tried a different method of Polar alignment, I got a polar scope for the CGEM, so I used that for polar alignment instead of drift alignemt and I think it was a lot closer to the SCP then what I had before... it's quite hard to see the guide stars since they are not illuminated but eventually I lined it up to SCP, it only took about 10 mins.
Imaging Specs:
M20: 30 x 90sec subs & ISO800 on Modded DSLR
M83: 45 x 120sec subs & ISO1600 on unmod DSLR
Saturn: DMK 21au618 through RBG filters
Mariusz