Opinions from EQ6 owners.

[centauri]

Hi All
Just thinking of buying an EQ6 for photo use (cannot afford G11) and I am chasing some HONEST thoughts and opinions before I do.

Thanks in advance.

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

The EQ6 is very capable of Astrophotography. one limitation of the mount is it's periodic error which can get quite extreme (+/- 20 arcseconds) but also can be reasonably good (-/+ 8 arc seconds or lower) depending on when it was manufactured, most of this can be overcome with guiding software. I have not used the GOTO hand controller but I believe it has some sort of PEC adjustment, someone with the HC can correct me if it doesn't.

I have taken a few images up to around 2 minutes of exposure through an 80mm F450mm Refractor, with really good results.

So this is really dependent on what you are carrying as well. I use a Skywatcher 8"f6 and 80mm F450mm refractor which only has a weight of about 12kg, so I am not overloading it any.

I use a different controller which is done via a PC. It's called EQMOD and many successful images have been taken with it, as long as you have access to a guide camera (toucam or DSI).. Down side to this is it is PC dependent so power is a must if you plan on staying out all night.

Some of my images can be found at...
http://southcelestialpole.org.au/blogs/astroman.php

Anyway wont bore you with details check it out at..
http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net

Test images by myself and others can be found at...
http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/testimages

Documentation can be found .....
http://www.welshdragoncomputing.ca/eqmod/doku.php

Hope this helps some...

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

I am very hapy with my EQ6. It appears to be very accurate in the GoTo area.

I use Autoguiding, so my images don't get any star trails.

As for fixing PE in the Hand Controller, it is a simple matter. You go to 'P.E.' and press go. If you have autoguiding it will correct itself. If not, just use the hand controller arrows. All you have to do is keep a star dead still for 8 minutes. Sounds difficult but it is easy. After 8 minutes the controller says it is finished, and your P.E. is then nicely tuned.

[centauri]

Thanks for the input guys, and the sites to read up on.
Looks like my thoughts of this mount are correct.
Has anyone tried improving the mounts PE via mechanical methods ie lapping of the gear and wheel?
Keep your thoughts coming, it is good to get a broad spectrum of the good and bad.

Darren

[centauri]

Great images btw astroman!

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

Thanks, good luck with your decision. I have heard of some doing relapping but havent heard how they went with it. All depends on how much your willing to spend afterwards I guess.

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by centauri

Thanks for the input guys, and the sites to read up on.
Looks like my thoughts of this mount are correct.
Has anyone tried improving the mounts PE via mechanical methods ie lapping of the gear and wheel?
Keep your thoughts coming, it is good to get a broad spectrum of the good and bad.

Darren

I think that if you wish to get the best out of any machine even if new pull it apart and "blue print it".

This means sand of burs, polish, adjust etc... simple make it run as good as it can.

My eq6 has not been pulled down yet I find it is very good so far.
I use 150sn (750mm f/l) and a 80 x 400 guide and occassional capture scope.
I have a good polar alignment, the gear is balanced to work best within a 35 degree range above, and trained the mount using the PE train function in Utilities in that limited area so balance weight etc stay the same... I am getting unguided runs occassionally at 400 seconds .


Attention to detail I believe will see the mount working very well.
Tuned they can get very good tracking.

I will be auto guiding in the near future but am very happy with the unguided ability of my mount even without a pull down .

alex

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Originally Posted by centauri

Has anyone tried improving the mounts PE via mechanical methods ie lapping of the gear and wheel?

It may be possible to get some work done (if you can find anyone that 'tunes' them), but also be aware that even the best 'Professional' Observatory Mounts doing world-breaking scientific research have P.E.
It may be small but it is there. Anything mechanical will have some degree of error.
But autoguiding will compensate for average PE.