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Old 05-01-2021, 08:37 AM
BeardFace (Nial)
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BeardFace is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2020
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by PKay View Post
Hi Nial

What you are intending to do is not to be underestimated in its complexity.

Astro photography can get very complex even without adding another yet another layer
in remote control.

Good for you for being ambitious and the best of luck :-)

A few questions:

1: Can you reliably operate your equipment and produce quality images
from the safety of your backyard?

2: How are your processing skills? Time spent here is time spent wisely.

3: Are you still using a Canon 5D and how would you control it remotely?


I specialised in designing and building remotely operated processing plants.

My first plant was a miniture scaled down version built in the lab.
PLC controlled using small cheap motors, solenoids, relays and sensors.

It took 6 months of work and study to get it to work remotely (and reliably).

Then and only then did I build the real deal (at huge effort and cost).

Regards

Peter
Hey Peter,

Oh don't worry, I'm expecting this to take a long time. My plan is to start with the dome motor control and azimuth sensor first. Run it all from a laptop, then work on integrating that with Voyager on the Qotom, and seeing if I can "remotely" control the motors etc. Then slowly start adding bits and pieces until the final build. I'm in no rush here

As for your questions:

1) Yup! The ES ED80 with a full zwo setup has been a breeze. My biggest mistake was buying a second hand RC8, although I finally got it dialled in last week and I'm keen to take some better images with it. But I've learnt a lot through the process.

2) Getting better each time. I moved from DSS to AstroPixelProcessor, which for me made a big improvement, and I've been working on my photoshop skills. Each time I process I aim to learn a new technique. I just don't post many photos here is all.

3) Nah, I was borrowing that from a friend to make sure I really wanted to get into this hobby. When I was sure I bought an asi2600.

Building a remote processing plant certainly sounds like a huge task, have you built your own observatory too? I'd be keen to see it
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