A dumb question I know, but I am now having a go at astro photography after 20 yearsof star gazing. I've got this ZWO imaging camera, see, and have just downloaded PHD2 software. Having realised that I need a PhD in order to understand the software, it seems that I need a laptop to run the programme at the scope - just to get good guiding.......Then I will have to connect the main camera (guess what - another ZWO) and that camera will also need special software (DSS?) running on another computer - won't it? I can't do both guiding AND shooting from the one camera with one computer ....can I?
I must be missing something , or be incredibly stupid.
I have a Bintel 200 f4 on a HEQ5 pro mount, and the mount is ok for driving the RA, so what is the big deal with that complicated auto guiding??? I read that we can take up to about 30 sec exposures without guiding...Then stack, process, enhance, fudge, the list goes on!
I'm beginning to think that I will just use an illuminated recticle eyepiece and hand guide. Is that old fashioned now????
I only used one computer, admittedly the scope was only five metres away, different cameras but not sure why you would need multiple computers, multiple screens maybe, the ZWO cameras may be different, I was using QHY cameras.
Hi Jim, You're diving in at the deep end. I strongly suggest that you get
full bottle with unguided imaging first. For unguided imaging you need
to get your polar alignment as precise as possible. Your scope, having
a focal length of only 800mm will permit exposures [subs] of between
30 and 60 secs, depending on several factors. I manually guided for
over 40 yrs, and for film that was o.k. With digital most images are produced by taking large numbers of subs and then stacking them in DSS or other
freeware, so manual guiding would be pretty much impossible.
Some of the brighter objects respond well to single exposures, such
as bright globular clusters, bright planetary nebulae, or of course,
the moon.
I have attached an example of a single exposure, so you know what to expect. Omega Centauri, 45 secs exposure
with 200mm f/5 scope.
raymo
Last edited by raymo; 28-06-2017 at 07:04 PM.
Reason: more text and image
That's a great shot of Omega Cen, Raymo. I think you are right about the deep end though! I have got my polar alignment quite good, I think - using an old fashioned compass with correction for mag variation here in Tassie - NOT dumb iphone compass which read different directions every time I switched it on! Latitude taken care of with home made triangle cut from plywood to make exact 41 degrees...I have also tried my DSLR camera - Pentax with ASTROTRACER, just on a tripod. Got amazing photo of Eta Carina and South Pilades neighbourhood one night at 120 sec and the stars were quite round! A bit of purple around the stars though. I'm not after David Malin style pictures (that's just WAY out of my league) but just good photos. Want to do everything of course, all at once, and guess what? Bloomin' lousy weather for last 2 weeks, and now the Moon's coming up! Think I will just have a go at that with my Pentax and a 300mm lens!
One laptop / computer is perfectly ok as long as you have separate usb ports for each device. You can run into data bottle necks if you need to use a usb hub.
Can I really only use one computer, Doppler? I would have to get 2 programmes running at the same time. Do I minimise one then try to open another? Then each cable from the 2 cameras will go into a USB port, then there is the c ontroller cable to the computer. What about the screen? What appears on the screen? So far I count 2 cables from each camera, two from the hand controller - that;s 6 so far! Then there is the cable from the car battery on the ground. Goodness me! What a load of spagetti! Think I might stick to my DSLR.....only, I have already bought the astro cameras, guide scope, IR filter, extra cables, 200mm f4 scope, HEQ 5 mount, and laptop (cheapo one) . At least I will be able to find a use for the O111 filter I bought many years ago!!!!
Hi James, to start out you don't need any computers at the scope with a DSLR. I had the same setup as you, Pentax DSLR, HEQ5 Pro, 8" F4. Get your mount aligned and take as many 30 sec subs as you can. That's it. Simple.
I use a Heq5 pro, 50mm mini guider with zwo 120mc ,canon dslr and an el chepo laptop not even a cd drive, but the really basic lappies have a great battery life between charges.
I just use the hand controller on the mount (I use a cat 5 network cable on the handset as the supplied one is too short) I cable only required, hand set to mount.
1 guide scope camera cable (the telephone look alike) goes to the guide port on the mount. The other guide camera cable (printer style) goes to a usb port, that's the guiding part done.
One cable only goes to another usb port from the imaging camera.
Only two cables to the computer and yes I get PHD guiding set up and running, minimize that, then get the imaging app (Backyard EOS in my case) running and start snapping pics. I can flick back to see how the guiding is going now and again.
James any Windows, Mac or Linux computer can run more than one program at the same time. Wether or not you minimise anything depends on the number of programs and the size of your screen. Its often best to have two screens attached to the one computer, most computers allow this and you can then spread everything over the two screens.
