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Post by howie1 on Dec 15, 2017 2:31:48 GMT
Hi Chris. I'm sure there's heaps of threads on forums about that cos those f/4 are pretty popular. If you wait until Sunday I'll be able to show a desktop vid and saved images off one ... Because amongst my crazy amount of OTA's accumulated over the years I have a GSO 150mm f/4. I haven't used it much at all. The club is heading to a site near Esk on Saturday. It's not only the Xmas "do" out there, but it's also the first outing they've scheduled since May due bad weather etc! Anyway ... I'll take out the f/5 200mm and the f/4 150mm and give it a whirl on the same targets using MPCC/modded Canon/Toaster and see how it goes. So that will let you see actual results with the MPCC. Image scale will obviously be different! LOL. Re collimation ... don't recall any difficulties using the eyeball collimating cap method ... but lets see what we get on Saturday. cheers Howie
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Post by ChrisV on Dec 15, 2017 3:49:53 GMT
That would be great. I've read widely varying reports on f4 newts ranging from "no worries they are sweet mate" to "horrendous can't collimate them". And it'll be interesting to see how the mpcc goes.
I'm swinging between a 150 and a 200mm. I suppose the obstruction of the secondary is pretty big on the 150mm for an imaging newt.
Have a good evening in Esk!!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2017 5:58:51 GMT
Chris I dont have much experience with the newts yet, but aim to over summer.The weight of the 150 f4 just appears better suited to the HEQ5 compared to the 200 f4 but I have had no problem with the 200. The 150 is a much smaller unit.The collimation appears very sensitive to moving the scope around but I havent found them difficult. A combination of bob's knobs, laser collimater and fine tune with a cheshire takes very little time at all. I have put the 150/HEQ in the pod so in future there will be little moving the scope around.You certainly get a wide FOV with the large sensor particularly when an Altair .6 FR is added to the mix. Elpajare has posted a lot of stuff with his 200 F4 . He would be the one to talk to Paul
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Post by davy on Dec 15, 2017 6:06:24 GMT
I'm a fan of the 200nm newtmt first was an option,never heard of it before I got it,knock off of the skywatcher,, was actually a good scope ,the views of the moon were brilliant with it,, colmination was checked once and was spot on, uncle John has it now... Missed having it so I got the skywatcher 200p D's I always liked the look of the Quattro because it was shorter and faster,,heard the same story , should only be bought and used by experienced astronomers,, but I think after a while it would not be a problem,, I think I would go for the bigger one, carol's brother inlaw brought his 12" truss DOB up for me to see and wow what a scope views were brilliant
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Post by howie1 on Dec 16, 2017 22:39:15 GMT
Hey Chris, very sorry mate ... I screwed up. I left the iPad on charge at home. I know the 200mm f/5 focus point, but not the 150mm f/4 newts. I have a pdf of focal point/drawtube measurements for all my cameras/OTAs on the iPad. So in the dark, I could not get the darned thing to focus with the Canon. Racked through the entire focus range and added 2" ext tube in case that was the issue. Still didn't find focus. Liveview and test shots looked like the scope was capped even when on Canopus!
Of course in todays daylight I found it quickly! The GSO focuser racks out to a max of 50mm on its indicated scale. The Canon with MPCC reaches focus at 46mm on that indicated scale. That is 66mm from the fixed part of the focuser to the front of the T-ring.
Will have to get out again asap. Hopefully tonight ... Wyaralong though! Not Esk! The Esk site was darker than Wyaralong. But drive+setup time is nearly 3 hours. So 3+ to get out there, and nearly 4 hour teardown+drive home - as there's some seriously Kangaroo ridden roads out there! So doesn't leave much time to actually do any EAA. Ideally you'd want a camper if heading out there so you can stay the night. Also, Wyaralong is only 10 minutes drive from Macca's, KFC, Subway, and Hungry Jacks for that obligatory late night driving home "snack and coffee"! Esk township is not not only 30 km from the Esk dark-site, but I couldn't find anything open there at 10:30 last night! That's an absolute deal breaker!
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Post by ChrisV on Dec 17, 2017 1:09:47 GMT
Ah well. That's the one thing I find with the DSLR - harder to set up than an astro camera. The astro camera - you can just turn up the gain and do short exposures to set the focus etc really quickly.
Weather is terrible in Sydney. Earlier in the week wasn't too bad - but only got a few hours between dark and moonrise. But clouds the last few days and the forecast next week is same. And I've just got my new 071 back! Got the pro upgrade - with better chamber for cooling and buffer memory so I can run on usb2 and not get the dreaded amp glow. But can't use it ...
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Post by ChrisV on Dec 17, 2017 1:11:39 GMT
Paul That 294 looks like an impressive camera. Nice sensitive sensor and a huge well - I expect to see a nice cluster from you for the December target!! Chris
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Post by howie1 on Dec 17, 2017 1:38:44 GMT
Ah well. That's the one thing I find with the DSLR - harder to set up than an astro camera. The astro camera - you can just turn up the gain and do short exposures to set the focus etc really quickly. Weather is terrible in Sydney. Earlier in the week wasn't too bad - but only got a few hours between dark and moonrise. But clouds the last few days and the forecast next week is same. And I've just got my new 071 back! Got the pro upgrade - with better chamber for cooling and buffer memory so I can run on usb2 and not get the dreaded amp glow. But can't use it ... That's all I do with DSLR Chris ... Well, at least that's how it works with the 200mm f/5 newt! Just slew to any bright star, click on Canon Liveview, set ISO6400 and 2 secs. But liveview doesnt actually "shoot" 2 sec frames ... liveview "adjusts" to show you brightness etc on the actual live 25fps video. No jitter/pause ... just continuous live 25 fps video. You see the star moving live at 25fps as you slew the scope. Once centered, click the 10x mag button and throw on the bahtinov. The spikes are so bright you have to turn it down to iso400 - still at 25 fps. Can't get any easier than that. But, on the 150mm f/4 last night .... totally weird. The exact same process using Liveview iso6400 2 secs at 25fps, I went from full in to full out on the 150mm f/4 focuser and got absolutely nothing. Just black. I actually thought the camera/usb/pc had frozen. I shone the red light down the tube just to check Liveview actually showed / reacted. It did, so that proved pc, usb and camera were all still working. I just couldnt get the darn thing to show any starlight. More checking and stuff tonight if weather holds. You know I kicked myself this morning though ... there were eight other guys out there ... they would have EP's! I should have borrowed a 25mm 60 degree AFOV EP off anyone there and used that to focus ... they'd come very come to being the same focus point as the 23mm approx 58 AFOV Canon sensor! Doh!!! Thumbsup for the 071 pro upgrade! No wonder your weathers bad!
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