Recommended eaa camera

[ChrisV (Chris)]

That's a long time to wait Adrian

[glenc (Glen)]

Not sure if this has been posted before

http://www.californiaskys.com/blog/l...ky-video-setup

[m11 (Mel)]

Hi Glenc,

Great link.

[Howard (Howard)]

Originally Posted by m11

Hi all,

Thanks for the heads up. I have put in my order to Bintel for the zwo224mc , they also have free delivery with the $100 off. If you use the btnew16 code when they ask for a coupon you also get another $16 off. Total $383.

Cant wait to try it out.

My thanks to Chris in particular for your advice and assistance

M11

So c'mon ... where's your photo's!
Always great to see people starting out with this hobby of EAA.

[Howard (Howard)]

Originally Posted by AG Hybrid

Yep. If you can get the tracking good. You'll get image rotation in longer exposures but software should be able to de-rotate images.
In the interest in reducing star trails lots of sub 2 second exposures should do the job. I saw a demonstration/video of ZWO camera and sharpcap for EAA with sub 1 second exposures just constantly stacking. Looks great. Can't wait to use my ZWO 224MC. But I put it under the Christmas tree. For the first time since the year 2000 Ill actually have something exciting to open on Christmas day.

Tracking dobs or tracking Alt Az's shouldnt get star trails but they will get star rotations, which as you say software will derotate. IE the mount will correctly track the central bit of the image very well, but stars all around the edges will rotate after a time. Most commonly used figure on the web is to only go 20 secs on an AltAz before you get star rotation. But you can actually go longer in some parts of the sky, but unfortunately have to go a lot shorter in other parts of the sky. Here's a bunch of tables for various latitudes showing the MAX you can go in various parts of the sky (Alt and Az) before you will get star rotation effects.
May be useful. Read the albums description lines for how to use them.
https://flic.kr/s/aHskL4YGR5
cheers

[Howard (Howard)]

Originally Posted by glenc

Not sure if this has been posted before

http://www.californiaskys.com/blog/l...ky-video-setup

Cool. Exactly the same as what I used to put my ASI224 into (minus the 8"SCT as I replaced with ST80) ...
https://www.flickr.com/gp/9440349@N08/TVZ0YT
And BTW I have also tried the ST80 on this really, really, really lightweight rig ... but it wobbles like crazy! LOL Although the ASI224 with Vello EOS lens adapter and EOS lens worked great for widefield on the Star Adventurer.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/9440349@N08/ojv2h8
cheers

[m11 (Mel)]

Hi Howard,

Only had two chances to play with the zwo and Nexstar 6se as Chris has recommended.

Still working out Sharpcap and how to stack as it didnt stack as yet.
Images are single pictures.

[m11 (Mel)]

Apologies, first time attaching files

[m11 (Mel)]

I am still learning to utilise the software and what settings. 😁 it is alot of fun and i see eaa as complementing my normal visual viewing. Picture for 47 tucanae is too exposed as well i think.

[ChrisV (Chris)]

Mel

They are looking good !
Yes you can cut the gain or exposure for 47Tuc.
And the opposite for the tarantula. And keep stacking and tweaking the histogram.

Chris

[m11 (Mel)]

Hi All,

Thanks for the help Chris, finally got the stacking to work and I can see a lot more detail for M42 and dark cloud lines which I have never seen before.

Thanks again,

M11

[m11 (Mel)]

No post processing and I probably need to get a filter.

[m11 (Mel)]

I have noticed with bright objects that the image gets interlaced or lines. Not sure if its due to the light pushing the megapixels?

[m11 (Mel)]

Hi All,

I added a 20mm spacer and was able to get the alignment working in sharpcap consistently for M42. Normally I have trouble get alignment stars even with the digital gain turned up to x8, not sure if I am doing it right

[ChrisV (Chris)]

Mel

Looks like a larger FOV than your last shot. What gain and exposure duration are you using - just need more gain, longer exposure. I'm not sure what you mean by x8 gain - in sharpcap I usually use gain 300 - 350, exposure time 5 - 20sec. That kind of looks OK for most things, and then vastly improves once I start stacking (and tweaking the histogram while stacking).

Maybe a screen shot of the whole window of sharpcap would help. Could you also put up a pic of how you have stuff connected from the 6SE to the camera.

There's a few 224MC users around now who could also help if they saw this.

Chris

[m11 (Mel)]

Hi Chris,

Thanks again for your feedback as it can only help me improve and determine what i am not doing right.

I will post my settings but once i get alignment i am using a gain of 350 with 1.1 seconds stack 290 times.

What mean with digital x8 is the alignment tab of live stack in which i turn up the digital gain to hopefully find more alignment stars. Most times it rejects most of the stacking when i set it to individual frames. I am having trouble finding alignment stars all the time.

Current setup is zwo camera -> 20mm spacer -> focal reducer -> sct 6se.


Never tried the live viewing but can try to set this up next time.

Thanks,

Mel

[m11 (Mel)]

Not sure if the image quality is different or you can tell from the different image stacks.

I didnt put in any darks - next thing to test and learn as well.

[ChrisV (Chris)]

Try 5sec subs or even longer. Have a look at the live histogram - you want it away from the left so you know you are capturing enough data. Then stack.

[m11 (Mel)]

Hi Chris,

Will give it go with the longer exposures. Will also know now to keep the histogram more to the right as it mainly is to the left of the graph for me.

Mel

Originally Posted by ChrisV

Try 5sec subs or even longer. Have a look at the live histogram - you want it away from the left so you know you are capturing enough data. Then stack.

[ChrisV (Chris)]

It should be to the left. just not right on the edge. I usually try and get the peak at about 20-30% of max?